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Calgary police
(background to the Anton Pillar
order)
Website attacking police
boss reappears
Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald,
January 6, 2005
For the second time in just
over two months, a website attacking the Calgary Police Service's
top brass has popped up on the Internet.
Much like its predecessor,
the new website -- Code200.com -- claims to represent officers
and civilian members of the department who "find themselves
challenged daily by the relentless and malicious disregard of
its current management."
Code 200, in police terminology,
is an emergency call signifying an officer is in trouble.
The language on the new site
is less vitriolic but similar to one launched in late October.
Dubbed the Standfirm Team website, the earlier posting has since
been pulled from the Net after threats of legal action by the
police service.
The initial site claimed to
represent officers who "find themselves challenged by the
relentless tyranny and malicious disregard of its current management."
The new site claims much of
its content and criticisms of the police service were pulled
directly from a union survey that delivered a scathing performance
evaluation of senior officers by hundreds of rank-and-file members.
One of the website's comments,
from what's claimed to be a 20-year veteran, says: "While
the Calgary Police Service has some individuals that are competent
and qualified, they are few and far between. The majority are
in positions they are not qualified for and have become a liability
to the service."
Several apparent survey comments
target Chief Jack Beaton, who is in the midst of negotiating
a new contract.
"The chief best be careful
in how he is leading and running the CPS, as the optics are concerning,"
states a comment from an alleged veteran officer.
"I have little respect
for our management," another veteran says.
"Some of the senior officers
. . . have never even heard of values.
These values are used to keep
us in line but are ignored by them at their whim. They . . .
disgust me," reads another comment.
The Herald attempted to contact
the authors of the website but received no response.
Service spokesman Don Stewart
said the department won't comment on the new website because
it's largely based on the results of the union survey, which
Beaton previously called "faulty" and "flawed."
"The Calgary Police Service
didn't comment publicly on the survey results at that time when
it was released, and we're not going to be doing so now,"
Stewart said Wednesday.
Beaton, at the time, labelled
the initial website as "mean-spirited and in poor taste"
and said "the authors have no regard whatsoever for our
members who wear the uniform with pride."
Ald. Craig Burrows -- one of
two aldermen who sit on the police commission -- said the new
site "is just gossip" until people are willing to put
their name on it.
"We live in a world where
you can smear without fear," Burrows said Wednesday. "If
police are about courage, then come forward."
jfekete@theherald.canwest.com
© Calgary Herald
2005
Police chief furious
over web attack
Suzanne Wilton, Calgary
Herald, Oct. 30, 2004
Calgary police Chief Jack Beaton
is moving to quash a possible mutiny after a website was set
up targeting him as a "rotten apple to be tossed out of
the barrel."
The embattled chief, already
under fire for his department's handling of complaints against
officers, is sending in a legal team to combat the site that
popped up on the Internet this week.
"I have assured our members
that on their behalf, the service intends to take every measure
necessary to discover who is responsible and hold them fully
accountable for their actions," an angry Beaton said Friday.
"We have instructed our
legal counsel to pursue all available remedies," added Beaton,
who would not elaborate on what those remedies might be.
The site claims to represent
officers and civilian members of the department who "find
themselves challenged by the relentless tyranny and malicious
disregard of its current management."
Besides criticizing Beaton,
the site also relates a number of alleged incidents of misconduct
within the department.
It's not known who is behind
the site. In an e-mail to the Herald, the creator refused to
identify himself, saying whistle-blowing is a firing offence.
"Simply put, we will all
lose our jobs," said the e-mail reply, signed as the Standfirm
Team.
As senior brass learned of
the site, the web address was blocked from department computers
and a memo went out to all members discrediting it. It defames
honourable police officers, said senior brass.
"The website is mean-spirited
and in poor taste," said Beaton, who is renegotiating a
new contract. "Clearly the authors have no regard whatsoever
for our members who wear the uniform with pride."
The site's creators said in
an e-mail interview with the Herald that the goal of the site
"is to present evidence of the toxicity and lack of management
that is rampant in the organization.
"It is to stress the importance
of having a non-biased third party investigate the cases that
Beaton and the current police commission have buried," the
e-mail said.
This is the latest in a series
of attacks on the chief and the civilian body charged with overseeing
the service.
It also follows a spate of
incidents involving officers and alleged misconduct.
In recent months, two constables
have separately complained about discrimination and racism within
the service; a senior officer has been charged in connection
with a multimillion-dollar fraud; and several citizens have alleged
incidents of police brutality.
