Police soaps- make you cry

  see also http://picasaweb.google.com/anonconformer

Sadly too many police officers these days,  AND NOTE THIS THE BAD POLITICIANS, JUSTICE MINISTERS ESPECIALLY Canada wide now too, abuse citizens, obstruct justice, and/or unlawfully use their authority, positions to bully, abuse citizens, others too.. We are hearing testimonies of this in a present Toronto case as well.. Dirty local cops, not just really bad RCMP, and so what else is new? Well none, none of it is acceptable. See also https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/no-such-thing-as-a-little-bit-pregnant/   

 

 

 

Cop accused of leak that sank chief  After a six-month investigation, the RCMP said the chief   Battershill had   discredited the force by having an  affair. Subsequently, the police board said it lost confidence in Battershill and he resigned on Aug. 13. Under the Police Act’s code of professional conduct, anything an officer does while off duty “in a manner that is likely to discredit the reputation of the municipal police department with which the police officer is employed” can be considered improper. A letter was written by Victoria lawyer David Mulroney, on behalf of local businessman Gerald Hartwig, to the Victoria police board. It expressed concerns that a law firm representing Battershill had intervened in a freedom of information request for the chief’s expenses and the cost of severance packages for senior officers. While in the end that information proved largely unimportant, the letter triggered a meeting in which senior officers brought forward other concerns, including Battershill’s affair with a labour lawyer contracted to provide advice to the police board. OnSept. 11, an investigation began into Simpson’s actions. He is also the subject of two other allegations of distributing confidential material. None has been proven.   

     

The former BC Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill’s downfall, included his supposed affair with a lawyer hired by the police board, and the controversy over information leaked from the department about the case, which led to his subsequent resignation from the force. The Law Society of B.C. is investigating a complaint against Victoria labour lawyer Marli Rusen, who allegedly had a sexual relationship with this former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill while she was hired by the police force to negotiate severance packages for employees under Battershill’s command. The allegations are central to Battershill’s resignation, the “loss of confidence” the Victoria Police Board publicly cited in his leadership, and the RCMP’s investigation of him under the Police Act.  As chief, Battershill had the ability to hire legal counsel to advise him on human resources issues, such as firing and dispute resolution, for the 222 people in his police force. He then took his recommendations, and legal opinion, to the police board for approval. Rusen denied the affair.  Battershill, who is married with children, admitted to the affair when asked by the RCMP during the course of its six-month investigation into his conduct. Investigators recommended Battershill be disciplined for the infraction. But he resigned Aug. 13, five days before a scheduled disciplinary hearing. Battershill and the Victoria Police Board signed a non-disclosure agreement about the circumstances of the resignation. While the RCMP investigation failed to uncover any criminal acts or financial wrongdoing, Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe, who is chairman of the Victoria Police Board, said the board suffered a “loss of confidence” in Battershill as a result of the investigation, which is why it accepted his resignation. Rusen, who clerked with the B.C. Supreme Court and federal Department of Justice in Vancouver, specializes in labour relations, employment law, sexual harassment cases and mediation. A brief biography on the Lancaster House labour law website says she also helps companies diagnose, prevent and eliminate workplace conflict.

 

Victoria police Sgt. Jim Simpson returns to work in about a week after serving a suspension that began last November. Simpson was suspended with pay after an investigation began into allegations he leaked a letter to the media that sparked the probe into former police chief Paul Battershill.  Battershill was initially put on leave in October 2007 over misconduct allegations raised by senior officers, who objected to his leadership style and his affair with a police board lawyer. Battershill resigned from the force last August when the Victoria police board said it no longer had confidence in his leadership. Simpson, who has been with the force for more than 25 years, is being investigated for improper disclosure of classified information under the Police Act, said Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton. Concerns over Simpson’s alleged conduct initially led to discussion of possible dismissal “but the investigation has determined that that’s not the case,” Hamilton said. Simpson has been assigned to a patrol shift. There will be some restrictions surrounding his duties, but Hamilton could not say what those restrictions are. Prior to his suspension, Simpson was in charge of the department’s operational-planning unit, which deals with such major events as Canada Day. Central Saanich Deputy Chief Clayton Pecknold was originally asked to be the disciplinary authority to avoid any conflict of interest, but Victoria’s new chief, Jamie Graham, will now take on that role.

The B.C. government now has moved  to strengthen the power of the province’s police watchdog and close loopholes in laws governing municipal police, ensuring officers will no longer be able to avoid discipline by resigning. Proposed amendments to B.C.’s Police Act will boost the authority of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, an independent office that oversees complaints against the province’s 11 municipal police departments. (Note The pretentious RCMP operates under its own federal complaint process.) Among the most significant changes is one stipulating that the commissioner can continue disciplinary proceedings even if an officer or police chief resigns. Any discipline is added to their service record in case they try to become an officer again. Currently, there is no such power.

