Quorum National and International News clippings & press releases
Providing members with information on policing from across Canada & around the world
18 October 2013
Canadian Association of Police Boards 157 Gilmour Street, Suite 302 Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0N8 Tel: 613|235|2272 Fax: 613|235|2275 www.capb.ca
BRITISH COLUMBIA ...... 4 Victoria-Esquimalt police deal stalled, ex-deputy says ...... 4 Mental health care crisis requires action ...... 5 New Victoria police chief has B.C. roots ...... 6 Police response times continue to get longer ...... 8 New police chief sees parallels between former-home Sudbury and Victoria ...... 9 Victoria Police Department Canada's first to fight crime with smartphone app ...... 11 ALBERTA ...... 13 Brutality allegation shows police transparency not always simple ...... 13 Featured letter: Police chief thanks citizens for stepping up ...... 15 Police helicopter fundraiser nets $100,000 in five minutes ...... 17 Officers call for stronger laws to protect police dogs after Edmonton K9 killed ...... 17 SASKATCHEWAN ...... 20 Joint meeting requested on public safety ...... 20 Long time Regina cop Rick Bourassa named Moose Jaw Police Chief ...... 21 Saskatoon police buying Tasers ...... 22 MANITOBA ...... 23 Norquay recommended as police board's first director ...... 23 ONTARIO ...... 23 Economics of policing ...... 23 Police board considers releasing secret shooting reports ...... 25 Rights tribunal orders Ottawa police to disclose race, age data in discrimination complaint ...... 26 Controversial Durham police chief to retire next May ...... 27 Hamilton wants province to pay to train and equip cops with stun guns ...... 29 OPP defers municipal police contract renewals ...... 30 Policing costs in Sudbury to rise in 2014 ...... 30 Tasers, mental state not considered in knife incidents: Ontario police trainer ...... 31 Toronto police board asks for public input on carding ...... 34 Municipalities, province to talk OPP costs ...... 36 Toronto police paid $27 million in lawsuit claims ...... 38 Toronto cops count on trading cards to bond with public ...... 39 Interim chief on six month secondment from OPP ...... 41 Editorial: Tasers are a tool, not a cure-all for police ...... 42 Domestic violence stats see ‘modest decline’ for first time in a decade ...... 44 Police board member retracts call for ‘big fence’ at Ontario Shores ...... 45 Barrie police budget expected to rise less by less than 3% ...... 47 Reality for police much different than what public thinks, inquest into shootings hears 49 Coun. Matt Brown wants police to trim a requested 4.2% budget hike or allow an outside auditor to find areas to cut...... 51 Chief satisfied with officers’ Charter training, despite high-profile acquittals ...... 53 QUEBEC ...... 54 NEW BRUNSWICK ...... 54 NOVA SCOTIA ...... 54 Bullies could be fined under proposed Halifax bylaw ...... 55
2 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ...... 55 Deadline looms for police intelligence service program ...... 55 NEWFOUNDLAND ...... 58 NATIONAL ...... 58 Survey probes internal attitudes toward RCMP ...... 58 Tough on crime or snowed under? ...... 59 Federal leadership needed to develop national standards for mental health ...... 61 Federal government to move on 'Quanto's Law' after death of Edmonton police dog ... 62 Feds slow to bolster cyber security ...... 64 Police use-of-force registry would help weigh risks of taser use, study says ...... 66 INTERNATIONAL NEWS ...... 67 Crime falls 7% to record low in England and Wales ...... 67 Feds: Vegas police better at tracking use of force ...... 69 Does just threatening to use a TASER constitute force? ...... 71 New Orleans won't be released from NOPD consent decree, appeals court rules ...... 73 Arbitrator Calls for Connecticut State Police Raises ...... 75 Justice Department Guilty of Excessive Secrecy, Internal Audit Finds ...... 76 Policing the police: The wrong approach ...... 78 Police to study use of deadly force in Washington chase, shooting ...... 80 Video shows aggressive stop and frisk in Philly that ACLU calls 'abusive' ...... 82 PBA suit over stop-and-frisk law ...... 85 The Conservative Case for Civilian Review ...... 86 Editorial: Disclosure is the best policy for probes of police misconduct ...... 91 The Future Is Here: How Police Officers’ Videos Protect Officers and Departments ...... 92 Arbitrator praises Denver Police Chief Robert White's staffing plan ...... 98 Proposed changes to Portland police complaint system to go before council ...... 100 63 cops suspended over deadly chase in Cleveland ...... 101 Pay survey: Future of staff remuneration raised ...... 102 Why policing experience matters ...... 104
3 BRITISH COLUMBIA
Victoria-Esquimalt police deal stalled, ex- deputy says 'Political posturing' has ground police force negotiations to a halt CBC News Posted: Oct 04, 2013 11:44 AM PT Last Updated: Oct 04, 2013 6:21 PM PT
The township of Esquimalt has tried to dump Victoria Police in favour of the RCMP, but last year the former B.C. minister of justice ordered the two communities to work out a mutually acceptable deal.
A former Vancouver Island deputy police chief is speaking out against the mayors of Victoria and Esquimalt, saying politics is getting in the way of a finalized policing deal.
In July 2012, then- B.C. justice minister Shirley Bond ordered Victoria and Esquimalt to reach a consensus on how to best operate their amalgamated police force, despite Esquimalt's request to end their reliance on Victoria police and contract the RCMP instead.
John Ducker, a former deputy chief of the Victoria Police Department, said in an interview with Focus Magazine earlier this week that the mayors of Victoria and Esquimalt put more effort into political posturing than aiding the police board in finding a resolution.
He also said that the negotiations have become so heated that some staff members from each community won't sit in the same room with each other.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardin said she can't see how a consensus might be reached.
"We all know the process is stalled. How do we speed it up? Well, we now have new board members, that might be part of it," she told CBC News.
Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin says the province will likely have to step in and help to resolve the issues on each side of the debate.
"We've exhausted the process. Now we're looking for assistance from the province," he said.
In a statement Friday, the B.C. Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton said she will be meeting with the mayors of Victoria and Esquimalt to discuss this issue.
4 "I am hopeful we will be able to resolve this situation in the near future to provide certainty about the future of policing for the residents of Victoria and Esquimalt," she said.
Anton added that she believes recent changes to the police board’s membership would ultimately strengthen the Victoria-Esquimalt policing relationship.
Mental health care crisis requires action
VANCOUVER SUN OCTOBER 10, 2013
The City of Vancouver is dealing with a mental health crisis so severe "lives are being put at risk."
That dramatic warning from Mayor Gregor Robertson, who chairs Vancouver's police board, should prompt politicians both in Victoria and Ottawa to snap to attention.
The mayor and Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu last month revealed the crisis has resulted in a number of murders.
The murders were among a total of 96 serious attacks that have taken place since January of 2012, directly tied to the city's mental health crisis.
A Vancouver Police Department report says the situation "poses the greatest risk of an unprovoked attack on everyday citizens in Vancouver." In one case, a man walking his dog was stabbed multiple times and was eviscerated, his internal organs visible to responding officers. In another, a man viciously beat three elderly women, kicking each of them in the head.
This is an outrage. It is a calamity, not only for ordinary Vancouverites who have the right to feel safe in their own community. It also is a disaster for those who need medical care but are unable to access it, and instead experience run-ins with the criminal justice system.
In this, Mental Health Week, we need to remember, mental illness is pervasive in society and should not be stigmatized. The mayor and police chief are calling attention here to a tiny minority of sufferers with debilitating mental disorders.
This crisis has long roots. In the 1990s, governments across North America moved to deinstitutionalize mentally ill patients - in Vancouver, Riverview Hospital was shuttered - without properly funding alternative treatment options in the community.
5 Another particular problem in Vancouver concerns a contingent of people who, over time, have suffered permanent brain damage as a result of long-term use of drugs such as methamphetamines.
Today, evidence of problems wrought by untreated mental illness can be witnessed on downtown buses, in alleyways of the Downtown Eastside and hospital emergency rooms. In fact, St. Paul's Hospital in the past three years has experienced a 43-per-cent increase in mentally ill or addicted visitors. And, in the past year, cases in which police apprehended people under the Mental Health Act jumped 23 per cent.
If the first step in addressing a problem is in admitting you have one, we've passed stage 1. It's time to act.
The mayor and police chief appropriately have devised a response plan which should be studied, then acted upon by federal and provincial authorities.
Robertson and Chu want funds for a stock of secure mental-health treatment beds. And they're calling for the establishment of a mental health crisis unit at a designated Vancouver hospital to treat psychiatric emergencies. They're also recommending additional community workers be equipped to support the mentally ill.
While these initiatives appear a logical response to the existing challenge, B.C.'s Health Minister Terry Lake says more work needs to be done to understand the scope of the mental health crisis.
But, given the brutal attacks on innocent citizens, the minister needs to understand he does not have the luxury of time.
Until such time as Lake is prepared to take longer term action, interim measures must be put in place to address Vancouver's mental health crisis.
New Victoria police chief has B.C. roots
Victoria News Published: October 10, 2013 3:00 PM Updated: October 10, 2013 3:30 PM The Victoria Police Department's incoming police chief has been dreaming about living on the West Coast for 30 years.
But the move will come a little sooner than expected for Frank Elsner, who has fond memories of Vancouver Island, where he spent his formative years after high school.
6 "This is something I never thought would be possible," said Elsner, current chief of the Greater Sudbury Police Service. "My heart and passion has always been in British Columbia, and we were going to move there on my retirement anyways."
Elsner's family immigrated to Vancouver from Germany in the 1960s, before settling in the Okanagan. He spent time in Parksville, Nanaimo and Victoria before joining the RCMP as a reserve constable, eventually moving east for the Ontario Provincial Police in the mid-1980s.
And while he officially takes the reins from outgoing VicPD Chief Jamie Graham Dec. 31, he's already been in near-daily communication with both Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin and Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins to discuss their ongoing policing contract negotiations and explore the most prevalent issues for both municipalities.
"In Ontario, regionalization is the norm, not the exception. So I understand what's good about it, but I understand the pitfalls as well. But I think my greatest strength I bring with me is I really believe in partnerships. We just can't go it alone. I'm very passionate about working with the community, and that's what we've done here (in Sudbury)."
Elsner pointed to one of Sudbury's low-income housing complexes where police, health officials, employment counsellors and others set up a "one-stop shop" within the building several years ago. Calls for service have since dropped from six times per shift to about twice a month, he said.
"We got in there and mobilized the people of that community," he said. "I'm a big proponent of crime prevention and stopping something before it happens."
Elsner was widely reported as VicPD's next police chief in mid-September, but a provincial delay in appointing new Victoria police board members stalled the process.
The leaked announcement was awkward for Elsner, who hadn't yet told his Sudbury colleagues about his intentions.
"My sister who lives in Oliver, called me to say I'd been appointed chief. And my wife and I hadn't even started making plans yet. That night, my daughters' coach was saying if we were going to move, she might have to get cut from her sports team."
With the hiring hiccups now behind him, Elsner is focusing on finding a new house and local school for his 12-year-old daughter.
"I didn't own a pair of winter boots or jacket when I moved (to Ontario)," he said. "I think I'm going to leave the boots at the airport when I move home."
7
By the numbers:
Greater Sudbury Police Service:
265 police officers
Population coverage: 160,274 residents
Geographic area: 3,627 sq. kilometres
Victoria Police Department:
244 police officers
Population coverage: 96,226 residents
Geographic area: 27 sq. kilometres
Police response times continue to get longer
BY IAN AUSTIN, THE PROVINCE OCTOBER 16, 2013
Vancouver citizens had to wait nearly two minutes longer for police response this year than in 2012, reads a report that went to the Vancouver Police Board Tuesday.
Vancouver Police Supt. Daryl Wiebe told the assembled meeting that, on average, Priority 1 response time in the third quarter of 2013 was 11 minutes 28 seconds, a full one minute, 45 seconds longer than a year earlier.
That's 17.9 per cent slower than in the third quarter of 2012.
"All districts experienced an increase in P1 response times in the third quarter of 2013 when compared to the same quarter last year," reads the quarterly Key Performance Indicator report, "with the largest increase in District 2 at 1 minute 46 seconds.
"However, the longest response times took place in District 4 at 12 minutes 44 seconds."
The report listed an increase in each of the city's four police districts.
8
District 1 (Downtown) went from 7:48 to 9:19, a 19.5 per cent hike.
District 2 (East Van) response times increased from 9:21 to 11:08, a 19-per-cent rise.
District 3 (Westside) Priority 1 response time jumped from 10:33 to 11:51, a 12.3-per-cent hike, while
District 4 (South Van) increased from 12:03 to 12:44, a 5.7-per-cent hike.
To give an historical perspective on response times in the city, Wiebe went back a decade to document yearly response times city-wide.
While the 11:28 response time recorded in the third quarter of 2013 is nearly 20 per cent higher than in the same quarter of 2012, numbers from a decade ago are even higher.
Wiebe's chart shows response times peaking at 14:23 in 2005, followed by 13:34 in 2003 and 13:17 in 2004.
Response times started dropping considerably in 2006 to 11:52 - the last time the average response time for an entire year topped the 11:28 just recorded for the third quarter of 2013.
Those annual response times dropped off steadily until 2011 - bottoming out at 9:48 - but have been on the increase since. New police chief sees parallels between former-home Sudbury and Victoria New chief constable has three decades of experience in B.C. and Ontario
KATIE DEROSA / TIMES COLONIST OCTOBER 10, 2013 09:33 AM Greater Sudbury police chief Frank Elsner, the man tapped to be the next chief of Victoria police, said he sees many parallels between the Northern Ontario force and B.C.’s second largest police department.
Both departments police urban centres where homelessness, mental illness and drugs are challenges that must be addressed with the help of social agencies, Elsner said in an interview with the Times Colonist on Thursday.
The official announcement that Elsner will replace Chief Jamie Graham, who retires Dec. 31, came Thursday morning, after weeks of speculation.
9 The Greater Sudbury police is an amalgamated force of six smaller communities, with a population of about 160,000. Greater Victoria has long debated the merits of a single police force for the region with a population of 350,000.
“I see a lot of similarities. Each of the communities are very unique and they want to keep their individuality. And we have to absolutely respect that,” Elsner said in an interview with the Times Colonist.
Elsner said the “cookie-cutter Ontario experience” of amalgamated police departments won’t necessarily work in B.C., but there needs to be “an honest conversation between people that want the very best between their communities.”
“The other piece is they're very proud of their traditions and for another agency to come in and say, ‘You know, we have all the answers,’ almost a kind of big brother mentality, that's not going to fly,” he said.
Elsner, 50, who has three decades of policing experience in B.C. and Ontario, joined the Greater Sudbury police force as deputy chief in 2007 and rose to top cop in 2009.
Elsner said his experience in Greater Sudbury was that a single police force created administrative efficiencies and eliminated duplication between forensics units, communications centres, intelligence and traffic teams.
He sees the importance of police working with social agencies, mental health workers and housing advocates to create a strong social fabric, he said.
Elsner, who worked many years as an undercover officer, spent time in jail to gain the trust of known gang members. He is now the chairman of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Ontario.
Elsner will be paid $205,000 a year, before benefits, $20,000 more than the current chief’s salary of $185,000. Elsner was Greater Sudbury's highest-paid municipal employee in 2012 with a salary of $219,670.
Elsner has a Twitter account @ChiefElsner with 1,770 followers. Showing his social media savvy, the new chief took questions from Victoria citizens during an hour-long Twitter chat at #yyjchief.
Victorians asked him for his strategies on a range of topics, including training for officers in dealing with mental illness, integrated policing in Greater Victoria, elder abuse, public surveillance, traffic safety and his views on supervised consumption sites for drug addicts to prevent overdoses.
Elsner said he uses social media to connect with community members.
10 “I think it's quite important because [the community] gets to see a human side of us. It's instantaneous, it's unfiltered.”
Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin, chairman of the police board, said it’s that openness with the public that made Elsner the right candidate. He was the unanimous choice of the board.
“One of the key attributes we saw in choosing Frank Elsner was his willingness to engage the community,” Fortin said. “Getting out there and being part of the makeup of a city.”
News leaked that Elsner was identified as the best candidate in mid-September. The hiring process came to a halt Sept. 15 because the contracts of four provincially appointed police board members weren’t renewed, and their replacements weren’t named until two weeks later. The police board met Tuesday and Wednesday night to finalize the hiring.
Elsner said that put him in an awkward position “because it didn't give me a chance to properly explain to my own organization and my community.”
During his career with Greater Sudbury police Elsner focused on traffic safety and improving police response to mental health calls. However, earlier this year Elsner was forced to apologize when the department backed a hotline set up for people to anonymously report bad drivers, with an emphasis on elderly drivers.
Elsner’s parents live in Oliver, B.C., and he said he always planned to retire in the province.
“To be able to move home to have a finger print on the community that you want to retire in, that your kids will grow up in, that’s pretty special.”
Elsner’s wife Susan is a teacher. He has two daughters, 12-year-old Katie, who is in middle school, and 20-year-old Haley, who is in third year at Laurentian University in Sudbury.
Victoria Police Department Canada's first to fight crime with smartphone app
BY GILLIAN SHAW, VANCOUVER SUN OCTOBER 16, 2013
VANCOUVER — Want to report that driver who just ran a red light? Find out what crimes have been happening in your neighbourhood?
There’s an app for that.
11
The Victoria Police Department has become the first law enforcement agency in Canada to launch a mobile app that lets people report crimes and get instant alerts of missing children, crimes in their area and other news.
While the RCMP has a smartphone app that pushes out news and information, the Victoria PD, which was among the first Canadian police agencies to start using social media, has gone a step further with the launch of its interactive app.
“We’ll be the first branded police app that allows you to do things like report crime and track crime online,” said Victoria police spokesman Mike Russell. “The app has an alerts feature that allows us to send push notifications specifically if there is a missing child, if there’s a traffic block...
“Those alerts from a public safety point of view are what we are most impressed with,” he said. “Literally within five minutes of a kid going missing I can have a picture of that kid to every person who has our app on their smartphone.”
It doesn’t replace calling 911.
