The Vancouver Police Departments so-called con-air program has led to 83 people being flown back to cities in Canada where they are wanted on outstanding warrants.
But after more than three years of operating the program, the VPD has failed to convince the federal justice ministers office to add a charge related to outstanding warrants to the Criminal Code.
We think it needs to be a crime to leave a jurisdiction knowing that you have an outstanding warrant, said Insp. Ruben Sorge, coordinator of the VPDs con-air program, at a news conference Tuesday. We also think that victims of these crimes deserve a resolution.
The absence of a charge means police cant always immediately arrest a wanted person from another city who arrives in Vancouver. Thats because warrants issued in Ottawa, for example, may only have a 400-kilometre radius.
Sorge pointed to the case of Colin Alain Bouchard, 34, who has 113 warrants for his arrest in Ottawa. Charges include break-and-enter, mischief, possession of break-in tools and 62 warrants for breaching probation.
The VPD learned Bouchard was in Vancouver June 22 after responding to a report of a man acting suspiciously at an East Side building. Though police learned of the outstanding warrants, Bouchard had committed no crime in Vancouver and was released.
An officer can temporarily detain a suspect if the officer deems the charges related to the outstanding warrants are serious. But in detaining the suspect, the officer then has to contact the Crown and police agency that dealt with the persona process which could take several days and may include the Crown contacting victims.
The VPD has discovered that, in some cases, the Crown or police agency in another jurisdiction doesnt always want to have the suspect flown back and prosecuted. Reasons include transportation costs, the charges may be dated or the agencies simply dont want the person back in their city.
The VPD has identified 364 people in the city who are wanted on outstanding warrants in other parts of the country. On Tuesday, Sorge released a top-10 most wanted list of the suspects, with Bouchard making the list.
The VPD has contacted Crown or police, or both, in the jurisdictions of the suspects and were notified by authorities they want Bouchard and others returned to be prosecuted. Some agencies are sharing the costs, while others arent.
The VPD has a $40,000 budget this year courtesy of the provincial government to fly wanted individuals back to other cities to face prosecution. It costs roughly $3,000 to send a suspect and two officers on a plane to a city such as Halifax, where officers would spend one night in a hotel.
The VPD began its con air program in January 2008 after noticing a pattern where more criminals on non-returnable warrants were arriving in Vancouver. A March 2006 VPD study found that in one month the police had contact with 593 people in Vancouver who accounted for 1,280 non-returnable warrants and 1,968 charges.
The VPDs top-10 list can be viewed on the departments website.
mhowell@vancourier.com
Twitter: @Howellings
