Keeping on top of a hot issue

By RON CORBETT
Ottawa Sun The decision to charge a Vanier prostitute with committing an indecent act after she went topless on Montreal Rd. a couple of weeks back seems to have surprised a lot of people.
"How can the cops do that? I thought it was legal now," said one caller yesterday.
"Is it legal on Mooney's Bay, but not on Montreal Rd.?"
I heard that a few times as well.
The answers to those questions aren't simple, but they highlight something that often gets overlooked in news stories about this court decision or that court decision, this council vote or the next council vote.
Laws are not static. They change, evolve, are constantly being tested, and quite often the people who get the process going are cops.
Such is the case with the charge against Joanne Gowan.
"It was an organizational decision, made in consultation with the Crown Attorney's office," says Insp. Ian Davidson, the man who heads up the sex crimes squad of the Ottawa-Carleton police force. "We decided to further test the Jacob decision."
That, of course, was the Ontario Court of Appeal decision that ruled women going topless in public was not an indecent act.
"That decision was not carte blanche," says Davidson. "Indecent behavior still exists."
The trick is to define it, and laying a charge against Gowan is the first step. If there is a "commercial" aspect to going topless, does it then become an indecent act?
What if the breasts are fondled?
What if the person's behavior while going topless is a little over-the-top, lewd even by some people's standards? Does it then become an indecent act?
These are questions not clearly answered in the Jacob decision. And so the lawmaking process begins anew. With the cops bringing someone into court.
It's a part of police work that often gets overlooked. It happens often: A decision made in consultation with the Crown Attorney's office, a new test about to begin.
The same sort of process sets policy as well. Last winter, the sex crimes squad, once again in consultation with various other parties, decided to send out a public warning about Robert Robitaille, a convicted sex offender who was about to be released from prison.
Almost immediately, many months before Robitaille was beaten in the parking lot of a south-end apartment building, the cops started looking for better ways to handle the release of high-risk offenders.
"We felt at the time (of Robitaille's release) that the system we had in place wasn't really working," says Const. Jack Champagne. "What good does it do if you send out a warning and just drive the guy underground?"
And so the cops started doing some research. Started looking at how other police departments handled the release of high-risk offenders. Started talking to those various police departments.
In Hamilton, they found a model that will likely be used in Ottawa before the year is out. In the Steel City a committee makes recommendations to the police department on whether a public warning should be issued.
"We like the committee approach," says Champagne. "We're not ducking our responsibility here. The more input we get into these decisions the better for everyone. We hope to set up support mechanisms as well, to help these people."
Davidson is currently drafting a proposal for Chief Brian Ford, and if all goes well the committee system -- which would involve lawyers, Corrections Canada officials and community groups -- could be in place this fall.
The summer promises to be a season of change as well. Already Davidson is preparing for what many people consider a certainty in the next couple of months -- a woman going topless at a public swimming pool.
"We expect to be tested on that," he says. "We've already talked to the officers about what to do if it happens."
And what do you do?
"Lay a charge under the Trespass to Property Act."
Will that work?
"We'll see."