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Police warned of plot
to kill: Told man to be shot, officers failed to act
May 21st, 2003, By Bruce
Owen and Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press
AN informant told Winnipeg
police earlier this year that Kevin Tokarchuk would be murdered
in a gang revenge killing planned for May 12, but they did nothing
to prevent it, according to police sources.
Sources say the informant approached
officers in a criminal investigation unit several months ago
and told them of a plot to kill the 24-year-old Tokarchuk on
May 12. But in the days after, police -- apparently after consulting
with a Crown attorney -- decided not to pursue the matter.
Sources also say officers did
not inform the Tokarchuk family of the murder plan or offer them
police protection.
"This isn't sloppy,"
a police source said. "This is bigger than that. It's stupid.
It's the wrong people doing the wrong bloody job."
Tokarchuk's mother said last
night it's "unforgivable" that Winnipeg police failed
to act on information that the aspiring teacher was targeted
to be killed.
"I don't believe it. Had
we known, we would have been gone out of that house. Me, Kevin
and the dogs would have left," a tearful Diane Tokarchuk
said.
"A life is more important
than a house. We would have been gone in a minute."
She only learned of the prior
police knowledge through a Free Press reporter.
As the informant warned, Tokarchuk
was indeed killed on May 12, shot fatally in the head as he worked
in his garage workshop at his family's home on Churchill Drive.
Police believe it was an anniversary
slaying in retribution for the May 12, 2002 shooting death of
Zig Zag Crew gang member Trevor Savoie in River Heights. Tokarchuk's
older brother Daniel is in custody awaiting trial for Savoie's
death.
Winnipeg police Chief Jack
Ewatski said he learned about the informant's tip only yesterday.
"We have an ongoing murder
investigation and I'm not going to say anything that would jeopardize
it," he said.
Police sources say after the
informant came forward, investigators discussed the possibility
of using the informant to squeeze more information out of the
gang underworld, primarily the Hells Angels and the Zig Zag Crew,
the street enforcers for the Hells Angels.
It's not known how many officers
were aware of the informant's tip about the Tokarchuk murder
plot, or how far that information went up the command structure
of the Winnipeg Police Service.
"I don't know how high
it went," a source said. "Things like this have to
go to an upper level, or they're supposed to."
Another police source said
homicide detectives now know who the informant is, but won't
say anything that could identify the informant out of fear for
that person's safety.
"The facts will come out
as the case progresses," the source said.
The revelation about the informant
was made known to homicide detectives late last week, over the
weekend and yesterday.
Sources say members of the
eight-man squad are livid they didn't find out about the informant
right away after Tokarchuk was shot to death.
"This pisses the hell
out of us," a source said.
"This could handcuff a
lot of work," another source said. "This is a bad,
bad subject for us."
Diane Tokarchuk wants to know
the informant's identity.
"Obviously, somebody cared
enough to come forward, but the police didn't do their job,"
she said.
"But to that person who
did come forward and put their own life on the line, I want to
say thank you. It's too bad nobody listened."
Diane Tokarchuk plans to meet
with homicide detectives this morning to discuss her son's killing
and the new developments.
"I want to hear with my
own ears who knew what and how the system has let Kevin down,"
she said. "I've been blaming myself all week, thinking I
could have done more to protect him."
Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky,
who is representing Daniel Tokarchuk on the Savoie murder charge,
was angry after hearing the news last night in a Brandon hotel
room.
Even if police and the Crown
didn't want to act, the information should have been passed on
to Kevin Tokarchuk and his family, he said.
"You leave it up to the
guy who is the target. You don't just ignore it," said Brodsky.
"There are all sorts of
precautions that could have been taken."
Brodsky said the fact a person
would walk into a police station with that kind of information
should have set off major alarm bells.
"If someone is brave enough
and audacious enough to come in, someone should act on it,"
he said.
Obviously, the person with
the information wouldn't be a model citizen, but that shouldn't
be reason to dismiss his claim, Brodsky said.
Police sources also say that
the apparent withholding of the informant's tip about the Tokarchuk
murder plot to senior investigators signifies an internal breakdown
in communication among police -- a breakdown partly caused by
too many transfers of seasoned gang and drug investigators.
