I try to keep myself informed by reading the Globe and mail,the national Post,CNN Network,The Winnipeg Free Press,the Winnipeg Sun,the Portage daily Graphic,watch CBC news,CTV News...etc.All of these communities and news outlets release the names of offenders for crimes such as assault,rape,robbery ,murder,impaired driving,etc ,etc...except for one Police Force...the Brandon City Police...why is this???Can a police force legally withhold that information from the tax paying public...in a supposedly free country???Everdau y i read about anonymous,nameless people being charged with drug offences,assault,robbery,burglary,impaired driving...but names are never mentioned!Are our city police so inept that they dont want to release names of the people charged with crimes against us in case they might be found innocent?or are they protecting the gulity....kind of like an ''old boys club''what are your thoughts????

Edited by admin, 2012-08-09 17:45:03. Reason: Change of title to be more specific of topic

A few points for ponder...  
 
The first thing I noticed is that you're lumping Police in with media outlets. They provide a very beneficial service to the community by publishing daily releases but the Police are not media in and of themselves. Are you sure that the outlets you're mentioning have been given names by their respective Police, or have they done their journalisty thing to acquire them through other means?  
 
- also remember that Police are only arresting a suspect in a crime. The court is who says they did/didn't do it so they may not feel its appropriate within the role they play to include names in most situations. I have definitely seen them publish names in serious crimes though so am not sure of where or how exactly the line is drawn  
 
- also remember laws regarding young offenders. Quite a few crimes are committed by people under 18 and no matter where you live or what you read you won't be seeing their names  
 
That said I do remember hearing about a guy in the US that's started entire print publications based on naming and showing pictures of criminals, but my guess would be its of people that are convicted rather than just arrested.  
 
Also remember that court records are published on the Justice website... So when it comes down to it, information on convictions is available even if it isn't a front and centre thing.

i know that minors names cant be released....but if you read the local newspaper...names of locals charged by local police never have their names published...but for instance,in Dauphin,there was a news story in our local paper...and the persons full name was given...charged but not yet tried in court.Just look in the local paper....no names are given...just their age,and what the charge is.Is this even legal?? to withhold the names of people charged with a crime??maybe in China or Cuba...but not a free country!

Used to be if you committed a crime you got your name in the Court news along with the offense and the fine.  
(i.e.)--- illegal possession of alcohol, speeding, impaired, etc. Maybe the Constitution and human Rights prohibits that now. Not sure, but local papers SHOULD publish the names of convicted persons for whatever crime they committed--especially crimes against the public such as theft,break and enter, assault,etc.

Do you want YOUR name published based on a tip from one of your enemies? Until there has been a court date and the PROSECUTOR has decided that there is a very reasonable chance that this person did commit the crime listed, then the name should be kept out of the media and especially the internet.  
 
If you were to try and post the real name of someone that was just stopped by the police, "John Doe just got arrested for impaired driving!!" then Adam would be fully within his rights to pull that post because John Doe should not have his reputation tarnished when it may turn out he was having a minor medical problem (i.e., diabetes or low blood sugar). What if the girl was wanting revenge because the ex-boyfriend dumped her? Should his name be tarnished and then he has to prove himself innocent?  
 
Prosecution by Media is an American thing. Do not let the media become our Justice System. Let the courts use their knowledge of the law to work out who is guilty of what and who is innocent and only when that is determined should the names be made public.  

The brandon sun does publish the names of the offenders, after they go to court, in follow up stories.  
 
But why does it really matter if the Brandon Police Service publish the names or not?...unless you know the person that got arrested, the names not really going to do anything for you, its just going to be another name.  
 
How about they also release a picture of the offender, so if you see them in public you can walk the other away or stare at them(if you even remember what they look like).  
 
