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Thursday July 14, 2011 Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
More cases at risk in congested courts
Illegal dumpers beware
Worsening backlog may set additional accused free
City rolls out cameras, fines and mandatory construction recycling to fight costly problem
by Jeff Nagel
by Maria Spitale-Leisk FOR ANYONE eyeing a deserted Surrey lot in which to dump their garbage, think again. The City of Surrey is warning you are not in the shadows. Since June, mobile surveillance cameras have been covertly watching over a number of vacant lots around the city that are frequently targeted by illegal dumping. The use of cameras is not a new tactic in the city’s fight against the perpetrators of this dirty crime; live monitoring, however, is. “Where the idea now is, that the monitoring centre can then call out the RCMP and try and catch the people while they are doing it,” said Vincent LaLonde, Surrey’s general manager of engineering. Surrey recently introduced stiffer penalties for illegal dumping, raising the maximum fine to $10,000 from $2,000. Convicted offenders are also liable for the cost of clean-up. “That is the whole idea (behind the cameras), taking people to Vincent court,” said Lalonde. Lalonde Anti-litter public service announcements have been popping up on Surrey bus shelters and in local newspapers as part of the city’s $40,000 advertising campaign that started in March. Enforcing mandatory recycling at demolition and construction sites in Surrey is the last piece in the city’s three-pronged strategy to crack down on illegal dumping. See DUMPING / Page 4
MORE THAN half of all B.C. Provincial Court cases have been stuck in the system for at least a year and a growing number are at risk of being thrown out as a result. Those are among the findings of an update to the B.C. Provincial Court’s Justice Delayed report, which originally warned of serious delays in the system last fall. The update shows there were 2,371 adult criminal cases before the courts for more than 18 months as of March 31– a 16 per cent increase from 2,038 a year earlier. Criminal cases 12 to 18 months old climbed 18 per cent over the same period from 4,856 to 5,744. Together, the two categories make up just over half of the court’s entire caseload. Judges are bound by Supreme Court of Canada rulings on how long cases can drag on and trials are being quashed over unacceptable delays of as little as 14 months, depending on the circumstances.
Surrey is the worst courthouse in B.C. for adult criminal cases, with a 16-month wait for a two-day trial.
BOAZ JOSEPH / THE LEADER
The City of Surrey launched a $40,000 advertising campaign in March targeting the growing problem of illegal garbage dumping, which cost taxpayers $830,000 in clean-up costs last year alone.
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