Klassen case shows B.C. police are not trained to obey law

Klassen case shows B.C. police are not trained to obey law when using force: prosecutor

The case of an off-duty officer accused of assaulting a newspaper carrier should worry citizens because it shows police in B.C. are not taught to stay within the law while being trained to use force, Crown prosecutor Ralph Keefer said.

Keefer made the comments during closing arguments at the trial of New Westminster Const. Jeffrey Klassen. Klassen, a police use of force instructor at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, is accused of assaulting Firoz Khan in downtown Vancouver early in the morning on Jan. 21, 2009 — after he and two other off-duty officers had been on an eight-hour drinking binge.

West Vancouver Const. Griffin Gillan, Delta Const. Blair Tanino and Klassen had ended up at the Roxy Nightclub on Granville Street before Khan was assaulted.

Gillan, who said he had consumed more than 20 drinks that night, left the club and attacked Khan outside the Hyatt Hotel on Burrard Street. Gillan has pleaded guilty to assault and received a conditional sentence.

The agreed facts are that Klassen and Tanino arrived at the Hyatt in a taxi, and Tanino separated Khan and Gillan, who were in a shoving match. Klassen testified that he saw Khan lying on the ground and believed he was the aggressor.

“He moved quickly to keep Mr. Khan on the ground . . . following his training almost by instinct,” defence lawyer Dwight Stewart said Friday. Klassen testified he slapped and poked at Khan’s shoulder to ensure compliance. On the other hand, three witnesses testified Klassen was punching Khan in the head while on top of him.

During the trial Keefer established that police officers at the Justice Institute are not counselled on criminal code limits of force, while learning use of force techniques.

“Klassen’s lack of familiarity with the law in this area, as an experienced instructor in the use of force . . . was surprising if not shocking,” Keefer said. “If that ignorance is typical of instructors in his position, the public has every right to be concerned that officers are not getting proper training in this area.”

In response to Keefer’s suggestion, Stewart told B.C. Provincial Court Judge Jodie Werier, “perhaps officers are not getting the best training in this regard,” but Klassen should not be held more responsible than any other officer on knowledge of the criminal code and use of force.

Stewart suggested the witnesses that testified Klassen had punched Khan mistaken slaps to the shoulder for punches, and may have been confused about the use of force moves they were seeing from off-duty officers.

“There was a lot going on in a short time,” Stewart said. “They misunderstood what they saw.”

Stewart also attempted to discredit Khan’s testimony, suggesting he exaggerated the extent of his injuries, citing Khan’s appearance in newspaper photos the next day wearing “tensor bandages on his head.”

There is a dispute over how much Klassen drank that night, and whether he should be protected under the Police Act if he was as drunk as the Crown suggests.

Klassen testified he only drank about 10 bottled beers in eight hours, while the Crown says he ordered double vodka drinks and may have had about 20 drinks in total.

A date for Judge Werier’s ruling will be set next week.