Edited by The_Young_Man, 2012-08-09 18:39:13

innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.  
 
as the police are normally pre court, they can not say who was charged with what in case they are not actually proven guilty of said crime

Before you throw out disparaging comments about our Police force. The Police cannot release names till a formal charge is sworn in court. Many times people accused (charged) are released by the police and only once they go to court up to 2 months later can their name be released. If media want to publicize their names at that point - they are free to do so. But unfortunately many times the story is not as newsworthy as it was when it happened. The only exception is young offenders - their names can never be released unless a court orders it released.

Thanks for that info hattrick, it fills in a lot of the blanks

No problem Adam. I certainly agree there is a time and place for names to be released. ie for public safety. But if it is just for entertainment then no I don't agree.

hattrick said "Before you throw out disparaging comments about our Police force. The Police cannot release names till a formal charge is sworn in court. Many times people accused (charged) are released by the police and only once they go to court up to 2 months later can their name be released. If media want to publicize their names at that point - they are free to do so. But unfortunately many times the story is not as newsworthy as it was when it happened. The only exception is young offenders - their names can never be released unless a court orders it released. "

actually thats not true...just read any other paper in this country....and the names of people charged by police....and not yet tried are ALWAYS released...its only Brandon,Manitoba where they arent.Like I said...read the Portage Daily Graphic,the Winnipeg Free Press,the Dauphin Herald,the Globe and Mail,the National Post,CTV,CBC,Global...maybe you dont notice it cause you have lived in Brandon your whole life...but it it only happens here...thats why I cant believe that it does...but it does!And yes...i want to know the names of the crooks breaking the law in this city.....perhaps it will be a deterrence...as it is everywhere else in the free world....

They don't publish them because of people like yourself.  
 
You're ready to enact the social sentence on a person who has not been convicted, only accused. There is a huge difference. So huge in fact that it is one of our charter rights if I am not mistaken, Innocent until proven guilty.  
 
Whoever is not publishing them at the accused level is doing the correct thing, whether that is BPS or Brandon Sun they are on the right track.

The_What? said "They don't publish them because of people like yourself.     You're ready to enact the social sentence on a person who has not been convicted, only accused. There is a huge difference. So huge in fact that it is one of our charter rights if I am not mistaken, Innocent until proven guilty.     Whoever is not publishing them at the accused level is doing the correct thing, whether that is BPS or Brandon Sun they are on the right track. "

so with your theory....if the man who has been charged in Winnipeg of brutally raping and killing all those women....if he was charged in Brandon....we would never know his name????wtf??what kind of nonsense is that...are we in Mayberry??the Charter does not disallow the public to know who perpetrates a crime on us!!its only in Brandon that either the local Police dept or the local paper censors this information...

west said "    hattrick said "Before you throw out disparaging comments about our Police force. The Police cannot release names till a formal charge is sworn in court. Many times people accused (charged) are released by the police and only once they go to court up to 2 months later can their name be released. If media want to publicize their names at that point - they are free to do so. But unfortunately many times the story is not as newsworthy as it was when it happened. The only exception is young offenders - their names can never be released unless a court orders it released. " actually thats not true...just read any other paper in this country....and the names of people charged by police....and not yet tried are ALWAYS released...its only Brandon,Manitoba where they arent.Like I said...read the Portage Daily Graphic,the Winnipeg Free Press,the Dauphin Herald,the Globe and Mail,the National Post,CTV,CBC,Global...maybe you dont notice it cause you have lived in Brandon your whole life...but it it only happens here...thats why I cant believe that it does...but it does!And yes...i want to know the names of the crooks breaking the law in this city.....perhaps it will be a deterrence...as it is everywhere else in the free world.... "

but hattrick has provided us all with the correct answer. Why do you NEED to know who was charged so badly?

I'm not 100% sure if west is being serious or not but The_What put it quite well. The bottom falls out of a need to know the name of a "crook who has committed a crime" until its been determined that they are in fact a crook.  
 
