Imagine for a moment that you are the provincial government. You have a serious problem that you must address: a significant number of people continue to drive while intoxicated. How do you deal with it? What’s your drinking solution? In addition you have a number of confounding and frustrating impediments. The federal government is responsible […]
Any Suggestions? Continue Reading »
As criminal lawyers we deal with a variety of criminal offences. Some of our clients are charged with violent offences, like assault. Many of our clients, however, are charged with a non-violent crime such as theft, break and enter, mischief and lying to ICBC. This is not surprising, considering 79% of crimes in 2010 were
Non-Violent Crime Continue Reading »
The police want powers. They want the power to choose whether a person is charged and what the charges should be. They want the authority to get access to your internet usage on demand without first getting a warrant. They want to use the photos in ICBC’s database to try and match up names to
Police Powers Continue Reading »
Over the last six months we developed a unique argument that will likely change the rules concerning ADP and IRP hearings conducted at the OSMV tribunal. This argument was used as part of one of our IRP appeals. Lawyers for the government considered our written argument and chose not to oppose us concerning this argument
The Application of the Charter to ADP and IRP Hearings Continue Reading »
Wouldn’t it be funny if only a few days after our post about careless storage of firearms, a senior officer in Victoria was found to have casually stuffed a loaded handgun under his car seat? (cue the deer) On Wednesday the chief of police in Victoria was reprimanded for leaving his loaded handgun under the
It Would be Funny if… Continue Reading »
The BC Legislative Assembly is back in session and on Tuesday the Government introduced the budget. In the last couple of years the Government seems to have been unusually short-sighted regarding the introduction of new legislation and Government policy (see: here and here). This is not to say that it is only a BCLiberal issue.
Unintended Consequences Continue Reading »
If you received a 90-day IRP for Fail and you are still not back on the road due to the Interlock or Responsible Driver’s Program, give us a call. A great number of people received a 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibition for Fail and did not file a dispute of the IRP at ICBC Driver Services
IRP Update for Those Who Missed the 7-Days to Dispute Continue Reading »
Careless storage of a firearm can get you a few years in prison. We only mention this because the Victoria Police Department is missing a shotgun. It was stolen, lost or misplaced. Along with a bunch of riot equipment. Missing. We do not expect that the police will investigate themselves for the unsafe storage of
Careless Storage Continue Reading »
From time to time we hire private investigators to assist us and all are former police detectives. One common thing they tell us is that they did not know what hard work was until they had to produce results for a client. Policing, we are told, is a lot of drinking coffee and socializing and
The police in British Columbia are now introducing a new breathalyzer, the Intox EC/IR II. The first one we know of is at the West Vancouver Police detachment. The device performs the same function as the BAC Datamaster, i.e. analyzing the alcohol content in breath exhaled into the instrument and then calculating a blood/alcohol concentration.
The New Breathalyzer Continue Reading »
Monday was a big news day and so we have a lot to cover. We’ll start with the big Government flip-flop. Right after the Vancouver riot of 2011, the Premier announced that the Government would televise the hearings of those charged with committing offences during the riot. From our perspective it was a poorly considered
News-Packed Start to the Week Continue Reading »
When the OSMV (Part of the Ministry of Solicitor General) stopped rendering decisions on all letters requesting an extension of the 7-day review period to file for an IRP review, we filed a Petition to get a mandamus order from Court forcing them to start rendering decisions. When the Attorney General’s office contacted us to
7-Day Extension Update Continue Reading »
