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>
> > January 7, 2004: Sabo puts
Dueck on medical leave, makes personal apology, describes overly
cumbersome procedure for how he is handling his criminal superintendent
| Neil Stonechild Inquiry
| Mayor Maddin |
Chief Sabo
Sabo willing to work
with Atchison
Mayor-elect to 'clear the air' with platoons
Rod Nickel, The StarPhoenix, October 24, 2003
Police Chief Russell Sabo says
he's not convinced a new policing vision is warranted, although
he's willing to work "co-operatively" with mayor-elect
Don Atchison and a new board of commissioners.
Atchison has promised to relieve
police of "social worker" responsibilities and come
down harder on minor offences in hopes of curbing crime overall.
"We can't jump to conclusions
that the direction of the police department is going to change
at this point," Sabo said in an interview. "The mayor-elect
has indicated a desire to introduce some changes and I understand
all that. I think once he's had an opportunity to be fully familiar
and briefed on issues facing the service, then jointly the board
and service will adjust strategies where necessary."
Atchison said he hopes to meet
with Sabo next week.
"I'm very hopeful that
he'll buy into it. We're going to start off on a positive note
and think nothing different."
Sabo said he intends to serve
the remaining three years of his contract and seek an extension.
He said he believes in a holistic
approach to policing that doesn't produce instant results.
"If all you're doing is
focusing on prevention, then you're not solving crimes. If all
you're focusing on is the problem-solving, then are you answering
calls for service? If all you're doing is arresting people, it
becomes a revolving door.
"Community policing is
not a pill you take and it changes things overnight. This is
a long-term commitment."
The mayor-elect's first order
of business will be meeting, along with other police commissioners,
with police platoons to "clear the air," Atchison said.
The board would then carry
out small steps arising from those meetings to show the public
the police service is moving in the right direction, Atchison
said.
The real change happens when
council appoints new members of the board, replacing citizen
appointees whose terms expire Dec. 31.
"The current commission
has said their beliefs are in a different direction than where
I want to go right now," Atchison said.
That direction is the broken-window
theory, a policing approach used in New York City to clamp down
on minor crimes in hopes of discouraging more serious ones.
"This is what works and
Don is right on. I hope he has the courage to carry through with
it," said former chief Dave Scott.
Scott said the police service
had implemented two related initiatives prior to his termination
in 2001.
Police began logging all crimes
into a database to track trends and deal immediately with offences
of various degrees of seriousness. They also tracked which weekends
and locations around the city were repeatedly scenes of bar fights
and out-of-control parties and staffed to meet expected demand
with officers on overtime.
That practice has since been
abandoned, Scott said.
"If you don't begin to
deal with the small things on the street, crime will start to
override safety in your community. . . . When you have a police
presence at even a minor incident, often the attitude changes
right there."
Police under Scott's direction
also attempted to tackle underlying causes, he said, by taking
high-risk youth to sporting events and on canoe trips.
"I feel so wonderful that
we have taken the city of Saskatoon back," Scott said of
Atchison's win.
But current police board member
Leanne Bellegarde-Daniels said some of Atchison's statements,
promising to close the Little Chief community station and patrol
19th to 21st streets more aggressively, trouble her.
"That's a rather disturbing
approach to policing that I think will unfairly target those
who are economically, socially and culturally disadvantaged.
That's why community policing has tried to take into consideration
that there are other factors that contribute to crime."
Sabo said police already crack
down on minor offences, but sometimes chase bigger priorities.
Key to carrying out the new
policing direction are the plans of the next provincial government,
which Atchison said he's counting on to fund more police officers.
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Saskatoon
is moving in the right direction although the province can't
seem to get with the program
- Our time by the Bandstand
in Saskatoon was productive. It was Treaty Day when we first
arrived so we had the opportunity to speak to many people and
got a good sense of what people are thinking.
- We attended the vigil and have posted pictures.
- Saskatoon Police
Commission: Fire Dueck, Apologize to Darrell Night, Let Chief Sabo do his job: He has just taken a giant first step by inviting
an independent agency to come in and investigate the Saskatoon
Police Service
- Mayor Maddin challenges police union to come
clean
- new
on Neil Stonechild inquest
From this moment
on, no more police files should be destroyed. (We have been told
it is automatic to destroy inactive or closed files after five
years)
interview
with retired Saskatoon cop Rusty Chartier | The first day
of our campaign this summer was tremendously successful. Many
signatures of support were gathered, many people read the signs
and many productive conversations were held.