At any rate this thread does bring up a valuable point for ponder, and thats that there are a lot of people that wrongly assume that "wanted for allegedly [committing crime A]" or "charged with [crime B]" means that the person did it and already confidently apply the label in their minds. Is this something we can combat with further education on how our system works, or do we just accept that some people have it in their nature to assume before seeking out facts? If its the latter, is that kind of assumption that you'd expect the person makes everywhere in life or is there an innate need of some sort to associate a criminal/face/name with a crime as soon as possible?

west said "    The_What? said "They don't publish them because of people like yourself.     You're ready to enact the social sentence on a person who has not been convicted, only accused. There is a huge difference. So huge in fact that it is one of our charter rights if I am not mistaken, Innocent until proven guilty.     Whoever is not publishing them at the accused level is doing the correct thing, whether that is BPS or Brandon Sun they are on the right track. " so with your theory....if the man who has been charged in Winnipeg of brutally raping and killing all those women....if he was charged in Brandon....we would never know his name????wtf??what kind of nonsense is that...are we in Mayberry??the Charter does not disallow the public to know who perpetrates a crime on us!!its only in Brandon that either the local Police dept or the local paper censors this information... "

I am more than OK with his name being published and plastered all over everything AFTER he has been convicted.  
 
It doesn't do me or you any good to know his name. What for? So I can sit around some small town coffee shop "Oooooh I know that guy I worked with him once!"  
 
Until someone is convicted they haven't perpetrated anything on us. That is the point.  
 
They are drowning baby girls in China should we do that too? It's only us in Brandon that don't. I don't care what other people consider OK to do. The Sun / BPS have this right, IMO.  
 
You and your like minded pitchfork waving folks are the reason the law was changed to a standard of innocent until proven guilty.

west said "    The_What? said "They don't publish them because of people like yourself.     You're ready to enact the social sentence on a person who has not been convicted, only accused. There is a huge difference. So huge in fact that it is one of our charter rights if I am not mistaken, Innocent until proven guilty.     Whoever is not publishing them at the accused level is doing the correct thing, whether that is BPS or Brandon Sun they are on the right track. " so with your theory....if the man who has been charged in Winnipeg of brutally raping and killing all those women....if he was charged in Brandon....we would never know his name????wtf??what kind of nonsense is that...are we in Mayberry??the Charter does not disallow the public to know who perpetrates a crime on us!!its only in Brandon that either the local Police dept or the local paper censors this information... "

Now I'm closer to being sure that you're either haven't fully researched this to back up what you're claiming or are maybe even trolling. Police in Brandon do in fact release names of those arrested in connection with alleged involvement in serious crimes such as murder or manslaughter.  
For the sake of victims' families I'm not going to get into specific names, but if you do some looking into the house fire on 1st street earlier this year you'll see that Police released the name of the suspect that was arrested and have done the same with any recent incident of alleged manslaughter or alleged murder that I can recall so long as they made an arrest. Fortunately we do not have many people charged with manslaughter or murder in Brandon, but alleged crimes at that level will typically see a name released.  
 
If you're going to keep pushing this thread along you're going to have to start providing us with specific examples (preferably with links) of stories in local papers that regularly publish the names of those charged with drunk driving, those charged with assault, etc.

I can sort of see your point when it comes to things like serious crimes, and I imagine that if someone killed a whole bunch of people in Brandon their name would be released when they went to court and were formally charged. To me it would not make much sense to have every charge reported, and every charge that is laid can be pleaded, so would we like to know everything right down to the J walkers.  
 
