Grand Forks RCMP tries to hide their ineptness with a threat to prosecute Dion Nordick, the man who exposed that ineptness.  Nordick found two motion-sensor cameras in the trees overlooking the trailer that he rents.  He took them down after noticing intermittent flashes coming from them.

He took out the memory cards and amongst the photographs of himself and his friends coming and going, there were also numerous disturbing images including dead bodies and a woman who appeared to be the victim of a violent assault.

It seems some inept RCMP member or tech hadn’t bothered to erase the memory cards before installing the cameras to spy on Dion Nordick.

“That corpse that I viewed is someone's loved one. Those pictures of that woman standing in her brassiere, covered in bruises — she probably had a hard time letting the police take those pictures. She probably had a hard time going to the police,” said Nordick.

It also seems the RCMP was quite willing to break the law in order to place the cameras to spy on the Grand Forks graffiti artist.

According to Nordick’s lawyer, Jesse Gelber, police have no legal right to install surveillance cameras on private properly.

“Generally, police don’t have judicial authorization on private land. That’s not legal; that’s trespass,” said Jesse Gelber.

Not surprisingly, the RCMP is demanding the cameras be returned to them immediately.

Gelber said he will be holding on to the cameras and their memory cards until he gets an explanation from the RCMP, which does not look like it will be forthcoming.

Instead, RCMP Sgt. Dan Seibel prefers veiled threats.

“The fact that someone has committed a criminal act and stolen our cameras certainly is, I guess, a concern for RCMP and for our investigators.”

Seems the good Sergeant believes the law only applies to us mere citizens, and not to the RCMP itself.

Why else would he threaten charges against Dion Norlick and perhaps his lawyer, Jesse Gelber, after Sgt. Seibel’s investigators were caught being both inept and lawbreakers themselves.

Unfortunately, this threatening attitude seems to be standard operating procedure for far too many of British Columbia’s current crop of RCMP members when they’re caught screwing up.

Comments on the CBC story about this case were predictable in their indictment of the RCMP, whose image in British Columbia seems to only get worse with each passing day.

lol "stolen the camera…"  They can spin anything.

When the RCMP leave their equipment behind in public, legally that should be treated as abandoned equipment which can be taken by anyone as their own.

This sort of RCMP incompetence is no doubt just the tip of the iceberg.

What I find most disturbing is the fact that the memory chips still had images of other victims. Yay to this guy for finding them, and yay for blowing the whistle, not just for the fact that they (the RCMP) had no right to mount and monitor him through these camera's, but because these folks whose images are still on there have become victimized yet again and that is truly criminal!

RiverviewNB doesn’t think much of the RCMP.  Quoting Sgt. Siebel’s ridiculous comment about charging someone for the “theft” of RCMP property, he writes:

This is how bullies act, instead of admitting they have done something wrong they threaten to charge you if you don't keep your mouth shut.

I once observed an RCMP cruiser without lights or sirens make a u-turn, coming up over the sidewalk and nearly hit a pedestrian. When I shouted at them they came back around and threatened to arrest me for being to close to the edge of the sidewalk to the road.

That is always their response when they get caught at something, threaten and intimidate the complainer. Try to make a formal complaint to the RCMP and the level of threats and harassment will escalate even higher. The RCMP complaint process consists of bullying you sign off that every thing is OK when they know full well they are in the wrong.

I don't believe the crap that there are only a few bad apples because even the good apples will bend over backward to protect the bad apples. The blue wall of silence.

FishingTruth echoes so many other opinions expressed in the remainder of the comments section of the CBC story.

The RCMP is more than a daily embarrassment.

Every officer apparently thinks he is "Mr. Big" - an expert at undercover police work, which targets those on the fringes of society: poor people, or nonconformists, or peaceful protestors. These targets are then smeared with unsupported accusations.

When people know their rights, however, "Mr. Big" will lose 'big-time' in the court of law, as well as the court of public opinion. "Mr. Big" can boast of convictions, but how many will be overturned, after bumbling such as we see here?

Also, do not discount the psychological pressure "Mr. Big" tries to exert, in order to manipulate people to incriminate themselves. Some people even confess to crimes they have not committed. Why? Brainwashing techniques perfected by covert operatives. There are actually 202,000 search engine results on "Mr. Big RCMP".

The issue is serious, and it is destroying the credibility of Canadian law enforcement. Hidden cameras right up to agent provocateurs -- the RCMP does it all.

In closing I would like to congratulate Dion Nordick for his actions after he discovered the cameras.  It’s a brilliant move to turn the cameras and memory cards over to his lawyer, Jesse Gelber. Even better is Mr. Gelber’s refusal to turn the camera gear over to the RCMP until they explain themselves.

I guess the RCMP won’t be getting the cameras back… since it’s practically guaranteed the RCMP won’t be explaining themselves, or their apparently illegal actions that caused all this ruckus, any time soon.