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He had been out of jail just a few days. First nabbed the month before, Chysyk had confessed to breaking into 90 vehicles in six weeks. Nevertheless, a provincial court judge only handed him three weeks in jail, and he got out in two.

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This time around, a judge once again let him off in a few days, but with a twist: Under judicial order, Chysyk is no longer allowed to set foot within Mission city limits. “If he’s caught in Mission, it’s an immediate arrest, and he goes before the courts again,” said Mission RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Sharon Siluch.

While it may just push Chysyk’s crimes into a neighbouring Greater Vancouver community, police hope it will do him some good to get away. “If you take him away from the element that he’s used to, that is hopefully going to be a deterrent,” said Cpl. Siluch, noting that the judicial order also requires Chysyk to visit a drug rehabilitation facility in Langley.

“No go” orders, such as that placed on Chysyk, are actually a common judicial tool, said Cpl. Siluch, although they are typically applied on a much smaller scale: A particular bar, neighbourhood or crime-ridden downtown street. Still, Canadian law abounds with numerous examples of community “banishments.”

Last year, after a schizophrenic man shoplifted, skipped a restaurant bill and assaulted a police officer on B.C.’s Saltspring Island, a judge released him from jail on the condition that he never return to the island. “I feel bad for him but, gee whiz, he was here for two weeks and he caused police problems,” Sgt. George Jenkins of the Saltspring Island RCMP told Postmedia News at the time.