I have watched, and participated in, a lot of police press conferences over the years, but the one this weekend about the RCMP officers shot in St. Albert, AB on the weekend was a weird one.
For one thing, it is really unusual for them to be so frank about the condition of an injured officer. When Deputy Commissioner Marianne Ryan announced she did not expect Constable David Wynn to survive, it caught me off guard.
Wynn was shot in the head with a handgun during what should have been a routine bust of an automobile theft suspect in a casino.
It is also very unusual for high-ranking officers to interrupt each other to answer questions even when there have been officers killed or injured. Nor do I think I have ever seen Commissioner Bob Paulson so visibly upset, even when there have been officers killed or injured.
Then again, this was a very unusual crime, or rather a very unusual criminal. Shawn Maxwell Rehn had an extensive criminal history, including violence, firearms offences and assaulting police officers dating back to 1994, when he would have been just 13 years old.
Paulson was visibly frustrated as to why this guy was on the streets, considering he had three outstanding warrants in 2014 alone. The commissioner described Rehn’s history as “incredibly complex” and “a veritable labyrinth of charges he was facing, of recognizances he was under, of overlapping firearm prohibitions -- just a series of conditions that aren’t making sense to me as I review it. He called for a in depth analysis of why the shooter was not in jail and how he got the gun into the casino.
“I’ve been in policing for 30 years and I’ve not seen the likes of what I’ve seen here,” he said.
Of course, this kind of incident always brings out criticism. The courts are too soft. The police are under-equipped or poorly trained.
Paulson rejected that analysis saying it was “not a firepower issue” and that Wynn and auxiliary Constable Derek Bond “would know the kind of threat that was walking around that casino.”
As horrific as this crime was, however, we cannot let it lead us to a knee-jerk reaction of restricting civil liberties.
There is no way we can keep 100 per cent of people 100 per cent safe 100 per cent of the time. We couldn’t even come close without so severely limiting everybody’s rights and locking down public places like a prison.
Even the commissioner suggested a more measured approach.
“We need to understand if it was reasonable for this man to be walking around us.”
The assistant commissioner, Marlin Degrand, echoed that sentiment.
“Not every individual we deal with is going to be armed to the teeth and trying to kill our members,” he said.
“We are still part of the community and community still enjoys the support of the RCMP.”
It is always difficult at times like this not to want to overreact. The fact that the RCMP brass are keeping calm and asking for analysis in the face of losing one of their own is extremely heartening.
Section one of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states: “The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”
One of those rights is section nine, which reads: “Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.”
Section one gives the government the right to infringe on individual rights only if it is “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society,” the test for which is known as the Oakes test after a Supreme Court decision.
The purpose of the infringement must have a “pressing and substantial objective.”
Until we know why he was free, we have to assume that the courts were respecting the constitution. If it turns out it was unreasonable for Rehn to be free, we will need to improve the system.
Ultimately, every single day, RCMP officers risk their lives to protect the principles of a free and democratic society.
The best way we can honour the fallen is to ensure we do not unreasonably curtail everybody’s rights in the name of public safety.
