B.C.’s Solicitor General John Les must immediately apologize for his brash and dismissive remarks about Chief Const. Kash Heed, New Democrat Public Safety Critic Mike Farnworth said today.

“Out of line”, “unwelcome distraction”, "unproductive red herring" were some of the highly irresponsible and disrespectful remarks Les made about West Vancouver Police Chief Kash Heed’s suggestion to consider alternative models of policing in order to address the escalating gang violence problem.

“As one of the most highly respected and capable police officers in the province, Const. Heed is deeply familiar with the gang problem at hand. His expertise should invite serious attention from the government – and certainly not a rebuke,” said Farnworth, the MLA for Port Coquitlam – Burke Mountain.
“It’s a perfectly reasonable suggestion that policing strategies should be reviewed in light of escalating gang slayings in the Metro Vancouver area, especially coming from someone with Const. Heed’s calibre and experience,” said Farnworth. “But when Solicitor General John Les spitefully opposed Const. Heed’s’ suggestions, it only underlined the Gordon Campbell style arrogance of his government and his own inability to listen to fresh ideas.”

Farnworth said what makes Les’ conduct even worse is that a day after making derogatory remarks about Const. Heed’s suggestions, Les flip flopped and stated he was willing to look at fresh policing models to curb gang violence.
“If we want to seriously address the gang violence problem, the approach should be to have an open mind and a willingness to learn from experts like Const. Heed. But Solicitor General John Les has made it worse by publicly disrespecting Const. Heed – and for that he must apologize,” said Farnworth.