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Cross-Border Policing Poses Sovereignty Risk, Canadian
Pubdate: Sun, 21 Aug 2005
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
d-4243-88f8-111a6119cef4
Copyright: 2005 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Kim Bolan, CanWest News Service
CROSS-BORDER POLICING POSES SOVEREIGNTY RISK, CANADIAN EXPERTS SAY
VANCOUVER -- The U.S. attorney prosecuting three Canadians suspected of
digging a tunnel with the purpose of moving drugs across the border will ask
a Seattle judge next week to seize the Fraser Valley property on which the
tunnel was constructed.
A court order would mean the Langley home would be surrendered to the U.S.
government if property owner Francis Devandra Raj is convicted on
trafficking charges, even if individuals or banks in Canada have an
outstanding claim on the land.
The tunnel case is just one of several recent cross-border investigations
that have some legal experts concerned about what they see as growing
encroachment of U.S. law enforcement into Canada.
In July, B.C. pot activist Marc Emery and two associates were arrested at
the request of U.S. authorities, who have accused him of selling marijuana
seeds to Americans over the Internet.
Last March, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association wrote to the RCMP Public
Complaints' Commission about an incident in which an off-duty Vancouver
police officer was stopped in the Fraser Valley by Texas state troopers
working with the RCMP to detect motorists under the influence of marijuana.
"The Texas Rangers example is one of the most brazen examples of Canadian
authorities acquiescing to U.S. control on Canadian soil," Jason Gratl,
president of the civil liberties association, said. " It is absolutely
outrageous that a foreign law enforcement official would be on the front
lines of policing in British Columbia."
Ian Hillman, spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver, won't give the
exact number of American law enforcement agents operating here, but notes
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration,
the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and
the Department of Homeland Security are all represented. "For security
reasons, we can't give out the exact numbers but I can tell you overall we
are very, very small," Hillman said.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Paul Marsh said from Ottawa it's natural to have more
cross-border co-operation when crime has become more global.
"Criminals are more networked than ever before," Marsh said. "Obviously, we
are going to maintain Canadian sovereignty. Investigations that are
conducted in Canada are Canadian investigations."
But defence lawyers believe there is a tendency to allow American
authorities to arrest suspects who commit crimes on both sides of the border
because penalties are harsher in U.S. courts.
Emery's lawyer, John Conroy, said while there have been cases in which U.S.
suspects were arrested in Canada as a result of a joint investigation, it is
usually the other way around. "Sometimes Canadian police realize the
penalties are heavier in the U.S so they often would take a strategy to get
the person into the U.S.," Conroy said.
RCMP Sgt. John Ward, of the B.C. regional headquarters, said American police
agencies operating in B.C. do not erode sovereignty.
"Law-enforcement officers conducting operations doesn't happen. ... Whenever
visiting law enforcement officers are in Canada they are under the direct
supervision of Canadian police officers."
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