“It’s not for reporting crimes in progress,” said Russell adding that it also doesn’t include reporting crimes such as home burglary where police would be going to the scene to take fingerprints or other evidence.
There are 11 different incidents that can be reported through the app, from counterfeit currency to driving complaints, bike thefts or found bikes, graffiti, mischief or theft under $5,000 and others.
A Crime Maps feature on the app lists crimes and also maps them. The app also has a section entitled ‘Is this yours?’ linking to the Victoria PD’s Pinterest site with photos of stolen goods that have been recovered.
“We’ve been successful in returning stolen property through Pinterest,” said Russell.
The app also links to the police department’s YouTube, Twitter and Facebook accounts as well as its news releases, job postings, blog posts, Crimestoppers, recruiting and other information.
The Victoria Police Department was on Twitter long before the Vancouver Police Department. Victoria's newly named police chief, Frank Elsner, introduced himself on Twitter last Thursday, with the Twitter hashtag #yyjchief. That was the same day Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu launched his new Twitter account @ChiefJimChu.
The Victoria PD app, which was developed by U.S.-based MobilePD.com, is available in an iOS version for iPhones and iPads in the iTunes app store and for
12 Android devices in Google Play. If you search the apps store, it’s the one called Victoria Police Department. One called VictoriaPD is a tips apps for the police department in Victoria, Texas.
ALBERTA
Brutality allegation shows police transparency not always simple
BY BRENT WITTMEIER, EDMONTON JOURNAL OCTOBER 7, 2013 In Derek Huff’s telling, it was a dream job that quickly fell to tatters.
Everything changed in a few seconds on Feb. 11, 2010. That’s when Huff and another Edmonton constable pulled up in front of a downtown residence. They saw a trio of fellow plainclothes officers punch and kick a drug dealer targeted in an undercover sting. Huff, a seven-year veteran had seen rough arrests. This wasn’t a couple of punches, he says, but a planned beating.
In subsequent weeks and months, Huff took those allegations of brutality to his superior officers. But as he did, his relationships with his coworkers grew acrimonious. His complaints went nowhere, and Huff said he was branded a rat.
Huff’s allegations of brutality and silence are more than just a one-time condemnation of Edmonton police action, they’re the latest chapter in a long public struggle between perception and police transparency.
In the past decade, Sgt. Tony Simioni said he has seen a “bad cop” story in the news nearly every week. It’s been extremely difficult to fight the public’s perception that there’s something wrong with Edmonton’s police. But the headlines, he said, only tell part of the story.
Simioni isn’t commenting on Huff’s case, currently part of a union grievance. But the president of the Edmonton Police Association noted that to other police forces, Edmonton is considered Canada’s “epicentre of discipline.”
He pointed to numbers. Edmonton had more than 30 disciplinary hearings last year; Calgary had two. Between Manitoba and Victoria, there were only about a dozen other public hearings.
He also cited the “shocking statistic” that up until August, nearly 20 per cent of complaints against Edmonton officers this year came from other officers.
13 “Perception is far different than reality,” Simioni said. “When I hear these ongoing reports about how corrupt the Edmonton Police Service is and how we’re trying to cover things up, it’s laughable. It’s ridiculous to the extreme.”
Edmonton’s heightened approach to discipline began about a decade ago. In Feb. 2005, Fred Rayner became the third consecutive chief pushed out before the end of his contract. Rayner was let go for his handling of the Overtime incident, a failed sting targeting the president of the police commission and Kerry Diotte, the current mayoral candidate and then-newspaper columnist writing pieces critical of Edmonton police.
Rayner filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit after he was fired and his actions were later found proper and reasonable.
Back then, there were also stories similar to Huff’s. At a union softball tournament in June 2005, downtown patrol squad members sported shirts with the number 440 — police code for rat — with a red line through it. During subsequent hearings into the No Rats controversy, the shirts were deemed a “veiled threat” against officers reporting misconduct.
Two constables quit due to intimidation. Officers testified to a “code of silence” to protect their fellow officers. One of them, Monique Prefontaine, later testified about fears of being blackballed and her experiences of intimidation after she reported being assaulted by a fellow officer.
Tom Engel has likely been involved in more police misconduct hearings since those days than any other Edmonton lawyer. The Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, of which Engel is a part, has been aggressive in its pursuit of complaints. Engel concedes Edmonton police have worked hard to improve the situation.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s less corruption and less abuse of authority in Edmonton than in many other police services in the country,” he said. “(EPS) now know that they have to deal with these kinds of complaints in a proper manner.”
Along with Simioni, Engel agreed that the number of hearings in Edmonton may lead to mistaken perceptions to the contrary, but he said that might be a necessary cost for transparency.
“What’s the alternative, just let it all go unpunished?” Engel asked. “Superficially, people might think Edmonton’s a really bad place, but if you look more closely, it’s a better place.”
While Engel believes Edmonton’s police have become more transparent since the No Rats incident, he sees disturbing echoes in Huff’s case.
14 Huff didn’t know what to do after the incident. When he and his partner headed back to their vehicle, they discussed the situation.
“I looked at him and I said, ‘If we don’t do something about this, our careers are over. And if we do do something about this, our careers are over,’ ” Huff said.
By the time he took his story public last week, Huff’s situation had deteriorated. He said he struggled with depression in the aftermath of bullying and intimidation. When he became a school resource officer in early 2012, his problems went with him. He eventually went on stress leave that April.
By June 2012, Huff handed over a 10,000-word complaint to deputy chief Danielle Campbell. The Feb. 2010 incident was referred to the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, while the allegations of harassment were referred to another body. He eventually quit EPS last February.
Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht responded to last week’s allegations by suggesting that a civilian oversight body is needed so cops don’t investigate cops. It’s a move supported by Simioni, who said the same process should be in place for all Alberta police so agencies can’t hide or disguise complaints. The “perverse irony” of Edmonton’s number of hearings is that rank and file members don’t trust the system.
“Let’s all sing off the same song sheet, and then we can compare,” Simioni said. “Right now, you can’t.”
While Engel also supports the idea, he said it may not have helped in this case. Engel plans to petition police to referring the entire file to ASIRT, and said he’ll be calling on the Edmonton Police Commission to call a public inquiry into how Huff’s superiors failed to take his allegations to the proper channels.
“(Campbell) failed miserably in her duty and she’s going to have a lot to answer for,” he said. “If what Huff says is true, (they) should all be fired.”
As for Huff, he doesn’t have any regrets about coming forward. He has received job offers and notes from other officers echoing his complaints. If he could, he said he’d put that complaint letter into every mailbox in the city.
“The public needs to know these things because if we don’t let the public know about these things, nothing’s ever going to change,” Huff says. “Maybe the problem I brought forward is a lot bigger than even I anticipated.” Featured letter: Police chief thanks citizens for stepping up
15 EDMONTON JOURNAL OCTOBER 16, 2013
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) applauds Edmontonians for stepping up and helping prevent crime.
In the past five months, we have witnessed this significant phenomenon, which reflects positively on the city as an engaged, caring community. Serious, if not tragic, circumstances have been averted because of the vigilance by concerned citizens who immediately contacted police and/or provided critical information and assistance.
Last year, the EPS answered more than 400,000 calls to our emergency line, with many from citizens who “saw something” and wanted to let us know.
Leading up to and throughout summer, the EPS has seen an increase in the number of Edmontonians who have come forward with critical information that has helped solve a serious crime or assisted a stranger in distress.
Just this week, after calling 911, brave citizens intercepted and chased down the alleged impaired driver of a front-end loader that struck a vehicle with a mother and her eight-year-old child inside. Had it not been for the quick action of several citizens, more people could have been seriously injured or worse.
This incident is but one example. In previous weeks, when a car lost control on the Anthony Henday and drove into a water-filled dugout, citizens rapidly called 911 and gave the exact location of the submerged vehicle.
In another instance, a sharp-eyed employee of a local business thought a female customer might have been assaulted. Followup investigation determined she was the victim of sustained domestic abuse.
Further, the EPS applauds the media for their continuing coverage of the important safety issue of children being left unattended in vehicles. Serious, if not tragic, circumstances have been averted as the result of a number of concerned citizens immediately contacting police.
Homicides are being solved, prolific offenders are being held to account, and lives are being saved and improved because of an increasing number of citizens who are personally committed to and invested in making Edmonton a safer city.
To those of you who have stepped forward to help, we offer a sincere and heartfelt thank you. You are doing more than just coming to the aid of fellow citizens — you are strengthening and improving your quality of life and that of your neighbourhoods and your city.
Rod Knecht, Edmonton chief of police
16 Police helicopter fundraiser nets $100,000 in five minutes
EDMONTON JOURNAL OCTOBER 9, 2013
EDMONTON - A three-year capital campaign to replace Edmonton’s aging police Air-1 helicopter raised $100,000 in five minutes Wednesday evening.
The money for the new chopper was raised at the True Blue Gala, the Edmonton Police Foundation’s signature fundraising event.
Air-1 is aging and parts are becoming more difficult to replace, said Nicole Ng- Muk-Yuen, with the Edmonton Police Foundation.
The helicopter will need to be replaced in less than three years, she said, at a cost of about $7.5 million.
Air-1 made its public debut at Heritage Days on Aug. 5, 2001, following the launch of a public fundraising drive.
When the proposal to acquire a police helicopter was brought before the Edmonton Police Commission, Air-1 was touted as a fast and effective way of responding to crimes and emergencies within the city’s sprawling boundaries.
Air-1 was airborne and patrolling Edmonton’s streets in time for the start of the World Championships in Athletics in August 2001.
After a year of leasing, a local community organization raised the estimated $1.7 million required to purchase the chopper.
Air-2 took over Air-1’s role as the department’s main eye in the sky in September 2009.
The $1.65 million to buy Air-2 and the additional $350,000 spent to outfit it for police work were approved by the Edmonton Police Commission and city council in 2008.
Police estimate the impact of losing one helicopter and needing to depend on only one would result in a productivity loss of 30 to 35 per cent. Officers call for stronger laws to protect police dogs after Edmonton K9 killed
Tim Cook, The Canadian Press
17 Published Monday, October 7, 2013 2:59PM EDT Last Updated Tuesday, October 8, 2013 1:08PM EDT EDMONTON -- Edmonton police say there needs to be a special criminal law to protect animals that work with officers after one of their service dogs was killed by a fleeing suspect.
Police say Quanto, a German shepherd with four years of decorated service and more than 100 arrests to his name, was stabbed repeatedly Monday as he and his handler, Const. Matt Williamson, tried to take down a man who had fled a car with stolen plates.
Edmonton Police Service Dog Quanto was killed while helping to capture a suspect early Monday morning. Quanto is seen in this supplied undated image.
City police make an arrest after a criminal flight that saw a police dog die following an altercation with a suspect.
But when it comes to the death of the dog, Troy Carriere, acting staff-sergeant of the Edmonton police canine unit, said cruelty to an animal is the strongest charge that can be laid.
"It's been our intent to have that changed," Carriere said. "We need to adjust the Criminal Code at some point in time and this is obviously a good time to do that." Sgt. Murray Pollock, head of the Calgary police canine unit and a director with the Canadian Police Canine Association, said the protection of police dogs in the Criminal Code is an issue officers have wanted to see addressed for quite some time.
Some provinces have laws protecting services dogs.
A section of Saskatchewan's Animal Protection Act, for example, carries a penalty of up to two years in jail for anyone who harms a service dog, which includes dogs working with police.
Penalties for animal cruelty in the Criminal Code were recently increased, with the maximum sentence being five years behind bars.
But Pollock said a Criminal Code section dealing with service dogs, which would be applicable across Canada, would make for a much stronger deterrent.
"Absolutely. That's where we would like to go," he said.
"In a case like Edmonton today, they would be facing the most serious of charges, not dissimilar to assaulting a police office -- it's what we would like to see. We believe strongly that our dogs are police officers."
18 A private member's bill proposing an amendment to the Criminal Code was introduced by Ontario Conservative MP Costas Menegakis earlier this year. It says anyone "who knowingly or recklessly poisons, injures or kills a law enforcement animal," including a horse or dog, could be subject to the same five-year maximum sentence.
"We are aware of a Conservative private member's bill being proposed on this topic and I'm personally very supportive and look forward to more discussion on this issue," federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay said in an email Monday. Williamson and Quanto were called to a report of a stolen vehicle shortly after 5 a.m. The vehicle fled, but quickly crashed into the median in front of a gas station near the city's downtown.
Police said the driver ran. Quanto was sent after him and was stabbed. Williamson rushed the dog to the emergency veterinary clinic where the animal was pronounced dead. The suspect dropped the knife when other officers arrived and he was arrested.
Police said Vukmanich was already wanted on charges of armed robbery in both Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, Ont.
Quanto is the fifth Edmonton police dog to die in the line of duty. A police dog named Caesar was the last animal killed in 1998.
In 2010, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Eric Macklin scolded Edmonton police for using excessive force when they shot a man, Kirk Steele, four times after he stabbed a police dog.
Macklin called the shooting "an unconscionable use of excessive and aggressive force in the circumstances."
Both Steele and the dog, Wizzard, survived and a disciplinary charge of unnecessary use of force against the handler, Staff-Sgt. Bruce Edwards, was dismissed.
Quanto, who placed third in a recent Canadian Police Canine Association competition in Regina, did what he was supposed to do Monday morning, Carrier said.
"There's no question that had he not been deployed to apprehend this subject, who was highly motivated to get away, we most likely would have seen one of our own members hurt or killed," Carriere said. "He made the ultimate sacrifice. That was his job and he did it well."
19 SASKATCHEWAN Joint meeting requested on public safety
October 17, 2013
By John Cairns Staff Reporter
The City of North Battleford wants federal and provincial officials at the table in crafting an action plan on crime.
To that end, council unanimously carried a resolution Tuesday. The original notice of motion called for the City to requests a joint meeting between the minister of public safety (Canada), minister of justice (Saskatchewan) and city council to discuss an action plan to address public safety in the city of North Battleford.
But Councillor Ray Fox suggested an amendment where the provincial public safety minister be invited as well. City Clerk Debbie Wohlberg responded relevant members that need to be at the table will be asked to be there.
The notice of motion was presented at the previous council meeting by Councillor Ryan Bater. Bater pointed to the city’s high crime numbers as reason for the motion.
“The situation right now, property crime is a daily occurrence. Violent crime is almost a weekly occurrence. In fact, I don’t think we’ve gone a week since the summer where there hasn’t been some kind of violent action,” said Bater.
“A lot of it seems to be geared towards gang activity. To me this is a growing fire that needs to be stamped out.”
While he pointed to initiatives in recent weeks to ask people to step up to start Neighbourhood Watch and join Citizens on Patrol, Bater felt more was needed.
“The reality is, especially when it relates to gang activity, this is not an isolated City of North Battleford problem. This is a regional issue, this is a provincial issue.” He pointed to perpetrators coming from Saskatoon, Lloydminster and other communities.
Bater made clear the resources they had were doing everything they can but added the results were out there. “Crime is on the rise.”
20 He said additional resources were needed to fight the crime, but suggested the burden of paying for additional resources “does not necessarily need to rest on the shoulders of the taxpayers of our city.”
He suggested the relevant ministers from the federal and provincial government should be called on, and particularly pointed to the fact that the local representatives were both members of the government side of the house provincially and federally.
In the case of Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Gerry Ritz, he “happens to be a member of the senior cabinet of the Harper government. Therefore engineering a meeting is a lot easier to do when you have those types of assets,” Bater said.
In speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mayor Ian Hamilton expressed hope such a meeting could be set up.
“The thrust of the motion was to bring attention to our needs, so we certainly will be having discussions with the ministries involved, federal and provincial, and making them aware of where we’re at and how it impacts them as well.”
Hamilton also commented on North Battleford being known for having “the highest crime severity rating in the country. No one wants that, and they clearly don’t want that recognition either. All levels of government want to see some progress made at changing those numbers.”
Long time Regina cop Rick Bourassa named Moose Jaw Police Chief Even with family connections to Regina Pats, Bourassa expects to cheer for Warriors Reported by Courtney Mintenko First Posted: Oct 15, 2013 6:39am
After only his first week on the job, Rick Bourassa is able to enjoy his first long weekend. The long-time Regina police officer is back on the force - this time in Moose Jaw.
"I started with the Regina Police Service in 1981. So that dates me a little bit," Bourassa said in an interview his second day in his new office.
Bourassa was named the new chief of police for the Moose Jaw Police Service at the end of August. He was officially sworn in at the beginning of October, beginning his new job October 7.
21 Bourassa is no stranger to policing, having served 30 years with the RPS starting in patrol and moving to a school resource officer, policy planner, executive officer and eventually the superintendent in charge of community services. He began a job with the Ministry of Justice after retiring from the force.
"There was a part of me from when I left policing two years ago that knew he wanted to be back policing. I really missed it. I wasn't sure I would ever be back in though. So when this opportunity came along it was really perfect."
Bourassa was actually born in Moose Jaw, moving to Regina with his family when he was only nine years old. Not only did his policing duties deeply involve him with the community - so did his father Rollie Bourassa.
"He was the dog for the Pats (K-9 or Big Blue) right from the very beginning back, it's gotta be 30 years ago now. He tells me he isn't doing it any longer but I know he's been doing it up until very recently," Bourassa said with a laugh.
So it triggered the question: now with Bourassa back in Moose Jaw, would he be cheering for the Regina Pats or the Moose Jaw Warriors?
"You know what? While I'm in Moose Jaw, I'll be cheering for the home team."
He admitted he's not sure what his father will say about that, but Bourassa looks forward to getting involved in his new community. But with his children enrolled at the University of Regina, he knows he'll be making many trips back to the Queen City.
Saskatoon police buying Tasers 44 Tasers to hit the streets this year CBC News Posted: Oct 17, 2013 6:31 AM CT Last Updated: Oct 17, 2013 6:31 AM CT
Saskatoon City Police will outline its plans to roll out Tasers at today's Board of Police Commissioners meeting.
The service plans to buy 44 Tasers for front line officers.
Officers will be trained on how to use the 'Conducted Energy Weapons' in November and December and will hit the streets shortly afterwards.
Police will be trained on when to use the weapons and why they should use 'de- escalation' techniques to defuse situations before that.
