|
Tom
Engel | Abdulahi Mahamad
| Mayor also targetted in
bar sting | More
on Police cheif's troubles | Diotte's
column in response to this | Tasering
Randy Fryingpan | Excerpts
from the tapes | Calgary police
| 2005: Edmonton Inquiries
Edmonton police
(2005)
City police legal fees top
$1M
Lawyer asks why so much?
By STEVEN SANDOR, SPECIAL
TO THE EDMONTON SUN, July 23, 2005
An Edmonton lawyer wants to
know why the Edmonton Police Service spent more than $1 million
in legal fees in 2003.
Lawyer Tom Engel said Edmonton
police paid almost twice as much for lawyers in 2003 than Calgary
police.
"What the public needs
to know is, why does Edmonton have such a greater need for lawyers
than Calgary does?" said Engel.
According to documents obtained
by the Sun, the Edmonton Police Service paid out more than $1.02
million in fees to outside legal firms in 2003. Through a Freedom
of Information request made by Engel, Calgary Police Service
disclosed that it paid $542,382.60 for "external counsel."
"I received the figures
from Edmonton police and I thought it was very high," said
Engel. "But I wanted another community to compare it to,
and when I received Calgary's numbers it was exactly what I thought.
"Basically, there are
two reasons that you need counsel - to defend yourself or to
take an offensive action. You are either bringing or defending
claims."
Four legal firms got the majority
of EPS's business; $226,128 was spent at Fraser Milner Casgrain;
$226,011 was spent at Pringle & Associates; $204,359 was
spent at Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer; and another $156,430
was spent at Bennett Jones. In total, EPS did business with 22
different legal firms in 2003.
Brian Gibson, chairman of the
Edmonton Police Commission, said he would not be able to comment
on the fees as he was not a part of the EPC in 2003.
"And I don't have those
numbers in front of me," said Gibson.
Calls to the Edmonton Police
Association executive were not returned.
Good to know they're allegedly
trying to speed up complaints against the EPS...but some might
wonder it it's appropriate that many of those cases will now
be handled by non-internal affairs cops.
Wouldn't that make it extremely
hard to be impartial when you know you're temporarily assigned
to IA -- the so-called "rat squad" and then have to
likely go back to work with your regular unit?
(See that detail in the
story below)
- Cops granted more time
for case backlog
- 'Frustration' over Internal
Affairs files
By DOUG BEAZLEY, EDMONTON
SUN, July 21, 2005
City police yesterday asked
for and received an "exceptional" number of time-limit
extensions on old Internal Affairs cases, as the section struggles
to beat down a backlog of complaints against cops.
"You know there's been
a lot of frustration around this commission over the long delays
in completing IA cases," Edmonton Police Commission member
Murray Billett told acting police Chief Darryl da Costa during
yesterday's commission meeting.
"We know there have been
a lot of files sitting around for a long time," said commissioner
Roger Laing.
"The (reasons why) remain
to be seen."
'EXCEPTIONAL'
IA got commission approval
to extend deadlines on 65 files, a number that even IA Staff
Sgt. Phil Bailey admitted was "exceptional."
Bailey said part of the reason
for the high number was the fact the commission wasn't planning
to meet in August.
"So we had to get all
of these approved at once," he said.
Over the past few months, five
officers from various EPS sections have been temporarily seconded
to IA to work through its deep backlog of complaints against
officers. Bailey said the transfers are helping.
"Once we have the backlog
eliminated, we should be able to handle incoming complaints with
our usual staff," he said.
Criminal lawyers have been
complaining for years that the slow processing of IA cases frustrates
complainants and violates the principle of swift justice.
According to the Police Act,
misconduct complaints against officers must be dealt with within
three months.
The extensions received yesterday
varied in length from weeks to almost a year.
OUTSPOKEN
Outspoken defence lawyer Tom
Engel has accused the EPS of deliberately dragging out IA investigations
so that complainants lose clear recollection of the events, or
become so frustrated that they withdraw their complaints.
