Randall Hopley should have remained ‘incarcerated’: Sparwood mayor
Posted November 14, 2023 8:12 am.
Last Updated November 14, 2023 8:15 am.
The desperate search for a convicted child sex offender is over after Randall Hopley was arrested Tuesday morning by police in Vancouver after a 10-day search.
Hopley had allegedly cut off his electronic ankle bracelet earlier this month and walked away from his Downtown Eastside halfway house.
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says it had more than a dozen full-time investigators on the case and despite receiving dozens of tips, Hopley was unaccounted for until around 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Speaking to CityNews before Hopley’s arrest, Sparwood Mayor and former Mountie David Wilks says he understands rehabilitation is part of the system, but believes some criminals, like Hopley, should remain behind bars for good.
“There are certain individuals that need to be incarcerated and we can think what we want about whether we can rehabilitate them or whatever the case may be, but in the case of Mr. Hopley, he chooses not to listen to the rules of the day and as a result of that, I think for him he needs to be incarcerated.”
Wilks doesn’t go into detail about what changes he’d like to see done to the justice system, which he alludes isn’t strong enough to deal with serious offenders or repeat offenders.
“Certainly, we have to do better. Unfortunately for law enforcement, they can only do what the laws do.”
The mayor wasn’t worried Hopley would return to the southeastern B.C. community where in 2011 Hopley abducted a child that in turn triggered an Amber Alert.
“I think the thing that bothers me more than anything, is he’s capable of doing this. My fear is, although last time the child was returned — which is a real, real oddity — if he ever did it again, maybe the child wouldn’t return.
“In the case of Mr. Hopley, he had served his full sentence, I will give it that. But at the end of the day he had breached parts of his release conditions and… in that case, when they continue to breach like that there’s only one place left for them, and I’m hoping that will happen this time when he’s caught.”
CityNews asked Wilks if the public should have faith in the justice system and he circled back to the issues of rehabilitation.
“We could change the rules and the laws in Ottawa if we so chose to. We could make it a little tougher,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we believe that rehabilitation is a possibility with every individual and in my opinion, that’s not the case for some people. They need to be secured, shall we say.”
“Until we get to a point where it becomes so bad, we will continue down the road that we have today and that is that people get released, they re-commit again, they re-commit again, and then eventually the court system is, for lack of a better word, shamed into doing something,” he continued.
Outside of increased monitoring, Wilks doesn’t offer solutions to prevent criminals from walking away from halfway houses in the future.
The Vancouver Police Department says it will be holding a media conference where more information regarding Hopley’s arrest will be shared later Tuesday.
The father of the little boy who was abducted in Sparwood back in 2011 says police never notified his family that Hopley was missing.
B.C. Premier David Eby had previously said he was “deeply disturbed” Hopley had been able to essentially vanish and has criticized the National Parole Board for not placing him under stricter supervision.
Hopley served a six-year prison sentence for his part in the Amber Alert. He was released in 2018 on a 10-year long-term supervision order and moved to a halfway house in Vancouver.
He had been scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 6 after being charged with two counts of violating his supervision order earlier this year after getting caught at a public library and being too close to children.
-With files from Cole Schisler, Charlie Carey, Mike Lloyd, and The Canadian Press
