Trashing appointment of police to the parole board is so bush-league

For all its merits, a parliamentary system of democracy has a few pitfalls. One notable shortcoming is the tendency for opposition parties to oppose even the most reasoned and common-sense initiatives.

Such was the sad spectacle this past week when federal Liberal and NDP members chastised Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day for appointing former law-enforcement and correctional officers to the National Parole Board.

Similar howls of outrage were heard last year when Stephen Harper's government included police officers on an advisory committee that screens federal judicial appointments.

Today, about one in three people on the parole board are either former police or corrections officers. Under the Liberals, police were virtually shut out of the process altogether.

The most hysterical critic of the heavy law-enforcement presence on the parole board is Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who bizarrely stated: "What this government is trying to do is actually take us down the U.S. route." Apparently any effort to reform the criminal-justice system, especially if it has the potential to result in more criminals spending more time in jail, is a bad move that will surely Americanize us.

This is becoming a tiring bellyache that only makes Dosanjh and others look desperate and irrelevant.

I'm not aware of Dosanjh raising any concerns with all the academics, social workers and lawyers appointed to the parole board by the Liberals over the years.

Are law-enforcement officers less qualified and more biased than members of those professions? It's insulting that, as a former B.C. attorney- general, he apparently has so little confidence in police to engage in informed and fair decision-making.

Perhaps Dosanjh would prefer a return to the old days when the parole board was stacked with party loyalists and candidates rejected by the voters, who had no clue about criminality? Police are as ideologically diverse a group as you'll find anywhere.

They are actually often much more empathetic to criminals than the general population, given their insight into the circumstances and backgrounds of offenders.

Let's face it, the parole board has a less-than-stellar record of decision-making. On countless occasions, it has released high-risk criminals who immediately re-offend.

Board members have often been duped by smooth-talking cons who played them for suckers.

They have made decisions about releasing offenders that are absolutely stunning in their naivete and recklessness.

And as usual, it's the public that pays the price.

Such is much less likely to be the case with experienced police and correctional officers on the panel.

Dosanjh would be better off opposing the law of gravity than attacking this initiative.

John Martin, a criminologist at the University of the Fraser Valley, can be reached at John.Martin@ucfv.ca..

John Martin, The Province

Published: Wednesday, July 09, 2008