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Cop wins RCMP settlement after highway search
Last Updated Jan 28 2005 07:00 PM PST
CBC News
VANCOUVER â?? A Vancouver man has won an out-of-court settlement from the RCMP after an incident in which he says he was illegally searched.

David Laing says police overstepped the law when they stopped his car, decided he was driving under the influence of marijuana, and searched his vehicle and two-year-old son.

Under Canadian law, that kind of search is illegal.

What upset Laing even more is that some the officers he tangled with were actually American police officers.

Last spring, he was driving on a highway near Hope. He turned a corner and a man in an orange traffic vest in the middle of the road motioned him to pull over. In a heavy Texas accent, the man asked for Laing's identification.

Laing asked if the man was an American. The man answered that he was, and that he was performing a B.C. road check.

"I said, are you a police officer? Who are you to be detaining me?"

The man was a Texas state trooper. The RCMP brought the Texans up to help them learn how to identify drug traffickers.

Laing refused to let the officers search his car. He knew that under Canadian law, police officers don't have the right to perform that kind of search.

Laing is a Vancouver cop.

Less than a minute after Laing drove away, another Texas trooper â?? paired with an RCMP officer â?? pulled him over.

This time Laing was told he was under the influence of marijuana. Laing's lawyer, Marilyn Sandford, says it was all preposterous.

Laing agreed to the search, but was told he couldn't take his son from the vehicle. He was horrified as he watched the Mountie search his two-year-old.

The police found no drugs, and despite saying he was impaired just moments earlier, let him go.

RCMP spokesperson Const. John Ward says the Texas troopers profiling program provides great help to the Mounties.

"The Americans do a lot of this, and have been doing it for quite some time. So there's a lot of opportunity on both sides of the border to become closer."

Laing and his lawyer disagree. They say that when it comes to narcotics, American attitudes and Canadian laws are quite different.

"We have different freedoms than they have," Laing says. "You don't want to mesh too much. You don't want your police meshing to the point where we start taking on other police jurisidiction's policies."

The RCMP settled with Laing out of court when he threatened to sue for unlawful detention. But the Mounties defend the search, saying Laing was suspicious because his eyelashes were fluttering and his eyes were flashing.

Murray Mollard of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association says police shouldn't be depending on clues like that. He says that it's not a scientifically reliable method.

The RCMP also says Laing was evasive when asked about his job. Laing says he didn't want to tell them he's a Vancouver cop.

"To me it's irrelevant," he says. "I'm a father with his son going to look at property. I'm not in the course of duty â?? I don't deserve privileges of any type."

Mollard says Laing's case presents a series of concerns â?? from using unreliable profiling techniques to a wrongful vehicle search, not to mention using an American police officer to pull over Canadians.

He says his association will be writing the RCMP to complain about the profiling techniques and remind them of the rights Canadians have under the law.

Ferno wrote:man what an outrage. what gives them the right to search his car without a warrant or even permission? a wrong look?

roid wrote:...i suppose it could be possible that the canadian RCMP actually told the Texan cops that they were authorised* to search ppl, and the texans knew no better....

The RCMP also says Laing was evasive when asked about his job. Laing says he didn't want to tell them he's a Vancouver cop.

"To me it's irrelevant," he says. "I'm a father with his son going to look at property. I'm not in the course of duty â?? I don't deserve privileges of any type."

Ferno wrote:what gives them the right to search his car without a warrant or even permission?

Laing refused to let the officers search his car. He knew that under Canadian law, police officers don't have the right to perform that kind of search.

They basically invited a bunch of hotdog cowboys up their to show them how to run a roadblock...what did they expect...tea and crumpets?

Testiculese wrote:If you do a little research on who actually owns your car (if you're American), you'll see what does.

Ferno wrote:testi: two possibilities. either he does or the VPD does.

Ferno wrote:

They basically invited a bunch of hotdog cowboys up their to show them how to run a roadblock...what did they expect...tea and crumpets?

They expected the texan cops to still follow our laws.

TheVancouverCop wrote:The RCMP also says Laing was evasive when asked about his job. Laing says he didn't want to tell them he's a Vancouver cop.

"To me it's irrelevant," he says. "I'm a father with his son going to look at property. I'm not in the course of duty â?? I don't deserve privileges of any type."

So the real answer is, they want the cowboys to show them how they profile druggies back in Texas, which is what they did, that's what they were hired to do.

Writer of the article wrote:Laing agreed to the search . . .

Ferno wrote:dammit, guess that part didn't stick out.

back at square one. Now i'm left wondering; who did the searching?

Ferno wrote:"Aha!!! The Old Exception to the Consent Exception -- Searching Outside the Scope of Consent!!!"

Which would probably be why the guy was pissed off. It's not like a police officer to be completely ignorant of what can and can't be done under the law.