The provincial Board of Police Commissioners approved the use of Tasers in January.
22
MANITOBA
Norquay recommended as police board's first director By: Aldo Santin Winnipeg Free Press Posted: 10/11/2013 5:02 PM | A former provincial deputy minister is recommended to be the first executive director of the new Winnipeg Police Board.
Don Norquay is the choice of the police board’s search committee and he will be formally recommended at the board’s meeting Tuesday.
"We’re pleased to have Don Norquay, who has extensive experience in government policy from his time as a deputy minister," Scott Fielding, chair of the police board and a member of the search committee, said.
Norquay was the last deputy minister of Water Stewardship before that provincial government department was eliminated in the wake of the 2011 flood.
Norquay left the government in August 2013.
A release from the city states that Norquay has over 28 years of public sector experience, including stints as chairman of the Manitoba Motor Transport Board and the Manitoba Taxicab Board.
The police board is the new public body overseeing the Winnipeg Police Service. The board’s executive director is responsible for managing the board’s day-to- day activities and providing advice.
ONTARIO Economics of policing By Jodi Lundmark, tbnewswatch.com
Police forces in Ontario are spending only 20 per cent of their resources on crime.
23 "It's dealing with marginalized people, people who have addictions or mental health issues," said Paul Cook, the president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and the chief of the North Bay Police Service, about the other 80 per cent.
Cook was in Thunder Bay Thursday to speak about provincial policing issues at the Zone 1 Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and the Ontario Association of Police Services Boards meeting at the city's Balmoral Street police station, which is taking place Oct. 10 and 11.
One of the main issues up for discussion is the economics of policing - finding efficiencies and becoming more effective in service delivery.
Cook said if the police stop dealing with calls related to people with addictions and mental health issues then the government needs to ensure it's properly funding organizations that will take on that role.
"In policing, we're always the safety net for other failures in systems and processes. If things aren't going right, people will always pick up the phone, call 911; 24/7, 365 the police will respond," said Cook.
Another key issue is the future of the policing advisory committee, which is made of police and policing partners including the OACP, OAPSB, the Police Association of Ontario and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Through four working groups, Cook said they hope to develop a visionary document with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to reshape policing in Ontario.
OPP Deputy Commissioner Vince Hawkes also spoke at the meeting Thursday about the economics of policing and said they're looking to change the police costing model.
Under the current costing model, some communities pay more than others for service.
"What we want to do is make it more fair and equitable across the province and it really will impact the folks in the north quite a bit because they pay very, very significantly higher costs," said Hawkes.
"What they need to do is look at the value of the dollar they're spending and how it relates to the day-to-day operations and what the costs entail for the total public safety package."
Presently, communities also pay based on the number of service calls they receive, which Hawkes said isn't fair.
24 "A community that would be a hub of activity, they would be paying more for the cost of policing than the outskirts, the outlying areas, where everyone comes into the town and something happens and there's more calls for service," he said.
"We want to standardize the process where there's equalized payments for basic service and the calls would be added on top of that."
Police board considers releasing secret shooting reports ByAndrew Dreschel Oct 15, 2013 | Vote0 0 Hamilton Spectator The police services board is seeking legal advice over The Spectator's request to release secret police reports on 11 Hamilton police shootings over the past decade.
The move follows a presentation to the board Tuesday by The Spectator's Bill Dunphy, who argued there's "no convincing rationale" not to release the reports, while keeping them secret needlessly undermines public confidence in both police and the board.
The reports were filed by Hamilton police chiefs with the board following probes by the Special Investigation Unit of incidents between police and civilians, which resulted in serious injury or death.
The reports are required to be filed under the Police Services Act within 30 days of a completed SIU investigation. They contain the chief's findings, actions, and recommendations.
The reports have been discussed during closed door board sessions, but not made available to the public. Provincial legislation allows the board to decide to publicly release them or not.
According to Dunphy, no charges were laid or discipline imposed in connection with the Hamilton shootings.
He said in seven of the 11 cases, the civilians were either emotionally disturbed or possibly mentally ill.
Dunphy said releasing the reports would help build trust with the community when emotions get aroused by police use of deadly force, and would also allow the public to see what lessons the police have learned from the incidents.
25 "It can never hurt to enhance trust," said Councillor and board member Lloyd Ferguson.
Board member Madeleine Levy noted some police boards release the reports, others don't.
Levy said it's important for the board to be accountable, open and transparent, but she wants a legal opinion first. Other board members agreed.
Newly-minted board chair Councillor Bernie Morelli undertook to have the legal advice ready by next month's board meeting.
Rights tribunal orders Ottawa police to disclose race, age data in discrimination complaint
Failed job applicant alleges he lost job competition to ‘younger, white male’
BY GARY DIMMOCK, OTTAWA CITIZEN OCTOBER 15, 2013
OTTAWA — Ontario’s human rights tribunal has ordered the Ottawa police to disclose raw race and age data from a pool of 128 job applicants to a failed candidate who filed a discrimination complaint saying he lost the job competition to a “younger, white male.”
Syed Hussain, the unsuccessful candidate, was selected for an interview after applying for the police service’s evaluation and research co-ordinator position but was told in January 2012 that he didn’t cut the mustard.
Hussain first made an informal complaint with the Ottawa Police Service. The hiring decision was reviewed and confirmed. Hussain has since filed a formal complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, and in an interim decision, the Ottawa Police Services Board has been ordered to disclose data from all the applicants to show the raw number and percentage of candidates who self- identified on the basis of gender, aboriginal status, visible minority or disability and age. Tribunal vice-chair Mark Hart also ordered the service to disclose the same raw-data breakdown for the pool of candidates selected for an interview.
Hussain had also asked the tribunal for composition data on race, ethnic origin, age at recruitment and citizenship of every Ottawa police employee, civilian and sworn. But the police service told the tribunal it doesn’t collect such data on its employees.
26 “With regard to the applicant’s broader request, I am not prepared to order the respondent to conduct a workforce survey to obtain composition data that it does not already possess,” the tribunal vice-chair said in a Sept. 19 decision.
Hussain has also asked the tribunal to remove the successful candidate from office and hire him for the job.
“Given that the incumbent’s rights may be affected by any remedy of instatement of the applicant to the Evaluation and Research Coordinator position may be granted, it is my view that the incumbent needs to be put more formally on notice of the allegations raised in this proceeding and the fact that his rights may be affected,” the tribunal vice-chair said in the Sept. 19 decision.
Andrew Berry, hired as the police service’s evaluation and research co-ordinator in January 2012, has filed notice to the tribunal saying he will intervene. Had he not intervened, the tribunal said, its upcoming hearing would “proceed in the absence of his participation.”
Controversial Durham police chief to retire next May TORONTO STAR By: Tony Van Alphen News reporter, Published on Tue Oct 15 2013 Durham regional police Chief Mike Ewles is retiring next May after seven controversial years that reached a low point recently when Ontario’s Ombudsman wondered if the force was turning into a wild fraternity like the movie Animal House.
Ewles, 52, notified the Durham regional police services board on Monday about his pending departure, saying “it’s time to pass the torch” and focus more energy on his family and community interests.
“It is with mixed emotions that I made the announcement to the board today,” Ewles said in a statement. “I’ve committed my entire professional life to an organization in which I take great pride, that I love and care deeply about.” Chairman Roger Anderson emphasized Ewles’ “outstanding” work rather than dwelling on any negative points about his tenure.
“On behalf of the police services board and Durham regional council, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation and congratulations to Chief Ewles for his outstanding leadership and dedicated service,” said Anderson who is also chairman of Durham region.
Anderson noted that under Ewles, the region has experienced a drop in crime and is working closely with community partners as a problem-solving organization and not simply reacting to criminal incidents.
27
Ewles, who was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough and raised in Oshawa, has worked for the force for 31 years after graduating from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. When Ewles became chief in 2007, he said it fulfilled a lifelong dream.
However, Ewles, an avid outdoorsman, has faced criticism for a number of incidents involving him or the misconduct of other officers.
The Durham regional police association accused Ewles of balking at a security guard’s request to check his wife’s purse before an Oshawa Generals hockey game in 2011. The association said Ewles claimed he was working undercover and carrying a weapon in his wife’s purse.
The association also alleged Ewles tried to intervene on behalf of a friend who police pulled over for speeding. But independent investigations exonerated Ewles of any wrongdoing in both cases.
Under Ewles’ watch, several officers have run into trouble for misconduct or received minor penalties.
In one incident this summer, a detective tweeted a series of derogatory comments to Ontario Ombudsman André Marin while on duty. The officer faces a disciplinary hearing for alleged discreditable conduct but Marin questioned whether this was normal behaviour in the Durham force.
“Police stations are not expected to be run like National Lampoon’s Animal House,” Marin said, comparing the situation to antics in the classic Hollywood comedy. “It’s not a frat house. It’s unfathomable that this could happen in a police station.”
Last year, Durham police did not lay criminal charges against an officer after an 8½-minute YouTube video caught him threatening to beat up and plant cocaine on a man. He received a penalty of two days’ work with no pay for discreditable conduct and returned to the force’s “front lines,” according to police.
In another incident, an off-duty officer drove his car into a ditch, left the scene and discarded police equipment in the garbage following some drinking at an Oshawa pub. The incident occurred after he attended a hockey game with fellow officers as a reward for good performance.
An on-duty officer who arrived at the scene “showed wilful blindness” in the situation. The off-duty officer lost about $960 in pay while the other working constable received a temporary demotion that cost him about $2,700 in gross pay.
The force did not lay any criminal charges.
28
Earlier this year, Ewles faced internal criticism for ordering a suspended officer back to work after that officer was charged with sexual assault and making child pornography. Ewles told a newspaper he was frustrated with seeing suspended officers, who are charged with criminal offences, collect pay as their cases drag on for years.
Hamilton wants province to pay to train and equip cops with stun guns THE CANADIAN PRESS OCTOBER 16, 2013 02:03 PM
HAMILTON - Hamilton police want to arm their frontline officers with Tasers now that it's approved by the province, but city officials say they want Queen's Park to pick up the tab.
Hamilton's general issues committee has voted to ask the province to pay the nearly $1 million cost for the proposed expansion of the use of conducted energy weapons.
Currently, 219 of Hamilton's police officers are trained to use Tasers.
The police force's $992,000 request, based on the province's decision to allow for their expanded use, would train and equip another 592 officers.
The province announced in August that it would permit all frontline police officers to carry stun guns, but said police forces would have to find the funding in their budgets.
Ontario police chiefs and associations had been pushing the government for years to expand the use of stun guns, and coroner's inquests have recommended expanding their use since 2004.
Ontario's interim chief coroner and many police groups support the government's decision.
Chief forensic pathologist Michael Pollanen has said it's "unusual and quite rare" for someone to die after being stunned by a Taser and there's no clear evidence that it's the primary cause of death.
The Police Association of Ontario is urging all police forces to start training and equipping frontline cops with stun guns.
But Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis has said the government is simply passing the buck by refusing to pay for the stun guns.
29
Police forces that can't afford Tasers could be blamed if there's an incident that may have been prevented by the use of a stun gun, Francis said following the provincial announcement.
OPP defers municipal police contract renewals Canada NewsWire
ORILLIA, ON, Oct. 4, 2013 /CNW/ - The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is deferring contract renewal discussions with municipalities while it works with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services on a new billing model for municipal policing services.
Municipalities whose contracts expire before Jan. 1, 2015, will have two options:
Amend their current contract to continue until the new billing model is ready (Section 10 of the Police Service Act). Let their contract expire and be policed by the OPP on a non-contract basis (Section 5.1 of the Police Service Act) until the new billing model is launched). "No matter what option affected communities choose, there will be no discernible change in service," said OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis. "The OPP looks forward to working with all its municipal partners, and we ask that they be patient during the transition period to the new billing model."
The OPP is also deferring discussions with municipalities seeking new estimates and costs for contracting police services in their community until details of the new billing model are finalized.
Policing costs in Sudbury to rise in 2014 Jonathan Migneault The Sudbury Star
Thursday, October 10, 2013 6:11:31 EDT AM
The Greater Sudbury Police Services board approved a new $51.2 million budget for 2014, but not without resistance from Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk.
Matichuk voted against the budget, which increased by 2.6% compared to the previous year. She had hoped for a budget increase below 2% compared to 2013.
30 “There is no fat in this budget at all,” Police Chief Frank Elsner told media after the board meeting. “The only increases in the budget are contractual obligations that we must fulfil.”
Insurance costs for the police force increased by 40%. Elsner said he and his staff were not sure what had driven the cost up, but added police forces across the province have faced the same insurance hikes in the past year. “Obviously, policing is a high-risk occupation,” he said.
The bulk of the budget, about 90%, went to salaries and benefits. Elsner said those costs have been rising in recent years due to newer officers climbing the salary grid through promotions. He said those increases are expected to level off after about two years.
The Greater Sudbury Police Services' plans to equip its 150 front-line officers with conductive energy weapons, or Tasers, as they are popularly known, were put on hold at Wednesday's meeting.
During the previous meeting, board member Gerry Lougheed Jr. suggested the private sector could raise $80,000 to buy the Greater Sudbury Police Service a first batch of 40 conductive energy weapons. The plan was for the province to pay for the more expensive training portion.
But Elsner confirmed Premier Kathleen Wynne had publicly stated the province would not have the money to pay to train officers to use the weapons. He said the private sector might still pay to purchase the weapons, which cost around $2,000 each, but he would have to wait for clearer guidelines from the province before the police service would be able to move ahead with training.
After the board meeting, Elsner refused to comment on his potential future as the next police chief in Victoria, B.C.
Victoria's police board selected Elsner to be the city's new police chief, but two days after the decision, four of the eight police board members’ terms expired. The decision was put in limbo after those members left the board.
Elsner hinted he might confirm whether he will accept the decision at a police press conference planned for Thursday afternoon.
Tasers, mental state not considered in knife incidents: Ontario police trainer By Staff Torstar News Service October 17, 2013 Updated: October 17, 2013 | 10:47 am
31 was shot by police. Tasers are very rarely used on a person armed with a sharp weapon, testified an Ontario Police College instructor at the inquest into the fatal police shootings of three mentally ill people Wednesday.
“I’m never going to say never, but it would be rare,” said John Zeyen, who trains new recruits on Taser use. “In situations that are very serious, we have to have the firearm… to protect the officer, and to protect the public as well.”
The coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Michael Eligon, Sylvia Klibingaitis and Reyal Jardine-Douglas, which began Tuesday, comes on the heels of the province’s announcement in August that municipal police services can choose to equip all frontline officers with Tasers.
All three of the victims had mental health issues and were carrying knives or scissors when they were shot and killed by Toronto police officers.
However, Zeyen testified that a Taser would not be used in 80 to 90 per cent of incidents involving sharp weapons. The “conducted energy weapon’s” zap lasts up to five seconds — too long in most situations where a knife poses an imminent threat, he said.
Peter Rosenthal, lawyer for the Eligon family, called Tasers “dangerous weapons” that should not be made available to more officers in Ontario if they are not going to be used to disarm people with knives.
“What people hope from Tasers is to avoid killings in situations like this, but they’re not going to do it . . . because they’re not going to use Tasers in these situations,” he said.
Guidelines posted on the Ministry of Community Safety website state that officers can deploy Tasers when someone is “threatening or displaying assaultive behaviour,” after attempts have been made to de-escalate the situation.
The inquest earlier heard that when someone is advancing with a knife, it is considered “serious bodily harm or death behaviour” and the police response is lethal force — drawing one’s gun.
Paul Bonner, a defensive tactics instructor with the Ontario Provincial Police, testified that officers are trained to create distance, yell a command like “drop the knife” and pull out their firearm.
“The chances of getting extremely injured or killed (by a sharp weapon) are very high,” said Bonner. “It’s not the size of the knife that makes a difference. It doesn’t take strength to do damage to an individual. It doesn’t require skill, or a lot of training.”
32 But Sylvia Klibingaitis’s sister, Lili Steer, questioned Bonner about why guns are seen as the only response. Klibingaitis was shot by an officer outside her home in October 2011, after she apparently ignored a command to drop her knife.
“The only response that I’m hearing is to deploy a firearm with a very strong potential to kill someone,” said a visibly frustrated Steer. “That’s a recipe for disaster, isn’t it?”
Officers are not trained to speak more calmly to someone with a knife who appears to be in crisis. Bonner said the commands had to be “strong and authoritative,” to be heard by members of the public or other officers who may not see the weapon.
He added that once someone is threatening an officer or member of the public with a knife, their mental state is not considered in the officer’s response.
“(Officers) always try to calm people down and reassure. When a knife is out and they rush them, it’s already gone past that point,” he said.
Asked why officers are not trained to disarm the person with kicks or punches, Bonner called that suggestion a “Hollywood image.” By the time a person’s arm is moving with a knife, it’s too late to throw a punch, he said.
He also said that bulletproof vests do not necessarily protect against knife attacks, and that batons and shields were not practical defences, either.
The coroner’s inquest is set to last eight weeks and raise questions about how frontline officers deal with the mentally ill. The five-member jury cannot make findings of guilt, only recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths.
Eligon, 29, died on Feb. 3, 2012, after escaping from Toronto East General Hospital, where had been involuntary admitted under the Mental Health Act. He was wearing a hospital gown and carrying two pairs of scissors when an officer shot and killed him. Klibingaitis, 52, called 911 on Oct. 7, 2011, telling police she was going to stab her mother. One of the responding officers ordered her to drop the knife, before firing his gun and killing her outside of her North York home. Jardine-Douglas, a 25-year-old Pickering man, died on Aug. 29, 2010, after his family called the police to admit their mentally ill son to hospital. Police found him on a TTC bus, where he pulled a knife and an officer fired four shots, hitting him twice. In all three cases, former SIU director Ian Scott ruled the officers had been justified in using lethal force.
33 Toronto police board asks for public input on carding The Toronto Police board will hold a public meeting in November to discuss the controversial police practice of carding.
TORONTO STAR
By: Jim Rankin Feature reporter, Patty Winsa News reporter, Published on Mon Oct 07 2013
After more than a year of failed attempts and under a growing wake of criticism, the Toronto police board is now opting to involve the public in a bid to make the force more accountable for its controversial use of carding.
