THURSDAY
K A M L O O P S
ONLINE ALL THE TIME: BREAKING NEWS AND UPDATES AT KAMLOOPSTHISWEEK.COM
THIS WEEK
Thursday, July 26, 2012 X Volume 25 No. 60 www.kamloopsthisweek.com X 30 cents at Newsstands
NO LEGAL FUNDING HAS MOUNTIES WORRIED By Tim Petruk STAFF REPORTER tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
The staff association representing the RCMP’s 20,000 officers across Canada is concerned with Ottawa’s decision to deny legal funding for three Kamloops Mounties facing serious criminal charges. RCMP Cpl. Rick Brown, constables Stephen Zaharia and Evan Elgee, along with municipal jail guard David Tompkins, are each charged with breach of trust by a public officer, stemming from an alleged incident in the Kamloops RCMP’s cellblock
nearly two years ago. It is alleged the four men watched two female prisoners engage in a sex act via closed-circuit TV in the holding cells at the Kamloops RCMP’s Battle Street detachment on Aug. 18, 2010. The four accused had been slated to appear in Kamloops provincial court for a preliminary inquiry during two weeks in September but, at a brief hearing on Tuesday, July 24, those dates were set aside when the court was informed the three Mounties no longer had legal representation. No trial date has been set.
Lawyers representing the officers dropped the case when the RCMP decided it would not cover their legal fees. “We don’t have the written decision from the [RCMP] commissioner’s office yet, but that’s our understanding,” said Staff Sgt. Tom Almasi, E-Division Southeast District representative for the RCMP’s staff relations representative program. “It’s in his [RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson] authority to either support his members or not, and it appears he’s decided in this case he’s not.” Almasi said the decision is raising
red flags among officers in B.C. and across Canada. “It’s something that used to be extremely rare, but it’s becoming more and more common,” he said. “It’s concerning and potentially very damaging for our members.” Abe Townsend, at the RCMP staff relations representative program’s headquarters in Ottawa, said there is a process in place for Mounties to apply for legal-fee coverage when charged with a criminal offence. Lately, he said, more and more of those applications are being rejected. “It’s a trend that we’re seeing, that they’re being challenged more and
denied more frequently,” he said. “This has been something that’s been observed within this calendar year. It’s trending upward.” Almasi said he couldn’t get into specifics, but said there have been recent examples of similar denials on the part of the RCMP’s Ottawa headquarters across the country — in B.C., Alberta and Atlantic Canada. During a court appearance in June, Crown prosecutor Winston Sayson described surveillance footage of the alleged cellblock incident as “extremely, extremely explicit,” “pornographic” and “embarrassing.” X See QUARTET A10
BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR BEAUTIFUL GAME Thompson Rivers University McDonald’s Sports Camp soccer coach Taylor Shantz (second from left) leads a group of seven-to-12-yearold players through warm-up exercises at Hillside Stadium. Learning new skills at the week-long soccer camp are Claire Babcock (left) Ridley Best and Lauren Grayston. For information on the various summer sports camps at TRU, go online to tru.ca/athletics/ sportcamps.html. Dave Eagles/KTW
OAKLEY PRESCRIPTION FRAMES AND LENSES
FIVES
FIVES
Rootbeer
Polished Black
OAKLEY PRESCRIPTION RIPTION SUNGLASSES from m $ 97
See the complete collection of Oakley Glasses at www.oakley.ca
EYES
INTERNATIONAL 331 Victoria St.• 25O-851-8992
219
SIGHT TESTING! Voted Kamloops’ Best Optical Store
Free with purchase. Call For Details
*Includes *In selected Oakley frames and RX Sun Lenses. Some S RX restrictions apply. See instore for details. HURRY! Expires July 31st, 2012