Sheriff positions cut - judges close court rooms

[my5cents]

..............I also know that ordinary Canadians can do a helluva lot more about fixing the problems within the court system - by not breaking laws and by avoiding having to get their names on court lists for stupid willful trivial things that create backlogs in more crucial areas. In many, many ways we are largely responsible for tying up the system.

You haven't met many criminals have you ? "by not breaking laws" ?? are you kidding ???

...........................We also have some archaic laws on the books that could be changed and modernized. Legalizing all drugs but especially MJ comes to mind. That would make an instant difference in the number of court cases we are bogged down with now.

I guess the BC government has already disposed of one "archaic law" it's already taken away the right of a driver accused of drinking and driving under the MVA to have a trial. Drinking and driving is the most disputed offense in Canada and probably the western world so that should "help out". I'm sure most British Columbians are proud to relinquish the right to a trial to help the BC government save a few bucks. The same government who gave it's MLA and deputy ministers outrageous salary increases.

Wouldn't life be sweet if everyone followed the laws and nobody thought the laws they didn't like didn't apply to them?

I gather my "everyone", you mean like your wonderful Liberal Government ? Like when they implemented Bill 29, the Health and Social Service Delivery Improvement Act, which was outrageous and illegal. It went thru the BC Supreme Court and the Appeal Court of BC, until if was finally ruled in the Supreme Court of Canada that the Act violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. How many days of court and how much cost did that little fiasco cost the tax payers of British Columbia ??

As for the police ...... Like all areas of employment, there are bad apples, ...... I agree that when they get caught they should be dealt with by outside entities, but even so, they do deserve (as all Canadians do) to have their day in court ... and around we go again ... tying up the court system.

Let me get this straight, you're saying we "should stop breaking the law", but somehow you don't expect that police will fall into line and not break the law ?

Now, you want the police to have their day in court. What about the driver in BC, who may have been caught by perhaps one of these "bad apples", where's his day in court ? So maybe the police should relinquish their rights to a trial to help out a bit ?

This is a government out of control. They haven't maintained the infrastructure of BC and misused the money they had to spend. They say "where are we going to get money from"
In 2003 the Liberals said they were going to lease the Coquihalla Highway to private interests and expected the tolls to rise. After severe opposition they reneged.
In 2008 they cancelled the tolls all together. It costs around $20 million a year to maintain, they collected just under $60 million a year in tolls so they now have to come up with $20 million ? How many sheriffs would that pay for ????

They stupidly institute pay parking at provincial parks at god knows what cost, adding "no parking" signs in the area of the parking lots, ticket spitters, patrols and maintenance, then they get kudos for dropping the parking fees.

Next they increase the parking fees at the local Cancer Centre by 1600%.

They've got no money for legal representation for interested parties in the Murdered and Missing Woman’s Investigation commission, but can give $6 million to two former government aides that plead guilty to selling government information.

Come on, can't you see where the problems are coming from ?

[FreeRights]

so, just fire those overpaid judges, and start electing members of the community as judges.

This is a terrible idea. Judges understand case law and the Criminal Code. You don't.

[RJ2]

Lets see how this works, you can cut babies out of the womb, but you can't spank your child, "its the law" because the people allow the Religion of Government with their cardinals to run their lives, this division of church and state is a ploy to eliminate any contention from the electorate, the NDP just this weekend want to distance themselves as Socialists, lets just fasttrack the cleanse, lets eliminate the courtroom personell and the power will be better centralized. Wakeup lemmings!!!!!!

[zudnic]

so, just fire those overpaid judges, and start electing members of the community as judges.

This is a terrible idea. Judges understand case law and the Criminal Code. You don't.

Some of our elected members of Parliament are not lawyers yet they make laws everyday. Same thing!!!! Doesn't take much to understand case law and the criminal code.

[FreeRights]

so, just fire those overpaid judges, and start electing members of the community as judges.

This is a terrible idea. Judges understand case law and the Criminal Code. You don't.

Some of our elected members of Parliament are not lawyers yet they make laws everyday. Same thing!!!! Doesn't take much to understand case law and the criminal code.

That's not how government works. Do you have any idea how many people - lawyers included - work on a single "law"? Members of Parliament don't just "make" laws, they go through a lot of hoops to get to that point.

And no. The average person does not have the ability to be a judge. You couldn't do it. Even though my line of work deals with law, I couldn't do it. Judges are professionals, just as teachers or doctors are.

[violadagamba]

so, just fire those overpaid judges, and start electing members of the community as judges.

This is a terrible idea. Judges understand case law and the Criminal Code. You don't.

Some of our elected members of Parliament are not lawyers yet they make laws everyday. Same thing!!!! Doesn't take much to understand case law and the criminal code.

