Editor:
While there may not be an observable difference between police using unmarked cars for surveillance and householders driving around looking for their cats, the abundance of vehicle trips in lower Gibsons which appear to be one or the other of these suggests a town that’s vigilant or full of catnip plants or both.
Reassuring though the circling cars may be, it’s been only three months since the B.C. Court of Appeal’s decision in the “legislature bomb plot” case reminded us what can happen when there’s pressure from above to show results for an investment of police resources.
The court found stays of proceedings against the accused to be appropriate, principally because the RCMP had failed to balance the need to protect the public from serious crime with the concepts of fairness and justice and had not only manufactured the crime at issue but were the primary actors in its commission.
Though the recent attack in Christchurch underscores the need to watch for threats, the dud-bombing closer to home showed how the amount of money spent on surveillance can itself distort the evaluation of potential threats.
David Stow, Elphinstone
