Beware the Spot Check

It's amazing how easy it is to break the law and not realize it. My son just returned from British Columbia where he spent the winter. Actually he was in BC for most of last year with the exception of a few months last fall. So he's back and he's driving home from a visit in Fredericton in a car that still has BC license plates on it. Two of his buddies are in the car with him and they get pulled over at an RCMP spot-check in Oromocto.

It turns out when they check the records, my sons car is no longer legally registered. He hasn't registered the car in New Brunswick yet but he and I both thought the BC registration is still valid. Apparently British Columbia has public auto insurance and it's tied to the vehicle registration. When he got home his BC insurance was about to expire so he insured the car here. So he has proper insurance but because it wasn't BC insurance his registration is no longer valid.

After being told this by the RCMP officer my son called me and I spoke to the officer. He explained the situation and said because the car wasn't legally registered he'd have to take it off the road. And that's what happened. The car was towed and the plates were taken off and thrown on the back seat of the police car. My son said there were a pile of license plates that had been taken from unregistered vehicles stopped during the spot check.

I just want to say that the RCMP officer was polite and helpful and just doing his job. He explained to both of us exactly what had to be done to register the car and get it back on the road. This is where the story takes an interesting turn.

The next day my son takes my car and drives up to Oromocto to do what he has to do to register his car. And wouldn't you know it he gets stopped by the same cop at the same spot check. A few minutes later I get a phone call from the same said officer who says to me 'You aren't going to believe this but your registration is expired too". Not just that. My insurance card was also out of date. By this time I'm sure the cop was thinking... "What is wrong with this family?"

Here's what happened. The registration had expired about five days before this. We got the card in the mail weeks ago but completely forgot about it. In the same way the new insurance card arrived but again I didn't put it in the car. The officer could have nailed me big time but he didn't. He said he didn't want to do it again so he gave me the chance to register the car by phone right away. I didn't know I could do this. I called Service New Brunswick on a toll free line, gave them my license plate number and insurance information and paid by credit card. I called up that kind RCMP officer with a confirmation number so he knew the registration went through and I was off the hook for a pretty hefty fine. I owe a big thank you to that unnamed and understanding cop.

So the moral of the story is ... don't file away or ignore all those letters you get from the Motor Vehicle Branch or your insurance company. Oh yea... and don't forget about your vehicle inspection sticker either. It was set to expire too but fortunately I had the inspection done just a day before the spot check.

River Valley Rambler - Grand Manan Trial

One of the more interesting court cases in New Brunswick over the past year was that of the so-called ‘Grand Manan Five’. The ‘boys’ as they were called on the island, faced various weapons and arson charges after a riot broke out and the home of an alleged crack dealer was burned to the ground. The crown said the five took the law into their own hands. The defence said they did what they did to protect themselves and their families. In the end the crown did get some convictions, although not for the shooting spree that occurred. We know that during the riot a lot of gunfire was exchanged between the two groups and police say it was a miracle that no one was killed. Of the five, one was acquitted; two were convicted of arson, one for unsafe use of a flare gun and one for unsafe storage of a weapon. They were sentenced to house arrest.

I attended the trial in the old Charlotte County Court House in St. Andrews for the entire two weeks. It quickly became clear there were two other groups on trial in that courtroom in addition to the five accused. Even though they weren’t facing any charges everyone in the court formed an opinion about the group on the other side of the street the night of the riot. Some of those guys who took the stand for the crown were scary individuals. They were not the kind of people you’d want living next door to you. It’s unfortunate but the police and their actions were also in a sense on trial. Relations between the RCMP and people on Grand Manan are still bad a result. In fact the mayor of the island has just asked the province to conduct an inquiry into how the police responded to the riot and the aftermath. In the days following the incident about 70 extra RCMP officers arrived on the island to keep the peace. Islanders are saying it was overkill and the police should have paid more attention to the drug problem on the island before everything got out of hand.

I do respect and value the police. Listening to the testimony throughout the trial it became clear how difficult a job it is especially in a situation like what happened that night on Grand Manan. But at the same time, things came out during the trial that left me and I think others in the court, somewhat troubled by the actions of the RCMP. We heard testimony from islanders who said the police on Grand Manan knew something was going to happen. Some even said on the stand that some officers told them they wouldn’t be quick to respond if a fire broke out at the alleged drug dealer’s house.

We also watched the video interrogation of the five accused. An RCMP officer took the stand and explained in detail the tactics police use to conduct an interrogation. We were told how they bend the truth and out and out lie to the accused to get them to admit to something. We heard all about the good cop-bad cop technique. We were told how during an interrogation the police are more like actors, putting on a well-rehearsed show to play on the emotions of the accused. After the explanations we watched the various interrogation techniques being employed in the questioning of these five islanders. Even though almost all of them said they wanted to wait for their lawyer before saying anything to the police, the officers continued the questioning, sometimes for up to two hours. Eventually the accused all gave in and told the police exactly what they wanted to hear.

I know this is normal police procedure and they’re trained to do this. At no time during the interrogations were the police heavy handed or out of line. They were doing their job and doing it well. But watching it was a real eye-opener for me and for others in the court. The mayor of Grand Manan said publicly that he didn’t care much for those police tactics. After watching this I know if I ever find myself in a situation where I’m being interrogated by police, I’m going to keep my mouth shut, or at least try to, until my lawyer gets there whether I’m guilty of anything or not. We got a real behind the scenes look at how the police operate and I know it made a lot of people in that courtroom uneasy.

It’s clear after this incident that a lot of work is still needed to improve relations between the RCMP and people on Grand Manan. It also became clear that like elsewhere in New Brunswick, there is a serious drug problem on the island. The community and the police have to mend those fences in order to deal with it properly.