Other changes to the Police Act include:

– An officer is required to co-operate with an investigation within five days or risk a misconduct charge. Currently, they can avoid co-operating.

– The commissioner, not the police force, will decide whether an allegation should be investigated. Currently, the department makes that call, and the commissioner can overrule it.

– The commissioner will oversee all investigations in real-time using computer software. Currently, he has to request police files.

– An officer will be entitled to appear before a police board before being suspended without pay.

– The maximum suspension without pay increases to 30 days from five days.

Former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill avoided suspension last year by resigning prior to a disciplinary hearing into his affair with a police board lawyer. The case also saw former Victoria mayor Alan Lowe acting as discipline authority over Battershill, despite suggestions he was in conflict due to being a witness in the investigation. Lowe said he had no power to recuse himself. The changes will allow a retired judge to take over as discipline authority in such a conflict. Also Jamie Graham, the current Victoria police chief, retired from the Vancouver police force in 2007, before being found guilty of discreditable conduct for failing to encourage officers to co-operate in an investigation of misconduct allegations in the Downtown Eastside. Under the proposed changes, he would still have been disciplined and his record marked before he was hired by Victoria. “I think it goes for [former] chief Battershill and myself that when we did leave office … we were prepared to waive those provisions of the act to allow discipline to fall,” Graham said in an interview. He applauded the changes for increasing transparency.

A public hearing before a provincial court judge would have compelled all 37 witnesses to give testimony under oath, with the appropriate authority weighing the evidence and making a determination of that evidence, according to the standard of law. A public hearing would have forced the truth out. Evidence would have been properly weighed and the rumour mill would have been silenced….  The police board and the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner must acknowledge that there is a high threshold of public accountability for a chief of police. Any misconduct or inappropriate behaviour resulting in the removal of a chief should have an expectation of full disclosure. see also http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/letters/story.html?id=7b907f07-dee9-450e-98d9-915fb28267c3

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said the complaint process still inadequately involves the police investigating themselves. Eby was also clearly disappointed that documents relating to investigations will continue to be exempt from Freedom of Information requests.  But the government will look at the value of civilian oversight, similar to Ontario, as part of an audit of the complaints process set for 2013, said B.C. Solicitor General John van Dongen. The government bill includes “virtually all” of the 91 recommendations made by Justice Josiah Wood in his 2007 report into the system’s failings, said van Dongen. Bob Rich, president of the B.C. Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police, said, if passed, the reforms will increase public confidence in the complaint process.  overnment house leader Mike de Jong said he hopes the bill is approved in the current legislative session, expected to end in late March or early April. Farnworth, NDP critic  criticized the government for taking almost two years to write the legislation.    

Now this Long-awaited changes to B.C.’s police complaint process appear set to die on the floor of the provincial legislature as government dissolvesd parliament   without passing the amendments into law. HOW IS THAT FOR A PRETENTIOUS BC MINISTER NOW TOO. Solicitor General John van Dongen admitted that the changes won’t become law .. and Van Dongen didn’t answer directly when asked if government knew in early March the bill would not pass. “it’s clear government didn’t view those items as priorities… If the government thought it was important to get re-elected they would have done it, that’s the bottom line, this BC Liberal  government has been fairly clear in pushing through the legislation on things they think are important, they’ve invoked closure…. they clearly have the votes to do so.”.. I  HOPE NO ONE IS FOOLISH ENOUGH TO RE-ELECT HIM TOO?http://www.theage.com.au/national/investigations/minister-told-ashby-be-careful-20090405-9t9l.html

If what we have been told about the fatal shooting of a Vancouver man by a female police officer is true, it appears front-line cops have learned little from the Robert Dziekanski incident at Vancouver International Airport in 2007. It is ironic this happened just days before the Braidwood inquiry resumed with testimony from the RCMP officer in charge the night Dziekanski died. There are striking similarities to both incidents.   In both cases, we have a witness who disputes the official police version of what happened. And in both cases, a witness apparently caught the incident on camera. Adam Smolcic claims police seized the cellphone he used to record the fatal shooting. He also alleges that police deleted the video capture. In the Dziekanski incident, Paul Pritchard also had his video camera seized by police, and only got it back after he threatened a lawsuit. (Police say they needed to hang onto it until all other evidence they were looking for was in their possession.) Smolcic is making some pretty serious allegations: that police shot and killed someone who could have been subdued with pepper spray or a baton, and that police then tried to cover their backsides by tampering with evidence. Abbotsford Police have now been tasked with investigating the shooting. That investigation should also delve into Smolcic’s allegations. Smolcic is reported to be a marijuana activist. In the past, the word of a pot advocate wouldn’t have counted for much when weighed against the word of a police officer. Sadly, it may be easier for the public to believe Smolcic than the police. That’s how badly the Dziekanski incident has shaken the public’s trust in the police. http://www2.canada.com/surreynow/news/viewpoint/story.html?id=64e57161-c603-4208-b83e-b712c4ac1558

