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< < previous Saskatoon cop stories | on this page:
Jury selected in case against Saskatoon officers, cbc, Sep 10
2001 | City police owe explanations for recent 'policies', Les
MacPherson, May 11, 2000 | Natives to probe police 'brutality':
FSIN commits $300,000 to independent investigation into treatment
of aboriginals May 31, 2000 | Police officer off the hook for
'Rambo-type' inquiry Chief rules no discipline needed, despite judge's
comment, May 10, 2000 | The whole Dueck Zoorkan Rambo story
Jury selected in case
against Saskatoon officers
cbc, Sep 10 2001
SASKATOON - Twelve jurors have been selected for
the trial of two Saskatoon city police officers.
Constables Ken Munson and Dan
Hatchen are charged with unlawful confinement and assault. A
34-year-old aboriginal man claims two officers abandoned him
outside the city limits, on a cold January night of last year.
The case has caused tension
between aboriginal people and police in Saskatoon.
Sergeant Al Stickney, the head
the Saskatoon Police Association, hopes that this trial will
improve that relationship.
"I'm always hoping that
the truth comes out of this and that at the end of the week --
when this thing is expected to wrap up -- that the truth will
be good enough," said Stickney. "That's all we have
for justice in this country -- is courts."
The Vice-President of the Federation
of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, Lawrence Joseph is also hoping
the trial will bring out the truth.
"Let's all pray that the
truth will come out and not only benefit those people that are
most impacted -- the police officers and the families involved
-- but all of society in Saskatchewan," said Joseph. "That's
our wish, it's not with vengeance by any means."
The prosecution will begin
calling witnesses Tuesday morning.
Darrel Night, the man who alleges
he was abandoned, is expected to testify later this week for
the Crown.
- Police officer off the
hook for 'Rambo-type' inquiry
- Chief rules no discipline
needed, despite judge's comment
By Betty Ann Adam, May 10,
2000
Police Chief Dave Scott will
not discipline a Saskatoon officer who was chastised by a judge
for staging a "highly Rambo-type investigation" and
"operating without any sense of decency or conscience."
Scott directed an interview
request Tuesday to Staff Sgt. Glenn Thomson, who said an internal
investigation into the behaviour of Sgt. Murray Zoorkan during
a mail theft investigation three years ago did not uncover any
illegal activity. No action will be taken, Thomson said.
"We have interviewed the
prosecutor and defence counsels, the judge declined an interview.
As a result of that we found no misdoings under the Criminal
Code or the provincial Police Act," Thomson said.
"The superintendent of
criminal investigations, the member and the prosecutor sat down
and discussed the situation and the techniques and we're satisfied
that the situation has been dealt with. "It's all over and
done with." (see
original story which also implicates Dueck in the intimidation
of Kim Cooper.)
In March, Scott directed senior
police officials to look into Zoorkan's behaviour following a
scathing rebuke by Queen's Bench Justice Robert Laing about Zoorkan's
methods in obtaining a statement from a suspect in the mail theft
case.
In the judgment, Laing declared
inadmissible a statement by postal worker Kimberly Allen Cooper
regarding a missing mail packet that contained $184,500. Without
Cooper's statement as evidence in the case, Crown prosecutor
Terry Hinz stayed the charges against Cooper.
The missing money was mailed
from Credit Union Central in Regina in October 1996.
It was scanned by computer
at the post office there, then disappeared without a trace.
For more than seven weeks in
spring 1997, Zoorkan tried to get Cooper, who sorted packages
in Saskatoon, to take a polygraph test, something Cooper had
the right to refuse.
Laing said Zoorkan intimidated
Cooper with comments about his marriage and by saying he knew
where Cooper's children went to school. As well, Cooper was threatened
that the Hells Angels biker gang would come after him or his
wife.
Cooper gave police a short
statement saying he had handled a money packet the night the
cash disappeared. He said he left it locked in a cage, at the
direction of his supervisor.
Laing said the statement was
given involuntarily to an officer "operating without any
sense of decency or conscience," who staged a "highly
Rambo-type investigation" that was "offensive to the
rule of law."
In his ruling, Laing criticized
the investigative tactics employed by Zoorkan: "He decided
he would operate not according to the law - which I am sure he
was well acquainted with - but according to his own rules, which,
in a nutshell, was intimidation to force Mr. Cooper into doing
something that law said he had a perfect right not to do,"
Laing stated.
Scott asked Dan Wiks, deputy
chief in charge of operations, and Don MacEwan, superintendent
in charge of criminal investigations, to consult with Hinz in
reviewing Laing's statements, "to see if there are any issues
that we as a police service should be concerned about with regards
to the investigation." Thomson said the matter was completed
in the last few days.
Darren Hagen, Cooper's lawyer,
said Cooper has directed him to look into his legal options and
whether lawsuits against police in similar cases have been successful.
Cooper has not decided whether
he will file a formal complaint with the police department about
Zoorkan's actions, Hagen said.
City police owe explanations
for recent 'policies'
Les MacPherson, May 11,
2000
Saskatoon city police have
a new word for lying under oath, for threatening a man's wife
and children, for behaving without conscience or decency. The
word is "policy."
This would explain how a senior
officer can get away with all of the above without being disciplined
in any way. It's standard operating procedure.