Those transfers have occurred
during the past year, starting last year when Ewatski reorganized
the vice division with the crime division into what's now known
as the criminal investigation bureau.
"In my mind, it just compounds
all the other things we've seen and heard," a source said.
"You've got to ask yourself
where all the experience is in working on gangs," another
source said. "They've been transferred out -- or retiring."
As for the Tokarchuk family,
a police source said: "That's a situation we'll deal with
as best we can."
Why didn't police
act? NDP orders probe of failure to warn target about revenge-slaying
plot
May 22nd, 2003, Bruce Owen
and Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press
JUSTICE Minister Gord Mackintosh
has ordered an independent review into reports the Winnipeg Police
Service disregarded an informant's warning that could have saved
the victim of a gangland revenge slaying.
Mackintosh's announcement yesterday
came hours after Winnipeg police Chief Jack Ewatski ordered an
internal review by the force's professional standards unit.
"The internal investigation
is a good start, but in addition we want an outside review of
the allegations," Mackintosh said.
Police sources have said Kevin
Tokarchuk, 24, and his family were not warned after officers
received a tip that he was to be killed on May 12.
The tip, from an informant
seeking a plea bargain, was given to police several months ago.
The tipster said Tokarchuk was to be killed in retaliation for
the May 12, 2002 shooting death of Zig Zag Crew gang member Trevor
Savoie, sources said. Tokarchuk's brother Daniel is facing charges
in Savoie's slaying.
Although police rejected the
informant's offer of a deal, the tip led to a meeting of city
police officers, RCMP and a Crown attorney.
Kevin Tokarchuk, an aspiring
teacher, was shot in the head as he worked in his garage workshop
at the family's home on Churchill Drive, one year to the day
after Savoie was killed.
Also yesterday, the victim's
mother, Diane Tokarchuk, met with police to be briefed on the
case. She is considering a lawsuit.
Mackintosh and Mayor Glen Murray
said it's possible a public inquiry might be called, but that
would only be done once Tokarchuk's killer is brought to justice.
Mackintosh said he wants an
external review to maintain public confidence in the police service
and to provide answers to the Tokarchuk family.
Mackintosh said details of
the review, such as who will conduct it, will only be determined
after further talks with police and city officials. Similar reviews
have been done by the RCMP, retired judges and out-of-province
Crown attorneys. The last major one was done by the RCMP of the
city police 911 centre after the Feb. 16, 2000 murder of two
sisters in the city's north end.
Family spokesman Jack McLaughlin
said Diane Tokarchuk's meeting with homicide investigators and
Staff Sgt. Jim Thiessen confirmed her worst fear -- her son's
death could have been prevented.
"It's one of the most
horrendous cases of mismanagement by the justice system in this
province," McLaughlin said outside the Public Safety Building
yesterday. He said the family is now seeking legal advice on
a possible lawsuit.
"Somebody dropped the
ball here. This is a grave error in judgment. This young man
should not be where he is. One more body fell through the cracks
of the system."
Murray said the police internal
review should be completed in several days, but how soon findings
are released depends on how quickly homicide detectives solve
the Tokarchuk slaying.
"I have a lot of confidence
in Chief Ewatski," Murray said. "I don't know a better
police chief in the country."
In a release, Ewatski said
he ordered the internal review to determine when the informant's
tip came to the police service, who was aware of it and what
actions were taken.
"This is a matter of great
concern to me and our entire organization," he said. "I
want to assure the Tokarchuk family and all citizens that this
matter will be investigated fully."
Ewatski was in Halifax yesterday.
Murray and senior councillors were briefed on the case by Deputy
Chief Menno Zacharius.
Police and justice sources
say several months ago police investigators encountered an informant
who wanted a plea bargain in exchange for information.
Police, along with members
of the RCMP, met with a Crown attorney to discuss the informant's
information, but no specific threats or dates or targets were
mentioned by police to the Crown.
"The threat was not shared,"
added Mayor Murray.