You mentioned about posting name as being a deterrent but that is what the punishments handed down by the courts are supposed to do. Anyone who commits a crime, whether large or small, hopefully knows that they stand a chance of being caught, and if that does not deter people, then having there name posted likely will not change that fact.

don brown said "I can sort of see your point when it comes to things like serious crimes, and I imagine that if someone killed a whole bunch of people in Brandon their name would be released when they went to court and were formally charged. To me it would not make much sense to have every charge reported, and every charge that is laid can be pleaded, so would we like to know everything right down to the J walkers.     You mentioned about posting name as being a deterrent but that is what the punishments handed down by the courts are supposed to do. Anyone who commits a crime, whether large or small, hopefully knows that they stand a chance of being caught, and if that does not deter people, then having there name posted likely will not change that fact. "

i look at the crime of Impaired Driving....now i like a drink as much as the next guy...but i can tell you...it would deter me big time to know my name would be in the local paper...like it does every where else other than Brandon...as a matter of fact...i am surprised MADD doesnt insist on this...but they dont!

i sort of agree with west. with the impaired driving example, of course i wouldnt want a fine and all the other stuff that comes along with the charge but i also wouldnt want my name published in the paper. that would be more embarrassing to me. i dont know if it would stop ppl from drinking and driving though, but maybe for some it would and thats better then none imo.  
 
but i also see the other side. until you're proven guilty by the courts, you're name shouldnt be published imo. but once you're found guilty, i do think you're name should be mentioned in the media.  
 
im curious now though, can anyone tell us why it is that here in brandon, names arent published even after being found guilty? im from a small town and i remember reading the herald and they had names mentioned. not sure if they do that anymore though?

west said "    don brown said "I can sort of see your point when it comes to things like serious crimes, and I imagine that if someone killed a whole bunch of people in Brandon their name would be released when they went to court and were formally charged. To me it would not make much sense to have every charge reported, and every charge that is laid can be pleaded, so would we like to know everything right down to the J walkers.     You mentioned about posting name as being a deterrent but that is what the punishments handed down by the courts are supposed to do. Anyone who commits a crime, whether large or small, hopefully knows that they stand a chance of being caught, and if that does not deter people, then having there name posted likely will not change that fact. " i look at the crime of Impaired Driving....now i like a drink as much as the next guy...but i can tell you...it would deter me big time to know my name would be in the local paper...like it does every where else other than Brandon...as a matter of fact...i am surprised MADD doesnt insist on this...but they dont! "

The Brandon Sun used to publish the names of all the people arrested for DUI at the end of every month. Anyone else remember that? I'd be interested to know why that stopped.

You spouted off about Bps not releasing names. When in fact it might be the media deciding not to publish them. The media has access to the names thru the courts if they so choose. Get your facts straight before you chirp it up. I agree impaired drivers names should be published so as to act as a deterrent to others. A number of years ago the Brandon Sun did that not sure why they still don't.

I take it that your question is "why in the paper do they say a man was charged with impaired driving last night" without specifically naming the guy. The answer is simple and it has already been explained a couple of times earlier in this thread.  
 
The fact is that most people who are arrested are released on something called a Promise to Appear. If you have ever looked at such a document, you will see that at the top of the page it is indicated that it is issued to "A person not yet charged with an offence". There you go! An Information must be sworn before the person is actually formally charged. That will take place some time after the actual incident.  
 
For people taken into custody, it's different: The Information is sworn within hours. Since the person in that case has been formally charged, most often their name would be published in any media report.

Couch said "I take it that your question is "why in the paper do they say a man was charged with impaired driving last night" without specifically naming the guy. The answer is simple and it has already been explained a couple of times earlier in this thread.     The fact is that most people who are arrested are released on something called a Promise to Appear. If you have ever looked at such a document, you will see that at the top of the page it is indicated that it is issued to "A person not yet charged with an offence". There you go! An Information must be sworn before the person is actually formally charged. That will take place some time after the actual incident.     For people taken into custody, it's different: The Information is sworn within hours. Since the person in that case has been formally charged, most often their name would be published in any media report. "

but even people ''formally'' charged,their names dont appear....whereas the RCMP release the names immeditely after they are charged...thats why you see the names released if a person is caught by the RCMP...but not if they are caught by BPS.I have complete respect and confidence of the members of our police service...its not them that decides not to release the names...its probably the one person in charge....I hope Adam finds out...a couple of quick calls would settle this matter.....one to the BPS and one to the local paper....