Also recently, two former officers
bypassed the police commission with their complaints and took
them to Alberta's solicitor general.
One complaint alleges that
an officer arrived impaired to the scene of a fatal accident
and other officers were ordered by senior brass not to act.
Another letter, sent this week,
demands an outside agency investigate the chief of police for
not ordering an investigation into an alleged fraud involving
Employment Insurance.
Police commission chairwoman
Sandy Durrant recently faced calls for her resignation for not
acting on the complaint about the alleged drunk-driving incident.
That complaint is now the subject of an investigation by the
RCMP.
The commission is accused of
being a puppet of the department, and critics - including the
website's authors - say it isn't properly doing its job.
"We are aware of too many
members that have 'been there, done that' only to be shut down
by the police commission in conjunction with the chief of police
and/or direct subordinates," the Standfirm Team said.
"There is no integrity
in the process. In theory (the complaint process) should work,
in practice it fails horribly."
Durrant could not be reached
for comment Friday.
An outside observer and former
police officer who has been following the internal struggle within
the Calgary Police Service called the site's creation "remarkable."
Leo Knight, senior vice-president
of Paladin Security and online columnist at Prime Time Crime,
said he's never seen such an overt effort to topple a chief.
The website, he said, is the
latest indication of serious problems within the department.
"There's almost an internal
mutiny going on," Knight, who recently highlighted the Calgary
Police Service's problems in a column, said in an interview from
Vancouver.
"The policing world tends
to be very secretive and very much about not airing your dirty
laundry in public. To be that overt and public about it signals
a bit of desperation."
Knight said he has received
information from Calgary police officers about internal problems.
He said Beaton should be working
toward addressing those issues rather than starting a witch hunt.
"The chief has allowed
this situation to fester," said Knight. "Despite all
of the warning signs and red flags being brought up along the
way, it has continued."
"It seems to me, at some
level, that department is out of control."
A spokesman for the union representing
Calgary's rank-and-file cops - which is also targeted by the
site's authors - said it neither endorses nor supports the website.
Loyalty missing in chief's leadership
Leo Knight (Prime Time Crime
exclusive Oct. 30, 2004)
In the ensuing weeks since
I last wrote on the bizarre situation in the Calgary Police Service,
where the Police Association commissioned a survey of their membership
and more than 70% said they had no confidence in their chief
and wanted him gone, a website has now sprung up calling Chief
Jack Beaton "the most rotten apple of them all."
And, despite all the criticism,
the whiffs of scandal, the lack of support for an embattled Chief
from the rank and file, senior officers facing criminal complaints
and in at least one case, a criminal prosecution for fraud, the
Police Commission has offered to negotiate a new contract for
Beaton leaving him in the position until 2008.
The chairwoman of the Police
commission, Sandy Durrant, herself no stranger to controversy,
said after the announcement in a media interview, "The commission
is pleased with the leadership Chief Beaton has shown over the
past four years, including excellent management of major events."
Perhaps so, but it is in the management of the day to day events
that so many of the line officers have lost confidence in their
chief and, precisely why the Commission should listen to those
who must work in the mean streets.
The website, Standfirm.biz
systematically argues that the Calgary Police Service is, at
the very least, hypocritical in the way it doesn't practice what
it preaches. In a section titled "Core values," the
website's author(s) lists the statement from the manual for the
police in Calgary: "All members of the Calgary Police Service
are expected to adhere to the core values of the service, conducting
themselves at all times with honesty, integrity, ethics, respect,
fairness and compassion, courage and commitment."
It then provides examples for
each category in which the Police Service or, more specifically,
senior management, appears to do anything but follow those "core
values."
Beaton, for his part, has reacted
angrily about the website. He sent around a memo via the department's
email to all members indicating the witch hunt was about to begin.
In the memo he said, "Clearly the authors have no regard
whatsoever for our members who wear the uniform with pride."
According to the website the
converse is true. It is the senior management who lack the respect
for the cop on the beat.
The website has also got the
attention of the local media. On Saturday, the Calgary Herald
ran a story headlined: "Police chief furious over web
attack."
Typically, Beaton lashed out
at the messenger and ignored the message.
"I have assured our members
that on their behalf, the service intends to take every measure
necessary to discover who is responsible and hold them fully
accountable for their actions," Beaton was quoted saying
to the Herald on Friday.
No big surprise there I suppose.
It is a tried and true method in dealing with whistleblowers.