In the end, it was decided
not to make a deal with the informant. It's unknown what police
did with that information -- if anything.
It's also not known whether
the informant's tip about the plot against Tokarchuk contained
specific details.
A brief statement issued by
the Crown attorneys' office yesterday said the Crown was not
specifically consulted in relation to threats against Tokarchuk.
A provincial justice source
said yesterday they were "relieved" to learn their
involvement was minimal at best.
A police source said it's "inexcusable"
the tip wasn't relayed to the Tokarchuk family and predicted
major fallout within the ranks of the police service.
"You don't just sit on
it. Someone is going to pay for this," said the source.
"You always pass this
kind of information along and let (the target) decide what they
want to do with it."
The homicide unit only found
out about the informant's tip late last week.
Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky,
who is representing Daniel Tokarchuk on a charge of murdering
Savoie, was still fuming yesterday about the lack of disclosure.
"This should have been
passed on to the family, and it should have been passed on to
me," he said.
Brodsky said he immediately
thought of the infamous "Jane Doe" case in Toronto,
in which that city's police department failed to disclose information
to the public about a serial rapist on the loose.
In a 1998 court ruling, a judge
blasted Toronto police for failing to warn women about a serial
rapist in that city's downtown. "Jane Doe" was awarded
$220,000 in compensation two years after she was attacked in
July 1996 by the so-called balcony rapist, Paul Callow.
FREE PRESS EDITORIAL
- What the police need
Friday, May 23rd, 2003
THERE will be no point in the
two inquiries ordered into police action over the possible revenge
killing of Winnipegger Kevin Tokarchuk if they simply slam the
stable door after the horse has bolted.
Both Gord Mackintosh, the justice
minister, and Winnipeg police chief Jack Ewatski have ordered
inquiries into how it was that the police received a tip that
Kevin Tokarchuk, an innocent aspiring school teacher, might be
killed in revenge for the shooting death of gang member Trevor
Savoie, and yet did nothing about it. Mr. Tokarchuk was killed
when his death might have been prevented.
Mr. Mackintosh has yet to say
what form the independent review that he has ordered will take.
It should not be a conventional investigation. What an inquiry
needs to do is to sort out whether the police department has
an internal culture that prevents the free flow of information,
whether there is distrust between ranks and departments that
forms such a culture, and whether the overall management of the
force is dysfunctional.
Given the results of the Sophonow
inquiry which accused the Winnipeg police of "tunnel vision"
and the lack of training that became obvious in the inquest into
the deaths of the two women who had called 911 and yet were killed,
it is time to take a thorough look at how the service is structured
and whether there are systemic problems that lead to bad communications
and ineffective leadership.
That inquiry should not assume
that leadership of Chief Ewatski nor the middle-rank management
of the force nor the leadership of the police union is ineffective.
The question that needs to be pursued is whether the interaction
of these elements leads to a force that does not perform as well
as it should.
Unattributed sources have suggested
that the wrong police are doing the wrong jobs. That may be so.
It may also be that resistance to change and to new ways of doing
police work may be hampering investigations and communication.
Some suggest that the push to community policing may be at fault.
It seems more likely that it is resistance to such policies and
a stubborn desire to continue old methods that are working against
better policing.
It would appear that it was
a communications breakdown that prevented effective protection
of Mr. Tokarchuk. Some police were informed he was in danger.
No action was taken. Communications are often the most difficult
part of management. Managers can be effective with their immediate
reports, yet not have clear lines of communication to their operations
as whole. Breaking down barriers to allow good communications
to flow is essential to good management, and yet, while it sounds
simple, is often very hard to accomplish.
What Winnipeg needs is not
simply an investigation to parcel blame or to discover what happened,
but to see whether the management structure of the force needs
to be overhauled to allow leadership to be effective. That investigation
can best be done by someone skilled in management with a thorough
understanding and grounding in a uniformed culture. Such a person
will not be easy to find. But an inquiry in a traditional mould
may both take too long and not produce the desired results. The
Winnipeg police have already been investigated that way, yet
systemic problems would seem to remain.
