Thank you for your presentation.
I listened quite intently to what you were saying, and I have to ask the question: do you really understand the involvement of the police, what they go through during these major operations, of finally coming to making an arrest and bringing forward a charge?
I've talked with police officers in the past, and I find that the activities that are involved trying to get to the bottom of whatever they're doing involve a number of events, a whole range of events. It could bring about a cause to immediately react in some way that makes it difficult for the police officers to do such a thing without the proper legislation--which I understand the RCMP are quite happy with and are able to operate under.
But if you look back to the times before there was legislation, these undercover operations took place quite often. There were huge amounts of investigation. The police knew what they were doing, and they got engaged in numerous types of events that led to the arrest and conviction of certain individuals. It was only when the courts intervened on behalf of one complaint, or something, that this whole legislation came about, just a few years ago, but they operated for years before without that.
I'm not accusing you of this, but I get the feeling that some people actually believe the police aren't capable of doing their job without the good guidance of judges and politicians. I disagree with that, point blank.
I think this is a great group of people who know what they're doing. Sure, they're capable of making a mistake, but we'll deal with those things. But we constantly look for more legislation to put into a huge book that already has so much legislation that it's difficult to follow. We want to put more in and possibly tie the hands of these people who are doing a great job of fighting crime and are trying to get to solving a lot of major issues. I think we need to do a whole lot more relying on their abilities and capabilities, and a lot less on input from people such as yourself--I don't mean anything bad about that--or people like ourselves, the politicians. Let the police do their work.
I'm not sure what you mean by should judges get involved. Involved in what? I thought judges were to listen to evidence and make a decision. I didn't know they were supposed to get involved beyond that.
I'm wondering where all this is going. If the police are happy with the legislation the way it is, and they can operate within that and they're comfortable--in fact, they even said they wouldn't like to see it expanded much further--I don't know what it would be that they would do.
When are we, as a group of people in this country, going to start relying on a great force that knows what they're doing, and quit suggesting that, “Well, before they do this, or if they do that, they have to have these written reports and make sure you clear it here and clear it there.”
I'm hearing all kinds of things that almost make me feel that we don't have confidence in the police force. Well, I'm one person who has 100% confidence in them.
You can respond any way you like, sir.