We were in BC Supreme Court the other day and the judge expressed exasperation at the errors made by the police. How could they screw this up so badly? We have the answer to that: police make mistakes, just like everyone else (perhaps with greater consequences?), and not every utterance made by a cop is […]
Trust in the police Continue Reading »
We like most of the police officers we deal with in the course of our work. Despite a few notable exceptions, most police officers are thoughtful intelligent and balanced, and they contribute through their work to our community. To assume that the police don’t lie is mechanism to teach them to lie. If we accept
Are the police lying? Continue Reading »
An interesting issue — we see it reported on U.S. news websites fairly regularly; that is drivers turning off the road to avoid a DUI roadblock. It may not apply across the United States, but in some jurisdictions the police are required to publicize the times and approximate locations of DUI roadblocks. Moreover, it appears
Can you avoid a DUI roadblock? Continue Reading »
In the last few years we’ve seen popularized videos of people from inside their cars recording their interactions with the police at DUI roadblocks. Most of the videos are from the United States where the constitutional rights are very different. As DUI lawyers we like watching them for entertainment, but we also understand the backlash
Lawyers advising clients about DUI roadblocks Continue Reading »
B.C.’s police complaint commissioner has reviewed hundreds of Abbotsford police search warrants and found problems that could put at least 43 cases in jeopardy. Paul Doroshenko, a defence lawyer, said he has already written a letter to representatives of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, asking for information on which cases may have been impacted.
Probe of Abbotsford police officers puts cases in jeopardy Continue Reading »
The massive investigation into corruption at the Abbotsford Police Department has cast a dark shadow on investigations done by the accused officers. Some lawyers, such as Paul Doroshenko, have already begun checking if any evidence that was used against his clients came from one of the search warrants that are now part of the investigation.
Accused Abbotsford police officers’ investigations could be re-opened Continue Reading »
Right now the police in British Columbia are busily working to replace the Alco-Sensor IV Approved Screening Devices (roadside breathalyzers) with a new-to-them model. We take some credit for the move. We’ve identified catastrophic problems with the old Alco-Sensor IV DWF breathalyzers used in BC and they’re hoping to replace them before the you-know-what hits
Implications of using defective breathalyzers Continue Reading »
One thing we know as criminal lawyers defending DUI cases is that emotions can run high particularly where there is a death or an injury. Even some of the comments we receive on our Facebook page cause us concern about the attitude of some people toward drinking drivers. Blame MADD or the police. The vilification
Vigilante Justice Continue Reading »
It’s hard to believe what the police rely on as symptoms of drunk driving. Of course some driving behaviour, such as weaving across lane lines, is an obvious indication that something may be wrong. Still, with increased regularity clients report to us that they were pulled over for driving too correctly. Should the police pull
Symptoms of Drunk Driving Continue Reading »
We know the locations of the DUI roadblocks. It’s not that we spend our time listening to our police radio scanner, or that we follow the twitter account revealing the locations of roadblocks in BC. It’s just that we’ve read so many police reports from all around the province, and we keep a database including
Where are the DUI roadblocks? Continue Reading »
It’s the anniversary of a dark day in the history of BC. June 15 marks the second year that the second version of the IRP scheme has been in effect. The Government would like you to think its a fait accompli at this point — that the IRP scheme isn’t going away, that they pulled
Government science behind the IRP scheme Continue Reading »
After years of defending drinking and driving cases, and after having reviewed studies, reports and disclosure in thousands of DUI cases, and after having conducted hundreds of breath tests with a dozen different police breathalyzers, you might think that we’ve gained more confidence in the reliability of breathalyzer testing. But that’s not the case. What
We don’t trust the police Continue Reading »