A person’s name cannot be published until the person is formally charged. This happens when a charge information is sworn before a Magistrate, judge or Commissioner of Oaths. Until that time, the name cannot be published.  
The difference between the way the RCMP do things and the way BPS do things are completely different. The RCMP does most of their own paperwork. This includes laying the formal charge, and this is mostly done right away at the time of the investigation, hence the name is released. This is the reason why you rarely see a RCMP cruiser on the highway, because they are inside doing paperwork. BPS on the other hand has a Central Registry that handles most if not all paperwork. If a person is arrested for, let’s say impaired driving. This person is processed and given his/her paper work. This paperwork would include what “couch” has said, is a “promise to appear” but not charged formally. The file is then sent to this Central Records where the charge is formally laid. This could be days if not weeks after the incident. This is the reason why the name is not immediately released by BPS, and this is the reason why you see countless BPS vehicles on patrol, because BPS has office staff to do the paperwork.  

For years the mother and the father were printed for the public, then someone complained. I suppose people want their right for privacy. Unfortunatly, the "accused" has rights. I can see that I would be horrified if an incident that involved charges that were later proven no-wrong was made public before charges are dropped. The public eye can be critical sometimes deeply opinionated against someone when the news is let out too early. That stigma can stay with somebody for a long time after their innocence has been proven. We'll find out the "bad guys" name during court/conviction.

Irie Mon said "A person’s name cannot be published until the person is formally charged. This happens when a charge information is sworn before a Magistrate, judge or Commissioner of Oaths. Until that time, the name cannot be published.   The difference between the way the RCMP do things and the way BPS do things are completely different. The RCMP does most of their own paperwork. This includes laying the formal charge, and this is mostly done right away at the time of the investigation, hence the name is released. This is the reason why you rarely see a RCMP cruiser on the highway, because they are inside doing paperwork. BPS on the other hand has a Central Registry that handles most if not all paperwork. If a person is arrested for, let’s say impaired driving. This person is processed and given his/her paper work. This paperwork would include what “couch” has said, is a “promise to appear” but not charged formally. The file is then sent to this Central Records where the charge is formally laid. This could be days if not weeks after the incident. This is the reason why the name is not immediately released by BPS, and this is the reason why you see countless BPS vehicles on patrol, because BPS has office staff to do the paperwork.   "

that is the first post that makes logical sense....so because of the paperwork...alleged perpetrators of crimes....just arrested by BPS...not the RCMP..their names cannot be released...if its true....its sure a fortunate thing for the alleged criminals in Brandon!

IMO, their names should ONLY be relaased IF they are at high risk to re-offend and are a actual risk to the general pulic..and only for the most violent of crimes, because thpse are the only laws that are just or reasonable.  
 
LVX

Hey I do not believe that it will make any difference what so ever to the offenders if they are publicly being exposed or not - for heaven's sake people can testify in the court under oath to have committed a convict able crime and yet the courts do not even consider that when rendering decisions rather the person who committed the crime is portrayed to be a real nice guy. Yah nice guys or not it is a criminal offense to physically abuse someone and yes that includes broken bones.

Couch said "I take it that your question is "why in the paper do they say a man was charged with impaired driving last night" without specifically naming the guy. The answer is simple and it has already been explained a couple of times earlier in this thread.     The fact is that most people who are arrested are released on something called a Promise to Appear. If you have ever looked at such a document, you will see that at the top of the page it is indicated that it is issued to "A person not yet charged with an offence". There you go! An Information must be sworn before the person is actually formally charged. That will take place some time after the actual incident.     For people taken into custody, it's different: The Information is sworn within hours. Since the person in that case has been formally charged, most often their name would be published in any media report. "

Help me understand here - first the person commits a chargeable crime - the is either investigated or taken into custody - no names published - but formally charged - then names published?? So the whole thing is based on investigation or being taken into custody? What warrants an investigation??