 

Do see also https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/unlawfull-use-of-authority/

 

  

 US Police Officers Accused of Involvement in Promotional Cheating  Wednesday, March 18, 2009;  Two Fairfax County police officers accused in a cheating scandal involving promotional exams have left the department, and two others have been placed on administrative duties with pay, according to police sources.  First Lt. Susan Lamar, 44, an assistant commander in the organized crime-narcotics unit, retired last week after 23 years with the department, sources said. Sgt. Keela M. Lowry, 39, the county’s first black female police supervisor, resigned last month, they said.  The scandal erupted last month when Lamar was accused of offering questions from the police department’s upcoming sergeant’s exam to an officer studying for the exam. Instead of taking the questions, the officer turned in the lieutenant, prompting an internal investigation. Lowry, who was on the testing committee, has since been accused of leaking the questions to Lamar.  Two other sergeants — Eric P. Leeds and Michael J. Guston — have been placed on administrative leave with pay while the investigation continues, the sources said. Both declined to comment.  The police internal affairs unit is also investigating the 2006 sergeant’s exam, on which Lowry did well and was soon promoted. The written test is given every three years, along with an oral “assessment center,” and a promotional list for each rank is created based on the total performance on all test phases.  Mary Ann Jennings, a Fairfax police spokeswoman, confirmed that four people had been linked to the cheating allegations and that one had retired and one had resigned. An officer who retires is allowed to collect pension and benefits, but an officer who resigns cannot, Jennings said.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/17/AR2009031703179.html?wprss=rss_metro   

Meanwhile in Australia… “A VICTORIAN Government minister tipped off former assistant police commissioner Noel Ashby in 2007 that then union chief Paul Mullett might be under investigation, according to a secret briefing paper prepared on behalf of Ashby. The paper, marked “private and confidential”, gives the first example of the alleged political corruption that Mr Ashby has threatened to air since he was charged with corruption offences last year. It reveals that Ashby had a “private meeting with a minister of parliament … on or about the 2nd April” in 2007. The document states that the minister “disclosed to him (Ashby) that he should be careful talking to Mr Mullett on the telephone”. At the time of the conversation, Mullett was the secretary of the 11,000-member Police Association. The document states that after meeting the politician, “Mr Ashby was left in no doubt that there were moves afoot to remove Mr Mullett from the political environment prior to the next election”. The document also states that Ashby, who resigned from the force in late 2007, has information to expose “a corrupt conspiracy … (involving) the highest levels of the Victorian Government”. The document, which does not name the minister who met Ashby, was written in order to convince the police union to fund his legal fight against corruption charges connected to allegations that he leaked sensitive information to Mullett. The claims in the document suggest that the politician who met Ashby knew that Mullett’s activities were being scrutinised by authorities with the power to tap phones. At the time of the April 2007 meeting, a detective who was a close friend of Mullett’s was the subject of two police corruption probes, including one that tapped the detective’s phones and recorded all conversations he had with Mullett. That ongoing inquiry is examining whether the now-suspended detective and union delegate Peter Lalor was linked to the murder of a male prostitute, Shane Chartres-Abbott.  The second inquiry in 2007 into Detective Lalor concerned his improper use of the force’s email system to run a smear campaign against a union rival. This police inquiry also examined whether Mullett had any role in the creation of the Lalor emails. The disclosure in the Ashby briefing paper of the April meeting raises questions about the appropriateness of a politician discussing potentially sensitive issues with a senior policeman and whether the meeting was authorised by anyone in the Government or force command. Ashby’s corruption charges arise out of allegations that he leaked sensitive information to Mullett, including the existence of the secret probe into alleged links between Detective Lalor and the Chartres-Abbott murder. Ashby is facing 13 counts of perjury, 13 of misleading the director of the Office of Police Integrity and three of breaching OPI confidentiality. The decision of the union to fund Ashby’s defence from its $17 million cost fund has angered some union members, who claim he rejoined the union only after learning that he was likely to be the subject of a corruption investigation. Ashby rejoined the union after an eight-year hiatus on September 27, 2007, two days after he learned that the OPI might be targeting him. But the Ashby briefing paper contends that he had tried to rejoin the union in December 2006 during a discussion with Mullett. The paper states that “it was decided it was not an opportune time” to rejoin due to Ashby’s role negotiating a pay deal with the union. A group of police officers is gathering signatures to force the union to call a meeting to challenge Ashby’s legal funding. Mullett also is facing corruption charges arising from OPI hearings into the information leaks and will have his defence funded by the union. He has also denied any wrongdoing and resigned from the Police Association last month, leaving him entitled to a retirement payout of more than $1.2 million.”