Mayor Jim Maddin
and Chief Russell Sabo are in talks to try and resolve the
police chaos in Saskatoon. Saskatoon has yet to apologize to David
Milgaard
and by failing to do so they have allowed his reputation to continue
to be defamed. They have failed to fire Dueck. They also failed
to handle the attempted murder of Darrell Night by two members of their
force
with any grace. Did they forget that Darrell Night is a member
of the community?
Since 1994,
Saskatoon has been paying for Dueck's defence in the Klassen/Kvello
lawsuit. This has included taking city solicitor Barry Rossmann
away from other matters for a time, before hiring private (expensive)
lawyer David Gerrand. It includes a bill for hiring a private
investigator to try to entrap Richard Klassen last June and was
followed by an unethical attempt to have his claim against the
city struck. These are the same tactics Dueck used along with Murray
Zoorkan against Kim Cooper. We do not forget. The internet does
not forget.
Dueck is no longer responsible
for Criminal Investigations as he was for a while. His job description,
from the City of Saskatoon website, now reads: "Under the
direction of the Deputy Chief of Police, the Human Resources
Superintendent is responsible for the management and administration
of recruitment, selection, civilian staffing, employee appraisal,
training, personnel records, the Police promotion process and
the supervision of the section staff. The Superintendent is responsible
for overall supervisory control and management within the Division,
ensuring the Police Service provides an effective and efficient
service to the public."
Too much power for a corrupt
cop!
Saskatoon's police chief in turmoil
By GRAEME SMITH, Globe
and Mail, Jul. 2, 2003
Saskatoon - Saskatoon Police
Chief Russell Sabo stretches his arms out in a gesture of helplessness
as if he's being tugged in opposite directions.
He's trying to explain why
his own officers have overwhelmingly told him they're dissatisfied
with his leadership, just 18 months after he was hired to overhaul
the troubled force.
"We've got the citizens
over here," he said, shaking one hand. "And the [police]
association over here," he added, indicating his other hand.
"And we're trying to balance things. You can't have it all
one way or another. It's very difficult."
The word "difficult"
is a gentle adjective for the recent turmoil at Saskatoon's police
department. Tensions have been building between Mr. Sabo and
his officers ever since the charismatic Calgary police officer
became chief in December, 2001.
When he arrived, Saskatoon
had garnered international infamy over a series of incidents
in which native men were dumped by police on the outskirts of
the city on cold winter nights. A new mayor was elected on a
platform of reforming the force, and Mr. Sabo was picked for
the job.
Under the slogan of "community
policing," he has recruited more native officers, rejigged
the command structure and hired liaison officers to represent
the service in each of the city's neighbourhoods.
But many police feel that the
reforms haven't had much effect, and even those who support the
idea of community policing say it has diverted too much money
from the more urgent need for regular officers to patrol a growing
city.
Officers became so unhappy
that about 320 of the 380 members of their union, the Saskatoon
City Police Association, voted 90 per cent against the chief
and 95 per cent against the board of police commissioners in
a non-confidence motion last month.
The chief was scheduled to
meet with the union, the police commission and a veteran municipal
staffer acting as mediator to talk about their differences last
week, but the meeting has been postponed until July 17.
In the meantime, everybody
involved with policing the city is left to wonder how a series
of initiatives meant to improve the department's public image
have caused such an internal revolt.
Union president Stan Goertzen
said the officers' main frustration isn't with the community
policing idea itself, but with its expense. The force hired 10
new community liaison officers in January, he said, at a time
when positions for front-line officers aren't being filled as
quickly as officers are retiring.
"It would be nice to slap
those 10 people out there on the street to stop the pressure
on everybody else," Sergeant Goertzen said.
Unlike other areas of the province,
Saskatoon is growing. The population increased 3.1 per cent between
1996 and 2001 to 226,000 people, according to the latest census.
But when Mr. Sabo took over as police chief in 2001, the number
of officers on patrol hadn't changed for more than a decade.
On some shifts, Sgt. Goertzen
said, just 14 officers have been on duty to respond to as many
as 300 radio calls.
Mr. Sabo said he has added
six new front-line officers to the force over the past two years,
but community policing took priority. "I don't disagree
that we need additional resourcing on the street," he said.
"But we can't focus just on the reactive side of policing.
We have to break the cycle we've been caught in."
Beyond those philosophical
differences over how to allocate resources, Sgt. Goertzen said
there is also lingering unhappiness among the officers about
how the old chief, who rose through the ranks, was replaced by
an outsider.
The trigger for the non-confidence
vote, he added, was the fact that the police board recently allowed
Mr. Sabo to return to work after he was investigated for the
alleged harassment of his secretary. An independent investigator
found that five of the 42 complaints had merit; the chief was
required to take sensitivity training.