Slain man's mom blasts
internal review: Police probe of Tokarchuk slaying expected to
end soon
May 24th, 2003, By Mike
McIntyre and Bruce Owen
THE mother of a slain Winnipeg
man says city police shouldn't be investigating themselves over
reports they ignored an informant's warning that could have saved
her son from being killed.
Diane Tokarchuk is also angry
with Mayor Glen Murray for suggesting this week the internal
review is the proper course of action for a case he called "human
error."
"That is absolutely stupid.
I'm going to ask him how he would feel if that was his child,"
she said in an interview with the Free Press.
"No agency should be allowed
to do their own review. That is like a company that commits fraud
getting their own accountant to look into it."
Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh
has said he wants an external review of the case in order to
maintain public confidence in the police service.
At a police awards ceremony
yesterday, Mackintosh said such an outside analysis would allow
the force to correct any problems.
"We make adjustments and
we move on," he said. "We make the police service stronger."
Murray has said an internal
review may be all that is necessary, as it alone may get to the
bottom of what happened.
"The internal investigation
may answer all our questions," he said. "Let's just
get all the facts on the table and let the mayor and his council
do our oversight of the Winnipeg Police Service."
Police Chief Jack Ewatski ordered
an internal review of the matter Tuesday after it became public
that an informant approached police several months ago and told
officers of a plot to kill Kevin Tokarchuk.
Police sources have said several
plainclothes officers may have handled the informant, but none
told the Tokarchuk family of the death threat.
That internal police investigation
continued yesterday as officers sifted through reams of paperwork
to piece together what exactly the informant told officers and
pinpoint what they did -- or didn't do -- with that information.
It is also looking at how high
up the command structure that information was known. One report
suggested a senior officer was involved, but that remains unconfirmed.
The internal investigation
is only expected to last a matter of days, but it's not known
if the findings will be released publicly, as officials do not
want to jeopardize the ongoing homicide probe into Tokarchuk's
slaying.
The Tokarchuk family is consulting
with a local civil lawyer about a potential lawsuit against the
city and police. Tokarchuk said she would wait to see the results
of the various probes before calling for anyone's job.
"It makes me absolutely
sick that there was information out there," said Tokarchuk,
who has been fielding dozens of calls daily from regular citizens
offering support.
"People I don't even know
are saying this is absolutely crazy. It may be an error in human
judgment, but there is a young man who has paid for this with
his life."
Kevin Tokarchuk, 24, was shot
in his garage workshop May 12.
Sources say information that
he'd be killed came several months ago from an informant seeking
a plea bargain on criminal charges. It's not known how specific
the tip was.
Police now believe Tokarchuk
was targeted in retaliation for the May 12, 2002 shooting death
of Hells Angels associate Trevor Savoie. Kevin's older brother,
Daniel, is charged with second-degree murder in Savoie's death.
Kevin, trained as an industrial
arts teacher with no criminal record, was shot in the head one
year to the day after Savoie was killed.
"I am having a very difficult
time coming to terms with this. I have been beating myself up
thinking I didn't do enough for my child," Diane Tokarchuk
said.
Several homicide detectives
met early Wednesday with Tokarchuk to explain the situation and
express their deepest sympathies, she said. "They were a
very sad bunch, very quiet," she said.
Tokarchuk also said they also
share her anger with members of their own department.
"Here they are, trying
to solve a murder, and there is information within the department
that isn't being shared with them," she said.
Several police and justice
sources have privately expressed their frustration this week,
calling the case a "black eye" and an "embarrassment"
for the police service.
Tokarchuk hopes a full-blown
public inquiry will eventually be called into the circumstances
surrounding her son's slaying.
"At least it would tell
the people of Winnipeg where things went wrong and why,"
she said.
Five officers pulled
off job: Police reportedly ignored warning of murder plot
Tuesday, May 27th, 2003,
By Kevin Rollason
Five Winnipeg police officers
have been placed on paid administrative leave after allegations
police ignored an informant's warning that could have saved a
slaying victim.
Winnipeg Police Chief Jack
Ewatski said a full internal investigation has been launched
to determine whether criminal charges are warranted or if police
regulations have been breached.