Da Costa said he's made an
effort to help reduce the IA case load by promoting a culture
of "ethics" in the EPS.
"We're doing that by talking
to the members (about ethics) when they're on parade, getting
supervisors to write articles on ethics," he said.
"We're frustrated with
the process - it does take a long time. But the officer involved
is entitled to a fair hearing."
Bailey insisted the number
of incoming IA complaints has not been on the increase over the
past year.
Laing said the commission will
meet with IA representatives in September to measure their progress
in expediting the investigations.
Chief blasts his officers
'Discriminatory' e-mail against aboriginals adds to list of EPS
scandals
Charles Rusnell, The Edmonton Journal, June 13, 2005
Edmonton's acting police chief has ordered yet another internal
investigation into the conduct of some officers, this time in
relation to an internal e-mail that made racist comments about
aboriginals.
"An e-mail was recently
brought to my attention where the author advanced his theory
on how aboriginals should be dealt with by police," acting
chief Daryl da Costa says in a special June 9 communique, obtained
by The Journal, that was sent to all Edmonton Police Service
members.
"The e-mail was racist,
discriminatory, disgusting and offensive and I have had to direct
yet another investigation into the actions of our members.
"Be advised that the EPS
has zero tolerance for this type of conduct."
Da Costa underscores "zero
tolerance" in his statement, which represents the toughest
public condemnation by an Edmonton police chief of misconduct
in recent memory and may signal a move toward increased discipline
in a police service plagued by scandal.
The e-mail, intended as a joke,
contains 10 rules for how to treat an aboriginal. It was distributed
only among some officers in the downtown division, where one
officer was suspended with pay in March for allegedly assaulting
inner-city residents.
A clearly angry and frustrated
da Costa says that while he is impressed with the dedication
and calibre of work of most members, "I am still faced with
having to deal with a very small minority that just doesn't seem
to get it. I am dismayed at how 'mindlessly' these members get
themselves into trouble."
Da Costa tells his officers
that if they hold these racist views, "please consider other
career options as you are making all of us look bad." He
further warns that "anybody involved in this newest matter
can expect to be contacted by an Internal Affairs investigator
in the very near future."
First-time offenders, he says,
will receive an automatic official warning on their record for
three years. A second offence will immediately be directed to
a disciplinary hearing.
But internal affairs investigators
may face a wall of silence when they begin their inquiries.
The Journal has learned that
several officers attending a meeting of the Edmonton Police Association
last week wore T-shirts emblazoned with a red circle around a
rat, crossed by a 45-degree angle line.
"It was the sign for 'no
rats,' which means nobody is supposed to rat out another member
in an investigation," said one person who saw the T-shirt
and spoke with the officer who wore it at the meeting.
"This just shows the culture
that exists within the Edmonton Police Service."
Da Costa did not return a call
to his cellphone Sunday, and police association president Peter
Ratcliff could not be reached for comment. Police commission
chair Brian Gibson was out of the city and also could not be
contacted.
The reputation of the Edmonton Police Service has been tarnished
in recent months by a series of high-profile scandals, one of
which led to the firing of then-chief Fred Rayner in February.
It will be months before all
the internal disciplinary hearings into how some officers conducted
themselves in relation to the controversial Overtime stakeout
are completed. In that case, traffic officers targeted a journalist
and the police commission chairman in an attempt to catch them
driving while drunk after attending a Canadian Association of
Journalists function at the Overtime bar in downtown Edmonton.
Both men, sober by witness
accounts, took cabs home.
The journalist, Sun columnist
Kerry Diotte, is suing the service and 19 of its officers for
$1.75 million.
In another case, the RCMP is
investigating allegations that several EPS traffic officers inappropriately
accepted gifts from a private photo-radar company that the service
attempted to award a $90-million contract without any public
tender. The Mounties recently sought and received a six-month
extension on their investigation.