THE failure of the ombudsman and auditor-general to properly investigate AUSTRALIA’S Victoria Police’s bungling of its information technology earlier this decade has directly led to today’s compromised systems, the original whistleblower says.  Richard Kennedy, who managed the police’s technology contracts from 2001, exposed problems in the IT department after he and the Department of Justice could not account for $60 million police paid to IBM, the force’s major technology provider.  http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/ombudsman-failure-led-to-police-it-woes-20090405-9sy5.html

 

 I too rightfuly  have 5 major complaints about the Police in Canada based on my decades of experiences:

 

1: THEY ARE OFTEN BULLIES,  LAZY, NO GOOD  PERSONS, BIG LIARS TO START OF WITH.    

  

2: YOU CANNOT TRUST THEM ANYMORE THAN YOU CAN TRUST A WOLF AS A PET.. 

   

3: THEY ARE CERTAINLY INEFFICIENT, NOT COST EFFECTIVE AS WELL..

4: THEY SERVE THEIR POLITICAL MASTERS –  MAYORS, PREMIERS, PRIME MINISTERS  ESPECIALLY AND NOT THE CITIZENS,

5: THEY MOSTLY SERVE THEMSELVES TOO..

  Under the police act any professional policeman can be fired from his job for any of his bad behavior, even for anything he or she does after working hours, if his personal acts specially bring ill repute to the police force in general, and that includes adultery, alcoholism, drunken driving, abusive behavior now too.. and for sure should include stealing, expense account abuses, lying to his superiors and others.. for the RCMP as well.

 We also still do  need better police managers, beter Justice Ministers Canada wide too.    The British Columbia police also have proved particularly adept at finding loopholes in the BC Police Act, the most common of which is to resign or retire just before a disciplinary hearing, since the act has no wording on how to deal with former officers. B.C.’s outgoing police complaint commissioner   Dirk Ryneveld  who wrapped up his six-year term with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner last week had now  spent most of his time lobbying for reform of the province’s Police Act, which would boost the powers of his office as it wrestles to assert independent civilian oversight over B.C.’s municipal police departments.    

 police chief job Job listing for police chief Description: directs and coordinates activities of governmental police department in accordance with authority delegated by board of police: promulgates rules and regulations for department as delegated by regulating code. coordinates and administers daily police activities through subordinates. coordinates internal investigation of members of department for alleged wrong doing. suspends or demotes members of force for infractions of rules or inefficiency. directs activities of personnel engaged in preparing budget proposals, maintaining police records, and recruiting staff. approves police budget and negotiates with municipal officials for appropriation of funds. may command force during emergencies, such as fires and riots. may make inspection visits to precincts. may address various groups to inform public of goals and operations of department. may prepare requests for government agencies to obtain funds for special operations or for purchasing equipment for department. in smaller communities, may assist one or more subordinates in investigation or apprehension of offenders. in communities having no board of police, may be designated police commissioner (government ser.) ii. 

 …denial of bad cops and coverup of the bad acts of the bad cops is more likley..

PS:

 

Race group accuses Montreal police of brutal arrest of teenager Tue Apr 7, 7:44 PM  MONTREAL – A Montreal anti-racism group is accusing city police of being brutal in their arrest of a 14-year-old boy last month.

 

Family of Sask man who died after making 911 call says RCMP failed to respond Tue Apr 7, 5:38 PM   SASKATOON – The brother of a Saskatchewan man who died after making a panicked 911 call is criticizing RCMP for not responding.

 

Former Saskatchewan MP says Human Rights Commission shouldn’t exist SASKATOON – A former Saskatchewan MP has racheted up his war of words with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, saying the body shouldn’t exist.

 

BC Appeal court orders Ottawa to amend discriminatory sections of Indian Act Tue Apr 7, 8:02 PM   VANCOUVER, B.C. – The B.C. Court of Appeal has given the federal government a year to amend sections of the Indian Act it says violate equality provisions of the Charter of Rights.

 

Sadly under the false guise of equality we do rob the Indians, Canada’s original settlers, original immigrants, original natives  some more in Canada, of their lands, culture, etc… and an clear imbecile who does not understand this wants to be a MP too?

 

Police cartoons