QUESTION
You guys catch a crook and discover he is on the lam from another province where he faces a court date on a number of charges.
Do you: 1) Deal with him here only, or does that depend on seriousness of charge or type of warrant?
2) Deal with him here, then always ship him back if there is any sort of warrant?
3) Have to pay for the shipping costs or does the receiving province pay?
How often does this happen, and how much does it cost the local budget?
Mike Smith North Vancouver
Dear Mr. Smith:
Thank you for your question.
The answer to your question depends on a few considerations, all underscored by the concept of "the public interest." It is a decision making principle applied to certain matters that considers the well-being of the general public balanced against a combination of convenience and necessity. In other words, how important is this to public welfare?
Firstly, the court of jurisdiction must be established. With just a few exceptions, only the court in an area where an offence has been committed may hear a trial about that offence. If a person commits a theft in Blow Me Down, Newfoundland (hands down, the province with the best names in the country), then the trial must be held in Port De Grave, which houses the court of jurisdiction.
Secondly, the type of warrant in place must be considered. Warrants can be endorsed or unendorsed.
The judge who has issued the warrant may have endorsed, or signed, part of the warrant that allows a person to be released by a peace officer on a recognizance. Such release usually requires the person to follow certain conditions and to pay a financial penalty for failure to do so. The recognizance is applied instead of requiring the person to remain in custody until appearing in court before a judge for a bail hearing, as is the case for unendorsed warrants.
Next, what is called the returnable radius of the warrant must be established. For serious offences, the warrant will be Canada-wide, in other cases, the warrant radius will be provincial, and in still others, the warrant may establish a radius of a certain distance, say 100 kilometres. These considerations are set in place by the Crown counsel who has laid the charge in court. The Crown counsel makes these decisions based upon, you guessed it, public interest.
If the crook in Blow Me Down stole a two-dollar postcard and was then arrested in Vancouver, it is very unlikely that the court of jurisdiction would consider paying the cost to return him to stand trial.
However, if a more erudite thief stole Group of Seven painter Arthur Lismer's $2 million painting of Dan's Hole (Blow Me Down's nickname) from a local gallery, then the Crown would likely obtain a Canada-wide warrant.
Peter DeVries District West Response Sergeant North Vancouver RCMP Follow Peter on Twitter at www. twitter.com/rcmpdevries
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