Vancouver Cops Are Criminals

Vancouver Cops Are Criminals

They Ignore Citizen Rights

All I want is some answers

A Follow-up to Request Number One

                                                               September 8, 2014

To: Mayor Gregor Robertson:    gregor.robertson@vancouver.ca

Cc: Chief Jim Chu                     pss@vpd.ca,

Cc: Constable Brian Montague   vpd@vpd.ca

Dear Mayor and Chief: A month ago I sent you a request for information about the change in marijuana policing and asked for clarification of some issues. Neither one of you even acknowledged receipt.

http://goan-smee.blogspot.ca/2014/08/my-complaint-to-mayor-robertson-and.html

This time when someone decided to raid a dispensary without probable cause one of you appointed a mouthpiece: Constable Brian Montague so I decided to go directly to him for clarification

Dear Constable Montague:

Re the VPD Informal Guidelines For "Illegal" Medical Marijuana Dispensaries:

I recently read your explanation of the rationale behind the actions taken against two Medical Marijuana Dispensaries as reported by Jeremiah Vandermeer, Cannabis Culture - Wednesday, September 3 2014

You were quite articulate in outlining the entire reprehensible criminal

Dispensary business and you were forceful in laying down the law to all of them” Putting your position together from your statements equals

"Don't market to children. Don't sell to children. Don't create fire hazards. Don't operate in a manner that clearly puts financial gain ahead of public safety or providing any type of medical service."

I can actually understand those as logical objectives to enforce.

“That said, the VPD has a priority based approach to policing and these shops are, for the most part, a lower priority for our limited resources. That does not mean that one of these businesses can't become a priority if public safety becomes a concern."

It is quite reasonable that there is a high priority to public safety but then you take it too far!

“We do not want to prevent someone from getting any form of medical care they may require," Montague said, "but we have a duty to the public to ensure public safety is a priority.”

In short:any threat to public safety and you shut down the medication just so you can get some front page exposure doing your job and blow some of those limited resources you value so much.

You did not have probable cause to commit these raids!

Per information you have provided us:

Jim’s Weeds Raid was based on anonymous allegations that some of his customers were taking advantage of the low price and reselling it to minors in the neighbourhood. I see no probable cause to invade Jim’s because he wasn’t charging enough. He was selling to legitimate licensees at prices that us guys on the bottom could afford. You guys busted and put him out of business because he was costing his competitors in the “Street” business, not out of any concern for public safety.

There was no threat to the public from the Jim’s Weeds operation and the Swat Team tactics operation was carried out in a manner to provide maximum press coverage and yielded no result as far as any indication of criminal misconduct or you would have arrested somebody instead of confiscating their inventory and equipment to deter them reopening. You would have been far further ahead to have closed down the Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary operating right next door to Jim’s. They are not only a threat to public safety but financial gain is their sole motivation.  They don’t know shit about any medical benefit their products should be used for. You know they’re on the Street selling crap but they might fight back.

Where was the public threat in the Budzilla raid? Once again there is an anonymous allegation that they are selling indiscriminately to any one including youth whether they have a license or not. Why bother sending in a couple of the boys to make a buy and get some evidence. Nope let’s have us a raid and get some overtime. 

I was amazed by your triumph in finding everything one expects to find in a Marijuana Dispensary. "Products comprised of dry marijuana and THC-infused edibles, including candy and cookies," 

What even worse to me is your opinion that the "appearance and packaging of many of these items could be potentially very appealing to children." You have no evidence whatsoever that the child attracting design was an intentional bait for child abuse yet you chuck it in to create the aura of evil of all of these criminals who were once again not arrested or charged.

Constable Montague: You stated

“There is a reason those businesses were targeted for enforcement while others have not."

I want to know what the reason was! For each! What gave probable cause that justified the invasion, search and seizure of contents, harassing and threatening customers and staff: Cops acting like a bunch of pigs at the hog trough to create an image of the force on the job and then walking away with not one bloody charge to justify the waste of time and money for blatant political posturing?

Who was the individual who authorized this raid and who gave him the power to waste money on stuff like this crap?

“Compassion clubs and med-pot dispensaries, though technically illegal, have existed in Vancouver for more than a decade. Police and City Council members have been quoted in the press criticizing federal government policies :

Why are you now interfering with the rights of patients to access medicine and pledging to leave dispensaries alone, as long as they are providing marijuana for medical use.”

What happened? We had a stable peaceful secure scene living here in Vancouver with a need for Medical Marijuana and the cops weren’t an enemy? Both of the premises raided were providing marijuana for medical use: what raises their profile above all the others? Any evidence to support the anonymous accusations?

I would like to know who the anonymous bureaucrat is and where he gets the right to make decisions that fuck up my life and cost me money.

Constable Montague: I would appreciate a reply.

I would appreciate an acknowledgement of receipt and a reply within the next week.

Thank you for your time and consideration

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

By copy to Mayor Robertson and Chief Chu.

Why is it necessary for me to keep chasing a low level flunky to get information about whether you, his superiors, are concealing either your roles or your ignorance of this public betrayal of trust?

I sent you both a detailed list of questions that you both ignored after the Jim’s Weeds raid. I really would like an answer; you don’t even have to look for them: they’re out there on the Web at

http://goan-smee.blogspot.ca/2014/08/my-complaint-to-mayor-robertson-and.html

I truly hope I can get a response from one of: the Mayor? The Chief? Or (The designated Mouthpiece) but I doubt I will. It seems that altitude on the Totem Pole removes our leaders from any responsibility to answer questions regarding their conduct when questionable.

I would very much like to know if any of you had advance knowledge and gave consent to this betrayal of a decade of respect for but I doubt I will.

The simple conclusion is that if neither the Mayor or Chief Chu gave approval for these abusive tactics then there is a Rogue in the Ranks and their command authority has been violated and illegally assumed. What are you going to do about that? Somebody started this shit and the voting public and residents of Vancouver deserve to know who.

I’m going to end here.

In conclusion I don’t expect an answer except maybe some blow-by bullshit from Constable Montague but very little in the form of fact or reasons.

I hope somebody will provide some answers. What kind of odds that someone will? Astronomically negative!

We shall see

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy