Brandon police, judge apologize to teens after mix-up led to weekend in jail
Both police and a judge in Brandon, Man., have apologized to two teens wrongfully put behind bars for the weekend.
The two teens were "incarcerated for breaching a court order that had already been resolved by the courts the previous day," said a statement issued Friday by the Brandon Police Service.
The mix-up happened because the Canadian Police Data Centre — a database used by law enforcement agencies across the country to access information about wanted persons, judicial orders and other details — wasn't updated in a timely fashion, said police.
Brandon police said they've taken "procedural steps" to make sure this doesn't happen again.
"The police service apologizes to the two youths for the error and will be reaching out to them privately," the statement said.
The snafu of the two wrongfully jailed teens — a boy and girl, in separate cases — played out in a Brandon courtroom on Monday morning.
Ryan Fawcett, who acted as duty counsel for the teens, told court that the boy was in custody for allegedly breaching his recognizance, even though the order had expired the previous week.
He said the order was lifted after the boy's charges were dealt with on Thursday. The teen was arrested and charged with breach of recognizance on Saturday and jailed for the weekend until Monday's court appearance.
Meanwhile, the teen girl was also charged with breach of recognizance under similar circumstances Friday night. Fawcett told court that her order also came to an end Thursday when her charges were dealt with in court.
She was arrested Friday evening and also sat in jail all weekend. Fawcett said he wasn't aware the teens were in custody until Monday morning.
'It's not good,' says judge
"The Crown finds this quite alarming," Crown attorney Kaley Tschetter told court. "We're looking into it to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Tschetter added that she believed something related to the paperwork for the teens may have been to blame. She deferred comment to Manitoba Justice when reached on Thursday. Fawcett also had no other information on the matter.
A Manitoba Justice spokesperson said the department is looking into the matter.
The two mix-ups lead to strong words and an apology from Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta.
"I don't know what's happened here. It's not good," she said. "I know the Crown is going to look into it."
"I'm sorry you've been in custody," she told the girl. She also apologized to the boy.
Both teens had charges related to the mix-up dropped on Monday.