That's so cute. Have you ever read the CCC? Or, where there are gaps, tried to apply the common law? Do you really think it's that easy? Our "elected" MP's can only make law when Parliament is sitting. And then, it has to go through several committee hearings and then be approved by the Senate - and then is still subject to review by the Courts. So - no, Virginia, our elected members of Parliament do not "make laws everyday [sic]" - although they would like to think they may. And really - electing judges as a fair way of applying the law? Really? That's what Henry II abolished by getting rid of trial by ordeal - to avoid the inevitable injustice of flipping a coin. Good luck, though - next time you or yours face an unreasonable search & seizure argument, I'm sure you'll do fine.

[grumpydigger]

B.C. reverses cuts to deputy sheriffs positions http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... riffs.html Kirsty Campbell runs her government The same way Her brother Gordo Did are the liberal cheerleaders starting to see a pattern here

[grammafreddy]

I have no idea how you expect everything to be funded that you think government, etc should do, though. When you solve that one, I'd like to hear your solution and fiscal policies.

[CJT84]

The US has mortgage robo signers, maybe BC will have robo sheriffs. I like the look of this guy:

[grammafreddy]

The US has mortgage robo signers,

You saw that story, too, eh? Scary stuff.

[grammafreddy]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... hired.html

Dropped B.C. court cases prompt sheriff hiring
The Canadian Press
Posted: Aug 22, 2011 3:05 PM PT
Last Updated: Aug 22, 2011 3:05 PM PT

The B.C. government is hiring 36 new auxiliary sheriffs to help police the courts.

The move follows complaints that a shortage of judges and sheriffs was causing major delays in the justice system and resulting in court cases being tossed out.

B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union President Darryl Walker has said the entire system has slowed to a crawl for the past couple of years because the government hasn't replaced vacant sheriff positions.

Walker said the new hiring is a positive step, but the government still needs to replace more than 100 sheriffs who've left the service for higher-paying enforcement jobs.

Last month, the government appointed five new provincial court judges, but critics said that did little to solve the problem of major delays in the court system.

The additions brought the number of provincial court judges in B.C. to 130, but that's still more than a dozen fewer than in 2005.
© The Canadian Press, 2011
The Canadian Press

[Al Czervic]

My question is that now we have hired more judges and more sheriff’s…where will be the next bit of finger pointing to blame for the never ending delays in the court system ?

[flamingfingers]

My question is that now we have hired more judges and more sheriff’s…where will be the next bit of finger pointing to blame for the never ending delays in the court system ?

Right back at Gordon Campell who viciously cut the justice system in the first place, which put us into THIS position! Cuts for the sake of cuts and not thinking about the ramifications of his bizarre decisions.

[steven lloyd]

The B.C. government is hiring 36 new auxiliary sheriffs to help police the courts. The move follows complaints that a shortage of judges and sheriffs was causing major delays in the justice system and resulting in court cases being tossed out.

It’s not just the vacant sheriff positions that have contributed to this mess. It is also closed courthouses and cuts in staffing to Crown Counsel. We knew that matters were being dismissed from the Courts years ago due to lengthy delays caused by reckless cuts ( "What does this do?" "I don’t know – let’s cut it" ) Victims and witnesses to violent offences are no longer wanting to testify in matters that are three years old (or can no longer be found), and other lawyers have successfully been arguing lack of due process. Matters are also being delayed because alleged offenders are not able to access legal aid. This isn’t new news. It’s just making the news – again.

People who have been leaving the public service en masse in disgust have left open positions the government has finally had to admit have to be filled. The problem is we’re filling those positions to replace fully-trained and experienced workers who have left by people with no experience or training and which we now have to spend significant dollars in training them ( we are also having a hard time keeping new people as they discover what the workloads and demands are really like contrary to the misconception of some ). Ya – in addition to offenders walking free, we’ve been and are saving money all over the place.

[Al Czervic]

The B.C. government is hiring 36 new auxiliary sheriffs to help police the courts. The move follows complaints that a shortage of judges and sheriffs was causing major delays in the justice system and resulting in court cases being tossed out.

It’s not just the vacant sheriff positions that have contributed to this mess. It is also closed courthouses and cuts in staffing to Crown Counsel. We knew that matters were being dismissed from the Courts years ago due to lengthy delays caused by reckless cuts ( "What does this do?" "I don’t know – let’s cut it" ) Victims and witnesses to violent offences are no longer wanting to testify in matters that are three years old (or can no longer be found), and other lawyers have successfully been arguing lack of due process. Matters are also being delayed because alleged offenders are not able to access legal aid. This isn’t new news. It’s just making the news – again.

People who have been leaving the public service en masse in disgust have left open positions the government has finally had to admit have to be filled. The problem is we’re filling those positions to replace fully-trained and experienced workers who have left by people with no experience or training and which we now have to spend significant dollars in training them ( we are also having a hard time keeping new people as they discover what the workloads and demands are really like contrary to the misconception of some ). Ya – in addition to offenders walking free, we’ve been and are saving money all over the place.

I suppose we could cut the Health Care budget by a half billion and throw more money into the court system instead......