Board members voted Monday to invite residents to a city hall meeting in November to discuss the street checks and consider 31 police proposals to improve a practice in which blacks — and to a lesser extent brown people — are disproportionately stopped and documented.
The proposals, the result of an 18-month internal review by the force, include more training for officers with the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS), as well as early mentoring and training for officers who show signs of racial bias.
Other measures include purging the personal information recorded by police during the street check — details which are entered into a massive investigative database — after seven years.
Some rights advocates who attended Monday’s police services board meeting, where the police plan was rolled out in a PowerPoint presentation, say it’s not enough.
John Sewell of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition began his deputation by noting that very little time was given to digest and properly respond to the police plan that was posted late Friday to the board’s web site. He later told reporters he was disappointed police are talking more training and not rethinking the nature of carding itself.
“The (police) culture eats that training for breakfast,” said Sewell.
Police defended TAVIS, a program that includes intense flooding of specialized “rapid response” officers into violent neighbourhoods and cards heavily.
34 “I appreciate that policing, through TAVIS, has reduced crime but the quality of that policing has eroded trust,” said board member Marie Moliner, who asked Deputy Chief Peter Sloly what the TAVIS of the future will looks like.
There will be greater supervision, better deployment and better training, said Sloly, who led the internal police review. He noted that the provincially funded program is under review and had been changed since Blair introduced it in 2006. The force has been reviewing carding since February 2012. At that point, the Star had shared with police findings of an analysis that showed blacks were more likely than whites to be carded by police in each of Toronto’s 70-plus police patrol zones. The likelihood increased in predominantly white areas.
An analysis published by the Star last month showed those ratios have not changed and that the number of young black males carded exceeded Toronto’s young black male population.
The police internal review delayed an independent assessment of carding by the city’s auditor general, which many advocates felt would give weight to the Star’s findings and create a benchmark going forward.
Roger Love, a lawyer with the African Canadian Legal Clinic, applauded the force’s proposal Monday to create a standing advisory committee to work with police to address racial profiling, as well as community surveys to evaluate levels of public trust.
Love was also positive about the force’s proposal to monitor officers for racial bias, but in a statement to the Star he expressed concerns about TAVIS. “Given the frequency that TAVIS officers stop African Canadians for ‘General Investigations,’ the community’s sense that they are being profiled holds serious weight,” Love wrote.
The force also proposes to get rid of the contact card — called a Form 306 — which is used to record personal details during a street check. Instead, officers would make notations in their memo books.
Knia Singh, a law student who filed freedom of information requests and received data on himself from eight contact cards, was left “very disappointed” at the meeting that the board and police have not yet addressed the carding practice and with the fact that police are now “reframing” carding as “community safety notes.”
“If you were engaging the community, that would be a positive note,” he said.
“But when you stop people randomly and harass them and ask them for information and intimidate them into giving that information, it’s disappointing,” said Singh, who was featured in the latest Star series and has never been arrested or charged with a criminal offence.
35
Sloly acknowledged the “social costs” associated with carding citizens, which steadily increased from 2008 to 2012. More than 300,000 individuals were carded at least once in 2012, the Star analysis found.
“These encounters have raised general community concerns about police accountability and transparency,” he told the board. “It’s also resulted in longstanding specific concerns from the black community about racial profiling. We acknowledge that. We’re determined to stamp that out.”
The police service “continues to acknowledge that racial profiling is illegal, immoral and intolerable,” said Sloly.
Municipalities, province to talk OPP costs Dalson Chen, The Windsor Star | Oct 11, 2013 | Last Updated: Oct 11, 2013 - 9:07 UTC The Ontario government wants to discuss OPP costs with municipalities that have contracted provincial police - but local mayors wonder how much input they really have on the issue.
"The information that I've seen so far has been rather superfluous," Leamington Mayor John Paterson said on Thursday.
"I have not seen any detailed mapping of what it is that they're proposing."
Last week, the province announced that, over the coming months, it will be "engaging" with communities about a new billing formula for OPP services.
The initiative is meant to follow up on the Auditor General's 2012 recommendations that the billing model needs to be simpler, more fair, more transparent, and give greater control to local governments.
"The new model proposes a base policing cost, which includes infrastructure, salaries, equipment and patrols, plus the cost of their calls for service." said a spokesman for Madeleine Meilleur, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
Currently, 324 municipalities across Ontario pay OPP for policing services.
OPP have agreed to defer negotiations on contract renewals and costing requests while the input-seeking process takes place.
The ministry has yet to release a schedule for the feedback sessions.
36 But these upcoming talks seem too familiar to Paterson. "This discussion is held regularly," he said. "To me, the information really hasn't changed much from one conference to another."
Nevertheless, Paterson said he'll be listening when the time comes.
Paterson noted that when Leamington decided in 2009 to give up its municipal police force in favour of contracting OPP, the community was promised that policing costs would ultimately be cheaper in five years' time.
"I have yet to be convinced on that," Paterson said. "But our administration says we have made savings." Leamington's 2013 operating budget set aside $7.1 million for policing costs.
Paterson said he doesn't believe the community will ever return to having its own police force, and that's why it's important that "whatever pricing comes out of these talks is fair to municipalities like Leamington." Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos said he'd welcome clarification on the "minute details" of the billing model: day-to-day vehicle, uniform, equipment and supply costs.
But Santos also noted there's a larger issue on the table that remains out of municipal hands: OPP salaries.
"They aren't negotiated locally.
They're negotiated by the province," he said.
"Salary does represent the largest component of our contract."
Kingsville's 2013 budget pegs its OPP contract cost at $3.7 million. Santos said that's going to be higher in the next budget due to new rates for officers. "The last two years, they were frozen as part of the settlement the province had with OPP."
"2014 is when the significant increases will take place."
Kingsville made the switch from municipal police to OPP in 1998. The current five-year contract expires at the end of this year. Santos said renegotiation was supposed to happen this fall, but that has been postponed until the introduction of the new billing model.
Paterson believes some Ontario communities - not Leamington - will be "hurt very badly" in the future by OPP salary raises.
On the question of whether municipalities are receiving value for their dollar when contracting OPP, Paterson said there are definite advantages - such as a
37 noticeable lack of municipal headaches when it comes to officer grievances and information technology support.
But there are also sacrifices to which monetary figures can't be easily attached.
"It's a different style of policing ... A different policing culture," Paterson said. "It's hard to put a finger on it ... When you talk to residents, they're saying that with the old police force, we always knew who the officers were and how to get in touch with them."
"When you have your own force, it really is your own force. Whereas the OPP is just contracted from the province. Their engagement to the municipality on a personal level isn't the same."
Toronto police paid $27 million in lawsuit claims
Since 2000, Toronto police have paid out $27 million to settle civil lawsuits, including some for car chases, false arrest and use of force.
By: Eric Andrew-Gee Staff Reporter, Toronto Star Published on Fri Oct 11 2013
Toronto police have racked up $27 million worth of settlements in civil lawsuits since 2000, including dozens for false arrest and use of force, a database obtained by the Toronto Star shows.
The most common settlement causes include 66 cases of allegations of use of force, 62 claims of false arrest, and 58 allegations of negligent investigations, eight of which involved sexual assaults.
The information, which the Star obtained through a Freedom of Information request, was contained in a larger database showing the settlements in civil cases. The city did not release details of any of the 3,062 settlements contained in the database. Many of the cases are covered by confidentiality agreements. In total, the city has spent more than $200 million to settle civil lawsuits since 2000.
The police settlements include: Four settlements stemmed from the action of a police dog.
38 Nearly 12 years later, in 2002, the city settled for $1,858,811.81.
Sometimes, he said, lawyers for the city’s insurance company simply make a calculation that continuing to fight a case will cost more than settling. “People very often assume these settlements involve admissions of liability — and they don’t.”
Pugash added that 250 settlements was not a particularly high number given that, according to police estimates, the force has had about 15 million contacts with Toronto residents since 2000.
“We’ve seen an astonishing growth in Canada in civil litigation. I’m not complaining about that, but it’s a fact. It’s easier than it’s ever been to sue,” he said.
Davin Charney, a Toronto lawyer who has represented several people who sued police, argues that the number of settlements doesn’t tell the full story. “These kinds of things are largely unreported and uninvestigated. It’s a very small percentage of cases that actually are litigated,” he said.
Toronto cops count on trading cards to bond with public TORONTO STAR By: Graham Slaughter News reporter, Published on Fri Oct 11 2013
Toronto Police: to serve, protect and collect.
It’s an open secret — some police officers carry their own trading cards, not unlike those of hockey greats or Pokemon, and hand them out to people who ask. Toronto’s finest are depicted on horseback, tearing up Lake Ontario on jet-skis and kneeling beside amber-eyed German shepherds. So far, officers with the marine unit, mounted unit and police dog services carry the trading cards. And they’ve become quite the collector’s items among a small faction of fans.
39 “We get people running out of buildings saying, ‘Is that Tecumseh?” said Staff Insp. Bill Wardle, of the mounted unit and police dog service, referring to one of the horses.
The trading cards have been around since Anne de Haas, a Toronto photographer, approached police with the idea in 2004 after seeing U.S. officers handing out similar cards at an equestrian competition.
“I thought: What a cool idea — we should do that up here,” de Haas told the Star. The cards were printed for free thanks to a $30,000 cheque written to police from an anonymous donor who heard about the project. De Haas took the photos pro bono.
“I really believe in getting kids involved so they can develop a relationship with police,” de Haas said.
The mounted unit soon realized they had hit on something. “Kids just love them,” Wardle said.
The project’s success led to a dog deck in 2006, and a marine unit series in 2012. The cards themselves are sources of police trivia. For instance, Toronto police have only one female dog, a chocolate Lab named Shimmer, who tracks down explosives and firearms.
“When not working, Shimmer enjoys hanging out with her police dog friends at home and retrieving at the speed of sound, true to her full name Shimmer at Mach 1,” her card reads.
The rarest card of all — the Wayne Gretzky, if you will — is the stable manager from the 2011 horse series. Those hoping to score the card, which shows stable manager Paul Clark sitting atop a tractor, must visit the police stable at Exhibition Place.
“We call it our goalie card,” joked Wardle. “The little fellas just love that tractor card.”
The cards aren’t just for parades and public events; officers often bring them along to calls.
“If a search warrant is being done, the officer can hand the cards to kids in the area, so they don’t just see the officers doing an operation. They get a bond with the officer and the dog, so it really humanizes the experience,” Wardle said. While the cards may have been intended for kids, a few adults have jumped on the bandwagon.
40 Loren Hendin, a 21-year-old public affairs director, first heard about the trading cards one summer day while hanging out with friends in Trinity Bellwoods Park. As an officer trotted past on Trooper, a 6-year-old Percheron cross, Hendin’s friend mentioned the cards.
“It just triggered something inside me. I was like, ‘I need one,’” Hendin said. She sprinted across the park barefoot and politely asked for her first card. She has since approached two other officers on horseback to expand her deck. “People love it when I show them the cards; they think it’s so funny,” she said. “Maybe they just think I’m a little ridiculous.”
Interim chief on six month secondment from OPP
By Alan S. Hale, Kenora Daily Miner and News Friday, October 11, 2013 1:47:57 EDT PM
Treaty Three Police Service’s new interim police chief, Dan Davidson, was appointed to take over the struggling aboriginal police force by the OPP for the next six months. After that time, the police board will need to appoint a permanent replacement for outgoing police chief Conrad DeLaronde or extend Davidson’s contract.
“For the next six months, my job is to be the chief of police and to make sure we’re providing professional service to our 26 communities,” said Davidson.
“If the board hasn’t found a suitable candidate within that time frame there is a provision in my secondment agreement to extend my stay.”
According to Davidson, the Treaty Three Police board of directors asked the OPP to provide them with a interim police chief after DeLaronde announced his intention to resign, and the OPP chose to send him. Although he was never told why he was chosen, Davidson does have experience as a detachment commander and has worked in a few of the communities he must now police.
Davidson just finished his first week at the aboriginal police service and is working with DeLaronde to learn what is required to be the Treaty Three Police chief. He will be officially taking over as police chief on Oct. 18. Every police force has its own structure and way of doing things and right now Davidson said he’s focused on acclimating to his new surroundings.
“I’m trying to get caught up on who the employees are, what they do, what policies are in place, what procedures are in place and how they function on a
41 day-to-day basis. I need to understand how things here are structured,” said Davison.
Having only been at the police force for a few days, Davidson said he has not formed any opinion on the tough issues facing the force such as tight budget, wage and benefit cuts, a nasty labour conflict, and the drop in officer morale resulting from those problems. Any plans on how he will lead the force over the next six months or what changes he may implement would be premature, he said. Davidson is planning to travel to the communities to meet with chiefs and councils in the coming weeks.
“I’ve come in here with an open mind, so I’m not going to make any kind of knee-jerk reactions to anything, I’m still in the learning phase. It’s not fair for me to say this needs change or that until I fully understand what the problems are and what the solutions might be,” said Davidson.
Information about how the negotiations between the police board and the Public Service Alliance of Canada have been going has been sparse since the two sides agreed to start talking this summer. The police board has indicated there will be a update on the state of negotiations at an open house on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at the Kenora Treaty Three Police station.
The open house was originally scheduled for Oct. 10 but was delayed as some dignitaries were not able to make it to Kenora for that day. Instead, the open house will coincide the police force’s Fall Feast which includes a farewell ceremony for police chief DeLaronde.
Editorial: Tasers are a tool, not a cure-all for police
FIRST POSTED: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2013 06:29 PM EDT
LUKE HENDRY/QMI AGENCY
Anyone who thinks Tasers are a magic cure-all when police confront armed individuals who are behaving irrationally should think again.
Equipping all officers with Tasers is being debated in Toronto in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Sammy Yatim.
The latest incident shows why Tasers themselves can be the subject of considerable controversy.
42 Last week, Special Investigations Unit director Ian Scott ruled there were no grounds to criminally charge a Peel Regional Police supervisor who twice tasered 80-year old Iole Pasquale.
She suffers from dementia and was wandering the street at night, carrying an eight-inch bread knife, when police confronted her on August 28.
Scott found that while tasering the confused, 80-year-old, who broke her hip in the subsequent fall, wasn’t the “preferred option” — that would have been waiting longer so see if police could persuade her to disarm — the officer didn’t commit a criminal act.
“The subject officer can be criticized for not waiting longer and perhaps he should have,” Scott wrote, especially in light of the “Peel Police’s internal directive that CEWs (Conducted Electrical Weapons) are to be avoided on elderly persons where possible.”
Despite that, Scott found, “the fact (the subject officer) used a CEW without waiting longer does not make its deployment unreasonable in a criminal law context.” Scott said the officers on the scene tried to convince Pasquale to drop the knife without success. The supervising officer reasonably concluded she was mentally ill and, given the knife she was carrying, a danger to herself or others.
Because she was noncommunicative, there was no way of contacting a relative to help calm her down.
The supervisor, who arrived last, said he considered trying to disarm her by hand, or using pepper spray or batons, but rejected all of those as too dangerous, ineffective, or likely to cause more harm than using the Taser.
Scott also noted the officers tried to get Pasquale to extend her arms so she would not fall on the knife when tasered.
All that said, Scott emphasized that, “the only other reasonable option not explored was to continue to track her and attempt to convince her to disarm herself. On reflection, that would seem to have been a preferred option.”
Indeed. What this incident tells us is that whenever police confront an armed individual, who is not responding rationally to police commands, the issue about what to do always comes down to one of good judgment and common sense.
And that only comes from proper training, no matter how many tools and weapons we give to the police.
In this case, while he didn’t do anything criminally wrong, the supervising officer appeared to be lacking in the one thing that might have led to a better outcome — patience — a good lesson to teach all police officers.
43
Oct 12, 2013 | Domestic violence stats see ‘modest decline’ for first time in a decade Brampton Guardian ByPam Douglas PEEL— For the first time in at least a decade, there has been a decrease in reports of domestic and family violence in Brampton and Mississauga, according to Peel Regional Police.
The 2012 statistics show a 2.75 per cent “modest decline” in domestic and family violence compared to the previous year, according to a recent report from the Domestic Violence Unit of Peel Regional Police.
Peel police partially attribute the statistical leveling off to the “zero tolerance/mandatory charge” approach directed by the province and adopted by Peel.
Also a factor is the province’s new Partner Assault Response Service (PARS) program, which provides mandatory counseling for those convicted of first-time and lower-level domestic-related offences.
“Both of these approaches are designed to break the cycle of violence, and decrease recidivism,” according to the report, written by Peel Det. Rick Hawes.
In 2012, Peel Regional Police received 14,116 calls for domestic disturbances. That was down from the 14,516 calls handled in 2011.
Of those, charges were laid in 2,007 cases involving couples in an intimate relationship, including married, common-law, same-sex and dating couples, either past or current. That was down from 2,042 (1.74 per cent) the previous year.
In another 6,492 incidents, the complaints involved verbal disputes where no criminal offences had been committed. That was down from 6,554 (.79 per cent) in 2011.
And the final group of incidents was family disputes involving “non-intimate” partners. Peel police handled 5,617 family dispute calls, down from 5,920 (5.12 per cent) the previous year.
The fluctuations over the past four years are detailed in the report, and they are “within the expected norms”, the report states.
44 The total number of domestic occurrences and family dispute occurrences for the past four years were:
• 2009— 13,338;
• 2010— 14,113;
• 2011— 14,516;
• 2012— 14,116.
Peel’s Domestic Violence Unit conducts ongoing training for front-line officers, and last year new training was introduced to focus on domestic violence and the deaf and deafened.
Police have created full-time Divisional Family Violence Co-ordinators at each division, and Peel also has a domestic violence high risk review committee, which sees police collaborate with other agencies to handle safety concerns as they arise.
Police board member retracts call for ‘big fence’ at Ontario Shores
Whitby This Week ByJeff Mitchell Sep 11, 2013 |
DURHAM -- Calls for service to the Ontario Shores mental health facility are putting a strain on Durham’s cops, a member of the police services board says.
