Straight Talk
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printCameraman may file police complaint
A camera operator arrested at a June 12 demonstration is considering filing a complaint against the Vancouver Police Department. “The more I think about it, I’m not just going to lie down here,” Michael Barcellona told the Straight by phone. “They made an example of me, and if I can make an example of them, I will.”
Barcellona was arrested outside the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre while filming a protest against former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell, who was speaking inside. As the Straight went to press, Barcellona was waiting to hear if Crown counsel will press charges.
Barcellona claims that although he was invited to film the demonstration by a group protesting Powell’s visit, he was acting as a journalist. The VPD’s Const. Tim Fanning earlier told the Straight that Barcellona was in the middle of the protest when he was arrested for resisting removal from the property.
Murray Mollard, executive director for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, told the Straight that this all makes Barcellona’s arrest an interesting case.
“It doesn’t strike me that he is a journalist in the traditional sense, as completely independent or representing a news agency,” Mollard said. But, he continued, “Is he a protester per se? No. So he has this kind of unique position.”
Mollard noted that at times, the police will make “reasonable” requests for journalists to move away from particular situations. But, he added, “The worry is that the police may be preventing or avoiding the existence of witnesses to a particular incident.”
In a related development, Mollard took issue with the VPD’s statement on Barcellona’s arrest, which included the phrase, “Charges are pending.”
“Police should simply not publicly announce whether they recommend charges or not,” Mollard said. “At worst, this may simply be public grandstanding and an attack on the Crown’s independence, and at best, it will not enhance the relationship between Crown and police.”
Although the VPD’s release only referred to a 39-year-old male, Mollard argued that it was not difficult to “put two and two together” and interpret the VPD’s statement to mean that charges will be laid against Barcellona.
According to the VPD’s Fanning, the phrase, “charges pending”, is “normally” reserved for cases where somebody has already been charged by Crown counsel. “If it said charges pending and charges haven’t been approved, than it’s more of a slip,” Fanning said.
A search of the VPD’s public-affairs website returned 21 results from the last five years for the phrase, “charges are pending.”
Crown Council should watch the 50 year old ballet teacher get assaulted/bounced by the police officer and decide about whether or not "charges should be pending".
Police targeting cameraman and telling them " i'm going to break that camera" is anti-Canadian and goes against everything we stand for.
When told Powell is responsible for violating laws vis a vis the Geneva conventions and should be arrested on site, an officer replied " If you like Geneva so much why don't you move there" seriously pathetic.
Shame on the Vancouver Sun for sponsoring a war criminal event.
So much for an independent press.
Good on the Georgia Straight for covering this story.
If here were big cities like, for instance, London, N.Y. or etc, police officers would try to convince with a spoken language explaining 'the law' before they arrest one. So they can justify themselves what they are doing. But in the event took in the article, the police officer, being a not experienced small city cop, didn't do so. When a police officer needs someone to leave from certain area, they must explain 'why' and, needless to say, when arresting. But all the police officer said was only 'Leave the property' when telling to leave and 'You have been told to leave the property' when arresting.
They must be trained properly for a situation like this. They might be skillful police officers in other situations but not this one. They must be trained to serve the citizens based on their rights, and be knowledgable about the law for that particular situation.
The smaller city, the less people are awake, the easier the wrong power can occupy. I hope more people become aware of this event, so it makes hard for VPD to hide its officer's fault, and, of course, Mike Barcellona's getting 'wrongly' charged can be stopped.
(Maybe I'm talking out of my ass saying, 'Vancouver is a small city', but this is how I see about what happened on June 12. And I have been living in Vancouver for 6 years.)