Pubdate: Wed, 14 May 2014
Source: National Post (Canada)
Page: A10
Copyright: 2014 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Marni Soupcoff
Note: Marni Soupcoff is executive director of the Canadian 
Constitution Foundation.

DOESN'T THE RCMP HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO?

The Nudists And Weed Smokers Of Wreck Beach Are Hardly A Public-safety
Threat

If you've been deeply troubled by the notion that booze and weed are
being sold illegally at a remote Vancouver-area nude beach, take
heart: You are not alone. In fact, you're in esteemed company.

The RCMP - Canada's royal gendarmerie - is so concerned about "public
safety" at Wreck Beach that is has proposed setting up a tent there
every day this summer. The goal, Sgt. Drew Grainger of the RCMP told
The Province newspaper, is "to proactively enhance our presence on the
beach."

Because there has been such a rash of violence that beachgoers feel
they need extra protection? Well, not exactly. Actually, the beach
folk seem to think that they've been doing a pretty good job of taking
care of their own community, and most seem put out by the idea that
the RCMP will be setting up shop.

As the National Post's Tristan Hopper reported this week, the long
time chair of the Wreck Beach Preservation Society, Judy Williams,
voiced her concern that "a continued [police] presence gives a
non-verbal message that our beach is unsafe, and our beach is more
safe than any other beach in this whole Lower Mainland." It is also
not hard to imagine that the continuing presence of fully clothed
officers might inhibit more than just crime, but also people who have
sought out the beach as a safe place to be able to exercise their
preference for wearing little or nothing while swimming and relaxing
by the water.

It really makes you wonder how the RCMP came to the conclusion that
establishing a de facto Wreck Beach outpost is a good use of taxpayer
funds. If it were about seriously cracking down on the casual
unlicensed sale of alcohol and marijuana, which everyone seems to
acknowledge is a regular part of beach life, then I wouldn't be
especially impressed, but I'd have to acknowledge that it was a
defensible instance of seeking to enforce the law.

Yet that's not the point of the exercise, according to the RCMP. Sgt. 
Grainger told The Province: "After decades of patrolling this beach, 
we know we can't ticket and arrest our way out of this." He also 
said, "We know drugs and alcohol will be sold on the beach no matter 
how heavy-handed we are." The implication is that the officers will 
be looking the other way when it comes to most violations of the law. 
It's just that they don't like the inconvenience of waiting to be 
called in on the problems they apparently do want and intend to 
police: public sexual activity and excessive drunkenness or drug use.

St. Grainger put it this way: "There are 465 steps [leading up from
the beach to Marine Drive]. It's onerous to remove someone who's had
too much."

I have no doubt that St. Grainger is accurately conveying the
difficulty of hauling a drunken person up the equivalent of a small
office tower, and I can sympathize with wanting to avoid the effort,
but making life easier for officers is not generally a sufficient
reason for establishing a semi permanent police presence in a community.

Sadly, it's not the case that there aren't better things for the RCMP
to be doing with its resources and time. There is more than enough
property crime, violence and fraud going on in this country -
instances in which people are hurting others, not just themselves - to
busy the force.

Should the RCMP up its presence in an attempt to curb these ills, it
is unlikely many will complain. Its choice to instead focus on a set
of victimless crimes - and focus selectively and arbitrarily, at that
- - leaves the impression that the force considers its own convenience
paramount, and certainly of greater import than Canadians' individual
liberties. The powers that be might want to think about what kind of
message this sends to the people whom the RCMP is supposed to be protecting.

It's unfortunate that such attitudes are now so common among law
enforcement that they're barely remarked upon by the public. Of
course, the Wreck Beach community is complaining, but few others see
the relevance for them in the police staking a tent on a nude beach.
They may not realize how short the path can be from a
clothing-optional hippy hangout to their own backyards. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D