The Point

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Busson defends beleaguered officer

UPDATE (13 February 2007) If you are not from Alberta, please read these articles from the Calgary Sun and the Edmonton Journal. I have been told this post may have been a little too dark for the average reader.

Interim RCMP Commissioner Bev Busson defended a BC officer charged with torture at a press conference this morning.

Busson said the allegations against Const. Saxon Peters are serious, but she believes the charges are probably overblown. She added it would be unreasonable to expect Canada to meet its obligations to the UN Convention Against Torture at this time.

"Obviously this is a priority for us. We recognise that torture is a global challenge. But to reduce it back to 1987 levels? Nobody can deliver on it without hurting the RCMP to the point where we will lose services."

The UN Convention was ratified by Canada in 1987. It defines torture as an official -- such as a soldier or police officer -- intentionally inflicting "severe pain or suffering" on someone to obtain information or punish, intimidate or coerce them. Under Canada's Criminal Code, Const. Peters could be given a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail.

25-year old Glen Shuter, the alleged victim, says when Peters suspected him of stealing another officer's bicycle, he was severely beaten and left to walk 10 kilometres to seek medical attention.

Commissioner Busson said the RCMP was proud of how it was handling the issue internally, and that it cannot be subject to the international agreement, which explicitly bans torture, without seriously hampering its law-enforcement capabilities.

Instead, she said, she favours adopting "intensity-based targets." Under intensity-based torture targets, total incidences of torture could go up as long as the percentage per officer goes down.

"Everyone has their favoured solution to torture. This is ours," Busson said. "We would like to get started on adopting mandatory targets soon, but it's going to require a lot of tough negotiations with other players."

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posted by Christopher at 9:57 a.m.

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