TORONTO
POLICE CHIEF JULIAN FANTINO: "Why
don't we have a sex offender registry?" Fantino asked angrily. "We
have a gun registry. The (federal government) is very busy spending tons of
money on the gun registry which is regulating law-abiding citizens,
essentially."
PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun
DATE:
2003.05.16
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
News
PAGE:
18
BYLINE:
JOE WARMINGTON
COLUMN:
Night Scrawler
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T.O.
COPS BLACK 'N' BLUE ALTHOUGH BURDENED WITH RED TAPE IN HOLLY MURDER, POLICE
FORCE SUPPORTED BY TOP OFFICERS
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No
wonder the chief was in a bad mood.
You
might be in one too after you read this.
It
turns out while the whole community is steady in its resolve to find the
ruthless killer of Holly Jones, Toronto Police are subjected to negotiations to
get access to video that could help the case. You read it correctly.
"We
are in several negotiations," said the head of homicide Staff-Insp. Gary
Ellis. "And sometimes we have to pay for these videos."
Really?
As if he and his team of detectives didn't have enough on their plate. More red
tape.
Currently
some businesses along the lakefront have consulted their lawyers and suggested
police need search warrants before they can have their experts study the video
surveillance tapes.
And
as this dance is on, the killer could very well be getting away and could kill
again. Surely there is some mistake. Now, while a majority of those with video
have freely handed over the tapes, others are talking about freedoms and
privacy. "Freedom," scowled Chief Julian Fantino. "What does that
do for this little girl?"
Welcome
to Canada, where we sure find a way to even things out for the bad guys
sometimes. As for those who are making it difficult for the cops to do their
jobs -- shame. What else is there to say?
There's
not enough space here to report all that the chief was upset about. But we'll
get back to that in a second. First, here's something he was proud of.
"They
are amazing," he said of a number of officers he visited with yesterday.
"Down at the marine unit the divers are doing very dangerous work."
Later,
in the lobby at headquarters he was part of a luncheon with last year's winners
of the police officer of the month. "I am very proud to be here with
them," said the chief.
Among
those honoured yesterday were Consts. Roberto Di Giacomo, Paul Young, Andrew
Low, Joe Green, Richard Schoch, Alex Ruttner, Christopher Trites, Andrew
Dunning, Stephen Laramy, Ann-Marie Tupling, Matthew Clarke, Shayne Worsdale,
Suzanne Redman, Christopher Comission, Jason Frye, Paul Worden, Tony Macias,
Brooke Hewson and Richard Harris.
Also
honoured were Det. Jeff Thomson, Staff-Sgt. Gary Logan and Sgt. Nicole Lee.
Every name here was involved in an act of bravery and sacrifice to keep the city
safe.
Fantino
said the killer of Holly had better beware of all of them. "Only a monster
could do something like this," he said.
Throw
all the bureaucracy at them you have, Fantino said.
"Our
people will be unrelenting. We are going to get this person or persons."
Meanwhile,
as they work at it, you would think there would be zero impediments. However, if
you can believe it, it turns out a number of video cameras placed in strategic
areas were not taping at all -- thanks to protections sent down by the Supreme
Court of Canada and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
All
of that, coupled with the fact that Canada does not have a registered sex
offender registry, had Chief Fantino feeling handcuffed. "If you hear
frustration it's because we care deeply about the community," he said.
"We have to do this better. We can't have any more of these
tragedies."
It's
the players in Ottawa he and his fellow Canadian police chiefs have to convince.
"Why
don't we have a sex offender registry?" Fantino asked angrily. "We
have a gun registry. The (federal government) is very busy spending tons of
money on the gun registry which is regulating law-abiding citizens,
essentially."
But
when it comes to sex offenders "it's not a high priority. It doesn't
register. That's very sad," he said.
Not
only should there be a national registry, but all detectives should have access
to everything pertinent on a suspect. "We should have their DNA on
file," he said.
So
far it has fallen on deaf ears in Ottawa.
"I
feel in too many cases the lawmakers and policymakers are out of touch with
reality," he said. "I have gone to Ottawa many times. We are treated
like a special interest group."
He
says politicians seem more interested in things like "decriminalizing
pot."
"They
are too busy doing this other stuff," Fantino said. "We just don't
want to seem to get at it."
In
the meantime, he hopes somebody in Ottawa remembers Holly and all the other
victims of these horrible offenders.
"It's
not for me, it's not even for us," he said of giving police more tools.
"It's for the collective members of the community. It's for the benefit of
the vulnerable people."
Unfortunately,
Fantino doesn't have the luxury of backing down on this issue. He's got to think
of protecting the next potential victim in a system where there are lots of
loopholes for the twisted criminal.
"I
am not going to let up," he said of his fight to protect people from them.
"Why should I?"
----------------------------------------------------------
NEWS
RELEASE - May 09, 2003
GOVERNMENT
ADMITS REAL CRIMINALS NOT THE TARGET OF FIREARMS PROGRAM
“The Solicitor General says criminals are protected
by the Privacy Act but not law-abiding gun owners!”
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns84.htm
May 7, 2003 – Solicitor General’s Response to Breitkreuz’s Order Paper Question Q-190
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/questions/may-7-2003written.htm
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TORONTO
POLICE CHIEF JULIAN FANTINO:
"We have an ongoing gun crisis including firearms-related homicides
lately in Toronto, and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these
crimes nor helped us solve any of them," said Toronto Police Chief Julian
Fantino. "None of the guns we
know to have been used were registered, although we believe that more than half
of them were smuggled into Canada from the United States. The firearms registry
is long on philosophy and short on practical results considering the money could
be more effectively used for security against terrorism as well as a host of
other public safety initiatives."
Source:
Quote from a News Release by Ontario Minister of Public Safety and Security, Bob
Runciman, “Eves government urges Ottawa to suspend gun registry” January 3,
2003.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/policequotes.htm