Justice committee  Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it's a pleasure for me to appear before you here today in my capacity as the president of the Canadian Police Association to discuss Bill C-10, a comprehensive piece of legislation that takes some real and meaningful steps towards provid

Justice committee  I'm the president of the Canadian Police Association now.

Justice committee  As front-line police officers, we can attribute the majority of the crimes that are committed to organized crime groups, or individuals involved with organized crime, or serious chronic offenders.

Justice committee  Yes, I agree with that, and I agree with the minister as well; I don't think any police officer that I represent would disagree with the notion that we have to get at the underlying issues and try to get people out of situations where they're engaged in criminal activity. But in

Justice committee  I think that's fair to say. I would take it even further and say that if you look at the cost to society and the economy of organized crime, those offences that are committed by chronic offenders, and the cost it takes to investigate organized crime and to investigate the chronic

Justice committee  I've dealt with many young offenders who consider it a joke to be in the criminal justice system. There's no question.

Justice committee  That's fair to say.

Justice committee  I do. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I apologize for not being there in person today. For those of you today who might not be familiar with the Canadian Police Association, we are the national voice for 41,000 of Canada's front-line law enforcement personnel. We represent police personn

Justice committee  Yes. I'm going to concur with the comments that my colleague from the bar association made. I touched on this in my comments. I think it's all in how the bill is introduced and how people perceive it, because I think it's fair to say that if the message is.... If somehow this enc

Justice committee  Thank you. Obviously a question like that would involve a very long and complex answer. What I can tell you is that all public police officers in this country are trained. The responsibility for training and policing falls to the provinces. All of the provinces have provincial

Justice committee  Yes, that's correct. I'm a police officer in the city of Vancouver. I'm a constable.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  I didn't hear his entire testimony, but I did hear some of the reports of it.

Justice committee  That's correct.