Robert Fraser was critical of a report that indicates Durham officers are responding annually to dozens of incidents, including missing persons and escapee reports. Calls for service at the facility have amounted to more than 400 hours so far this year.
“Who’s running this place?” Mr. Fraser mused Monday, noting Durham police have investigated eight elopement incidents so far this year at the south Whitby facility.
“A big fence around the place might help,” Mr. Fraser said.
The comment prompted board chairman Roger Anderson to interject: “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he cautioned.
Mr. Fraser quickly contended he was “kidding.
45
“This has nothing to so with the people that are in the facility or the reason they’re there,” he said. “It’s how the process is being handled. It doesn’t sound efficient at all.”
Sheila Neuburger, executive vice president of Clinical Services at Ontario Shores, called Mr. Fraser’s comment “unfortunate.
“Any comment made in a public forum that would stigmatize people is an unfortunate comment,” she said.
Clients undergoing rehabilitation at Ontario Shores are granted graduated privileges including community access as they recover, and sometimes that results in someone failing to return to the hospital as scheduled, she said. In some cases police must be notified, she added.
In most cases the incidents are quickly resolved, Ms. Neuburger said, adding, “Generally the patient returns of their own volition.”
Chief Mike Ewles said Durham cops respond to Ontario Shores for a variety of incidents ranging from fights to suicide attempts and reports of escapes or elopements.
Durham police have logged 438 hours this year responding to issues at Ontario Shores, he noted, adding police have an obligation to respond to each call for service.
Chief Ewles said those going missing from the facility are typically clients who have been given off-site privileges, or who have voluntarily checked into Ontario Shores.
Police face similar challenges with elopements from any number of group homes in the region, the chief said.
Mr. Fraser did not return a call seeking further comment. But Mr. Anderson said Monday’s comments were not intended to offend.
“In fairness to Mr. Fraser, I think he just used a bad choice of words,” he said. “It’s not like he meant it to be derogatory. I think he was trying to drive home a point.”
Mr. Anderson said Ontario Shores and police share an “exemplary” relationship.
“It’s an important facility,” he said. “We’re glad we have the relationship.”
The Ontario Shores statistics were included in a report on all mental health calls handled by Durham police. Between January of 2012 and July 31 of 2013 there
46 were 1,438 mental health apprehensions arising from 1,747 incidents, according to the report. Of those, 210 individuals were taken into custody more than once.
The majority are taken into custody because they are considered a danger to themselves, while about one-third are characterized as aggressive and five per cent homicidal, the report notes.
Durham police’s handling of such incidents has been aided by the creation of a mental health support unit consisting of two officers and a mental health nurse, the chief said. In addition, more than 130 front-line cops have received training in handling mental health issues.
Barrie police budget expected to rise less by less than 3%
By Bob Bruton, Barrie Examiner Tuesday, October 15, 2013 9:37:01 EDT AM
Policing costs in Barrie are expected to increase by less than 3% next year, says police board chairman Doug Jure.
“I think too, what is happening, is we are right-sizing the police service and able to deliver the same quality in policing within budget, without hiring additional officers,” he said. “I think what you are going to see is an increased emphasis on technology and back-room support for our officers.”
The 2013 police budget hired no new officers, no new civilian employees and offered no extra service beyond core policing. Its 3% increase moved the police budget to almost $44.9 million, a $1.3-million hike.
The 2014 police budget will be similar, Jure said.
“Our budget submission is going to be under 3%, so we're holding the line on budget growth,” he said.
When the police board meets in late October, the final budget submission to city hall will be approved and sent, Jure said.
“I don't think you're going to see a great increase in the officer compliment,” he said. “So we're looking at the operational efficiencies and that's what this chief (Kimberley Greenwood) is charged with and that's what she's doing.”
47 Jure said Greenwood, who replaced Mark Neelin in March, is concluding her service-wide operational review and it will be coming to the police board in the next couple of months.
The key to holding the line on policing costs is controlling salaries and benefits, since they make up the lion's share of the annual operating budget.
Earlier this year, a new collective agreement with the Barrie Police Association (BPA) gave its 236 police officers a 2.65% wage increase during each year of a two-year deal; it runs until the end of 2014, but benefit cost reductions mean an actual increase of less than 2%.
The BPA's 100 civilian employees also agreed to a new deal earlier in 2013; it also provides an annual wage increase of 2.65%, in 2013 and 2014, but results in less than a 2% overall increase due to benefit cost reductions. This affects employees in the communications centre - the dispatchers - records (police reports from officers) and court security.
“An important part of all this is that we consider the associations to be a partner in all this budget-setting, that they have to understand what the fiscal pressures are (that are) placed on the (police) board,” Jure said. “We've developed, I think, a good productive working relationship with our associations that just doesn't start when negotiations start, 90 days before the contract expires.
“It's all through the year, and that's how it's got to work. So far I think it's to the benefit of the ratepayer (Barrie taxpayers).”
City council directed its service partners, which include the police, to keep their budget increases to 3% or less this year.
Officially, council has given no such directions to its service partners for 2014.
But its target for a blended municipal/education property tax increase next year is 2% - although the tax hike stands at 4.5% at this stage in the operating/capital budget process.
Council debates and approves its 2014 budget in January. City police will present their budget as part of that process.
Barrie Police Service 2012 Annual Report
62,000-plus calls for service, a 6.5% increase from 2011 8,000 criminal occurrences investigated, 1,709 arrests 5,974 total charges laid, 5,652 in 2011 77 use-of-force by police incidents, unchanged from 2011 3,249 automobile collisions, 2,946 in 2011
48 28 complaints against police from public, 32 in 2011
Reality for police much different than what public thinks, inquest into shootings hears
Christie Blatchford | 17/10/13 8:43 PM ET Postmedia News The vast knowledge gap between police and public was underscored Thursday at an Ontario coroner’s inquest into the Toronto Police shooting deaths of three armed but mentally ill citizens.
The inquest is examining the deaths in one fell swoop, its major focus on the training given police in their dealings with the seriously mentally ill.
The cases — the Aug. 29, 2010 death of Reyal Jardine-Douglas, the Oct. 7, 2011 death of Sylvia Klibingaitis and the Feb. 3, 2012 death of Michael Eligon — are purportedly linked because the three victims were experiencing a mental health crisis and all were armed with what’s called a “an edged weapon,” a knife or scissors.
Earlier this week, Ontario Police College trainer John Zeyen testified a Taser would not be suitable for use in most incidents involving sharp weapons because its punch or zap lasts as long as five seconds, making it too slow in such dynamic situations.
That was a revelation for Anita Wasowicz, one of Ms. Klibingaitis’s three sisters who are together representing their family.
“Until I heard you yesterday,” Ms. Wasowicz told Mr. Zeyen as she began her questions, “I was confused whether a Taser would have made a difference in the case I know the best.”
A bit later, she said, “I can’t stress enough how this is a huge and shocking piece of information to me.”
With the province having announced this summer Ontario police forces can choose to issue all front-line officers with the “conducted energy weapons,” Tasers have become a real issue in the inquest’s first week even though none was deployed.
And, if Ms. Wasowicz’s questions are any indication, a wider swath of the public may also be labouring under the mistaken belief Tasers are useful in dealing with knife-wielding people, mentally ill or not.
49 But Mr. Zeyen, who now teaches firearms at the police college but was also a team leader in its officer safety section for the previous five years, testified Tasers are not appropriate for 80%-90% of incidents involving sharp weapons.
He was followed on the witness stand by Ron Hoffman, who was briefly a police officer and parole officer, but who has a doctorate in psychology and is co- ordinator of the basic constable training program at the college.
His expertise is in training recruits (and those who train them) in tactical communications, with emphasis on dealing with the seriously emotionally disturbed or mentally ill.
He is also the co-author of Not Just Another Call, which deals with police response to the mentally ill.
The booklet teaches officers how to recognize when someone may be having hallucinations or suffering delusions or is depressed and suicidal.
This training comes early in the 12-week basic training course, he said, and infuses it throughout. Recruits are presented with real-world scenarios, with actors playing the role of the mentally disturbed.
“De-escalation” principles underlie the entire use of force training, he said.
Officers are taught to get as much information as they can, to isolate and contain a suspect or disengage entirely whenever possible, to talk softly to those they suspect may be in crisis and to call on specialists — even that the sight of a police uniform can be upsetting to those who are ill.
Ontario, he said, has led the way on use of force training across the country.
But, Mr. Hoffman told the jurors, all that training may fly out the window in a real-life situation and particularly where the suspect, mentally ill or not, is brandishing a weapon and threatening the officer or someone else.
In those circumstances, he said unequivocally, “the officer is bound to act.”
He said repeatedly “there’s no hard science on de-escalation,” and firmly resisted the suggestion from Peter Rosenthal, lawyer for Mr. Eligon’s family, police forces should be disciplining officers who, in the lawyer’s words, “failed to try de- escalation techniques.”
When Mr. Rosenthal suggested police should rely more on mobile teams of officers and psychiatric nurses — now, these teams don’t respond to violent situations — and hinted such nurses know better than police how to deal with violence, Mr. Hoffman said, “Psychiatric nurses call us. Their technique is to call the police if there’s any potential for violence.”
50
A curious thing is why these three cases were chosen to examine police conduct with the mentally ill, since, as coroner’s counsel Michael Blain detailed in his opening statement this week, in all three the officers were backing up to avoid a confrontation or stayed outside a house where the suspect was, deciding to contain the situation.
All were cleared by the province’s Special Investigations Unit.
As Gary Clewley, who represents two of the involved officers, put it to Mr. Hoffman, as good as the training is, there’s a difference between scenarios and the reality of the street. “We’re up against a limit,” Mr. Clewley said. “Showing tour videos of a place far away is not the same as going there, is it?”
Coun. Matt Brown wants police to trim a requested 4.2% budget hike or allow an outside auditor to find areas to cut.
By Jennifer O'Brien, The London Free Press Thursday, October 17, 2013 10:57:45 EDT PM
( Run the numbers again — that’s what one London politician says about a police request for a 4.2% budget hike.
London police should also “reconsider” a city council offer to bring in an outside auditor to look for areas to cut, says Coun. Matt Brown.
“At 4.2%, we’re looking at twice the rate of inflation — and that’s not sustainable,” Brown said Thursday.
Earlier, the force said it needs an increase nearly twice as large as the 2.3% city hall has suggested next year, or service will suffer.
The police department wants
$3.8 million more for its $90.5-million budget.
While the police services board “received” the budget request, it has agreed to work on it and talk again next month.
Budget chair Paul Paolatto said he was “frustrated” after going through the numbers line by line.
51 With nearly 93% of the budget spent on personnel, there’s almost “no wiggle room” to cut, he said.
“The community is going to pound on us over 4.2% and I’m not up for that,” he said, later adding he thinks police need an even larger increase.
Budget needs across the province are greater, he said, as police boards tackle higher costs from contract arbitration awards.
Coun. Bud Polhill, at the meeting to hear for himself what police want, said he was hoping they’d be able to cut their wish list.
“It doesn’t look like it,” he said. “I think they were pretty sincere, but people are not happy with what we are paying for police services.”
Polhill said what’s most bothersome to him is the added costs saddled on taxpayers by contract arbitrators.
“They arbitrate contracts (based on what police make in other cities) and don’t look at the ability of a community to pay the bill.”
While city hall suggested other boards and commissions hold their increases to less than 1%, police — not directly controlled by the city — were given a 2.3% target.
Last year, a tight-fisted council managed to get Police Chief Brad Duncan to shave more than $800,000 off the force’s initial budget request.
The outside auditor offer was part of a city proposal to several boards and commissions having trouble sticking to targets.
While some, including the library board, took advantage of the auditor, police did not, Brown said.
“It’s early days and I’d encourage the police service board to take a very careful look at their numbers and reconsider the city’s offer,” he said.
Always a hot-button issue, the police budget triggers debates over why public safety costs so much.
Even with a 4.2% hike, the force wouldn’t be able to run any new programs, Duncan said.
That’s despite the fact he could use more staff to deal with London’s growing human trafficking problem, or six more officers in cyber crime and “they’d be busy.”
52 The police board heard the force has no extra money for staff, equipment or training. In some cases, that means cannibalizing equipment for repairs.
The police budget, the city’s most expensive budget item, has skyrocketed from $59 million since 2004.
- - -
THE NUMBERS:
4.2%: Budget increase police force wants
2.3%: Target suggested by city hall
0.7%: Target given other boards and commissions
Chief satisfied with officers’ Charter training, despite high-profile acquittals
BY ANDREW SEYMOUR, OTTAWA CITIZEN OCTOBER 16, 2013 OTTAWA — Ottawa’s police chief said he is satisfied with the training officers receive regarding Charter rights despite a pair of recent court decisions where cases involving a sawed-off shotgun and thousands of images of child porn were derailed because of illegal police searches.
“Search and seizure is extremely complicated and becoming more complex,” said Charles Bordeleau.
“Officers are trying to do the best job they can under the circumstances when they are in the field, on the ground doing the work,” said Bordeleau, whose letter to the editor on the matter is published in Thursday’s Citizen. “We give them the tools to do the best job that they can and unfortunately things happen that don’t get the results that we expect.”
Bordeleau’s remarks come after two men were acquitted over a 10-day period of serious criminal charges after judges found they had been illegally searched. In one case, the improper police search uncovered a sawed-off shotgun in a car; in the other, a thumb drive containing thousands of images of child pornography.
“I’m concerned that we’ve got, in at least these two cases, the outcome where we’ve seized a shotgun and we seized a thumb drive with serious pornography issues,” Bordeleau said. “Our desired outcome would be a conviction. I’m upset,
53 disappointed, that we weren’t able to achieve that outcome. That is a concern to me, and I think it is a concern to the community as well.”
Acquittals as a result of Charter breaches are the exception, not the norm, Bordeleau said, and Ottawa police take breaches of Charter rights seriously. It is only a “handful” of the thousands of cases that are prosecuted every year that end with acquittals as a result of rights violations, he added.
Bordeleau said that every case where an officer’s conduct is called into question is “automatically reviewed” and decisions made on how to address it, whether it be additional training or other remedies.
Bordeleau said Ottawa police officers are not required to take any mandatory refresher training specifically on Charter rights. Instead, Ottawa police rely on a variety of methods to keep officers aware of changes in the law. That can include basic or specialized investigative training, discussions on parade, peer-to- peer training and from computer-based training modules, Bordeleau said.
A committee of senior officers also routinely sends out bulletins to communicate judicial decisions or changes in case law regarding searches or other Charter issues, Bordeleau said. The Crown also informs Ottawa police when they see issues that may require additional training.
University of Ottawa law professor Carissima Mathen said the exclusion of evidence only occurs in the most serious cases.
“It’s not to protect the guilty, it’s to protect all of us that this remedy is sometimes available,” she said.
“We impose consequences on law enforcement for illegal searches to protect all of the people who are searched illegally where no evidence is found, because those cases never come to the court,” said Mathen. “You need to have a mechanism for bringing home to law enforcement that unlawful, unconstitutional behaviour has consequences.”
QUEBEC
NEW BRUNSWICK
NOVA SCOTIA
54 Bullies could be fined under proposed Halifax bylaw Linda Mosher suggests anti-bullying bylaw CBC News Posted: Oct 07, 2013 3:50 PM AT Last Updated: Oct 07, 2013 3:50 PM AT
Halifax police could soon have the power to issue tickets for bullying, if a city councillor gets her way.
The idea was raised at a Halifax Police Commission meeting on Monday.
Coun. Linda Mosher said it’s time for the municipality to adopt an anti-bullying bylaw so police can issue tickets.
“Alberta and Saskatchewan currently have anti-bullying bylaws which can actually levy a fine to the allege [bully] or also someone witnessing it and I think it’s a great idea,” she said.
Fines in Halifax could range from a $100 up $2,000.
Both the federal and provincial governments have recently brought in new cyberbullying laws.
Mosher said she thinks the fines will make bullies think twice.
Halifax Police Chief Jean Michel Blais said given other recent changes, it's a good time to consider an anti-bullying bylaw for the municipality.
“We can look at three levels of government. The federal with regards to the Criminal Code, the province with regards the cyberscan unit and at the municipal level with regards to a bylaw. But we just have to see exactly what it is being proposed,” he said.
Once the idea has been studied it will be up to regional council to decide if it wants to adopt an anti-bullying bylaw.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Deadline looms for police intelligence service program Mike Carson Journal Pioneer
55 Published on October 04, SUMMERSIDE - Island law enforcement agencies have until Monday, to come up with a proposal that will see the Criminal Intelligence Service of Prince Edward Island (CISPEI) continue as a tool to combat crime.
“The important piece is, I, as the minister of justice, do not negotiate with the municipalities,” Justice Minister Janice Sherry said. “My part is to deal with the policing services in Prince Edward Island.”
She said when the funding first came down from the federal government the policing services agency felt that the best use of those dollars for Prince Edward Island and public safety was to have a criminal intelligence service.
“The incentive was a boots on the street sort of campaign, to get more people combating crime on the street but it took on a different look in different provinces,” the minister said.
Sherry said the province received those dollars from the federal government for five years and were then notified the funding was over.
CISPEI was established in August of 2006 with the grant from the federal government. The bureau is integrated with the RCMP’s L Division Criminal Analysis Section and has five member agencies: RCMP L Division, and the police departments of Summerside, Charlottetown, Kensington and now closed Borden- Carleton.
Funding for the program ended on March 31, 2013 and the province has since picked up the tab for the $451,610 service. That funding ceases on March 31, 2014 and the province wants its contribution lessened.
Sherry said she has advised law enforcement groups to come with a plan that would keep the program going.
“We called a meeting and we had very open and candid discussions with the chiefs of police and those responsible for policing in the province,” she said. “Policing services identified that this CIS project was extremely vital to public safety and they did not want to see it end.”
Sherry said once the province agreed to fund the program for one more year she wanted the policing agency to devise a proposal to address the future requirements for criminal intelligence in the province.
“I said I want you to come to an agreement for a proportional contribution of resources which could either be in dollars or in-kind services and I put a deadline on it,” she said.
“I have not officially received that document.”
56
A proposal by the executive committee of the CISPEI suggests the municipalities of Summerside, Charlottetown, Kensington, Stratford and Cornwall pick up roughly half of the cost. Each municipal share would be based on population numbers.
