The Bail System is Failing Our Communities
Danny Smyth,
Chief of Police [i]
“Across the country it is community members that are bearing the brunt of the harm and violence by chronic offenders who refuse to comply with release conditions.”
My first official duty in 2023 was to attend the funeral of slain Ontario Provincial Police Constable Greg Pierzchala. On December 27th, he was shot and killed shortly after arriving to assist with a vehicle that was in the ditch along a stretch of highway south of Hamilton.
The regimental funeral on January 4th was attended by over 7,000 officers from Ontario and across the country. As you might expect when someone is senselessly and tragically killed, the service was heartbreaking. The outpouring of love and respect for Greg Pierzchala was quite moving. As I sat through the service, I also felt another emotion – a sense of anger and outrage. This young officer’s murder was unwarranted and preventable.
Randall McKenzie and Brandi Stewart-Sperry were each charged with first-degree murder in Greg Pierzchala’s death. Randall McKenzie, in particular, will once again find himself detained in custody awaiting a criminal proceeding. This arrest and detention are just the latest chronic pattern of behavior that has played out many times before.
Randall McKenzie has a record for three prior assaults; five fail to comply charges, an armed robbery and possession of a weapon. He is also subject to a weapons prohibition order. In December 2021, while on bail, he was charged criminally for assaulting his ex-girlfriend and stabbing her boyfriend. When he was arrested for these assaults, it is alleged that he head-butted the arresting officer and was in possession of an unloaded handgun. He was denied bail and remanded into custody.
It is fair to say that Randall McKenzie’s life is tragic in its own right – but that is not the source of my anger. I am critical of the fact that in spite of the mounting evidence and pattern of violent behavior, Randall McKenzie was released from custody and was again granted bail in June 2022. Not surprisingly, given his history, he did not comply with his bail conditions but had avoided police contact until the fateful encounter with Greg Pierzchala. That is the source of my outrage. This offence – this murder – was preventable.
It is understood in Canada that a person is presumed innocent under the Charter and at common law. It is also understood that in light of the presumptively innocent status, accused persons are entitled to reasonable bail unless there is just cause to detain them. The direction from the Criminal Code and our Supreme Court is clear: release is the rule; continued detention is the exception. But at what cost to the safety and well-being of the community?
I would argue that there was just cause to continue the detention of Randall McKenzie, and that his case was the exception to the rule. In fact, at the bail review, the Crown did argue that there had been no error in law and no material changes to McKenzie’s circumstances. The Crown also argued that McKenzie was already on bail when he was charged with the assault of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend.
However, the judge at the bail review concluded that there had been material change in McKenzie’s circumstances. In his view, the safety of the community and those involved in the current charges could be adequately protected. In his reasons, the judge apparently believed that if the situation was fully explained to the public, they would accept the proposed release plan. “I am confident the public would conclude that the current strict plan of house arrest supervised by the accused mother with independent monitoring and counselling is a reasonable restraint on the accused’s liberty until trial.”
The “strict plan” provided no restraint at all.
The current situation is frustrating and dangerous for police officers who see the very real impact that repeat offender criminals have on actual public safety of Canadians across the country. But it’s not just police officers who are at risk of harm. Across the country it is community members that are bearing the brunt of the harm and violence by chronic offenders who refuse to comply with release conditions.
In Winnipeg, for example, in the last five years, 11% of the offenders charged with violent crime were on bail at the time of committing the offence and in breach of their release conditions. For those charged with aggravated assault, the percentage on bail is closer to 16%. Something needs to change.
For years police leaders and police associations have advocated for legislated bail reform. For those offenders who have clearly demonstrated an unrelenting willingness to engage in violent behaviour, greater weight must be attributed to this chronic behaviour when considering bail. The most effective way to reduce victimization by chronic offenders is to incarcerate them for periods of time commensurate with their pattern of offending.
Bail reform should:
1. Establish a definition for the term “chronic offender” based upon a threshold number of offences involving violence committed over a distinct period of time.
2. Establish the principle that being a chronic offender is prima facie proof that section 515(10)(b) & (c) of the Criminal Code have been satisfied.
3. Place a higher onus on a chronic offender who is facing a bail refusal application to show cause why they should be given judicial interim release.
Cst. Greg Pierzchala deserved better. Our communities, and the police officers who serve those communities, deserve better – they deserve the right to be protected from the criminal behaviours of violent and repeat offenders, particularly those charged with firearm-related crimes.
[i] Chief Smyth is also the President of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police