Dwayne Carron was being pretty dumb. He was caught speeding. And not just “speeding”… but speeding 65 kms over the posted speed limit. That’s just begging for trouble, and trouble is exactly what Mr. Carron got.
He was pulled over by Constable Allan Douglas Roberts, who proceeded to illegally search Mr. Carron’s vehicle, first by reaching into the glove box searching for paperwork, then by searching the entire vehicle after viewing the pictures found on a digital camera that was in the glove box.
One of the photos was of Caron and some other people posing with what the constable believed were prohibited firearms. Hence his illegal search of the rest of the vehicle.
From the BC Court of Appeals judgment:
Although I would not describe what occurred here as an egregious (or flagrant) breach of the Charter, it nonetheless lies towards the serious end of the breach-spectrum. This is because what occurred was a warrantless intrusion into an area of significant privacy without consideration being given to whether that intrusion was authorized by law.
RCMP Constable Douglas clearly needs a better grounding in what constitutes a legal search.
And it’s probably long past time that the RCMP implemented a better training program so that their constables on the street will know what constitutes a legal search, and, more importantly, what does NOT.
Like I wrote yesterday, I have absolutely no desire for [alleged criminals] to have illegal firearms. That just puts all the rest of us at risk, not to mention makes all good, decent and law-abiding firearms owners look bad. We don’t need that sort of bad press.
But I would rather there be an illegal gun on the street than we become like some other un-named countries where Rights and Freedoms are merely whatever the local state thugs say they are…
That’s not the kind of Canada I want to live in.
My Canada actually upholds the individual’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, even if it has to hold its nose while it does.
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