Under the proposal, Summerside would contribute $49,610 annually to the program. Charlottetown would pay $112,750, Kensington, $4,510, Stratford, $27,060 and Cornwall $18,040. The province would make up the difference with an annual contribution of $243,540.
Summerside city council was unanimous in its opinion that this is another situation where the province is trying to download the costs of services and programs to the municipalities.
Sherry said the issue isn’t just about money.
“It was about dollars or in-kind services,” she said.
The in kind services could be supplying the program with a police officer, a communications person or vehicles and equipment.
“We’re looking at a shortfall and we’re saying how can we fill that?” Sherry said. “I have no idea. I’m waiting for what they’re proposing back to us.”
Sherry gave no indication that the province would fund the program if an acceptable proposal is not reached.
“I think that’s a speculative question,” the minister said. “That would make it sound like I’ve got my mind made up now, which I don’t. I recognize the pressures that the police services agencies have on Prince Edward Island. I recognize in the big picture that the demands are increasing and the (money) pots are decreasing – it’s not over and I would be speculating until I see what that official plan looks like.”
Sherry also wouldn’t say if the Oct. 7 deadline could be extended if a proposal is not forthcoming.
“We’re not there yet,” she said. “We’re anticipating that we’re going to get that document before Oct. 7 and we’ll go from there.”
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia fund their program fully but Sherry said they couldn’t be compared with P.E.I.
She said those provinces have provincial policing budgets and use dollars in this account to keep the program afloat. On P.E.I. funding is based on a grant program through the finance minister’s office.
57
NEWFOUNDLAND
NATIONAL
Survey probes internal attitudes toward RCMP
Turmoil in force: Allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination have been made in recent years
BY DOUGLAS QUAN, THE PROVINCE OCTOBER 11, 2013
The RCMP wants to know if its members feel that their bosses and colleagues "demonstrate honesty," that they're "protected from reprisals" if they report wrongdoing, and how often they "feel like leaving the RCMP."
Distributed to employees late last month, the Professional Climate Survey is intended to "enhance departmental policies, practices and procedures and create a better work environment for all employees," the survey respondents are told.
The survey coincides with the development by the force's top brass in June of a Professional Ethics Strategic Plan, designed to "increase public trust" in the force and "ensure the RCMP is accountable and ethical."
The force is also in the midst of updating its code of conduct for the first time in 25 years.
Earlier this year, the force also introduced a new Gender and Respect Action Plan, as well as an Interpersonal Workplace Relationship Policy that states that romantic or sexual relationships between supervisors or those in positions of authority and subordinates must be reported in writing as they "raise concerns of conflict of interest, preferential treatment, bias and/or abuse of authority."
These developments come in a period of considerable tumult for the force, punctuated by allegations of widespread sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination.
Later this month, retired RCMP constable Janet Merlo - the lead plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit against the force - is set to release a book
58 documenting her 20-year RCMP career titled No One to Tell: Breaking My Silence on Life in the RCMP.
Robert Gordon, a professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University, said that the survey appears to be well-organized, comprehensive and a signal that RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson is attempting to turn the organization around.
"Judging from the posture of the commissioner over the last few years, I get the impression this guy realizes there are significant, potentially fatal, problems with his organization.
"He's trying to address some of these concerns," Gordon said.
Tough on crime or snowed under?
New research suggests that relying on enforcement through a ‘tough-on-crime’ approach to drugs is tantamount to doing very little at all.
The Hill Times By DAN WERB | Published: Monday, 10/14/2013 12:00 am EDT
TORONTO—We’ve all seen it: images from police press conferences set in brightly-lit rooms, with officers posing next to large stacks of guns, money, and illegal drugs. The implication, always, is that the seized drugs on display have put a dent in the overall supply, and that communities are safer as a result.
New research conducted by myself and my colleagues at the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy in Vancouver, however, suggests these photo-ops are little more than just that. Our research found that relying on enforcement through a ‘tough-on-crime’ approach to drugs is tantamount to doing very little at all.
Using two decades of government surveillance data from regions across the world, we set out to determine what the actual illegal drug supply trends were in destination markets like North America, Europe, and Australasia. We began our analysis in 1990; a year in which the George H.W. Bush-led war on drugs came into full swing and annual spending on drug enforcement in the United States started its exponential climb. What we found was deeply troubling: while drugs were seized in greater and greater volumes in both destination markets and production zones like Afghanistan and Latin America, we could not discern an impact on global supply. In fact, during this period, the price of major illegal
59 drugs like heroin, cocaine, and cannabis dropped steadily in the United States, Europe, and Australia.
At the same time, the purity of these drugs increased, in some cases skyrocketing. For instance, the price of cannabis in the United States dropped by over 80 per cent from 1990 to 2009, while the potency of this drug increased by 160 per cent. Decreasing price and increasing purity, economists agree, signals a pretty clear overabundance of supply. What’s particularly troubling is that this all occurred during a time period when cannabis seizures by the U.S.’s Drug Enforcement Administration increased by more than 450 per cent.
Unfortunately, these findings aren’t unique to the U.S. In all the major drug consumer markets that we analyzed, the patterns of decreasing price and increasing purity were generally the norm. Which puts the lie to suggestions by policymakers and government leaders that an enforcement-driven strategy to curtail drug supply is really “tough on crime.”
Fortunately, many governments are beginning to see how wasteful and ineffective seizures and enforcement are in tackling drug problems. The past year has seen incredible changes in how governments across the world tackle the problem of drug use. Last November, voters in two states—Colorado and Washington—tasked their officials with setting up regulatory systems for adult marijuana consumption. Other states have already expressed a desire to follow suit. Just last month, Uruguay passed legislation to set up a state-run marijuana monopoly. This followed a resolution from the Organization of American States to look at alternative approaches to drug prohibition.
But for every government that’s willing to act on the scientific evidence, others remain ardent in supporting the “tough on crime” status quo. In Canada, the mere suggestion that new drug policy approaches are needed to protect the health and safety of communities is generally met with, at best, derision, if not outright hostility, by the federal government. But given our study’s findings, it’s difficult to see how this same government’s decision to enact automatic two-year sentences for Canadians convicted of growing six or more marijuana plants is in any way a recipe for success.
The emerging détente in the war on drugs gives Canada an opportunity to start tailoring our drug policy to reflect the real needs of our communities. That could mean grading our approach to drugs not by how many marijuana plants police seize annually, but by how many Canadians battling addictions have access to life-saving services like addiction treatment. It could mean judging success not by how many drug users are imprisoned in Canada, but by how much we’ve been able to reduce the risk of HIV transmission through evidence-based programs like needle exchanges and medically supervised injection facilities.
Economists recently estimated that the entire annual supply of illegal drugs from Mexico destined for the United States could fit into just 60 trucks. At Laredo, the
60 largest crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border, about 5.5 million trucks pass through each year. Rather than trying to find a needle in a haystack, let’s fix the drug problems we can see in our communities. The scientific evidence is in: we just have to use it.
Dan Werb is co-founder of the Vancouver-based International Centre for Science in Drug Policy and a Trudeau Foundation Scholar.
Federal leadership needed to develop national standards for mental health
The federal government needs to take the next step by showing leadership in working in collaboration with provinces and territories across Canada to develop national standards for our mental health system.
The Hill Times
By MICHAEL TEEHAN | Published: Monday, 10/14/2013 12:00 am EDT
HALIFAX, N.S.—We live in a time of unprecedented interest in mental health. And we have seen how federal leadership can act as a catalyst for change. The Senate report that led to the Mental Health Commission of Canada and their innovative housing first approach to homelessness is a prime example. Now the federal government needs to take the next step by showing leadership in working in collaboration with provinces and territories across Canada to develop national standards for our mental health system. Currently, inadequate funding, fragmentation, and the lack of coordination among service providers are challenges that continue to plague our health-care system.
Some years ago I attended a talk by a colleague who is an intensive care unit specialist. At one point he spoke about a drug that is rarely used—perhaps four to five times a year—for patients who are desperately ill. Evidence shows that use of this drug increases survival rates by three to four per cent. However, the cost is approximately $70,000 per treated patient.
A few days earlier, as part of my practice with young people with psychotic illnesses, I made a home visit to the apartment of a young man in a run down, low cost apartment building in an area rife with crime and violence. We found him by his window, vigilantly scanning for danger. His apartment was in shambles, and he was in a state of severe self-neglect. His surroundings amplified the tendency to suspicion and distrust from his illness. He was unable to care for himself.
61
Over the next few days, through intense advocacy and persistence our team found him supported housing in a safer area of town, and connected him to daily supports. In the past five years he has had no crises, remains in that safe environment, and has had a decent life. The cost for this intervention? Less easy to quantify than the ICU intervention perhaps but probably in the hundreds of dollars; both interventions save lives.
Throughout my career, resources dedicated to mental health care, in particular to patients with severe and persistent mental illness, always seem to come up short. This was true when large institutions provided most of the care, and it is true today of our community-based care.
What frustrates patients, families and caregivers is the knowledge that good mental health care—health care that may cost very little—can transform the lives of people like this young man. Coordinated medical care, education about the illness, clean and safe housing, income support and assistance with accessing school or work, are the minimum requirements of a decent life.
And yet, many of those in need receive only partial or no services.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada has called for an increase in mental health funding from seven to nine percent of health care budgets, which translates into close to a 30 per cent increase. This still leaves the proportion of health budgets dedicated to mental health at less than 10 per cent. Is this enough? Consider that a recent study in Ontario concluded that the burden of mental illness and addictions in Ontario is more than 1.5 times that of all cancers and more than seven times that of all infectious diseases.
Certainly, new investments could improve the delivery of care and coordination of services significantly. But we also need to take steps to spend our limited resources wisely, and coordinate the multiple agencies and services which operate separately now.
The federal government has withdrawn from many aspects of health care, citing provincial jurisdiction. And yet it funds a significant portion of provincial budgets. Should it not ensure that those tax dollars are well spent and benefit all Canadians?
Dr. Michael Teehan, who is based in Halifax, N.S., is president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association which is based in Ottawa.
Federal government to move on 'Quanto's Law' after death of Edmonton police dog By: The Canadian Press
62 Posted: 10/16/2013 4:58 PM | OTTAWA - The federal government is signalling it will create new legislation to protect animals that work with police.
In its speech from the throne Wednesday, the government said it will bring forward "Quanto's Law" in honour of a police dog that was killed in Edmonton earlier this month.
Police complained after Quanto was stabbed during the takedown of a fleeing suspect that the strongest criminal charge that could be laid was cruelty to an animal.
The throne speech did not specify what Quanto's Law would entail and a spokeswoman for federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay wouldn't elaborate. "We look forward to announcing more in due course," Paloma Aguilar said in an email.
A private member's bill to amend the Criminal Code is already before the House of Commons.
Brought forward by Ontario Conservative MP Costas Menegakis, it singles out anyone "who knowingly or recklessly poisons, injures or kills a law enforcement animal,'' including a horse or dog, and proposes the same five-year maximum penalty that animal cruelty carries.
MacKay publicly offered his support to the bill in the wake of Quanto's death. Menegakis said he was actually inspired to act by the death of Brigadier, a Toronto police horse that had to be put down after police said he was deliberately struck by a driver they were trying to pull over in 2006.
There was a push at that time for Brigadier's Law, but nothing happened until Menegakis's bill was tabled earlier this year.
While the proposed amendment carries the same penalty as animal cruelty, the change is more than symbolic, Menegakis said last week.
"This takes this particular penalty and puts it in the Criminal Code under the police and peacekeeping officers section so it kind of forces the judicial system to apply the law in every case where a service animal is maliciously attacked," Menegakis said.
"When you look at the actual penalties you can apply, you can get carried away on emotion. I would have liked a lot bigger penalties but there is human life and there is animal life, as well. There is a difference. I wanted it to be something that made sense."
63 The MP said last week he was looking for another backbencher to carry the bill forward because he was recently named a parliamentary secretary and can no longer table private member's bills. Alberta's justice minister has said he supports the federal bill and that the province is considering changing the Service Dog Act to include provisions that would punish people who harm the animals.
Feds slow to bolster cyber security
But without cyber security, a consumer-first agenda is like putting the cart before the horse.
By JACQUES SHORE | The Hill Times Published: Tuesday, 10/15/2013 12:27 pm EDT
One of the major themes in the Harper government’s upcoming Throne Speech is expected to be an appeal to voters as consumers through the introduction of various consumer-friendly measures. These measures could include changes to the rules that govern some federally-regulated industries, such as airlines and mobile phone providers, in order to make their business practices more consumer-oriented and affordable. Although a “consumers first” agenda will no doubt prove popular with Canadians, and is probably long overdue, the government arguably must reconsider its priorities.
Today, industry and the consumers who rely on it for everything from banking to telecommunications, depend on the security of Canada’s internet-based cyberspace. Most Canadians probably don’t give it a second thought, but cyberspace is an integral part of Canada’s critical infrastructure because virtually every aspect of Canadian life is impacted by it. After all, online events have real world impacts. Cyber security breaches in our banking sector alone would wreak havoc on industries vital to the Canadian economy and ultimately consumers.
Yet, the federal government has been slow to bolster cyber security. Needless to say, without cyber security, a consumer first agenda is like putting the cart before the horse. The government can’t really put consumers first, without putting the cyber security of the critical infrastructure consumers rely on daily, first. What good is an airline passenger bill of rights or lower mobile phone bills if a cyber threat cripples the ability of either industry to provide the safe and reliable service Canadian consumers have come to expect?
In its 2011 Speech from the Throne, the Canadian government stated that it, “has no more fundamental duty than to protect the personal safety of our citizens and defend against threats to our national security.” While the
64 government’s duty to protect includes traditionally defined responsibilities, such as defending territorial sovereignty, the government acknowledges that it extends equally to cyberspace. In fact, Canada’s national security policy recognizes the importance of protecting Canada’s critical infrastructure from cyber security threats. Beyond the economic fallout that can ensue from cyber security breaches, cyber terrorism also puts lives at risk.
The 2010 Cyber Security Strategy sets out Canada’s plan for combating cyber threats: securing government systems, partnering to secure vital systems outside the government, and helping Canadians be secure online. In 2012, the auditor general issued a report evaluating the progress of this strategy. While the auditor general found the government had made some progress, it noted that implementation of many of its strategies and action plans had fallen short. Problems were found relating to the sharing of information between government agencies and industry stakeholders, and deficiencies in the government’s capacity to respond to cyber attacks, to name just a few.
Ultimately, the safety of Canada’s critical infrastructure is best assured by cooperation between the public and private sectors, since so much of it is owned by private entities. It is plausible at law that if a critical infrastructure operator’s software or databases are compromised, for example, any resulting losses could form the basis of a lawsuit against the parties responsible for securing it, including government.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a 2003 United States District Court decision concluded that defendants such as American Airlines and Airport Port Authorities, among others, owed a duty of care, not only to passengers and crew members on the plane, but also to those on the ground at crash sites. Following on the heels of U.S.-related terrorism case law and other general “duty of care” cases in Canada, failure to properly secure critical infrastructure cyber systems in Canada could expose both industry and government to liability for negligence, economic loss, breach of contract, or breach of a fiduciary duty.
While a legal obligation may not currently exist in law, there is no doubt a moral imperative that government do its utmost to protect critical infrastructure, including partnering with the private sector to address vulnerabilities and monitor cyber security on an ongoing basis. We know that vulnerable computer technology can cripple critical operations, expose the public to dangers, and cause financial loss resulting from business interruption. As a result our security intelligence agencies working with critical infrastructure owners in the private sector is also essential.
If the federal government truly wants to put Canadian consumers first, it needs to demonstrate leadership by protecting its citizens putting the cyber security of our nation’s critical infrastructure ahead of retail politics. Advancing Canada’s cyber security strategy will require participation from multiple stakeholders, concrete commitments, sufficient funding, and consistent political leadership.
65 Such significant investment and coordination is necessary to protect Canada’s most sensitive infrastructure, which must be a nationwide priority in order to effectively safeguard our national security. If stickhandled with acumen, its success will certainly reap political rewards. Frankly, there is no better place in which to outline such a commitment then in the upcoming Speech From the Throne.
Jacques J.M. Shore is a partner in the advocacy department in the Ottawa office of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP and past national chair of the firm’s government affairs practice.
Police use-of-force registry would help weigh risks of taser use, study says KATHRYN BLAZE CARLSON The Globe and Mail Published Tuesday, Oct. 15 2013, 9:01 PM EDT Last updated Wednesday, Oct. 16 2013, 5:53 PM EDT
A national registry of police use-of-force incidents would shed light on the risks associated with tasers – controversial weapons believed to cause death only rarely, but the real-world implications of which remain largely unknown, according to a new study.
The 112-page report on the health effects of stun guns, which was sponsored by a federal agency, says its conclusions about respiratory and cardiac risks are limited due to a lack of high-quality evidence. Still, the study states that “while fatal complications are biologically plausible, they would be extremely rare.”
With more than 9,000 stun guns in use in Canada – and at time when tasers are under heightened public scrutiny – the panel suggests creating a national registry to cull standardized taser data from police and medical personnel. The study, released on Tuesday, says at least 33 people have died in Canada after the use of a stun gun since 1998, although tasers were not necessarily the direct cause.
“Whether policy-makers choose to [create a national registry] or not is their business,” said Justice Stephen Goudge, an Ontario appeal court judge who chaired the panel struck by the Council of Canadian Academies and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. “But the difficulty now is ... there are different criteria for when use-of-force reports are filed, what they say and what they track.”
The suggestion – one of several, including “furthering ethical laboratory-based” animal and human research – comes three years after the death of Aron Firman, a mentally ill man who was tasered. The jury recommended Ontario collect stun-
66 gun statistics from its police forces and suggested a national database for all in- custody deaths.
Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, said he is “all for” robust oversight of police activities, but said forces are resource-strapped and officers are bogged down with administrative work. “Do we want police officers out on the street protecting the public and preventing crime, or do we want them chained to a desk constantly filling out administrative reports?” he said.
