Privacy concerns quashes 'chronic offender' program

"Well, it's pretty obvious the police were making a political point -- that said, so what? The point, that there are some seriously dangerous folks on the street who are not being taken care of by the system, is valid (the police answer is a problem but that's another point). Moreover the individuals in question are unlikely to care. Still, the law does seem pretty clear against the police. jcm"


Brian Hutchinson, National Post Published: Friday, June 27, 2008

VANCOUVER -- An aggressive police campaign designed to expose career criminals in Vancouver has been suspended after B.C.'s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner said it may violate provincial law.

"We don't want people to play fast and loose with the rules," the office's executive director, Mary Carlson, said in an interview Friday, suggesting the Vancouver Police Department may have violated provincial privacy laws when it launched its "Chronic Offender" publicity program last week.

Among other things, the VPD released photographs and brief criminal histories of three career criminals, each of whom has more than 125 convictions for theft, break an enter, assault and other crimes.
The publicity blitz was to continue this week with the release of more criminal profiles, part of its new "Chronic Offender of the Week" program. That campaign has also been shelved, says VPD Inspector Rob Rothwell, who runs the department's chronic offenders program.

Ms. Carlson said B.C.'s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act requires police to notify her office first before making such information public.

Police must provide her office with material they intend to publicize, including photographs and written descriptions of criminals and criminal suspects.

Ms. Carlson said this protocol was not followed last week. "We were not informed prior" to the release of the three criminal profiles, she said. Her office immediately contacted the VPD and expressed its concern. She then participated in a conference call with Vancouver police representatives.

Ms. Carlson acknowledges that efforts by her office to stop or delay the police program, the first of its kind in Canada, "may not be popular" with British Columbians.

But, she said, the criteria that determine which criminal is to be identified and exposed by police are "not clear to us."

Under the Privacy Act, police are to create awareness of a criminal's status in the event there is "significant risk" to the public. "This is to be done right away," Ms. Carlson said. "How does releasing the photograph [of an offender] once a week meet that test? I'm not entirely sure what the police are trying to do with that."

Insp. Rothwell says the VPD does not believe it breached the Privacy Act. Certain sections, he adds, "are open to interpretation. If you look at the Act, the wording is fairly vague and general."

He denied that Ms. Carlson and her colleagues were not provided advance notice of its media campaign last week. "We did alert them," he said. "Granted, it may have been more of a last-minute advisory."

He hopes his department's decision to suspend the Chronic Offender publicity campaign is only temporary. The VPD is preparing a response to the privacy office and discussions are expected to continue with officials next week.