Where does Vernon Stand ??

Privacy rights may be violated Sept 1, 2006 Posting

Client rights breached by list seizure Aug 1,2007 Court Ruling

Kelowna RCMP are no longer automatically entitled to information on customers who deal with pawn shops. A landmark B.C. Supreme Court ruling found a New Westminister bylaw forcing pawn shops to forward personal information on their customers to police is unconstitutional after a jewelry store in that city decided to push the issue on the basis that it was a breach of their customer’s privacy. The ruling came down last week and by this week local pawn shop owner Martin Strasser put the matter to Kelowna RCMP and the City of Kelowna insisting the local bylaw requirements be adjusted in line with the ruling. “If a police officer wants to get information about you, he would need to get a warrant. Yet, because these people frequent our store, they have no rights,” he said.

RCMP Const. Julie Rattee confirmed the detachment’s pawn shop liaison has been in touch with local stores to let them know RCMP will comply with the court ruling immediately, regardless of where the City of Kelowna’s own bylaw stands.

Mayor Sharon Shepherd said she was not prepared to comment on the matter from the city’s point of view as the issue is currently with the city’s legal counsel. The local bylaw was enacted in 1999. In June 2004 Strasser told the Capital News it initially offered some legitimacy to the industry, but he and fellow industry insiders became alarmed when one of his customers was phoned by police while on a fishing trip on the basis of the information.


http://www.vernon.ca/bylaws/4878_second_handdealers_consolidated.pdf

Above link is Vernon's bylaw which seems to have the same requirements for information recorded and transmitted to local RCMP