Mygripe CANADA.—What exactly happened inside a Kamloops cellblock on a steamy mid-August night?
Seven people — including four RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounty Police) officers — allegedly watched the incident on video but they’re now under investigation and are saying nothing. City council wants to know, the mayor is promising to get to the bottom of it and the central British Columbia town is abuzz over reports of what happened.
It’s not often the story includes two women — one allegedly HIV-positive — engaging in sex for as long as an hour while RCMP officers and prison employees gathered around to watch the show on closed circuit cameras, doing nothing to stop the duo.
Now an investigation has been launched and an RCMP supervisor has been moved to administrative duties. Municipal officials and the RCMP have not said whether there have been any suspensions as a result of the jail cell incident which occurred Aug. 18.
A justice official in Kamloops Monday told the Toronto Star on the condition of anonymity that there is also the possibility of a charge of aggravated assault against the inmate who is reportedly HIV-positive, even if the sex between the two inmates was consensual.
The cellblock incident investigation is being undertaken by the detachment and the RCMP headquarters in B.C., an issue that creates concerns over independence, according to William Sundhu, a former provincial court judge and now a defence lawyer in Kamloops.
Sundhu said ever since Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died at Vancouver airport after getting shot by RCMP officers with a Taser gun in 2007, the public has become wary of the RCMP investigating itself.
“The public has over the last two to three years become very aware of the problems that arise when police investigate police,” he said Monday. “There’s been a loss of confidence in the RCMP.”
Kamloops mayor Peter Milobar says there shouldn’t be a rush to judgment. “The public has made it clear that they don’t want things hidden,” he said, adding it would be wrong to speculate on bits and pieces of information.
Kamloops, about two and a half hours east of Vancouver, is having a tough year when it comes to its RCMP force.
According to the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, 13 RCMP civilian staff or officers in Kamloops have been charged or under investigation for various incidents since January 2010.
Last month, two Kamloops officers were involved in a fatal shooting and have since been placed on administrative duties while the Calgary police service was called in to investigate the incident. That investigation is still underway.
Two other officers face assault charges from separate incidents earlier this year. One of the officers has been suspended with pay and charged with using excessive force during two separate arrests. A second officer is now on desk duties after a fellow officer witnessed and filed a complaint about an off-duty altercation outside a bar in Kamloops.
Ken Salter, a street outreach worker with the ASK (AIDS Society of Kamloops) Wellness Centre, said Monday that most RCMP officers are conscientious and respectful. But a level of distrust is prevalent among the most vulnerable on the streets.
“There is a feeling among many people on the streets that they’re justified in not trusting the RCMP and that evidence is starting to come out,” Salter said. “People have experienced too many incidents themselves at the hands of police or heard stories.”
B.C. Civil Liberties executive director David Eby said there have been previous concerns raised about the prison situation for female inmates in Kamloops. While male inmates are sent to a remand centre, there is no similar facility for women arrested in Kamloops and they can spend up to five days in RCMP cells while awaiting court appearances.
“They’re held in quite awful conditions, they can’t shower before their court appearances, they have limited access to lawyers and there are no provisions for women staffing. Often there are men staffing women,” said Eby Monday.
Sex in jail has become a black hole in prison policies, according to Eby, with no clear rules on when or with whom inmates can have sex. “There is also the question of whether it is possible to have sex in prison without it being a sexual assault,” he said.
Staff Sergeant Garry Kerr with the Kamloops RCMP, the acting officer in charge of the detachment, has confirmed there are video cameras in the facility’s jail and said guards have an obligation to stop sexual activity among detainees.
In a statement, Kerr said the investigations are “focused on the actions and/or inactions of four RCMP members and three municipal staff” at the detachment. Mygripe
Be the first to comment