No doubt if and/or when Beaton discovers who is behind the site
he will follow the next step in the How to Deal with Whistleblowers
Handbook; Trash them. Wait for it, it will happen.
But what is really remarkable
in all of this is the public nature in which the battle is being
waged. I have seen other cases where a police department's members
have lobbied to have a disliked chief removed. The saga of Bruce
Chambers' tumultuous years as the Chief Constable of the Vancouver
Police Department comes to mind.
But in those instances the
battle is typically waged within the walls of the department.
Occasionally glimpses will be given, usually by a carefully leaked
piece of information to a member of the press. But I have never
seen anything like this.
The author(s) of the site have
so far been very careful to mask their identity and have taken
pains to have the reader believe there are a number of serving
police officers behind the site. In email correspondence, the
only way they will communicate at this point, they refer to themselves
as: "The Team at Standfirm.biz."
In the Herald story,
reporter Suzanne Wilton quotes an email received from Standfirm
saying, "Simply put, we will all lose our jobs" as
the reason for going to great lengths to shield their identity.
Clearly they believe in the vindictive nature of senior management.
In his book, Leadership
former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani devotes a whole
chapter to the subject of loyalty entitled, Loyalty: The Vital
Virtue.
In Giuliani's view that is
the single thing any good leader must have from his or her subordinates,
loyalty. Without it, the organization founders and the administration
stagnates.
In Beaton's case, he has lost
the loyalty of at least 70 per cent of the serving men and women
of the Calgary Police Service. At least some of those people
have taken the drastic step of putting up a web site that literally
airs the dirty laundry in public and in doing so they risk their
very careers.
As Beaton negotiates another
three years on his estimated $150,000 job, all he can promise
publicly is he will seek revenge on the officers behind the web
site.
Hard to imagine how that will
inspire loyalty in the rest of the department. Fear perhaps,
but it seems that that particular emotion is already present.
leo@primetimecrime.com
-30-
Calgary
police watchdog 'forgot' impaired report
- Alderman wants council
to have more say
Suzanne Wilton, With files
from Sorcha McGinnis, Calgary Herald, Oct. 6, 2004
The chairwoman of the Calgary
Police Commission was told months ago about a rumoured drunk
driving incident involving a police officer, but did nothing
about it.
The incident involved allegations
of a coverup by senior police brass.
After denying knowledge of
the incident in an interview on Friday, Sandy Durrant admitted
to the Herald Tuesday that she was told of the incident almost
six months ago.
"I just forgot, I guess,"
Durrant said, adding the information did not come to the commission
as a formal complaint. "We knew of it as a rumour. In no
way did we try to cover this up. We just had no information to
work with."
Police chief Jack Beaton asked
the commission to appoint an outside investigator after a letter
was sent to Alberta Solicitor General Heather Forsyth. The commission
has asked the RCMP to investigate.
The revelations came the same
day Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart said city council needs a stronger
role in the police commission. She said it is in danger of becoming
a police puppet.
Colley-Urquhart, running for
re-election in Ward 13, said she is "deeply disturbed"
by the commission's approach to complaints about police brutality
and allegations of misconduct.
"One of the options this
council could consider, as other jurisdictions have done, is
to play a stronger role in the governance of the police,"
Colley-Urquhart said.
Colley-Urquhart slammed Durrant
and the commission Tuesday, saying complaints of brutality and
misconduct are not treated seriously enough.
"I'm deeply concerned
about how these things are being treated by the police commission,"
said Colley-Urquhart, pointing to three recent complaints of
police brutality. "If people complain about unnecessary
force, you don't need a trend line to tell you about that."
The alderman did not outline
how council could take a more active role in the commission.
The police commission is a
civilian body empowered to oversee complaints against the chief
of police. It is also the appeal body for complaints against
the department.
The commission reports to city
council but is governed by provincial legislation.
The Police Act specifies two
of the members may be municipal employees -- including members
of council.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier said
council has limited control over the commission.
"There is a growing interest
in major cities, for a variety of reasons, to look at how (police)
services operate," Bronconnier said Tuesday from Ottawa.
At least three complaints of
police brutality have been filed recently.
Last week, a 26-year-old said
he was, without provocation, slammed onto the hood of a police
car with such force his teeth went through his lips. Also, a
Calgary businessman says he was brutally beaten by a traffic
officer who pulled him over for speeding.
Those complaints come on the
heels of claims by a Halifax man, Jason Noseworthy, 22, that
he was kneed in the groin by an officer, forcing him to undergo
two hours of surgery.