Meanwhile, internal affairs
officers are investigating allegations that two police officers
pepper-sprayed and then stuffed a man into the trunk of their
cruiser after he caused trouble during a traffic stop.
The Crown had to abruptly drop
charges of resisting arrest against the man after the officers,
during cross-examination, suddenly couldn't remember how their
prisoner was transported to jail. The police are also being sued
in that case.
"We have a tough summer
ahead," da Costa says in closing his communique.
"I take my responsibility
to protect the integrity of the organization and its members
seriously.
"I will not let the actions
of a few individuals make our job collectively harder than it
has to be."
crusnell@thejournal.canwest.com
© The Edmonton Journal 2005
- Police violated man's
charter rights with unlawful detention, judge rules
Officer detained man because of race, Queen's Bench justice rules
Vernon Clement Jones,
The Edmonton Journal, April 02, 2005
EDMONTON - A Court of Queen's
Bench judge essentially threw out drug and gun charges against
a Lebanese-Canadian man Friday, arguing Edmonton police unlawfully
detained him on suspicion of drug dealing and violated his charter
rights.
The justice ruled the officer
seemed to be acting on the assumption Safadi was a drug dealer
because of his ethnicity and the discovery of as many as five
cellphones inside the car.
"The power to detain cannot
be executed on a hunch," Court of Queen's Bench Justice
Lawrie Smith told the court before staying all nine counts against
Khaled Fadl Safadi, charges stemming from an arrest on June 1,
2003. "It was an arbitrary detention and the answers given
(by Safadi) were compelled."
A stay means the charges can
again be brought forward within one year but that rarely occurs.
Safadi, 26, of Edmonton was released from custody shortly after
the justice made her decision.
Smith found that Const. Kevin
Berge violated Safadi's charter rights by detaining and questioning
him as a passenger in a 1993 BMW pulled over for improper window
tinting at 97th Street and Yellowhead Trail. It was during that
questioning that packets of cocaine were discovered hidden in
Safadi's mouth. A gun was subsequently found on him. In court,
the Crown argued that Berge had every right to detain and question
Safadi because the officer had seen him without a seatbelt --
a violation of the traffic code.
Smith rejected the claim, pointing
to Berge's own notes from the incident.
"Const. Berge made no
note of the seatbelt until he stopped the car and looked around,"
she said. "This contradicted what he said at the preliminary
(hearing)."
Neither the drugs nor the gun
would have been found without the unlawful questioning of Safadi,
Smith said. That action tainted all the evidence in the case,
she said, before staying all charges against Safadi.
While everyone has a moral
responsibility to assist the police, there is no legal obligation,
Smith said Friday. Berge's questioning -- before reading Safadi
his rights -- effectively forced the man to incriminate himself,
she told the court.
"Mr. Safadi had a higher
right to privacy as to the contents of his mouth," she said.
"The accused had a privacy
right to things secured on or in his person."
The incident comes days after
the federal government announced $2.2 million dollars to help
police departments across the country grapple with issues surrounding
racial profiling and bias in policing.
The Edmonton Police Service
is not part of that federal partnership.
"Our legal advisers will
need to take a look at the ruling before we can offer up any
comment," Andy Weiler, an Edmonton police spokesman, said
Friday.
vjones@thejournal.canwest.com
© The Edmonton Journal 2005
Inquiry judge criticizes
Edmonton police
By DARCY HENTON, March 29,
2005
EDMONTON (CP) - Police could
have considered a middle-ground tactic before breaking into the
residence of an armed and angry man to make an arrest, says a
fatality inquiry judge.
The observation comes from
provincial court Judge David J. Tilley, who declined to make
any recommendations following his inquiry into the fatal police
shooting of John Peter Pavic on May 15, 2001.
"It would seem rational
for police in a scene involving a person locked in a building
and refusing to come out . . . to consider some sort of middle
ground . . . without moving directly to the break-enter scenario,"
he wrote in his nine-page inquiry report released Tuesday.
