{"id":23770,"date":"2020-11-26T15:48:03","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T20:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=23770"},"modified":"2020-11-27T16:50:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T21:50:53","slug":"simultaneous-ticket-and-compliance-order-unfair-and-overreach-by-rcmp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/simultaneous-ticket-and-compliance-order-unfair-and-overreach-by-rcmp\/","title":{"rendered":"Simultaneous ticket and compliance order \u201cunfair” and \u201coverreach\u201d by RCMP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two RCMP officers visited the Hounds of Vintage store on York street in Sackville on Tuesday to check the store for compliance with COVID-19 protocols under the province\u2019s Emergency Measures Act.<\/p>\n

Before they left, owner Derrick Dixon had both a compliance order listing three things he needed to do within 24 hours, and a ticket carrying a fine of nearly $300.<\/p>\n

Dixon says he was an early and enthusiastic adopter of COVID-19 protocols, requiring masks in his store long before it became mandatory. He\u2019s concerned about the motivations behind his ticket from RCMP Constable Christophe Bertrand.<\/p>\n

CHMA spoke with Derrick Dixon on Wednesday evening to hear about his experience:<\/p>\n\n

Dixon says he was in his store waiting for a delivery when two fully uniformed and armed police offices came in to do a compliance check on his COVID-19 protocols.<\/p>\n

Dixon keeps his written COVID-19 policy posted on his door for customers, which he understood was a public health requirement, but he didn\u2019t have another written copy of this policy behind his counters, and so the officers gave Dixon a compliance order, asking for that condition to be fulfilled within 24 hours. Dixon says he feels \u201ctotally fine,\u201d about the compliance order.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s good that the protocols are being monitored,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But the experience was still distressing, says Dixon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole time I was very anxious and felt very intimidated by two fully uniformed and armed cops in my shop. And so I just mentioned, I was like, this is a bit much, this is really anxiety-inducing for people,\" he says.<\/p>\n

After he made that comment, Dixon says one of the officers asked him for his ID and began to write him a ticket. The ticket, which Dixon posted on social media, is for non-compliance with the Emergency Measures Act, and comes with a fine of $292.50.<\/p>\n

\n

\"A

A ticket and compliance order issued to Hounds of Vintage owner Derrick Dixon on Nov. 24. Image courtesy of Derrick Dixon's Instagram.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

One of the officers told Dixon the ticket was for not having his operational plan behind his counter, which was also one of the items in Dixon\u2019s compliance order, signed by Constable Christophe Bertrand. Dixon says at that point two other items were added to his compliance order, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand why I didn\u2019t get a warning,\u201d says Dixon. \u201cI have operational plans, several different operational plans that I\u2019ve changed and updated over the course of the pandemic.\u201d Dixon keeps his plans on his computer, which he did not have with him, as he wasn\u2019t planning on opening the shop Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel fair. I feel like I\u2019ve been sort of unfairly targeted,\u201d says Dixon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like this is definitely an overstepping, and an overreach of what should have been done,\" he says. \"I can\u2019t see any reasonable reason why they would give me a fine automatically for not having an extra copy of something, when that element of the compliance order isn\u2019t even something that\u2019s endangering people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RCMP issued both a compliance order and a ticket to Derrick Dixon on Tuesday. CHMA spoke to RCMP spokesperson Const. Hans Ouelette on Wednesday to get a sense of how many compliance orders and tickets were being issued in the Sackville area. Ouellette was not willing to share the numbers. Here\u2019s the conversation went:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Hans-Ouellette-Nov-25-2020.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Ouellette says that tickets and compliance orders are being used with police officer discretion.<\/p>\n

\u201cTickets are being issued when appropriate,\u201d says Ouellette. \u201cBut the important thing here is that we\u2019re encouraging and promoting compliance, and we\u2019re working with the communities and the province as well, and our partners with public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouellette will not say if it is common to issue a ticket along with a compliance order, or if orders usually come first.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach situation would be different,\u201d says Ouellette. \u201cIt would be on a case by case basis, and I won\u2019t be able to discuss each situation, because then I would just be speculating\u2026 But police officers are using their discretion in either giving a ticket [or an order], because tickets or other enforcement actions are possible if people aren\u2019t following the directives aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouellette says he can\u2019t comment on \u201coperations or tactics\u201d which would include the guidelines or directives the police use for deciding when a compliance order or ticket may be necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the important thing here is that citizens of New Brunswick need to listen, and encourage other citizens to listen, and to really work together with the recommendations that are being put forth by the public health department,\u201d says Ouellette.<\/p>\n

Dixon says he\u2019d like to know why he was given a ticket. \u201cI\u2019m just really curious why it is that they were so heavy-handed with their compliance order and fines on a little tiny shop like mine,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Dixon recommends that other local businesses try to make sure workers are not alone in their shops as police are engaging in compliance checks in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially if their employees are queer or Black or Indigenous or people of colour,\u201d says Dixon, \u201cBecause we all are aware of how interactions with police and systemically oppressed people go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dixon has anxiety, and says, \u201cpolice have sent me into panic attacks before. So I don\u2019t actually feel safe in the presence of police knowing how they tend to deal with people\u2026 It feels like I\u2019m in an unsafe position dealing with police when they come into my shop, and I\u2019m alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing what I know about the RCMP and their history of over-policing queer people and queer spaces,\u201d says Dixon, \u201cand having been a business that has been very vocal about social justice and local social justice issues, there feels like an opportunity for police to really suppress spaces like mine and others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two RCMP officers visited the Hounds of Vintage store on York street in Sackville on Tuesday to check the store for compliance with COVID-19 protocols under the province\u2019s Emergency Measures Act. Before they left, owner Derrick Dixon had both a compliance order listing three things he needed to do within 24 hours, and a ticket…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":23777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[217,218,3265],"tags":[3617,3613,3618,3612,3616,525],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23770"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=23770"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=23770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}