VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The Vancouver Police officer accused of dealing pot while on duty made his first appearance in court today - and will remain in jail for now.
News1130 was at Vancouver Provincial Court where 31-year-old Peter Hodson's appearance lasted about a minute. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and seemed relatively calm.
Hodson's lawyer, Vincent Michaels, says allegations are not evidence. Michaels is urging people not to jump to any conclusions about his client. "We can all remember a number of cases that started in a really sensational way and ended up with the finding of 'not guilty', or something very different. Let's just take our time and see what this all amounts to."
Michaels also asked Hodson be held in Surrey Pretrial and not North Fraser. On Wednesday, Hodson was arrested for selling marijuana among other charges,
including two counts of breach of trust and break and enter with the intent to commit extortion.
A fix date hearing has been set for Monday, so at that time we'll likely find out when he'll be back in court asking for bail.
Meanwhile, an SFU criminologist fears the arrest is just the tip of the iceberg. Rob Gordon says while the resources the police used to make sure no other officers were connected to the case were impressive, it doesn't mean all the corrupt cops have been found.
He points out, the amount of money being made by organized crime has been growing a lot faster then it should. "Frankly, the only way in which that could have happened, is if there's been some assistance on the part of people who's job it is to regulate and to stop the growth of this particular industry."
Gordon believes there should be an independent body to investigate and gather intelligence on corruption in the justice and corrections system.
He points out there have been relatively recent incidents where border agents and prison guards have been caught helping organized drug dealers.