Tilley suggested that police
might have tried to incapacitate Pavic with tear gas before attempting
to smash their way into the 31-year-old unemployed man's apartment,
but noted no evidence was brought to the inquiry held last September
about the soundness of such a tactic.
Pavic, who had nearly four
times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, was shot four
times by Const. Ken Brander after he attacked the police officer
with a knife in a dark stairwell. Pavic died at the scene.
Brander had initially fired
a Taser at Pavic to incapacitate him, but it didn't work.
Tilley said Brander held off
Pavic's attack with a protective shield long enough to draw his
weapon and fire off eight rounds in the dark. He kept firing
until his pistol misfired.
"Mr. Pavic either underestimated
the level of skill which the Edmonton Police Service tactical
officers were prepared to employ, or he had some sort of death
wish, or perhaps an unrealistic sense of his ability to threaten
and physically overcome the tactical squad," Tilley wrote.
Tilley noted that Pavic had
been involved in a similar incident involving Ontario Provincial
Police in southwestern Ontario in 1992.
He said police were called
to deal with Pavic after he caused a disturbance at his father's
home. Officers found him in a chair armed with a number of knives,
but he was too intoxicated to resist arrest.
OPP stated that Pavic planned
to attack the police when they came to arrest him so that the
officers would have to shoot him, Tilley noted in his report.
Tilley noted that on the night
Pavic was shot in Edmonton, he initially called police to complain
that he had been assaulted by a neighbour. However, when police
arrived, he refused to give them any information.
Police received three subsequent
911 calls from neighbours complaining that Pavic was brandishing
a knife and threatening to kill somebody.
"All Mr. Pavic had to
do was calm down, speak to police and surrender to an arrest,"
Tilley noted. "That simple end was not to be."
The officer involved in the
shooting has been involved in two other high-profile incidents
- one involving a traffic death and the other two deaths in a
drug raid.
Two days before shooting Pavic,
Brander was at the wheel of a speeding unmarked police car that
struck another car on a major Edmonton street. The collision
sliced the small car in two and killed one young boy and maimed
his brother.
Brander was found not guilty
of criminal negligence or dangerous driving.
He also led a drug sweep five
years ago in which two men fell to their deaths from a fourth-floor
balcony after police fired stun grenades.
Edmonton police fatally
shoot man
CanWest News Service,
March 14, 2005
EDMONTON -- Officers fatally
shot a man after he refused to drop a "machete-like"
knife he was wielding, say police officials.
The man, identified by a relative
as Daniel Lippa, died in hospital Friday night, a few hours after
a confrontation outside an apartment building.
"It happens very, very
quickly," said Chris McLeod of the Edmonton Police Service.
"The man comes at them with a knife, raised up . . . making
threats to the officers as he's nearing them. The officers are
yelling at him to drop his knife, to stop. He doesn't. They quickly
draw their weapons and fire."
A total of seven shots were
fired: five by one officer and two by another. "Both officers
believed that their lives were genuinely in danger," said
McLeod, adding that a civilian who was on a ride-along confirmed
the sequence of events.
However, members of Lippa's
family questioned the actions of police. "What the police
are saying about him attacking people or being violent or suicidal
is a bunch of crap," said the slain man's father, Ernie
Lippa, who is demanding a review of events leading up to the
shooting.
Police had been called to the
building by a neighbour who said a woman and her son were being
threatened by the woman's ex-husband. The man was also reportedly
making threats to harm himself, McLeod said.
(Edmonton Journal)
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
U.S. report cheap shot,
police say
AJAY BHARDWAJ, EDMONTON
SUN, February 28, 2005
Edmonton cops are furious after
a human- rights report from the U.S. State Department took a
swipe at them for alleged human-rights abuses. "It is a
cheap shot," said Tony Simioni of the Edmonton Police Association.
"It's inaccurate and therefore
unfair, and adds a stigma to the Edmonton Police Service."
The State Department released
its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004 on Monday.