Stun guns until recently were restricted in Canada’s largest province to tactical teams and supervisors, but Ontario announced in August that all front-line officers could now use them.
The weapons have long been a source of debate, with cases such as the deaths of Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver and Sammy Yatim, who was tasered in July after Toronto police shot him multiple times. Mr. Stamatakis said there is now a “chill” on use of stun guns, which may help explain why the RCMP recently reported an increase in threats of taser use but a decrease in deployment.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS 17 October 2013 Last updated at 07:34 ET Crime falls 7% to record low in England and Wales BBC News UK Overall crime figures have fallen to half the peak level recorded in 1995
Crime has fallen 7% to a record low in the last year, the Crime Survey for England and Wales has shown.
There were 8.5m incidents in the year to the end of June, compared with 9.1m the previous year.
The drop comes despite a 9% rise in sexual offences, which was partly driven by the Jimmy Savile revelations of abuse.
Crime prevention minister Norman Baker said England and Wales are safer than they have been "for decades".
The headline crime figure is the lowest since the survey began in 1981, and has now fallen to half its peak level, recorded in 1995.
67 Savile effect However, the Office for National Statistics, which collates the survey, said the number of historical sexual offences - those which took place more than 20 years ago - recorded by the police has doubled.
The Savile inquiry has encouraged greater numbers of people to report historical sexual offence to the police.
The ONS said that in the last five years there has been a 35% rise in the number of rape offences recorded by the police - partly due to new guidance on the way in which such crimes are recorded.
An increase in theft was also recorded by the Crime Survey, with offences up by 8% in the last year.
Evidence suggests the rise was driven by the theft of smart phones, and involve pick-pocketing rather than violence or threats.
The majority are counted as stealth thefts - where the victim is unaware items are being stolen.
Meanwhile, though credit card fraud levels remained flat, overall fraud offences have jumped by 21% in the last year.
The ONS said the cause of this rise would become clearer in the next one or two years, but it could be down to a new centralised method of recording fraud.
'Still too high' Max Chambers, head of crime and justice at the think-tank Policy Exchange, said: "Whether you believe it's as the result of an ageing population, better policing and prevention, or the impact of the internet, there is little doubt that Britain is becoming a safer place to live, do business and raise a family.
"But crime is still too high and there are pockets of the country which remain blighted by anti-social behaviour and gang activity.
"While the latest figures show that the police have been able to cut crime substantially even with fewer resources, they must now redouble their efforts to tackle the hardcore of prolific offenders who commit offences that can often disproportionately hit the poor and the vulnerable."
While welcoming falling crime rates, Jon Collins, deputy director of the Police Foundation - an independent policing think-tank - said it was important not to be "blind to new and emerging challenges".
He said: "The police and the government should be wary of resting on their laurels.
68
"While crimes such as burglary and car crime are clearly not the problem that they once were, it's possible that the official crime figures are just not picking up the extent to which new opportunities for crimes like fraud and counterfeiting have emerged, particularly online."
Crime prevention minister Norman Baker said: "Police reform is working and crime is falling.
"This is really positive news. Forces are rising to the challenge of making savings whilst cutting crime and delivering a better service to the public.
"England and Wales are safer than they have been for decades but we will continue to deliver measures which keep pace with the changing nature of crime and improve our ability to combat emerging issues."
The Crime Survey for England and Wales asks people aged 16 and over living in households in England and Wales about their experiences of crime in the last 12 months. These experiences are used to estimate levels of crime in England and Wales.
Feds: Vegas police better at tracking use of force
The Associated Press
Friday, Sept. 27, 2013 | 12:21 a.m.
The head of a federal law enforcement oversight group credited Las Vegas police Wednesday with upgrading training, keeping better track of how and when officers use deadly force, and instituting a pilot program to put cameras on the uniforms of some officers.
The acting head of the U.S. Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services told reporters that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has addressed or completed all but nine of 80 reforms called for in a report the agency made public 10 months ago.
"We're talking significant progress in a matter of months," COPS Acting Director Joshua Ederheimer said at a news conference with U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden and Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie.
Ederheimer noted that other police departments take years or decades to implement reforms, and said the collaborative COPS review appeared to be having an effect in Las Vegas.
69
"The number of officer involved shootings is gradually declining," he said.
After peaking at 25 shootings in 2010, Las Vegas police were involved in 17 officer-involved shootings in 2011, 11 in 2012 and 10 so far this year, the report said. Four people died in police shootings in 2012, and two this year, department officials said.
Ederheimer, Bogden and Gillespie said some of the nine unresolved recommendations depended on action by other agencies, such as a proposal that the Clark County district attorney dedicate resources to more fully investigate officer-involved shootings.
Other recommendations, like a call for training and evaluating Las Vegas police officers on their ability to de-escalate tense confrontations, weren't assessed yet but would be made part of a final report due in February, Ederheimer said.
One, which would have police officers involved in on-duty shootings provide statements to criminal investigators, may never be implemented, the report said. It said police unions were directing Las Vegas officers involved in shootings not to cooperate with deadly force investigations.
The head of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, Chris Collins, disputed that finding. He said officers routinely cooperate in several layers of post- shooting departmental and administrative reviews. But he said officers are advised not to provide statements in legal proceedings unless they are granted so-called Garrity protection from criminal prosecution _ meaning their words won't be used to self-incriminate them.
COPS was enlisted in January 2012 to study Las Vegas police use-of-force policies and practices aimed at cutting the number of officer-involved shootings, after a series of high-profile police shootings and a Las Vegas Review-Journal analysis that tallied 142 people killed by Las Vegas police in a little more than a decade. The newspaper investigation concluded that Las Vegas police were quicker to the trigger than officers in other similarly sized cities.
COPS officials on Wednesday termed the resulting review a "collaborative reform model."
Gillespie, the elected chief of a Las Vegas police force that includes about 3,200 sworn police and jail officers and 1,500 civilians, has announced he won't seek a third term as sheriff. But he promised the reforms would continue.
"Actions speak louder than words," Gillespie said. "We were, we are and we continue to be committed to these reforms."
70 Ederheimer noted that his agency planned to use the Las Vegas experience in similar police practices reviews of departments in Philadelphia and Spokane, Wash.
Does just threatening to use a TASER constitute force? 09/23/2013
Destroying Myths & Discovering Cold Facts with Force Science Institute
Americans for Effective Law Enforcement (AELE) offers an eight-page roundup of pertinent cases to date and a list of suggested guidelines to help officers, trainers, and administrators with the issue
A new force-related issue is beginning to surface in state and federal court proceedings: Whether merely threatening to use an electronic control weapon (ECW) — including pointing it, sparking it, and aiming its laser beam — constitutes a use of force under the law.
“The caselaw on the subject is still relatively limited, but the question of when and under what circumstances officers should be unholstering, pointing, or threatening to use ECWs is a fruitful area for policy discussion and training,” says Wayne Schmidt, executive director of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement (AELE), the nonprofit that closely monitors court decisions affecting peace officers.
In a recent issue of its free online publication, the AELE Monthly Law Journal, the organization offers an eight-page roundup of pertinent cases to date and a list of suggested guidelines to help officers, trainers, and administrators address this issue. The article, “Pointing and Threatening to Use Electronic Control Weapons,” can be accessed without charge by clicking here.
“As ECWs become more ubiquitous and the number of encounters during which they are drawn, pointed, or their use is threatened grows, there will be more lawsuits by individuals objecting to their use even when they are not actually fired,” the article predicts. In judging whether such actions comprise “a use of force (and if so, a reasonable one) courts will generally be guided by the totality of the circumstances and by the general objective reasonableness standard....”
So far, courts have generally supported law enforcement on this issue, the article reports. “[W]here it is exceedingly clear that an officer had little alternative...to move an encounter along in the face of either active resistance or repeated
71 noncompliance,” courts have been “more prone” to find in summary judgment that pointing and threatening was “reasonable and necessary.”
Two examples:
1.) A U.S. District Court in Texas “found that it was not unreasonable for an officer to point a TASER at and threaten to use it on a motorist who was refusing to exit his vehicle during a traffic stop, despite being ordered to do so at least 21 times,” even though the officer had to break a car window to get his ECW within effective range in the event its use became necessary. 2.) A federal court in Nebraska ruled that pointing a TASER at a man who became combative during a possible diabetic reaction was not excessive force, even though the officer was mistaken in believing the man had some potentially dangerous object in his hand.
At the state level, plaintiffs have claimed that threatening with an ECW constitutes assault and/or battery. Cases are cited where courts have ruled otherwise.
In contrast, AELE notes a Canadian case in which a sergeant was caught on dash-cam pressing a TASER against a handcuffed suspect’s neck and “threatening to TASER the groin of a second handcuffed suspect.” The TASER was never discharged and neither suspect was injured, but the sergeant was convicted of threatening bodily harm and sentenced to probation and a fine.
As caselaw develops, AELE offers these suggestions for officers and agencies:
1.) Officers “can legitimately unholster an ECW when they believe that it is necessary for their own protection or the protection of others, particularly when there is a reasonable fear that the [suspect/s] might be armed. Waiting to unholster an ECW until it is clearly necessary to fire it could lead to tragic results.” 2.) “The more clear it is that [suspects] are noncompliant with legitimate orders and requests, the more certain it is that pointing an ECW and threatening to use it after giving a warning is reasonable.” 3.) “Pointing an ECW at persons who are complying with orders, and against whom there appears to be no real need to use force, or threatening to fire it when doing so would not be justified under the circumstances, may constitute an assault under state law, and also unnecessarily escalate encounters to a point where the use of force becomes involved.” 4.) “ECWs are not toys and inappropriate brandishing or horseplay should always be avoided.” 5.) “Lasers attached to ECWs should not be pointed at the eyes, and no one should ever stare into the beam.” 6.) “Officers should be required to document instances where an ECW is sparked or the laser beam is directed at a person, even if the darts were not deployed.”
72 7.) “To avoid weapon confusion during the dynamics of a confrontation, management should consider adopting a requirement that an ECW be holstered on the opposite side from an officer’s firearm.”
In the article, live links are provided to the full written decisions in the cases cited, as well as to a laundry list of other relevant resources.
A link is also provided to a recent study of a Michigan police department’s documented experience with pointing and threatening with TASERs on the street. In this five-year study, officers with that agency pointed ECWs at suspects 23 times. In 16 of those, merely pointing the weapon produced “voluntary compliance.”
New Orleans won't be released from NOPD consent decree, appeals court rules
CHRIS GRANGER/THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
September 28, 2013
A federal appeals court on Friday denied New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu's request to undo a federally mandated consent decree to govern sweeping reforms in the New Orleans Police Department.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Landrieu's claims that circumstances had changed drastically since January, when the mayor's administration urged a federal judge to approve the decree.
Landrieu had argued that the decree should be scrapped because of two new developments: a separate consent decree for Orleans Parish Prison; and new revelations of venomous NOLA.com comments left by Sal Perricone, one of the U.S. Department of Justice's chief negotiators.
Landrieu in 2010 asked the Justice Department to conduct an investigation into allegations of constitutional violations, corruption and discriminatory policies in the NOPD. In turn, the Justice Department proposed a consent decree, to oversee reforms to the troubled institution.
At first, the Landrieu administration was outspoken in its support. U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan signed the consent decree on Jan. 11.
But the city in February served notice that it would ask the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to review Morgan's decision to endorse the federal consent decree. The
73 mayor's administration argued that the city could not afford to carry out the NOPD consent decree while there was a separate pact in place aimed at reforming conditions at Orleans Parish Prison.
In the appeal, the Landrieu administration argued that the city could not afford to support the NOPD consent decree because of its financial commitment to the OPP consent decree, which Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman first estimated would cost the city roughly $22 million a year for at least two years, or about $45 million total.
Landrieu challenged that officers working paid details while on duty -- an area identified as warranting reform -- is not a constitutional violation, and thus should not be included in the consent decree's cost. Furthermore, the appeal said that recent revelations that Perricone -- the former New Orleans-based assistant U.S. attorney who was responsible for including the detail reform -- had authored inflammatory online comments about the consent decree had inherently tainted the decision, and "should provide relief from the judgment."
On Friday, a panel including Chief Judge Carl Stewart and Judges Jacques Wiener and Eugene Davis ruled that the city's arguments are not valid, and do not warrant release from the legal agreement.
The appellate judges dismissed the city's argument that "it had no knowledge of the potential cost ramifications" of the OPP lawsuit, recalling that an attorney for the city participated in OPP consent decree negotiations -- in which the $45 million figure was whittled down to $34.5 million -- one month before it urged the district court to approve the NOPD consent decree.
"The record clearly demonstrates that the city was fully informed of the likely cost of complying with the OPP consent decree well before it signed the NOPD consent decree and urged the district court to approve it," the ruling read. The judges also argued that there was no significant change in the city's financial ability to cover the cost of both consent decrees between approving the NOPD consent decree and attempting to withdraw from it.
The ruling also rebuffed the suggestion that the decision to enter into the NOPD consent decree was in any way influenced by Perricone's online rants, stating that "the city does not identify any way that it was prevented from 'fully and fairly presenting its case,'" and that "substantial independent evidence of problems related to the paid detail system was brought to the investigators by the public, NOPD officers, local judges and federal law enforcement officials during the investigation of the NOPD," and not Perricone.
The Landrieu administration may ask the appeals court for a rehearing.
74 Arbitrator Calls for Connecticut State Police Raises
Published: Sunday, October 06, 2013
By The Associated Press HARTFORD—Connecticut State Police would get pay raises of 2 percent this fiscal year and 3 percent next year while retaining nearly unrestricted off-duty use of their cruisers, under an arbitration decision that now goes to the state legislature.
An independent arbitrator settled contract negotiation disputes between the Connecticut State Police Union and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration and recommended the raises and other measures that would be included in a new three-year contract.
The arbitrator’s decision was issued last week and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press through a public records request.
The new contract would cover 1,072 troopers, sergeants and master sergeants, who have been working without a contract since July of last year because negotiations with administration officials reached an impasse.
The agreement would run from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2015, and include no pay raises for the first year, which ended June 30 of this year.
Union members would get 2 percent pay raises and annual “step” increases this fiscal year, but they wouldn’t be effective until Oct. 1. Three percent pay raises would be awarded for 2014-2015, the same increase other state employees will get that year.
Union members also would pay higher pension and health-care costs, under a previous agreement with the administration.
“The union respects the arbitrator’s decision and the collective bargaining process, and we believe that the award was fair and reasonable for both parties,” Sgt. Andrew Matthews, the union president, said in a statement Tuesday.
Sgt. Matthews said later in a phone interview, “We worked really hard on behalf of our members and families.”
The proposal of the arbitrator, Joel M. Weisblatt of Skillman, N.J., will go before the legislature when it reconvenes in February. If lawmakers take no action on it within 30 days, the proposal will go into effect.
75 Gov. Malloy’s chief of staff, Mark Ojakian, said in a statement Tuesday that he first wanted to thank thousands of state employees who provided wage and benefit concessions during the state budget crisis in 2011. All the state employee unions approved pension and health-care concessions that year, and all unions except state police and state prison supervisors approved the wage proposals.
After the state police union rejected the wage concessions, 56 union members were laid off, but they were rehired six weeks later.
“On the recent state police award, we respect the collective bargaining process and will be submitting the award to the General Assembly as required by law,” Mr. Ojakian said.
As part of the 2011 concessions, nearly all state employee unions agreed to a five-year wage plan that included pay freezes in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 and 3 percent pay raises in each of the following three years. The administration had wanted state troopers to agree to wage freezes in 2012-13 and the current fiscal year.
The last raise the state police union received was a 2.5 percent increase in 2011- 2012. Troopers in their first few years on the job generally make between $50,000 and $60,000 a year, while those in the top pay level earn about $83,000 annually.
Sgt. Matthews also said the union won a big victory in keeping the unrestricted off-duty use of cruisers. The administration wanted to limit off-duty cruiser use by not allowing civilian passengers during non-job-related trips.
Sgt. Matthews said off-duty use of cruisers is a significant public benefit because state police provide many services while off-duty, including pulling over hazardous motorists, helping stranded drivers and backing up on-duty troopers during calls.
Mr. Weisblatt said in his decision that it was an established public benefit that off-duty troopers can respond in their cruisers to emergencies as they arise. He mentioned the Newtown school shootings last December that killed 20 first- graders and six educators.
“Off-duty trooper response to the tragic situation at Newtown was swift and helpful,” Mr. Weisblatt said. “It is clearly a ‘win-win’ working condition.”
Justice Department Guilty of Excessive Secrecy, Internal Audit Finds
By Ryan Gallagher
76 Slate.com October 3, 2013
President Obama has claimed his administration is the most transparent in history. But excessive secrecy is still a problem within the Justice Department, according to a new internal audit.
Earlier this week, the [Department of Justice's (DOJ)] inspector general [Michael E. Horowitz] published a report reviewing how the department has been classifying information. The secrecy review, which involved the IG's office conducting more than 100 interviews with officials from agencies including the FBI and the DEA, found that there was a persistent misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of certain classification processes. The audit criticized what it described as deficiencies in how the DOJ classifies information: In a review of a sample of documents, unclassified information was wrongly designated secret in several instances.
The over-classification of information has become a major issue for the U.S. government since 9/11, with a spike in sensitive national security-related programs leading to spiraling secrecy. In the realm of surveillance, in particular, extreme secrecy has become commonplace, with the DOJ and FBI often heavy-handedly redacting or withholding large portions of documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. According to the Information Security Oversight Office, in 2012 alone, executive branch agencies issued more than 95 million classification decisions. That's a 3 percent increase on the figure for 2011 (92 million), and a 25 percent rise on the figure for 2010 (77 million).
The IG report says that while mis-classification at the DOJ is not widespread, redactions done by the department are sometimes wrong and unnecessary, and that officials appear to have a blasé approach to classification. The IG reviewed a sample of 141 documents in total from the FBI, the DEA, the National Security Division, and the Criminal Division and found a total of 357 classified document marking errors, meaning that they either did not contain required classification markings or contained incorrect classification markings.