Jim Cox, a former union president
who retired from his job as staff sergeant last year, said some
officers are also resentful about Mr. Sabo's recent comments
on television that suggested the practice of dumping natives
in the cold could have been more widespread than previously admitted.
Leanne Bellegarde-Daniels,
chairwoman of the police commission, said the root of the discontent
might lie in the new police administration's determination to
change its ways.
"When you move to being
more open and forthcoming and putting things on the table that
maybe formally didn't, for whatever reason, that creates discomfort
for people. . . . I think this is an organization that probably
has some degree of resistance to change. That whole chain of
command and paramilitary style of organization has some pretty
unique challenges to overcome."
© 2003 Bell Globemedia Interactive
Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Saskatoon police confirm
officer abandoned aboriginal woman in 1976
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
SASKATOON (CP) - The smouldering
issue of police abandoning aboriginal people outside the city
limits flared again Monday when a new case dating back more than
25 years was revealed.
Saskatchewan justice officials
immediately asked the RCMP to conduct a criminal investigation
into the abandonment of an aboriginal woman on Saskatoon's outskirts
in 1976. "This is the first that we have heard about this
case, but we have asked the RCMP to . . . investigate it,"
Justice Minister Eric Cline said.
Earlier Monday, Saskatoon police
Chief Russell Sabo acknowledged a city officer had abandoned
the woman.
Until that revelation, the
police service had insisted that the 2001 conviction of two former
officers, Ken Hatchen and Dan Munson, for abandoning an aboriginal
man on the outskirts was an isolated incident.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Brian Jones
said he didn't know if the 1976 incident had already come to
the attention of a Mountie task force that has investigated several
alleged cases of abandonment, or whether it would be a new case
for the RCMP.
"We are checking to see
what requests he (Cline) has made and we will be following up
accordingly."
Sabo has refused further comment
on the issue. But acting Insp. Al Stickney said the officer involved
in the 1976 case was dealt with through an internal disciplinary
process.
"There were some findings
and punishment," Stickney said.
He said he couldn't elaborate
since details are sketchy, but did say the woman was abandoned
during the summer. He wasn't aware of what happened to her later.
Former officers Hatchen and
Munson began serving an eight-month jail sentence in March after
being found guilty of unlawful confinement for driving Darrell
Night to the outskirts of Saskatoon in January 2000 and dropping
him off in minus-22 C to walk back.
Night's case drew national
attention and focused attention on tensions between Saskatoon
police and the aboriginal community.
Perry Bellegarde, chief of
the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, said he wasn't
aware of the 1976 case until Monday but wasn't surprised to hear
about it.
The federation has received
many reports from aboriginal people who recounted similar experiences
with Saskatoon police, Bellegarde said.
"This was quite common,"
he said.
But he was pleased Sabo admitted
that it happened. It's a good start to bringing the issue out
into the open and dealing with he called "fundamental human
rights violations."
Even if police are admitting
to only two incidents a quarter-century apart, Bellegarde said
he believes there is a pattern.
"There are more than two
- no question," the FSIN chief said.
The Saskatchewan government
has already called an inquest into another similar case - the
death of an aboriginal teen in November 1990.
Neil Stonechild,17, was found
frozen to death in a remote field on the outskirts of Saskatoon.
The justice minister said Monday
that the whole matter needs a thorough public airing. If the
1976 case isn't dealt with during the Stonechild inquiry this
fall, Cline said he would be open to holding a broader public
inquiry.
Const. Stan Goertzen, president
of the Saskatoon City Police Association, said he was saddened
to hear about another case, but he was heartened to hear that
the officer involved was disciplined at the time.
Goertzen said he was only aware
of the Hatchen-Munson case prior to this.
"I'd like to see anyone
with complaints come forward," he said.
He pointed out that police
want to get to the bottom of the issue, noting that Night came
forward to a police officer, his complaint was investigated and
Hatchen and Munson were brought to justice.
Goertzen said more than 300
officers have retired since 1976 so it is not likely the officer
who abandoned the woman is still in the police service.
Saskatoon police
chief points out systemic gaps
CBC, Jun 3 2003
SASKATOON -Saskatoon's police
chief Russell Sabo says he wants his staff to get out of the
business of being jailers. He says police should not be doing
the jobs of other agencies by holding drunks and those accused
who are waiting for court appearances.
"Police officers are highly trained," he says, "but
our focus is not and should not be in the supervision, care and
custody of accused persons."
Sabo says that provincial corrections
workers should be performing these kinds of duties and wants
people who are accused of crimes kept somewhere other than police
holding cells.
Sabo is also calling for greater
numbers of properly trained medical examiners to help out with
investigations because police officers are not trained to perform
forensic pathology.