The report was compiled by
the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour and covered
various countries. A section on Canada included a small paragraph
on Edmonton.
"During the year, police
in Edmonton were accused of using excessive force when responding
to minor infractions in the city's tourist district," the
report said.
"Among other incidents,
police allegedly knocked a man to the ground for jaywalking;
repeatedly kicked a person for swearing at officers; and repeatedly
hit a handcuffed person in the face."
Edmonton Police Commission
vice-chairman Murray Billett also blasted the State Department
for taking a "cheap shot" at Edmonton cops.
"They should pay a little
more attention to how their own urban police treat American citizens,"
he said. "Edmonton has one of the best police services in
North America."
Simioni said he may drop the
State Department a line expressing his dissatisfaction with the
report.
The Edmonton Police Service
media relations department wouldn't comment on the report - except
to point out that the State Department had compiled longer and
more specific comments on other countries, such as Colombia.
Man fears cops after
alleged beating
By DOUG BEAZLEY, EDMONTON
SUN, Feb. 9, 2005
A man accusing a city police
officer of beating him clammed up in the middle of his testimony
yesterday, claiming he fears for his safety once the case concludes.
"After this, what's going to happen to me?" Peter Van
Eck asked the Law Enforcement Review Board panel.
"Am I going to be a sitting
duck? I don't want to be nervous every time I see a squad car.
Who's going to protect me?"
The LERB is hearing a complaint
filed by the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association on behalf of
Van Eck and Ed Mahar, vendors employed by Our Voice magazine.
A report published in Our Voice
in September 2000 quoted Mahar and Van Eck claiming they'd been
assaulted by downtown beat cops - Mahar allegedly once by Const.
Grant Jongejan and Const. Rick Abbott, and Van Eck allegedly
by Abbott on two occasions.
But Mahar was a no-show at
yesterday's hearing. Van Eck testified Mahar urged him to skip
the hearing as well.
"Mahar's scared ... and
the theme seems to be he's worried about trouble with the police,"
said CTLA lawyer Tom Engel.
Van Eck's own testimony was
riddled with inconsistencies and large memory gaps. At one point
he misidentified Abbott and Jongejan, who were sitting in the
courtroom.
Under questioning by EPS lawyer
Darlene Savoie, Van Eck admitted he'd had "more than"
50 brushes with city cops, and that he has a drinking problem.
He said he'd been drinking
the day in late summer 2000 when he alleges he was punched and
kicked by Abbott outside a downtown pizza shop where he'd been
scrounging for food.
"It was years ago,"
he said. "It's all very sketchy."
At one point, a visibly upset
Van Eck seemed to be refusing to answer further questions from
Engel.
"This stuff I'd like to
put behind me," he said.
"Being on the street,
(the police) figure they can do what they do ... there were no
witnesses. Who's gonna stick their neck out for me?"
Both officers deny the assault
claims, and insist they can't recall ever having met Van Eck.
Engel blamed Van Eck's memory
lapses on the very long time it took for the case to reach an
LERB hearing.
"It's a systemic problem,"
he said. "The LERB needs another 20 people to deal with
their backlog, and all they can recommend is charges be laid
by the chief - who'd already decided charges shouldn't be laid.
"It's like snakes and
ladders."
The case was adjourned to allow
the panel to rule on evidence. No date has been set for it to
resume.
Acting chief takes one
day at a time
By DAN PALMER, EDMONTON
SUN, Feb. 9, 2005
Acting police Chief Darryl
Da Costa's is concerned about public perception in the wake of
the Overtime probe but is trying to stay focused on day-to-day
operations, say cops. "Acting Chief Da Costa's immediate
priorities are the day-to-day operation of the police service
and managing this sudden change," city police spokesman
Annette Bidniak said yesterday. "The citizens of Edmonton
need the police 24 hours a day, every day, and Acting Chief Da
Costa is focusing on continuing to provide them the best service
possible."
