I read Fabian Dawson’s article in the January 5th edition of The Vancouver Province with great interest. The front page photograph of well known narcotics importer trafficker Colin Martin was accompanied by the curiously worded title “The accidental informant”. Given the content of Mr Dawson’s article, this label would seem to be inaccurate. Mr Martin was described as offering to help drug enforcement efforts on both sides of the Canada / U.S. border, “provided they let him continue to do business unimpeded for ten years”, court papers show.
As the former commander of Human Source Management for the RCMP in British Columbia, I can say with absolute confidence that no government or police agency in North America would contemplate such a relationship with an informant. The risk to the public resulting from a carte blanche licence to smuggle substances such as cocaine and ecstasy across federal borders is so substantial as to make the prospect ludicrous…..no matter how valuable the information. While this notion of a “licence” may have formed part of Mr Martin’s offer to drug enforcement authorities, it would never receive serious consideration.
Can you imagine the position in which a government institution might find itself if a series of fatal overdoses were to be connected with a shipment handled by Mr Martin under such an arrangement? A proposal of this nature would never be approved by a thinking police manager.
It is, however, uncomfortable to contemplate the plight of Mr Martin whose identity has been disclosed in advance of the “Operation Blade Runner” trials. The vulnerabilities felt by Mr Martin are not his alone if Mr Dawson’s account is accurate. If an American or Canadian law enforcement agency did, in fact, improperly disclose the details of Mr Martin’s contributions, the consequences to the taxpayer will also be significant. Keeping Mr Martin out of harm’s way will be an expensive and long term reality. While I am highly skeptical of the depiction of the “hit-team” described in the article, Mr Dawson is correct in his assertion that one or more conspiracies to murder Mr Martin will result from this information entering the public domain. Under Canadian law, informant privilege is held sacred as a crucial weapon in criminal investigations. The Supreme Court of Canada dictates that the only circumstance which might warrant an erosion of the informant privilege afforded a confidential source like Mr Martin would be if the innocence of an accused person being tried is at stake.
The RCMP had no option but to provide a warning to this career criminal once they learned of a threat against his life. A likely consequence of the unfortunate disclosure of his contributions as an informant will include the provision of long term protective arrangements for Mr Martin, a household name in drug enforcement circles. Beyond the cost of these protective measures, the civil exposure faced by the agency responsible for the error could be enormous.
One of the realities of international organized crime prosecutions is the necessary reliance upon cooperation from major gangsters by law enforcement officials. It has always been this way. Strong police management, committed supervision and excellent communication with Crown Counsel are essential components of a successful prosecution at this level. The wrong people are sometimes assigned these roles. These high risk investigations are not for the meek or the inexperienced.
Let’s hope everything works out.