Courts bullied; Ottawa seeks remedy New penalties possible: Justice Department finds intimidation to be widespread Jim Bronskill Southam News OTTAWA - Federal officials are looking for ways to protect people involved in the justice system after finding widespread intimidation of jurors, lawyers, witnesses and even judges. In a 1999 consultation paper, the federal Department of Justice cited instances of bulletproof vests being issued to Toronto prosecutors, witnesses in Nova Scotia who refused to testify and members of the Edmonton police service who were outfitted with home alarms and panic-button systems because of threats to them and their families. These snapshots, described in submissions to the department for its paper Fear Affects the Decisions You Make, are the latest examples of the frightening pressures often experienced by key players in the criminal justice system. The newly obtained briefs were written by justice officials from across the country and submitted to the department in an exercise that could result in new laws or procedures to protect lawyers, jurors, witnesses, police, parole officers and prison guards. The near-fatal shooting in September of Quebec journalist Michel Auger, who has written extensively about the province's outlaw biker gangs, opened many eyes to the serious problem of intimidation by criminals and their associates. The dozens of responses to the consultation exercise, released under the Access to Information Act, indicate intimidation tactics are common and affect a wide range of people involved in the administration of justice. The process, which also included face-to-face sessions in different cities, has yielded many suggestions on how to curb the problem, including specific new penalties, measures to shield the identity of witnesses, limits on the disclosure of personal information about jurors, such as their addresses, and more efforts to educate the public about the workings of the justice system. Federal officials and their provincial counterparts discussed the issue late last summer at a meeting in Iqaluit, Nunavut, and are now studying the various options. In one memo, Michael Zigayer, the senior Justice official who co-ordinated the consultation, says one option is a redesign of court facilities to ensure prosecutors and witnesses do not have to pass friends and associates of the accused when they arrive for court. Justice officials in various provinces have done their best to discourage intimidation using existing legal tools. A submission by the Toronto Police Service says ad hoc measures have been taken during trials to improve the safety of jurors in courthouses ill-equipped to protect them. "Measures taken were very expensive and there is always a debate over who pays, the court or the police," wrote police counsel Jerome Wiley. He added the Toronto force provided bulletproof vests, home security systems and special protection to several prosecutors after uncovering risks to their safety. During a consultation in Montreal, Mr. Zigayer met half a dozen federal prosecutors who had received protection on the advice of the RCMP. The department also learned prison inmates often throw bodily fluids at guards who, in fear of contracting AIDS, must begin a course of treatment within two hours, that lasts for several months. "In the interim, they live in fear," says one Justice memo. "Corrections officials are not permitted to know whether any inmates are HIV positive [because of privacy issues] and must assume that all inmates carry the disease." The Edmonton police service noted six serious incidents involving the intimidation of its officers during the previous four years. Organized criminal groups were behind half of the incidents. The events were investigated and considerable manpower was expended in an attempt to arrest the suspects, says the Edmonton brief. "In addition, homes of the police officers were armed with panic and entry alarms. Unfortunately, only one of the occurrences of intimidation resulted in a charge of criminal harassment." Halifax police officers have been offered security after being followed, threatened or assaulted. David McKinnon, chief of Halifax Regional Police, also told the Department of Justice that citizens were becoming "more reluctant" to sit on jury trials involving organized crime. "Intimidation by groups such as the Hells Angels organization is normally very subtle but effective," he wrote. "In past trials that we have been involved in, they have intimidated jurors and witnesses by their very presence in the courtroom while their associates were on trial." Chief McKinnon said legislative penalties have little effect on criminals who have everything to gain by frightening a prospective witness, "who in the end refuses to testify or has a loss of memory." After surveying his colleagues in the criminal division of the Alberta Provincial Court in Calgary, Judge Brian Stevenson told federal officials existing Criminal Code provisions were inadequate to deal with attempts to intimidate witnesses. "Enact stiff minimum jail sentences for witness tampering," he wrote. Judges have also been subject to intimidation. In the late 1990s, a B.C. Supreme Court justice received two separate death threats from people he had sent to jail, prompting precautionary measures.