Court Decision Protects Probation Officers
On July 27, 2001, at the end of the workday, an offender with mental problems lay in wait outside a probation office: When the female probation officer, Barb Main left the back door to the parking lot, he accosted her and attempted to kill her with a baseball bat. She managed to protect herself with her arms, one of which was badly broken. Her male colleague, Dennis Parker came to her rescue and the deranged man attacked him as well.
Two years later, June 12, 2003, he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment in Chilliwack Supreme Court.
Most importantly, the judge made some very notable remarks about the work of Probation officers in his reasons for judgement. He said:
"It must also be remembered that these attacks by Mr. Armstrong were attacks not only upon two individuals but also upon the criminal corrections system as it attempted to help Mr. Armstrong to become properly reintegrated into society. Unlike police officers and prison guards, bail supervisors and probation officers are unarmed and defenceless in their dealings with sometimes hardened criminals. An attack upon one of them is an attack upon a civilized approach to rehabilitation.....[18]
I also bear in mind, however, the viciousness of his attacks, his attempts to strike both of his victims in the head and his use of a baseball bat as a weapon and the premeditated, revengeful nature of these attacks upon two innocent people who were merely doing their jobs to the best of their ability. Protection of the public and the protection of workers in the corrections system requires that Mr. Armstrong’s crimes be severely denounced and that he serve a lengthy term of incarceration[26]. ....
I am satisfied that the appropriate sentence for the aggravated assaults of Barbara Main and Dennis Parker by Mr. Armstrong is eight years imprisonment for each assault to be served concurrently.[25]"
Judge Davies went on to compare the work of Probation Officers to lawyers, mentioning comparing this case to another where a man attacked a lawyer in Court with a machete.[19]
This event is a solemn reminder that Probation work is not without danger. However, the Court has made it clear that our work is valued and respected. Probation Officers are considered full "officers of the court" on a professional level with lawyers. We have a job to do: rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders into society. As an Association we commend our fellow officers for their professional decision to do what they believed was in the interests of their client and protection of society. We were saddened and distraught at the pain and suffering they endured. We also extend our best wishes to Mr. Parker and Ms. Main and hope that this Decision by Judge Davies has brought them some degree of satisfaction and peace of mind.
--Barry Neufeld, BCPOA President
The full text of the decision is available on the British Columbia Superior Courts Home Page:
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/sc/03/10/2003bcsc1057.htm
Newspaper story in the Chilliwack Times, Tuesday, July 31, 2001:
Here: http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/07501/news/075101nn2.html