THE POLICE need to be accountable for their actions.
That's the message behind the International Day Against Police Brutality event March 15, organized by the wife of a local man who's allegedly the victim of a police assault last year.
“I'm for the police but I am not for police brutality. I am not for excessive force and the lack of accountability [within the police.] We just need the police to do their job,” said Heather Prisk-Wright, wife of Robert Wright, who suffered a brain injury while in police custody after being picked up for drunk driving.
He was taken to hospital here three times before being sent to hospital in New Westminster and now requires full-time care.
She has organized a March 15 march that starts from the Terrace RCMP detachment down to the courthouse where speakers will talk.
Prisk says a sheriff asked her what the courthouse had to do with police brutality and she replied it's a factor in how provincial prosecutors dealt with her husband's case. A government lawyer decided that no police officers would be charged in connection with her husband's case.
“They are related. It's about accountability,” said Prisk-Wright.
She's been told that Union of BC Indian Chiefs grand chief Stewart Phillip will be here to speak and possibly a BC Civil Liberties Association member will be here, too.
“Anyone who would like to be a speaker can contact me,” she said.
Her husband won't likely be part of the march as it's too much of a walk for him, she said.
“[It's also about] how much happens and nobody even gets a slap on the wrist so for me it's about raising awareness in the community,” said Prisk-Wright.
“The mainstream who do not come into contact with the RCMP don't really understand how prevalent it is,” she said, adding that there's a pattern to police brutality.
The International Day Against Police Brutality is on March 15 each year. It first began in 1997 as an initiative of the Montreal Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP) and the Black Flag group in Switzerland.
The Collective Opposed to Police Brutality is a group made up of victims, witnesses and/or those concerned by police brutality and all abuse by the police.