In the Australian province of Victoria, police seized quantities of cannabis, cocaine, MDMA, steroids and ketamine in a four-day operation focused on criminals under court-ordered Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPOs).[i]
Australian police take Firearms Prohibition Orders seriously and FPOs allow police to conduct warrantless searches of an individual, their vehicle and/or residence to ensure compliance.
The penalty for violating an FPO is 10 years in prison. That’s a high price to pay for illegally acquiring, possessing, carrying or using a firearm or ammunition.
We don’t take Firearms Prohibition Orders seriously in Canada.
Judges hand them out like candies at Christmas for a wide swath of offences (many not related to violence), but we utterly fail on enforcement.
It’s routine for an offender to be arrested, usually on weapons and drug trafficking charges, only for police to discover that the offender also violated numerous FPOs.
Almost every day in Canada, news outlets report the arrest of another offender on charges relating to traffic stops to drug trafficking to murder.
Many of those offenders are violating multiple Firearms Prohibition Orders, like Darnell Reid was in 2020.
Reid Case Epitomizes Everything Wrong with Canada’s Approach to FPOs
On Tuesday, July 28, 2020, Darnell Reid allegedly murdered Darian Henderson-Bellman with an illegal handgun. On that day he had three separate Firearms Prohibition Orders against him.[ii]
Not one of those orders saved the young woman’s life, partly because no police agency checked on him, and partly because judge after judge released Darnell Reid despite repeated violations of restraining orders and other crimes.
Four years later, the only court record found for Darnell Reid shows him being denied bail. The reasons given state he faces first degree murder, possession of a firearm without a license, and failure to comply with release orders.
“Finally, there is Mr. Reid’s very poor bail compliance record of six outstanding allegations of breach of bail conditions. For all these reasons, a reasonable member of the public will conclude that Mr. Reid’s detention is justified.”[iii]
Bizarrely, Darnell Reid is not facing a single charge for violating his three Firearms Prohibition Orders.
Not in Victoria, Australia
Since they were introduced in May 2018, Victoria Police have issued over 2,300 FPOs across the state. Once issued, an FPO remains in effect for 10 years for adults, and 5 years for youth 14 – 17 years old.
The total collapse of justice we saw in the Darnell Reid case is far less likely to happen in the province of Victoria because police routinely check on offenders to ensure those prohibited from possessing firearms comply with those orders.
The Case for Proactive Compliance Checks
Regular, unannounced searches make it easier to detect FPO violators. They also serve as an effective deterrent for prohibited individuals thinking about illegally acquiring or possessing firearms.
Proactive compliance checks, like those in the Geelong operation, can lead to the discovery of other illegal activities, such as drug possession or trafficking. The Geelong operation resulted in numerous drug seizures, which echoes the Canadian experience where drug traffickers and illegal guns go hand in hand.
Civil Rights Considerations
In Australia, the law permits warrantless searches for FPO subjects, a practice that may raise concerns in Canada regarding privacy rights and protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
To address these concerns, Canada could, and should, establish clear guidelines and oversight mechanisms to balance effective enforcement with individual rights.
Political Leadership Required
Individuals subjected to FPOs are well-established public safety risks. By conducting regular compliance checks on these high-risk individuals, law enforcement could deter these prohibited people from acquiring illegal firearms and disrupt a wide swath of criminal activity.
The Liberal policy of “it’s better to be seen to be doing something” than actually doing the hard work required to keep Canadians safe is a proven failure.
Will the next government possess the political will to do that hard work?
It will be all our jobs to hold that government to account so it places law enforcement emphasis on the things that prevent crime, even of they don’t provide good photo ops.
[i] https://web.archive.org/web/20250206091703/https://www.police.vic.gov.au/four-day-operation-targeting-fpo-compliance-geelong
[ii] https://blog.christopherdiarmani.com/16029/guns/darian-henderson-bellman-at-what-point-do-we-deny-bail-to-repeat-offenders/
[iii] Para 88, https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2021/2021onsc2250/2021onsc2250.html
