Sheriffs are flying into town to keep Victoria鈥檚 courts running, but it鈥檚 an expensive and short-term fix. In the longer term, the provincial government has to find a solution that will keep the courts running smoothly and ensure that people accused of crimes are not released for a lack of staff.
The problem became public in February, when judges tossed out two cases involving alleged drug dealers because of a shortage of sheriffs at the Victoria courthouse. On Feb. 22, only one provincial court with a judge was running in the city. A lack of sheriffs shut down family-case conferences, settlement conferences and one trial court.
Delays and other problems plague courtrooms across the country, and they demand changes to maintain faith in the fair and efficient operation of the justice system. But a shortage of sheriffs should not be allowed to bring the wheels of justice to a grinding halt.
To keep things running in Victoria, the government is covering flights, meals, overtime and hotel expenses for sheriffs and offering them the option of remaining in Victoria on weekends, according to Dean Purdy, vice-president of the B.C. Government and Services Employees鈥� Union.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e essentially doing triage on sheriff staffing to try and stop the bleeding and plug holes where they can,鈥� Purdy said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been raising the alarm bells on this for the past few years and knew that this was going to come to a head.鈥�
Attorney General Suzanne Anton said it鈥檚 not unusual to move sheriffs around as needed.
鈥淪heriffs are a provincial resource and they are moved around the province,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 voluntary, but they are moved if a courthouse is particularly busy.鈥�
鈥淧rovincial resource鈥� or not, sheriffs are people, and moving people around B.C. on short notice is obviously a costly and inconvenient way to staff any government agency.
Fortunately, the government is taking steps toward a longer-term solution by adding $2.67 million to hire 56 new sheriffs from two classes at the Justice Institute of B.C.
Purdy said the problem is poor retention, which he ascribes to the pay rate. Sheriffs could earn about $30,000 a year more as police officers, so many make the jump to municipal forces or the RCMP.
Anton disagreed, saying the statistics over the past 10 years don鈥檛 support that conclusion.
鈥淭here is nothing unusual in the retention rate right now,鈥� she said.
Purdy doesn鈥檛 advocate paying sheriffs the same as police officers, but thinks shrinking the wage gap would help.
The government needs to get more information and figure out what has to be done to ensure enough sheriffs are available to keep courtrooms open. Compared to all the other headaches in the justice system, this is one puzzle that should be relatively easy to solve.
