Deputy Sheriffs around the province are having their hours cut dramatically by the provincial government, which will cause more problems keeping courts running, according to the BCGEU.

On May 27, the provincial  government advised the union that 28 Auxiliary Deputy Sheriffs who had been working almost full time, are having their hours cut by up to 90 percent and 24 regular part-time deputy sheriffs will have their hours cut by 25 percent.

“The net result of the cut in these hours is a loss of 34 full-time staff as none of those Auxiliary Sheriffs will work for us again in the foreseeable future,” said Dean Purdy, chair of the Corrections & Sheriffs Services Component of the BCGEU. "The provincial government has had trouble keeping courts running and this is just going to result in more court cases being delayed or cancelled. It does nothing to help our justice system and is no way to run a court system."

"Some of the deputies were hired as recently as February,  expecting to have a career in this field," said Purdy. "They spent nine weeks at the Justice Institute of BC getting trained and now this has all been wasted."

“The government is accepting reduced service levels and is willing to operate in an unsafe manner, putting the safety of judges, court staff and the public at risk due to the shortages of security in the court rooms,” said Purdy.

"Sheriffs have been warning the Court Services Branch for over a year about the impending workload and staffing issues and nothing was done until the issue reached the crisis point we're in now.  This is unacceptable," said Purdy.

"We have already seen judges around the province refuse to run their court rooms without the presence of a Deputy Sheriff to provide security," Purdy said.

News reports have indicated that judges have recently closed court rooms in Kelowna and Victoria because of a concern over safety. In the past, courts in Nanaimo and Richmond faced the same problem.

"The government has left judges to decide whether they will sit without a Sheriff or not.  The Branch has made it clear that courtrooms will go unstaffed, that escort runs will be cancelled and that they are prepared to operate at reduced levels of service," said Purdy.

The Component is asking that all Auxiliary Deputy Sheriffs show up to a rally on Wednesday, June 1 at noon at the New Westminster Court House, 651 Carnarvon St.  Sheriffs are asked to appear in uniform.

SHORTAGE OF SHERIFFS

The following is the exchange in the Legislature on June 1, 2011 between Kathy Corrigan (Burnaby-Deer Lake) and the Honourable Barry Penner (Attorney General) regarding the shortage of sheriffs in the province.
 

K. Corrigan: We already know that there is a critical shortage of judges, prosecutors and sheriffs in our justice system, yet this past Friday the B.C. Liberal government cut 28 full-time auxiliary sheriffs, and an additional 24 deputy sheriffs have had their hours cut down to 75 percent, for a net loss of 34 full-time positions. This is despite warnings by judges that they cannot operate potentially dangerous and volatile courtrooms without security. We know the result will be more cases thrown out of court and that more accused will get off. My question to the Attorney General: why on earth are dozens of sheriffs being cut from a court system which is already dangerously understaffed?
 

Hon. B. Penner: The member is referring to auxiliary sheriffs. And it's true: a number of changes were announced last week in terms of our staffing complement. Our number one priority remains the safety and security of our courtrooms and our court facilities, but we are also living within a budget, something that might be a novel concept to the members of the opposition, certainly based on my experience when I was here and saw how they operated in the 1990s.
Every single day of the week these members stand up and say: "Just spend more money." It doesn't matter what the issue is, just spend more money. Then they turn around and say they're campaigning to go back to a 12 percent PST-GST, which will not only be worse for consumers but will deprive government revenues of $3 billion in the next couple of years.
Tell me, Mr. Speaker, how they would fund additional services of every kind that they always mention with $3 billion less to spend.
 

K. Corrigan: Well, they were auxiliary sheriffs as well as deputy sheriffs. They were both. Most of those auxiliary sheriffs were hired in January. They received weeks of training, paid for by the taxpayers. Now, after a few short months, that training is completely wasted. Some 34 less sheriffs and trials being thrown out. Two courtrooms in Kelowna were shut down because no sheriff was able to provide security or escort prisoners. Another eight families that were waiting to seek access to their children had to wait for court delays because of sheriff shortages. To the Attorney General, how do these cuts aid our ailing judicial system?
 

Hon. B. Penner: I dispute the member's characterization that training and education is a waste. I think that's completely inappropriate. What we have informed those staff that the member refers to, and it's a number of them, is that they will not be getting as much work in the future as they were most recently. We will still utilize them when we're able to.
But the member hasn't answered the question, which is: how would you hire more sheriffs, spend more on health care, more on education, more on roads, reduce ferry fares, reduce camping fees and do anything else in the public service with $3 billion less to spend, which is what they're campaigning for right now? Right now that's what they're campaigning for — a 12 percent PST and GST — while on this side of the House we want a 10 percent single HST.

This exchange is reprinted from the Hansard "Blues." It has been edited slightly for easier reading. Please consult the final version of Hansard for the official record.