RCMP Staff Sgt. Jerry Nutbrown brings you behind the scenes with a serious of columns taking you behind police work and how it’s done in our community. If you have a question you think needs to be answered in Behind the Bison, send it to admin@borderpulse.ca and we will be sure to share it with him.
A term that you may have seen in the media, when it comes to court prosecutions in Canada, is public
interest. Within law enforcement we also utilize that term which takes the general public as a whole into
account for considerations in some decisions we make.
This concept can be difficult to define as it is utilized by various groups and institutions, but I’ll try my
best here to describe what is meant by it within law enforcement and the legal system. The ‘interest’
part of the saying is the more difficult one to define. Essentially it would be something impacting the
well-being or welfare of the general public.
The term is also used within a comparison to weigh out the seriousness or impact one thing may have
over another. Within the legal system this can amount to a judgement call based on experience and past
cases but also considers current, and possibly local, interests. I apologize to my past English teachers
that taught never to use the words you are defining in the definition.
At my count, the term public interest is referenced 48 times in the current version of the Criminal Code.
However, none of these references define it. Although not defined, it is a key component in many
sections where very much weighs on the determination of the public interest.
Section 495 in the Criminal Code is where police officer’s authority to arrest without a warrant is
granted. The term public interest is used in this section as a limitation on that arrest authority.
Probably the easiest thing to do is provide a couple examples to show how it is used in making decisions
or in meeting requirements.
A trial judge may be presented with evidence of a serious crime by a person, however, during the arrest
or subsequent dealings with the accused by police, a section of the Chart of Rights was contravened by
police. In many cases a defense lawyer would successfully argue to the point that the charges would be
withdrawn due to the contravention. The judge would weigh the impact of the charter breach against
the charges facing the accused. The less serious the charges, the more likely that the charges would be
withdrawn.
If the charge was a serious sexual assault, the judge has to weigh between the charter breach and the
impact of withdrawing the charges, ie. public interest. The judge may decide that the charter breach was
not severe enough to throw the case out rather than allow it to be prosecuted.
Another example would be if police are requesting a warrant for arrest be issued for someone. Public
interest is a component of this where we would need to ensure we provide reasonable grounds to
believe that it is in the public’s interest to issue the warrant. Ultimately, police need to provide
reasonable grounds, or a rationale that is deemed reasonable as to why a warrant is necessary.
This is another area within policing and the legal system that is not black and white.
Read more: Behind the Bison – Impaired Operation
