“It’s not just the general public who should feel relieved by a B.C. Supreme Court justice’s decision to uphold commissioner Thomas Braidwood’s right to rule if four police officers were guilty of misconduct in the death of Robert Dziekanski. So too should other members of the RCMP.
A disoriented Dzienkanski died after being Tasered and restrained by four members of the RCMP on Oct. 14, 2007 at the Vancouver International Airport.
The incident has become a blight on the entire RCMP and public perception of the force is at a low ebb.
If the four officers acted inappropriately, all of us deserve to know. The lawyers for the officers involved had wanted to stop Braidwood from making findings of wrongdoing by their clients, calling it tantamount to Braidwood recommending criminal charges. They claimed that because Braidwood’s is a provincial inquiry, he doesn’t have the authority to find fault with the federal RCMP.
This is a specious argument.
First, we must all consider who initially investigated Dziekanski’s death. It was other RCMP officers.
The public is tired of police officers investigating themselves.
And while the RCMP is a national police force, the members involved in the Dziekanski Tasering work in British Columbia and their services were paid for by B.C. taxpayers. The RCMP works in British Columbia under a contract it signs with the provincial government.
Justice Arne Silverman rejected lawyers’ claims that Braidwood was treading on federal jurisdiction.
He ruled that British Columbia’s Public Inquiry Act envisioned someone like Braidwood drawing a conclusion of police wrongdoing. If the conduct of officials at YVR and Border Services, and the police officers are not vital to the determination of what happened to Dziekanski, then what is? If they acted improperly, the public deserve to know.
The officers’ lawyers were fighting a losing battle, especially as the public has seen a witness video of the incident. It didn’t help the RCMP that they initially confiscated the video belonging to that witness, Paul Pritchard. The police later relented and gave Pritchard back the video. He made it public Nov. 14, 2007, so members of the public could draw their own conclusions.
There are many discrepancies regarding officers’ statements concerning what happened, made immediately after Dziekanski’s death, compared with what Pritchard’s video revealed.
The video shows Dziekanski falling to the ground immediately after the first Taser shot. The officers at the scene claimed he remained standing for at least two Taser charges.
The Braidwood inquiry gave the officers a chance to explain these discrepancies. They could not.
And while no charges were laid against the officers after the initial police probe into the Polish immigrant’s death, former B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal did not rule out the possibility of holding the four officers accountable, depending on Braidwood’s findings. In fact, he said it was possible a special prosecutor could revisit the incident.
If Braidwood finds evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the officers and their superiors, it would most certainly be in the public interest to forward it to the special prosecutor to consider charges.
The lawyers for the four RCMP officers initiated a pre-emptive strike when they asked Silverman to stop Braidwood from finding fault with their clients’ actions.
A spokesman for RCMP headquarters in B.C. said the force was not backing the four officers lawyers’ decision to try to muzzle the inquiry. It’s obvious E-Division now wants the truth to be told and they are willing to deal with the fallout from the inquiry. Braidwood is not scheduled to begin writing his report until month’s end.
Regardless of his findings, Braidwood’s inquiry will not restore Canadians’ full confidence in the RCMP. .. .”
http://www.canada.com/Braidwood+inquiry+restore+full+confidence/1700049/story.html
Here is what I know for sure in Canada proper policing, management , supervision human rights commissions are a real fact of life, society, in schools, life, in churches, governments, commerce, institutions, civil and public services, professional services too, and elsewhere, even on the net, for you will always have those 30 percent at least of the persons who will try to cheat, lie , steal, bend the rules, falsely believe they are above the laws, Self regulation alone is too often pretentious, farcical, often not applied as well. That applies especially to the professionals, civil and public services, police, municipalities, politicians now as well..
Newly disclosed RCMP email drops bombshell on Taser inquiry
‘I am obviously appalled,’ Braidwood inquiry head says in delaying probe CBC News
The unexpected disclosure of a key email between senior RCMP officers has raised questions about officers’ testimony at the Braidwood inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski, resulting in a delay of the probe in Vancouver until September.
