Re: "Do we really want U.S. police working on Canadian soil?" Aug. 26.
Columnist Jim Hume gives unwarranted importance to the results of an informal CBC query in which the majority of responders said no to: "Should U.S. police should have more powers to make arrests on Canadian soil?" They were not asked about parallel powers for Canadian police in the U.S.
Armed Canadian police will now have such authority. Hume's denigration of the Integrated Cross-border Law Enforcement Operations Act is unfortunate, as the act is reciprocal and gives armed Canadian police arrest authority in the U.S.
This reciprocity is important. Both police and smugglers on both sides of our common border have long realized that the inability of police to make arrests in cross-border hot pursuit has contributed to the smugglers' success. Our newly enabled bidirectional legal pursuit and arrest ability should reduce the flow of hard drugs, tobacco and weapons into Canada, and the flow of illegal immigrants (and B.C. bud) into the U.S.
Hume claims that now "United States policemen prepare to start wandering around Canada with arrest warrants in their pockets and loaded guns in their holsters." This alarmist view is unjustified, as a review of the act (and operations agreement) verifies there are safeguards addressing sovereignty concerns.
We should, however, support Hume's recommendation that we advise our respective MPs of our wishes in this matter. We should give the pilot projects enabled by this act time to prove their worth.
Ron Johnson
Saanich