He said the officer kneed him
in the groin while questioning him on Sept. 25 about a burglary
he knew nothing about.
And Calgary's police chief
has asked for another agency to look into allegations that an
officer drove drunk to the scene of an accident, and a deputy
chief ordered other officers not to take action.
Beaton said there was no formal
complaint, making it difficult to take action.
"Rumours are not complaints,"
said Beaton.
Mark Dyrholm, a candidate running
against Colley-Urquhart, said the commission is approaching the
issue the right way.
"I don't want to play
the emotional card," said Dyrholm. "I want to look
at the trend, see why it's happening and implement processes
to deal with the problem that seems to be causing the trend."
Candidate Bob Krengel said
he thinks there should be greater public oversight of the police.
Like Colley-Urquhart, he questioned the commission's independence.
"Maybe it's time for a
judicial inquiry," said Krengel. "I don't think the
commission is handling this right."
Durrant said the commission
takes all complaints seriously. "I think it's inappropriate
to declare a trend based on a handful of complaints that are
in great part a result of, to be frank, media coverage,"
said Durrant.
"The commission is very
concerned about any complaints regarding any alleged misconduct
by police officers, and has a thorough, complete process in place
to appropriately manage those complaints."
The solicitor general said
she may set up a civilian panel to examine complaints against
police.
© Calgary Herald
2004
Media Release
Stephen G. Jenuth, B.A.
(Hon). LL.B Barrister & Solicitor - 2819 Centre Street
N. Calgary, Alberta
DATE OF RELEASE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER
1, 2004
Independent
review of Calgary police sought
During the last two weeks of
April, 2004, my client, constable, Shon Marsh, had numerous
conversations with a member of the Calgary Police Service Professional
Standards Section regarding the allegations of a senior officer
of the Traffic Unit attending to a fatal accident while he was
impaired by alcohol. Dissatisfied by the response
from the Professional Standards Section with respect to this
very serious allegation, my client forwarded his concern to the
Calgary Police Commission.
In May of 2004 my client had
several conversations with Calgary Police Commission complaints
monitor, Preeti Adhopia, regarding the same allegation. During
these meetings my client disclosed the circumstances and details
of the on-duty impairment allegation as described in two separate
articles published in the September 29, 2004 Calgary Herald and
Calgary Sun newspapers. My client provided a copy of notes of
a conversation he had with a member of the Service who had knowledge
of the incident. My client further offered to provide the names
of three police officers who had relevant information regarding
this matter.
Understandably, my client is
disappointed and perplexed by Chief Beaton's response to this
allegation. In a Calgary Herald article on September 29, 2004,
Chief Beaton indicated that he was "stunned" to learn
Friday of the alleged incident." My client believes that
the information passed on to the Service and Police Commission
was deliberately ignored and withheld from the public. He has
good reason to believe that had a retired police officer not
disclosed this allegation to the media, the Service and the Commission
would never have acted on it.
Over the past year there have
been other Calgary Police Service members who have complained
about other acts of police misconduct, however no action has
been taken.
The Police Act states that
the Chief of Police is responsible for he maintenance of discipline
and the performance of duty within the Police Service, and that
he is accountable to the Police Commission in the reporting of
any complaint made against the police service or its members.
My client is asking for an
independent judicial review of these matters, including several
complaints that have previously been brought to the attention
of the Chief of Police and the Police Commission.
My client further requests
that a disciplinary hearing involving an allegation of the careless
use of and pointing of police firearms be held in public so that
the Calgary Police Service can regain public confidence in its
delivery of community policing.
For more information, please
contact:
Mr. Stephen Jenuth -
telephone (403) 233-2812
Letter to Solicitor-General
2004 September 23
Attention: Honourable Heather
Forsyth, Solicitor General
Dear Solicitor General Forsyth:
I have a genuine responsibility
to the members of the Calgary Police Service and to the citizens
of Calgary. Consequently, I direct this correspondence to your
attention.
Members of the Calgary Police
Service are aware of the after described incident that demonstrates
alcohol abuse continues to be a problem within the Calgary Police
Service.
The practice of conveniently
ignoring the problem for reasons of political expediency is an
issue that should be properly addressed before further tragedy
and unnecessary death occurs.
I refer to the tragic death
of Constable Brian Hanson, wherein Hanson, after leaving a Traffic
Section Unit party, hosted by the Traffic Section Sergeant, was
involved in a fatal motor vehicle accident that also claimed
the lives of two young Calgary citizens.