The email between two senior RCMP supervisors suggests that the four Mounties who responded to a call at the airport discussed a plan to use a Taser against the Polish immigrant before they arrived.
The four officers had already stated under oath at the inquiry that they had not discussed using the stun gun before arriving at the airport.
The commission was scheduled to begin hearing closing arguments on Friday morning, but after learning of the email, commissioner Thomas Braidwood announced the inquiry will resume on Sept. 22, so the commission lawyers have time to review the email and conduct an investigation.
“I am obviously appalled,” a clearly upset Braidwood said.
‘Discussed the response en route:’ email
The existence of the email was revealed by commission counsel Art Vertlieb as the inquiry resumed Friday. He said he only received the email from federal lawyers on Tuesday.
Vertlieb read from the Nov. 5, 2007, email, titled “Media strategy — release of the YVR video,'” from the RCMP Chief Supt. Dick Bent to assistant commissioner Al McIntyre.
“Finally spoke to Wayne and he indicated that the members did not articulate that they saw the symptoms of excited delirium, but instead had discussed the response en route and decided that he did not comply that they would go to CEW.”
The “Wayne” mentioned in the email is Supt. Wayne Rideout, then-head of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team investigating Dziekanski’s death, according to Vertlieb. CEW refers to a conducted energy weapon, the RCMP name for a Taser-type weapon.
Vertlieb said the late disclosure throws into question whether the commissioner has received everything he needs from the RCMP, and argued that the closing submissions should be delayed so the RCMP officers involved can be called to testify about the email and a full review of the disclosure process can be completed.
Vertlieb acknowledged the comments on the email were clearly hearsay, but that they must be investigated because they came from senior RCMP officers, and “on its face, the email appears to tell a significantly different story.”
‘Lying Cowards!!!! Shame on the RCMP for Supporting This Shameless Display of Cover-Up, Lies & Denials!!!!’
RCMP management clearly lied, also to blame.. Mounties read through 1,000 internal e-mails preparing for inquiry
“RCMP’s communication strategy ultimately failed. The force did not publicly correct inaccuracies or defend its role in the case, fearing that information might alter witnesses’ recollection of events. Police also believed, the report said, that public opinion would switch to supporting the RCMP after all the facts were known. We found neither argument valid,” the report said. “For deeply rooted systemic reasons and long-held views regarding the importance of due process, the RCMP’s management of issues and communications were lacking and caused many of the problems the organization was trying to avoid.”We therefore recommend that clear, precise guidelines about what can be released, and at what point in the investigation, be developed, and that these guidelines be based on a liberal view of releasing information.” http://www.canada.com/News/Mounties+read+through+internal+mails+preparing+inquiry/1714755/story.html
“The “Wayne” to whom Chief Supt. Bent presumably is referring in the e-mail is Supt. Wayne Rideout, the head of the integrated homicide investigation team into Mr. Dziekanski’s death who admitted under oath at the commission that he had lied to public as to the circumstances of the incident. Supt. Rideout publicly claimed that Mr. Dzienkanski had been Tasered twice, when in fact the man had been hit with the stun gun at least five times. He also claimed the officers had to wrestle the man to the ground because the first shot had no discernible effect, when in fact video evidence is clear that the distraught would-be immigrant from Poland fell quickly after he was first zapped. The absolutely sickening thing about this entire episode is that were it not for a bystander with a camera phone who had the presence of mind to videotape the conduct of the four officers, their lies, evasions and concocted story might have worked to let Mr. Dziekanski’s death be explained away. Commission counsel Art Vertlieb is absolutely justified when he observed Friday that this delayed disclosure raises questions about whether the RCMP has actually shared everything in its files that Mr. Braidwood needs to do the job.” http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Dziekanski+probe+turns+into+fiasco+RCMP+bungles/1716292/story.html
MURDERED BY THE RCMP
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