"Sufficient grounds now
exist to initiate an investigation into this matter," Ewatski
said at a news conference yesterday.
"I have ordered a complete
investigation to look into the conduct of five members of the
Winnipeg Police Service to see if this conduct violated any Criminal
Code or Winnipeg Police Service regulations."
The chief said once the investigation
is complete it would be reviewed by an outside independent police
agency. The RCMP have reviewed Winnipeg police investigations
in the past.
Ewatski insisted the officers
are only on administrative leave.
"These officers are not
suspended ... it is not punitive in nature."
Ewatski wouldn't identify the
individual officers or say whether they include senior administration.
"These officers are removed
from the workplace to ensure they are not put in a position of
compromise."
Loren Schinkel, president of
the Winnipeg Police Association, said all five officers are members
of his union.
"We want to ensure our
members' rights are protected," Schinkel said.
"It's too early to say
anything. We're concerned about our members. We'll have to wait
and see where this goes."
Kevin Tokarchuk, 24, was shot
while working in his garage workshop at his family's home on
Churchill Drive on May 12. No one has been charged in the slaying.
Police have said they believe
Tokarchuk was killed for revenge on the first anniversary date
of the slaying of Hells Angels associate Trevor Savoie. Tokarchuk's
older brother, Daniel, is in custody charged with second-degree
murder in Savoie's death.
On May 21, Ewatski launched
a preliminary review of the matter after media reports stated
that an informant looking for a plea bargain told police months
before the slaying that Kevin Tokarchuk was going to be killed
in retaliation.
"I was extremely disappointed
in the fact we, I, had to learn about this information through
media contact," Ewatski said.
"I still don't know why
somebody felt it was necessary to pass on that information instead
of going through the chain of command. In all certainty, if this
information had come to my attention we would have been doing
what we are today." Mayor Glen Murray said police members
he has spoken to in recent days "are shocked and taken aback
at what happened.
"It's a very tough job...
the possibility of mistakes being made is inevitable. That they
are accountable for mistakes is important."
Winnipeg Police Association
lawyer Hymie Weinstein said he has already met two of the officers
on administrative leave.
"That's all I can say,"
Weinstein said. "I have not been in contact with the investigators."
Weinstein said the placing
of officers on administrative leave has been done during earlier
investigations.
"During the 911 inquest,
the police service placed some of the call takers on administrative
leave at the beginning. So this is consistent with what they
did at that time," he said.
Murray, who held his own press
conference immediately after Ewatski's, said he has full confidence
in the chief and the police to investigate the matter.
"At this point we are
satisfied there is enough there to warrant an investigation by
the Professional Standards Unit," Murray said.
The mayor said he also supports
having the PSU investigate the matter first, with an outside
agency such as the RCMP reviewing the investigation afterwards.
Murray said if criminal charges
are laid, "the courts would be the ultimate review."
The mayor said while the internal
investigation continues, "I don't want to lose sight that
our biggest priority right now is to catch Kevin's murderer right
now."
Lawyer Barry Gorlick confirmed
yesterday he has been hired by the Tokarchuk family. The family
had earlier said they were considering a lawsuit.
"They expressed to me
they know Kevin died needlessly," Gorlick said.
"What they asked me to
do is to make sure he didn't die in vain. I have the broadest
possible set of instructions."
A spokesman for Justice Minister
Gord Mackintosh said he was pleased with the steps that Ewatski
had outlined but, because of the election campaign, would not
comment further.
Bruce McFarlane, deputy minister
of justice, said the justice department will not conduct its
own external review unless the third party review of the police
department's investigation concludes it's warranted.
"It was our intent that
(an external review) would be sequential," McFarlane said,
adding the department followed the same procedures in the 911
investigation.
McFarlane said that if the
Winnipeg Police Service's review of the incident is delayed or
takes unusually long, the justice department would re-consider
launching its own external review.
Meanwhile, Ewatski also refused
to say what information the internal investigation had turned
up.
"Something occurred last
July which caused this investigation to be initiated as of today,"
was all the chief would say.
As well, Ewatski said he wouldn't
say whether police could have prevented the slaying.