Sabo's says having a medical
examiner at a crime scene would help with an investigation.
"Some of the deaths which
have occurred here, that there are questions outstanding, I think
some of those questions may have been answered if we had investigations
done that had properly, medically-trained medical examiners that
attended those scenes," he says.
The comments came among several
recommendations the police chief is making to the aboriginal
justice commission that was hearing submissions in Saskatoon
on Monday.
Sabo is also calling for a
night court and he wants an expansion in the provincial police
complaints investigators office.
Copyright © 2003 Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
Police set on healing
old wounds: Sabo
Shannon Boklaschuk,
The StarPhoenix, June 4, 2003
The Saskatoon Police Service
has operated under a "cloud of suspicion" for several
years, which has severely affected the morale of its members,
Chief Russell Sabo told the aboriginal justice reform commission
Monday.
However, the service wants
to move beyond the past, and is dedicated to working with all
citizens, he said.
"Slightly more than three
years ago, the community and our service personnel were shocked
and deeply distressed by the news that two of our members, constables
(Dan) Hatchen and (Ken) Munson, had failed to live up to their
oath of office," Sabo said in his speech at the Indian and
Metis Friendship Centre.
"I can assure you our
department and the community of Saskatoon has paid a heavy penalty
as a result of their actions. For the past three years, our members
have been under a cloud of suspicion.
"It is our deepest hope
that we will all learn from the mistakes of the past, and will
begin to focus on making things better for the future,"
he said.
In 2000, Darrell Night complained
that he was ejected from a police cruiser on the outskirts of
the city on Jan. 28, 2000, when the temperature had dipped to
a frigid -22 C.
Soon after, the bodies of two
other aboriginal men who had frozen to death were discovered
in the same area.
Night's complaint sparked the
creation of an RCMP task force and led to unlawful confinement
convictions against Hatchen and Munson, who later lost their
jobs. They began serving eight-month jail sentences earlier this
year.
In February, the province also
announced a public inquiry into the 1990 freezing death of 17-year-old
Neil Stonechild, whose body was found on the edge of Saskatoon.
That inquiry will be held this fall.
During a question and answer
period, commission members pointed out that despite some changes
within the police service, there are outstanding concerns.
Commission chair Willie Littlechild
wondered why there were no comments about racism in the police
service's presentation, which referred often to recent successes.
"Maybe it's just not a
word we want to use anymore. The fact of the matter is it still
continues," said Littlechild, adding that the Saskatoon
police service has worn "a black eye.
"We can't sit here and
underline good things that came after the fact. We should've
done this years ago," said commission member Joe Quewezance.
He said admitting to "factors of wrongdoing" is a way
of beginning the healing process.
"Had things gone so good,
I don't think we'd be sitting here today."
Of the police service's approximately
400 sworn members, only about 32 or 33 are aboriginal. Sabo said
the service hasn't participated in a healing circle with members
of the First Nations community since he's become chief, but he
pointed out the organization is actively trying to recruit from
specific groups, including the aboriginal community.
"If the interpretation
that the board had was that we're promoting racism, that's not
what we're doing. We are actually trying to promote unity, trying
to draw us together and highlight those things where we are the
same as opposed to those things where we are different,"
Sabo said.
"We recognize that all
of us, everyone of us in this room -- I don't care who you are
-- you're a racist. We are. Everybody has that little segment,
we just don't recognize it until it hits you in the face.
"What we have to do is
we have to understand where we have those feelings and overcome
them and provide the training," he said.
Sabo said the police service
continues to struggle every day with the negative media attention
it has received. However, numerous people "write in, send
letters, come in and tell us how absolutely thrilled they are
with the service we're delivering" on a weekly basis, he
said.
Sabo said the police service
has "great expectations" that the commission's deliberations
will act as a catalyst for much-needed change.
"I think many people would
say that the creation of this commission to introduce change
into the justice system and potentially other related systems
is long overdue," he said.
The five-member, $2.5-million
justice commission was set up in late 2001 to address concerns
about the high number of aboriginal people involved with the
justice system, and the way they are treated.
Throughout Monday's presentation,
Sabo and other police officers highlighted the police service's
successes, such as its aboriginal liaison program. The aboriginal
liaison officer position was created in 1994 to improve relations
and build trust with the aboriginal community.
The police officers also told
the commission about the Peacekeepers program, which was created
in 1996 to address a lack of follow-up services for youth, and
to provide officers with a better understanding of young First
Nations people and cultural solutions to crime. Peacekeepers'
activities have included day trips to Prince Albert, where youth,
adults and police collect firewood to be brought back to Saskatoon
for elders to use in sweatlodge ceremonies.
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
