April 11: Munson and Hatchen charged | April 14: Hatchen and Munson to get Paid!| The Trial (Sep. 2001) | Interested in how Saskatchewan keeps public interest matters secret? See the Crown disclosure warning | How Sask Appeals Court intimidates lawyers | Map to the Foster Parent case from which injusticebusters is slowly peeling back the layer Officers' hearing a private matter, gov't lawyer says By Leslie Perreaux, March 29, 2000 Preserving the fairness of a possible criminal trial outweighs the public's right to observe a hearing on the immediate future of two Saskatoon police officers, a Justice Department lawyer argued Tuesday. Justice lawyer and Crown prosecutor Terry Hinz said the public will get a chance to evaluate the conduct of the two officers ac Future proceedings currently being contemplated, such as a criminal trial, a disciplinary hearing or a public inquiry, will give an open airing of all the facts surrounding the case, Hinz said. For now, Saskatchewan Police Commission chair Nancy Hopkins should take pains to preserve the officers' right to fairness in those potential future hearings, Hinz said. "Really the only thing being decided here is whether the officers should be paid or not," Hinz said at the hearing in the Radisson Hotel. The provincial Justice Department is considering criminal charges against Saskatoon city police officers Ken Munson and Dan Hatchen. The department will not say how long it will take for a decision. The two officers dropped Darrell Night on the outskirts of Saskatoon in January, forcing him to find his own way back into the city. The officers were suspended, at first with pay, after they gave statements to police Chief Dave Scott. Scott has said they admitted to dropping Night off. One month later the Saskatoon police commission extended the suspensions and took away the officers' pay. Mayor Henry Dayday, chair of the board, said the move was necessary to restore public confidence in the police force. Hopkins will hear an appeal of the last decision by the two officers beginning Thursday, after she announces her decision on whether the hearing will be open to the public. Hinz and the officers' lawyer, Drew Plaxton, argued the public doesn't need to hear the exact content of the statements by the officers right now. "This is a review of the rather extraordinary power afforded the Saskatoon board of police commissioners and the chief of police to suspend an officer pending the outcome of an investigation," Plaxton said. "This is an employee-employer issue. It is a private matter. The mere fact the public may be interested does not make it a public matter." Geoff Dufour, lawyer for the CBC, who is arguing the public should have access, said public confidence in the justice system and the police force relies on all processes being open in this case. He also pointed out that the Justice Department has not promised charges will be laid or that a public inquiry will be called. The police commission has not said any potential disciplinary hearings will be open to the public. "You risk losing public confidence when it doesn't know what's going on behind these doors. There is no clear indication there will be a trial, or when that trial will be. It is so speculative as to not be worthy of serious consideration," Dufour said. He said the questions that will be raised at the current hearing go far beyond the simple debate over whether the officers should be paid. "It speaks to how the Saskatchewan Police Commission deals with these two public servants. It speaks to how the chief of police dealt with these two officers," he said. "There will be debates in this hearing about public confidence in the police force. How can you have a debate about public confidence behind closed doors?"
 Apr 14, 2000 SASKATOON - The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations says it is appalled that two Saskatoon police officers will be put back on the payroll. Constables Ken Munson and Dan Hatchen were suspended without pay last month. They asked the Saskatchewan Police commission to overturn their suspensions. And though the commission has ruled the suspensions are justified, it says the officers deserve to be paid. Earlier this week, Munson and Hatchen were charged with unlawful confinement and assault. Darcy McKenzie with the FSIN says today's ruling further erodes confidence in the police department. "If the police commission were really serious about restoring public confidence in the Saskatoon police service, they're going about it in the wrong way," McKenzie says. "We think these officers should not even be paid. They should not even be officers, so I think it sends the wrong message to the public." In her written decision, the chair of the police commission says she reinstated the pay because Munson and Hatchen have never been disciplined before, and because they co-operated with the investigation. The Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners will review the ruling before it decides whether to appeal. Two officers charged in Sask. investigation Apr 11, 2000 , CBC Newsworld SASKATOON - Two Saskatoon city police officers have been charged in a case that rocked the city with allegations of police racism. Const. Dan Hatchen and Const. Ken Munson were charged Tuesday with unlawful confinement and assault. An RCMP task force has been looking into allegations police officers abandoned aboriginal men in freezing weather outside Saskatoon. Some of the men allegedly left by police, died. The two officers are charged in connection with the case of one man who survived. Darrell Night alleged police drove him to the edge of town in January, took his jacket and told him to find his own way back. Night said he managed to walk to a power plant, where a worker helped him call a taxi. Night's allegations led to suspensions for the two officers and investigations into the deaths of five other aboriginal men. The two officers have been suspended without pay. They will appear in provincial court in Saskatoon May 3. The task force is continuing its investigation in the other cases. |
cused of dumping a Native m