The officer would be Sgt. Murray
Zoorkan, who earlier this spring was denounced in open court
by the presiding Queen's Bench judge. This happened during a
case involving a postal worker acquitted of theft, when Justice
Robert Laing rejected Zoorkan's evidence. The case revolved around
an ambiguous statement extracted from the accused by means of
police intimidation, including systematic harassment and, most
despicably, threats of violence against his family.
I know where your children
go to school, Zoorkan told the accused.
"Totally out of control,"
was Laing's characterization of the veteran officer. Zoorkan's
methods were not only unconscionable and indecent, said the judge,
but "offensive to the rule of law."
It was an invitation to justice
authorities to charge Zoorkan with criminal intimidation and-or
perjury.
That was back in March. This
week, more than two months later, police finally announce Zoorkan
will not be charged with criminal intimidation. Neither will
he be subjected to any internal discipline. Not so much as a
reprimand.
It figures that police aren't
saying why Zoorkan, a senior, veteran officer from whom others
will take their lead, is allowed to get away with the kind of
conduct you'd expect of a gangster. Police Chief Dave Scott,
who is responsible for internal discipline, won't even deign
to publicly discuss the little matter of a rogue cop.
He left the talking to Staff
Sgt. Glenn Thomson, who would only say that there was no crime,
no violation of the Police Act and no reason to discipline Zoorkan.
How this could be when sworn
testimony led a respected trial judge to declare otherwise, neither
Thomson nor anyone else in authority will say.
"It's over and done with,"
Thomson insisted.
As usual, the city's police
commission has kept a low profile. So low as to be invisible.
If we still have a police commission, that is.
We're supposed to. It's important.
Without the leadership and civilian oversight of an effective
police commission, police could do whatever they wanted.
They would be out of control.
Exactly as they appear to be.
Surprise.
The police commission we're
supposed to have is supposed to be chaired by Mayor Henry Dayday.
Someone should mention this to him, if it isn't already too late.
Under the dubious leadership
of Dayday and Scott, the Saskatoon police service is squandering
its most important resource, namely the public trust.
Police are already suspected
of dumping helpless drunks at the edge of town, at night, in
winter. Police files that might have implicated particular officers
in a case where a man froze to death have conveniently gone missing.
This is not the first time
something like this has happened.
Records that might have exposed
a police cover-up of David Milgaard's wrongful conviction conveniently
went missing, too.
When Zoorkan was reprimanded
by the judge, Scott responded by going on holidays. This even
as an RCMP task force investigated other allegations of police
misconduct.
It's not as if there's a lot
of brilliant investigative work in between scandals. Police appear
to have no clue in three unsolved home-invasion murders and as
many brutal assaults.
And now we learn that police
policy apparently includes threatening children to force a confession
from their father, who, from all indications, is innocent.
" . . . In the view of
this police officer," said the judge, "the end justified
the means. The courts have never tolerated this approach by police
officers and neither do I."
What's alarming is that the
same cannot be said of our mayor and police chief. They're leaving
an out-of-control officer on the street with a badge and gun.
They can't even police their own department.
Natives to probe police
'brutality': FSIN commits $300,000 to independent investigation
into treatment of aboriginals
by Kim Mannix, StarPhoenix,
Third Page, May 31, 2000
Chiefs of the Federation of
Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) voted Tuesday to spend almost
$300,000 investigating how police treat aboriginal people in
Saskatchewan.
The resolutin declared that
$298,ooo from the First Nations Gaming Trust be used to fund
an independent investigationinto police "misconduct and
brutality."
"Federal and provincial
governments have refused to fund the project that essentially
gathers incriminating evidence against government employees,"
the resolution stated.
Support was nearly unanimous
at the spring session of the FSIN legislative assembly.
Vice-chief Lawrence Joseph
indicated that investigators will be hired to carry out the probe,
but few other details (were) available.
Joseph urged the band chiefs
to recognize this as an oportunity to empower First Nations people.
"This is a clear message
to the provincial government and also to the federal government
that the First Nations of Saskatchewan are together in this and
that they speak not only politically but with their wallets."
Joseph said known abuses against
First Nations peoples, such as the incident in which Saskatoon
police officers left Darrell Night, an aboriginal man, outside
the city on a freezing night, are just the "tip of the iceberg."
Constables Dan Hatchen and
Ken Munson are charged wth assault and unlawful confiement in
connection with the Night incident.
The RCMP are also investigating
the cases of four other aboriginal men to see if there was any
police wrongdoing in those cases.
"The RCMP are engaged
in what they call a task force to investigate those deaths that
are there," said Joseph. "Definitely they're finding
things there that have been overlooked and certainly there will
be further charges. I'm sure of that."
He commended he more than 400
callers who have reported incidents of abuse to a telephone hotline,
and said there are many more First Nations people who are afraid
to speak out against the authorities.
"I believe a big thank
you goes to that very brave individual, Darrell Night,"
he said.
Joseph further criticized Saskatoon
city police, saying they have offered "no great show of
support," especially compared to the Regina Police Service.
"In Regina, the chief
of police has really called us on a regular basis and tried to
work with us," said Joseph. "Unfortunately I cannot
say that for the Saskatoon Police Service and the Saskatoon Police
Commission."
Assembly of First Nations Chief
Phil Fontaine, who was at the Saskatchewan sddrmbly, supported
the FSIN decision to launch an independent investigation.
"We're behind them,"
said the leader. "It really shows how serious First Nations
peoples are about justice issues in this province and this country."
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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