Da Costa's appointment as acting
chief was announced Monday. That was the same day ex-Chief Fred
Rayner told the Edmonton Police Commission he was taking an indefinite
period of sick leave as more details of the Overtime Broiler
and Taproom investigation came to light.
Last night Rayner's contract
was terminated by the commission.
Bidniak said Da Costa is "naturally"
concerned about the perception of the city police. But it "hasn't
been discussed yet" what role, if any, Da Costa will play
in addressing the Overtime case, as it continues to unfold.
"There's nothing more
to say about the Overtime bar investigation,"she said.
"Much information is out
there, but it's only part of the information and we're not in
a position to release the rest. It has to come out through the
process."
Edmonton Police Association
Staff Sgt. Peter Ratcliff said the union supports Rayner.
"It's very, very unfortunate.
I can't imagine the toll - the physical, mental toll - this has
taken on him," said Ratcliff.
"He has our continued
support. I hope and wish him well."
Ward 2 Coun. Ron Hayter called
Da Costa a good police officer, but noted he's an interim chief.
- "And an interim chief
has limited authority," Hayter said. "He has not been
selected by the commission as such, and so he's in an interim
role, and when you're in an interim role, there's only so much
you can do."
-
- Noteworthy mistake
Rayner caught in another inconsistency regarding sting operation
- By MAX MAUDIE, EDMONTON
SUN, Feb. 9, 2005
Embattled former police Chief
Fred Rayner was yesterday caught in another inconsistency. Earlier
in the day, the Sun requested from the Edmonton Police Commission
the disclosure of parts of Rayner's briefing notes to the commission.
Those were notes summing up his actions over the Overtime operation.
Rayner presented a report clearing
seven officers of targeting the head of the Edmonton Police Commission,
Martin Ignasiak, and Sun columnist Kerry Diotte in a drunk-driving
sting operation. But, as a result of an investigation - conducted
by the Calgary Police Service - into the case, two officers now
face Police Act charges related to the November probe at the
downtown Overtime Broiler and Tap Room, 10304 111 St.
Traffic supervisor Staff Sgt.
Bill Newton is charged with discreditable conduct and insubordination
regarding his handling of information that led to police interest
in Diotte.
In his address last Thursday,
Rayner said he "had followed all of the Calgary Police Service
recommendations, with the exception of one where I did not agree
with the level of discipline."
Several city councillors were
briefed before Rayner made the comments publicly Thursday. And
yesterday, two remembered Rayner telling them there was but one
recommendation amended.
Larry Jackson, Public Complaints
Monitor for the commission, yesterday read Rayner's briefing
notes to the Sun.
There were in fact two recommendations
amended.
"I have concluded that,
with the exception of the following two recommendations, all
of (Calgary) Deputy Chief (Murray) Stooke's recommendations will
be followed," Rayner wrote.
"Deputy Chief Stooke recommended
that a disciplinary hearing be ordered into the allegation of
insubordination against Const. Elaine Jensen in relation to inappropriate
use of police information systems. In contrast, Deputy Chief
Stooke recommended that (three other officers) be issued an initial
warning also relating to inappropriate use of (police information
systems)."
Jensen ended up with an official
warning.
"Deputy Chief Stooke recommended
that in relation to Staff Sgt. (Bill) Newton," Rayner continued,
"a disciplinary hearing should be proceeded with for unlawful
or unnecessary exercise of authority .... While I agree with
Murray's recommendations in relation to a disciplinary hearing,
the more appropriate service charge is discreditable conduct
...."
Newton was charged with discreditable
conduct and insubordination regarding his handling of information
about Diotte.
Rayner wrote that Jensen had
a clean record with the force, Jackson said, and she was "confirming
the credibility of an individual."
As for Newton, there was "no
reason" indicated for the amendment, Jackson said. Nor did
it say whose information Jensen was running through police computers.
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
Inquiry into the malicious prosecution
of David Milgaard untanling 36 years of Saskatchewan police and
Crown misconduct: : Opening day 