Ewatski repeatedly said he
didn't want to jeopardize either the internal investigation or
the ongoing investigation.
Scandal guts top police
unit: Major-crimes crew hit hard as probe sidelines officers
May 28th, 2003, By Mike
McIntyre
WINNIPEG police's major-crimes
unit has suffered a serious blow with three of its members among
the five officers sidelined in an internal police probe, the
Free Press has learned.
Major crimes, one of the busiest
and most vital police units, had two detective-sergeants and
one staff sergeant put on administrative leave by Chief Jack
Ewatski.
They were joined by two officers,
a detective-sergeant and a constable, who recently left the vice
division and were working in different police districts.
The five were forced to take
paid leave after allegations that police ignored an informant's
warning that accurately predicted Kevin Tokarchuk would be killed
on May 12.
Ewatski, who refused to name
the five officers, said the internal investigation will help
determine whether they breached the Criminal Code or police rules.
The growing scandal has prompted
at least three of the officers to retain high-powered legal help.
With three of its members off
the job, the 14-member major-crimes unit will operate short-staffed
until either the probe is completed or reinforcements are assigned,
sources said yesterday.
"This is a major, major
hit. It's not good at all," one source said yesterday, noting
major crimes was already overworked and understaffed.
"Everyone is hoping this
can get resolved quickly."
The major-crimes unit is responsible
for some of the most high-profile investigations in the city,
including armed robberies and serious assaults.
Members of the major-crimes
unit routinely assist homicide investigators, and the Tokarchuk
case remains unsolved.
Homicide investigators were
angry last week after learning the potentially vital information
wasn't passed on to them until it was leaked to the media.
The two former vice members
are responsible for some of the largest cocaine seizures in the
city's history. One of them is the person who first had contact
with the alleged informant last summer, according to sources.
It remains a mystery how the
informant's tip worked its way through the vice division and
into major crimes, where sources say it was then run up a chain
of command.
A Crown attorney, believed
to be from the federal Justice Department, was also consulted
but not given specific information about the threat, according
to sources.
Tokarchuk, 24, an aspiring
teacher, was shot while working in his garage workshop at his
family's home on Churchill Drive on May 12. No one has been charged
in connection with the slaying.
Police have said they believe
Tokarchuk was killed in revenge on the first anniversary date
of the slaying of Hells Angels associate Trevor Savoie. Tokarchuk's
older brother, Daniel, is in custody charged with second-degree
murder in Savoie's death.
Two of the officers put on
leave have retained the services of prominent defence lawyer
Hymie Weinstein, while at least one other has hired Richard Wolson,
according to sources.
None of the officers has been
charged with criminal offences, but Ewatski has left that possibility
open.
Both Weinstein and Wolson have
represented several police officers who have been charged with
crimes in recent years.
"I am involved, but I
can't go any further and say anything," Wolson said yesterday.
Legal sources say the worst-case
scenario for the officers would be a charge of criminal negligence
and loss of their jobs.
Winnipeg Police Association
president Loren Schinkel said yesterday people shouldn't jump
to conclusions against the five "seasoned" officers.
"There are many sides
to what has taken place here. There are five guys here, and five
different stories," he said.
Ewatski has stressed the officers
have not been suspended, just placed on administrative leave.
"These officers are removed
from the workplace to ensure they are not put in a position of
compromise," he said Monday.
Ewatski said he only learned
of the tip after it was reported by the Free Press and CKY-TV.
Questions continued to swirl
yesterday in legal circles over why police wouldn't act on an
informant's tip that a killing was about to be committed, especially
in light of several recent cases where they relied heavily on
informants.
"It seems incredible they
wouldn't follow through on something like that. Almost anyone
could call police and give an anonymous tip, and the police would
have a search warrant just like that. I don't understand,"
a legal source said.
Lawyer Barry Gorlick has been
hired by the Tokarchuk family to study a potential lawsuit against
the police and the city.
Tokarchuk's mother, Diane,
told the Free Press it's "unforgivable" that police
apparently failed to pass on information to the family.
She said they would have fled
their home had they known of the informant's tip.
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
