Slashdot Mirror
Local Police in Canada Used 'Stingray' Surveillance Device Without a Warrant (vice.com)
Jordan Pearson, writing for Motherboard: For years, Canadian police have successfully kept their use of controversial and indiscriminate surveillance devices called IMSI catchers a secret. Today, for the first time, and thanks to a year-long effort by a coalition of civil rights organizations and Vancouver-based Pivot Legal Society, we know that at least one local police force in Canada has used an IMSI catcher, also referred to as a "Stingray": the Vancouver PD. According to the BC Civil Liberties Association, which posted a blog announcing the news on Monday, the Vancouver police used an IMSI catcher once, nearly a decade ago, and without a warrant. "We sent a letter asking the Vancouver police if they'd ever used one of the RCMP's IMSI catchers, and if they would again," said Micheal Vonn, policy director for the BCCLA. "The answer to both questions was yes." The police force claimed that the surveillance device was used under "exigent circumstances," Vonn said, meaning that there was an imminent threat that couldn't wait for a warrant to be dealt with. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the Vancouver police maintained in May of this year that they possess no records relating to their use of IMSI catchers.
Because cops are above the law, the law only applies to common folk depending on a scale of $ from 0 to infinity
Partially correct.
There is a police service everywhere. That police service may be provided by the city (e.g., Vancouver), the province (e.g., Ontario and the Ontario Provincial Police) or by the federal government (the RCMP).
Depending on where you are, who you go to depends on who provides police service. Outside of Vancouver, for example, most of the immediate neighbouring cities (in the area known as Metro Vancouver), you'd go to the RCMP, because that city contracts with the RCMP to provide local police services.
Distrust of the RCMP (either due to excessive force, or budgetary issues) has lead to several cities considering starting their own police force (Richmond has had many discussions on that, they expect transition costs of around $200M and the cost of their own force over the RCMP was supposed to be $50M annually, but the benefits include better local representation. The vote lost).
That said, even municipal police forces may participate in unified policing programs - we have a program called IHIT (integrated homicide investigation team) that investigates homicides, and the team is made up of police from all the member forces - they share information with each other and so on to solve homicides that cross city boundaries. Delta police doesn't participate so they have to investigate homicides on their own, though they may request help from IHIT or IHIT may provide information if they believe a killer lives in Delta.
There are other programs like the Anti-Gang Task Force and such.
All BC police forces are monitored by the IIO who is a civilian task force that investigates police use of force - if any police officer brings out their weapon (even if it wasn't fired) it triggers an investigation by the IIO. And yes, if a weapon was fired, the circumstances of that are evaluated as well, including if it was justified.
(Yes, they're busy, probably around 100 cases a year or so, but then again, the total number of murders in a given year is usually well under 20, and total deaths is quite low (including car accidents and running over pedestrians, it typically averages under 100, in a population of 4 million people or so).