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.
You may have seen or heard in news releases that police obtained a Feeney Warrant which authorizes
them to enter a dwelling to apprehend or arrest a person. Although they are referred to as a Feeney
Warrant, they are actually a Form 7.1 Warrant under the Criminal Code.
This is a specific warrant type, and it is not used for anything else and came about due to the Regina vs.
Feeney court ruling in 1997 from a 1991 incident. This ruling came about due to a police investigation
into a homicide where the police of jurisdiction entered an equipment trailer being utilized for living and
arrested the occupant, Michael Feeney.
The officers initially received no answer at the door and entered the trailer and awoke Mr. Feeney from
a sleep. Upon moving into better lighting, they observed blood on his shirt and arrested him. The
officers had also gathered evidence which convicted Feeney of second-degree murder but upon appeal,
he was successful as it was ruled there was a Charter of Rights violation. The violation occurred specific
to the officers entering the trailer as this was considered to be an unreasonable search oand seizure.
After the appeal was successful, all evidence seized subsequent to the officers entering the trailer was
disallowed. There were a lot of legal discussions about this case through the appeals but regardless, it
prompted that police must obtain a warrant to enter a dwelling to arrest a person, in most cases.
There are exceptions authorizing police to enter a dwelling without a warrant, but exigent circumstances
must exist. These circumstances include the safety of a person(s), fresh pursuit and the destruction of
evidence. There is not the space here to get into those specifics.
After this ruling, officers would be required to provide a rationale as to why they reasonably believe that
the person(s) they are wanting to arrest or apprehend is, or will be, present in a said dwelling-house. In
applying for a Feeney Warrant, police have to provide details of the circumstances speaking to an
arrest/apprehension and the likelihood of locating the subject(s) in the dwelling-house.
Initially we would have to secure the exterior of the dwelling-house while an officer returned to the
detachment to write the application for the warrant. This process has since been updated allowing a
telecommunications warrant to be obtained. This now allows an officer to remain on-site and verbally
provide the information to obtain the authorization. This has very much expedited the receipt of the
warrant saving a lot of time while allowing the officer to also be somewhat involved in the scene
security.
This is another example of how police must work within authorities granted to them in their everyday
work. Virtually everything we do involves us having a granted authority which also comes with
limitations. Believing that police can do whatever they want is incorrect because we have to answer to
judges and in the case of Feeney, his lawyers were successful in having his charges dismissed.
Read more: Behind the Bison – Public Interest