Investigations determined that
Hanson was impaired by alcohol and well in excess of the legal
limit of alcohol in his blood at the time of the accident.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned
tragedy the Calgary Police Service continues to place members
and citizens at risk by failing to address the issue of alcohol
abuse in a responsible fashion.
The following incident not
only demonstrates a lack of prudence and due diligence, but also
a total lack of responsibility and accountability.
The Traffic Section Staff Sergeant,
operating a Calgary Police Service vehicle while under the influence
of alcohol, drives to the scene of an injury accident.
Enroute to the injury accident scene the Staff Sergeant is involved
in a motor vehicle accident. Upon arrival at the scene of the
injury accident, Investigators observe that the Staff Sergeant
is impaired by alcohol to operate a motor vehicle.
The opinion formed by the Investigators
prompted the Investigators to contact the Headquarters Duty Inspector
for authority to take the appropriate action.
The Headquarters Duty Inspector
contacted a Deputy Chief for direction in the matter.
The Deputy Chief contacted
the Investigators and ordered the Investigators not to take any
action.
Justice, and the spirit and
intent of the law, was obstructed for reasons of political expediency
on this occasion.
The citizens of Calgary have
a rightful expectation of a greater standard of integrity from
the Calgary Police Service.
The problems of alcohol abuse
and the associated issues of responsibility and accountability
cannot be addressed within the community until these issues are
addressed within the Calgary Police Service.
Failing to take the appropriate
action in the aforementioned incident, the Calgary Police Service
committed a serious breach of public trust.
I respectfully request that
the Office of the Solicitor General for the Province of Alberta
investigate the aforementioned incident and take the appropriate
action to make the Calgary Police Service accountable to the
citizens of Calgary.
I request that the Solicitor
General employ the integrity and authority of the Office of the
Solicitor General to facilitate an investigation into these matters
by another law enforcement agency such as the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police.
Respectfully yours,
Tim Goodwin
cc: Attorney General Canada
Suzanne
Wilton, Calgary Herald
Editor,
Calgary Sun
Calgary
Police Association
Calgary
Police Commission
Police
Federation, c/o John Netelenbos
M.A.D.D.
Jack
Beaton, Chief of Police
Cops accuse Calgary chief
of ignoring racism
Jason Van Rassel, Calgary
Herald, June 3, 2004
A former Calgary police officer
and another member on leave have filed formal complaints accusing
Chief Jack Beaton of covering up misconduct committed by fellow
officers.
The unrelated complaints by
former constable Shon Marsh and Const. Taufiq Shah, who has been
on long-term disability since March 2003, were filed with the
Calgary Police Commission in April.
In documents obtained by the
Herald from a third party, both men allege Beaton failed to act
on formal complaints they made alleging they were targets for
racist taunts, intimidation and harassment.
The complaints say Beaton is
guilty of neglect of duty and discreditable conduct under Alberta's
police regulations.
Marsh, who is Metis, and Shah,
a Muslim of Pakistani origin, were reluctant to comment Wednesday.
Each said he was hopeful the
police commission, a civilian body that oversees the police service,
will act on their allegations.
"The matter now sits in
the trusting, capable hands of the Calgary police commission,"
Shah said. "I now understand why police services should
never investigate their own."
The police commission is reviewing
the complaints made by Marsh and Shah, as it does every allegation
brought to its attention.
"The commission is bound
by legislation and we'll follow that legislation to the letter,"
chairwoman Sandy Durrant said.
"The commission's next
step is to make a determination of whether the chief may be in
a breach of regulations or legislation, and determine if any
further investigation is necessary."
If the commission decides there's
need for further investigation, it will contact the Solicitor
General's Department and request an outside police service conduct
a probe.
Complaints against the chief
of police are rare, Durrant said, adding she could recall only
three in as many years with the commission. None of those were
referred for further investigation.
Marsh, who resigned from the
service in March 2001, said he also wants a judicial review of
the service's leadership.
"The allegations I have
brought forward are indicative of the organizational health of
the service," said Marsh, adding his case is not an indictment
of the rank and file officers.
Marsh, who worked in District
2, said his original complaint was dismissed by Beaton in May
2002. He has also launched a civil lawsuit, which is pending.
Shah's original complaint says
a superior officer pointed a loaded service pistol at him on
several occasions.
Shah has a pending lawsuit
naming Beaton and four immediate supervisors at District 3, claiming
racial harassment caused him to take medical leave and ultimately
forced him off the job.
The Calgary Police Service
refused comment.
© Calgary Herald
2004
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