In one case, for instance, the FBI wrongly classified a terrorist watch list that was based on unclassified information. Additionally, the IG audit noted that the DOJ's National Security and Criminal Divisions had a penchant for over-classifying documents that contained standard language citing unclassified laws, statues, or regulations. The excessive secrecy is attributed in the IG report to the fact that some DOJ officials have a general lack of understanding about how to properly classify information. Some officials also apparently told the IG
77 auditors that they felt that there were no consequences for over-classifying information, so they erred on the side of caution by marking things secret when they were unsure, because the consequences for releasing classified materials can be significant.
The review contains a series of recommendations for the DOJ to improve its classification processes, including implementing better training programs to ensure all personnel are aware of the correct policies and procedures. The DOJ had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Policing the police: The wrong approach Posted: October 10, 2013 - 10:12pm | Updated: October 11, 2013 - 12:04am savannahnow.com
RESTORING AND maintaining integrity at the metro police department is a must.
The remedy, however, must not be worse than the disease.
That’s a big concern with what Savannah City Manager Stephanie Cutter proposed Wednesday. Put simply, it’s the wrong approach.
Ms. Cutter, who forced former Police Chief Willie Lovett to retire last month, suggested restructuring the police department’s Internal Affairs division. She wants to remove it from the current command structure, where it’s under the chief’s control, and place it under the supervision of an independent board.
Her reasoning, as she explained to Mayor Edna Jackson, County Commission Chairman Al Scott and County Manager Russ Abolt, goes something like this: Concerns about poor or questionable performances by Internal Affairs aren’t new; they’ve circulated for some time. So instead of trying to fix something that’s broken, let’s replace it by bringing in an outside group.
There’s little doubt that Internal Affairs didn’t get the job done when two metro officers were implicated in a federal drug investigation three years ago. But that’s not automatically the system’s fault. Rather, it appears to be a reflection of those who were in charge.
This is a people-problem, in other words.
The police department isn’t like other segments of city government, like sanitation, recreation or engineering. It’s a quasi-military organization. Rank is important. So is leadership. The culture flows from the top down.
78 The chief is similar to a general. If the troops aren’t performing, you don’t rush out and appoint an outside group to achieve better outcomes. You find a new general.
If the city manager wants to improve operations at metro police — and she must — the solution is hiring the best chief the city can find. Period. Anything less won’t cut it — and could make matters worse.
Imagine, for example, if this independent police board was filled with political cronies. It would be a disaster. If a police officer stepped on the wrong toes and a complaint was filed with Internal Affairs, that officer’s career might be toast. Good cops would leave in droves.
Or, say an officer crossed the line, but the board didn’t want to rock certain boats. Then the department would be saddled with a bad cop who shouldn’t be on the force.
Such a board would handcuff the new chief. The chief would be responsible for operations, yet lack full authority to police the ranks. There’s also a trust factor: If the city manager can’t trust the chief to run the city’s biggest department, city government has a big problem.
Perhaps Ms. Cutter has a different take on how such a board would work. If so, she needs to explain it.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police has done some research on citizen review boards. A number of communities have them — Minneapolis, Portland (Ore.), Los Angeles and San Jose, to name a few. But there’s no clear evidence they make a difference.
At the same time, the association notes several concerns: Police officers might become wary of review and avoid conflicts to reduce potential complaints; citizen board members may lack a law enforcement background and fail to understand police procedures; citizen review/recommendations may create animosity between officers and the public.
The best way to restore confidence at metro police is from within.
Just recently, Acting Police Chief Julie Tolbert made a change in Internal Affairs. She transferred the captain who headed the unit at the time when two metro officers were implicated in the federal drug probe. In his place is a lieutenant who also worked in Internal Affairs.
But captains and lieutenants don’t call the tune. That’s done in the chief’s office.
It’s not complicated. To rebuild confidence in metro police, the city must recruit the best and hire the best. Then step back.
79
Police to study use of deadly force in Washington chase, shooting By LARRY NEUMEISTER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
Washington - Police are reviewing the use of deadly force in the killing of a Connecticut woman who rammed a barricade at the White House, a shooting her family says was unjustified.
The investigation will reconstruct the car chase and shooting, which briefly put the U.S. Capitol on lockdown, and explore whether protocols were followed.
Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer said he was confident the officers "did the best they could under the situation." Police guarding national landmarks must make fast decisions without the luxury of all the facts, especially when a threat is perceived, he said.
"The milieu under which we're operating at the United States Capitol and I suspect at the White House and at icons up in New York is an anti-terrorism approach," Gainer said Saturday, "and that is a difference with a huge, huge distinction."
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine maintained that his officers acted "heroically" to protect the community.
Still, the family of 34-year-old Miriam Carey called the shooting unjustified, and some deadly force experts agree it merits scrutiny.
"We're still very confused as a family why she's not still alive," sister Amy Carey- Jones said in New York late Friday after traveling to Washington to identify the body. "I really feel like it's not justified, not justified." Another sister, retired New York City police officer Valarie Carey, said there was "no need for a gun to be used when there was no gunfire coming from the vehicle."
Secret Service agents and Capitol police officers fired shots during the Thursday afternoon encounter, which began when Carey - in a black Infiniti with her 1- year-old daughter - rammed a White House barricade and was pursued by police toward the Capitol in a high-speed chase.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said she was confident after the shooting that Carey's actions were "not an accident," but the department's internal affairs division is investigating as part of standard protocol.
80 Carey struck a Secret Service agent with her car at the White House and reversed her vehicle into a police car, authorities say. A Capitol police officer was also injured. Both are expected to recover.
Experts in the use of deadly force said there were more questions than answers. Many departments direct their officers not to fire at moving vehicles - even if the driver is using the car as a weapon - or they permit it only under very limited circumstances. And experts wondered whether police should have relied on other options, such as establishing a roadblock, to diffuse the situation.
"I think the question we have to ask is, 'What threat did she cause?'" said Geoffrey Alpert, an expert on police use of force at the University of South Carolina. "What threat was she to the officers, to the public, to the politicians?"
Chuck Drago, a former Oviedo, Fla., police chief who now works as a police consultant, said he was concerned officers approached the vehicle on foot while the conflict was still unfolding. That kind of direct contact can elevate the tension of an already dangerous scenario and leave officers feeling vulnerable, he said.
"Their main concern should have been trying to keep that vehicle from moving, and then exposing themselves only adds to the danger and lessens their options in the long run," Drago said.
Authorities were investigating why Miriam Carey, who lived in Stamford, turned up in Washington on Thursday. A search warrant application for Carey's car seeks bullet fragments, maps or other documents pertaining to the White House, alcohol or drugs, "and/or evidence of a mechanical malfunction or lack thereof."
A federal law enforcement official said Friday that her mental health appeared to have been deteriorating in the last year and that she apparently was under the delusion the president was communicating with her. The official was briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Her family said she had been suffering from postpartum depression with psychosis but was not dangerous.
But interviews with some of those who knew her suggested she was coming apart well before she loaded her daughter into the car for the 275-mile drive to Washington. She had suffered a head injury in a fall and had been fired as a dental hygienist about a year ago, her former employer said.
Carey's mother, Idella Carey, told ABC News that she began suffering from postpartum depression after giving birth in August 2012 and was hospitalized but had no history of violence.
81 After Carey rammed the barricades at the White House, police chased her down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol, where she was shot. At one point near the Capitol, police say, she stopped her car abruptly, drove over a median strip and put the vehicle into reverse and refused to stop. She was then shot.
Carey's daughter escaped serious injury and was taken into protective custody. The woman's family hasn't identified the child's father. Gainer said he hasn't seen any indication officers knew the child was in the car when they fired.
"There'll be lessons to be learned from this," Gainer said. "There'll be recommendations to be made about, "Could we have done this, or should we do that?"'
Carey's death comes less than three weeks after a shooting rampage in Washington that also involved an apparently unstable person.
On Sept. 16, gunman Aaron Alexis shot and killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard before being shot by police. Alexis, a defense industry employee and former Navy reservist, said in writings left behind that he was driven to kill by months of bombardment with electromagnetic waves.
Video shows aggressive stop and frisk in Philly that ACLU calls 'abusive'
WILLIAM BENDER, Daily News Staff Writer Posted: Friday, October 11, 2013, 3:01 AM
NO ONE GOT PUNCHED in the face - this time - but YouTube has given the Philadelphia Police Department another black eye, proving once again that smartphones are a bully cop's worst nightmare.
Let's just hope that Officer Philip Nace doesn't land in the city's tourism department when the dust settles.
"Don't come to f---ing Philadelphia. Stay in Jersey."
That's one of Nace's rage-induced zingers that were recorded in a disturbing 16- minute YouTube video of a recent stop and frisk.
The video, dated Sept. 27, shows Nace, 46, and another police officer from North Philly's 25th District stopping two unidentified men, apparently after they said hello to a third man on the street.
82 "You don't say 'Hi' to strangers," Nace said as he confronts the two pedestrians. "Not in this neighborhood," his partner added.
The cops then push one of the men against their cruiser. The second man, who is videotaping the incident and starts to walk away, is ordered to put his phone in his pocket and get against the car for a frisk. The phone, however, continues recording, apparently on the hood of the car.
"Don't f---ing fight . . . we'll kick your ass, too," Nace said. He threatened the other man, saying he would "split your wig open."
Nace called one of the men a "f---ing dirty ass." When they protest that they haven't done anything wrong, he shouted: "Why don't you shut the f--- up! Everyone thinks they're a f---ing lawyer, and they don't know jack s---."
"You're jaywalking, by the way," the second officer later added, apparently in an attempt to justify the stop.
At one point, Nace told one of the men: "We don't want you here, anyway. All you do is weaken the f---ing country."
"How do I weaken the country? By working?" the man asked.
"No, freeloading," Nace said.
When the man said he's a server at a country club, Nace responded, "Server. Serving weed?"
The video is titled "Police unlawful harassment and racial profiling," but the race of the two pedestrians is unclear. Nace and his partner are white.
The Daily News could not reach the person who posted the video or identify the pedestrians.
"This is exactly what the city of Philadelphia says its cops don't do," said Mary Catherine Roper, senior staff attorney for the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is monitoring the city's stop-and-frisk program. "The only way we stop it from happening is if the Police Department acknowledges that it does happen and takes steps to root it out."
Herbert Spellman, a retired cop who said in a cover story in yesterday's Daily News that he was subjected to a "demeaning" stop and frisk last month, called on police brass to send a message to patrol cops that verbally and physically abusive behavior won't be tolerated.
"It starts at the top," Spellman said.
83 Lt. John Stanford, a police spokesman, said Internal Affairs is investigating the Nace incident. He said that the investigation - not the video - would determine whether the officers "acted appropriate in all aspects of their job."
Last year, Lt. Jonathan Josey was fired after a YouTube video went viral of him punching a woman in the face and knocking her to the ground, but he's back on the job today.
"We train our officers to conduct lawful stops, and we continuously address this issue where necessary to provide the best service to the citizens of Philadelphia," Stanford said in an email. He declined to comment on the Nace video specifically.
In the video, Nace didn't provide a clear explanation of why the men were stopped. Roper questioned whether there was reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed.
The ACLU estimates that nearly half of the more than 200,000 annual pedestrians stopped are lacking reasonable suspicion, but the Police Department has disputed that.
"It feels like you're harassing me," one of the men calmly told Nace in the video. "I didn't do nothing."
"How do you know?" Nace asked.
"Whatcha mean? How do I know what?" the man asked.
"How do you know what we know?" Nace asked.
"I don't know what you know," the man says. "So? What did I do? I didn't commit a crime. I'm just walking."
"How do we know that?" Nace asked.
Nace was on the street last night, according to an officer in the 25th District, and could not be reached. At the end of the video, police gave one man his phone back, and it doesn't appear that he was taken into custody. It is unknown what happened with the second pedestrian.
Roper, who is also suing the department for alleged wrongful arrests of people who videotape police in public, said the Nace video is clear evidence that the department needs to impose better standards of behavior.
"Can we start with 'not thoroughly abusive' as an initial goal?" Roper asked. "I'd like to get to respectful, but let's start with not abusive."
84 PBA suit over stop-and-frisk law
By Philip Messing
October 14, 2013 | 5:07pm
NEW YORK POST
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association is filing a lawsuit Tuesday, challenging a new City Council racial-profiling law to make sure the case is heard — no matter who is elected mayor next month.
In seeking to undo Local Law 71, the police union is arguing that the measure will subject cops to a barrage of unjustified lawsuits by plaintiffs claiming they were racially profiled during stop-and-frisk encounters.
The Bloomberg administration had challenged the constitutionality of the council’s law in September, under the very same grounds now cited by the PBA — arguing that the legislation is preempted by the state Criminal Procedure Law, which already makes police racial profiling illegal.
But police and union officials are certain that a victory in next month’s mayoral election by Democratic front-runner Bill de Blasio would doom the chances of the law being rolled back after legal review.
De Blasio has been an ardent critic of existing NYPD stop-and-frisk policies — and police- union officials are convinced he’d seek to drop the city’s lawsuit if elected.
“[PBA President Patrick] Lynch wants to assure that the challenge goes forth,” one PBA official explained.
In announcing the planned lawsuit, Lynch used similar language cited by the city to insist that the new law is baseless.
“We believe that the City Council overstepped the bounds of its authority,” Lynch said.
The PBA lawsuit, a copy of which has been obtained by The Post, contends the City Council law is “unconstitutionally vague.”
The law also requires the cop on the beat to possess more legal training than the most sophisticated constitutional lawyer, the PBA suit contends.
85 The law “necessarily leaves police officers to guess, on pain of civil and potential contempt liability, as to the meaning of several provisions” of the legislation, the lawsuit states.
Such provisions include “whether they have engaged in prohibited ‘bias-based profiling,’ whether they have ‘initiated[ed] law-enforcement action against an individual,’ whether such action ‘was justified by a factor[s] unrelated to unlawful discrimination,’ and how ‘the determinative factor is initiating law-enforcement action’ is to be assessed.”
The council passed its racial- profiling bill June 26, broadening the categories of those protected from profiling.
It allows those who assert they’ve been subjected to biased-based profiling to sue the city, although there’s no provision to allow for monetary awards.
Bloomberg had vetoed the same bill in July, claiming state law already banned racial profiling.
The council overrode Bloomberg’s veto on Aug. 22, enacting the racial-profiling law and establishing an inspector general to monitor the NYPD .
The Conservative Case for Civilian Review
By Kim Hendrickson Tuesday, October 15, 2013
AMERICAN.COM
Promoting civilian review of police departments is in keeping with conservative values.
American attitudes about criminal justice have always crossed party lines. But a view existed, from the 1960s to the early 2000s, that can be fairly called the conservative position. Its main arguments are familiar: American cities are dangerous places; police protect us, in these cities, from crime and disorder; our officers must be given broad discretion to do their jobs and not be second- guessed or restricted; criminals should be incarcerated, even for non-violent offenses, for the sake of punishment and deterrence. The conservative view won adherents and elections for decades, as one might expect when crime rates were soaring and cities were seen as violent, frightening places. The result: larger, more militarized police forces, ballooning corrections budgets, mandatory sentencing laws, and incarceration rates exceeding all other nations.
86 As David Dagan and Steve Teles point out in a 2012 Washington Monthly piece, the conservative view of criminal justice — and its legacy — fit uncomfortably with the broader conservative ideology. It is hard to reconcile broad police powers and mass incarceration with the movement’s general skepticism about government power. It was only a matter of time until the conservative view was challenged by conservatives themselves, or those identifying as right of center. This re-evaluation began with the religious right and their defense of prisoners’ rights in the late 1970s and 1980s. It was bolstered by right-of-center scholars and politicians raising alarm bells about recidivism rates and the high costs when ex-prisoners re-enter society without adequate preparation. In more recent years, a “Right on Crime” initiative was launched by the conservative-leaning Texas Public Policy Foundation as part of an effort to replace the old conservative view of criminal justice with one more in line with the movement’s principles. Supporters, including conservative activists Richard Viguerie, Ralph Reed, former Attorney General Edwin Meese, and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, urge a cost benefit analysis of crime and punishment programs and a more carefully defined view of criminal behavior.
Conservatives’ approach to criminal justice has clearly evolved. Manichean views of crime and punishment have lost much of their appeal. It is possible to be “pro-police” and “anti-crime” while objecting to failed policies and government excesses. A pro-law enforcement stance is compatible with an appreciation of individual rights — and even social service programs. But there is one area where conservatives have been largely silent in recent years. It is a natural area for them to champion given their support for federalism, accountability, and limited government. That area is civilian review of police practices. Some history is in order.
Conservative Opposition to Civilian Review
Civilian review boards were first put in place in the 1950s. Their function is the outside review of police departments, typically by non-sworn officers such as community volunteers, paid investigators, ombudsmen, and auditors. Civilian review takes different forms in different cities, but it almost always concerns citizen complaints against police — their intake, their investigation, and their resolution. It is animated by the principle that police cannot adequately police themselves: internal affairs units are not sufficient to hold officers and departments accountable.
In the early days of civilian review boards, conservatives did not give them much attention and the attention they have given them since has not been positive. Attitudes about civilian oversight split along conservative/liberal lines, with the former identifying it as incompatible with crime control and the latter urging it as a remedy for police abuses. A “Firing Line” episode from October 1966 called “Civilian Review Board: Yes or No” is broadly representative. In the episode, William F. Buckley questioned the need for civilian review in New York City in the run up to a referendum on the issue. He opposed a civilian role in the complaint
87 process because it distracts from more pressing needs and weakens local officers. “We are up against a situation,” he said, “with which we have not successfully coped, mainly, the rise in crime . . . under these circumstances, what we need primarily to fasten our attention on is the necessity to catch criminals.” (In the context of the Harlem Riots two years earlier and rising crime rates, this position struck many as entirely reasonable. Civilian review went down in flames in a 63 to 36 percent defeat). Buckley ridiculed the kind of people chosen to sit on civilian review boards for their lack of knowledge and, particularly, their anti-cop agendas. “The radical introduction of the idea of the civilian review board” he argued, tends to be “a foot in the door in the way to politicize the police.”
The New York City civilian review board of 1966 was opposed by the Conservative Party, American Legion posts, and the John Birch Society. Fourteen years later, Democratic Mayor David Dinkins proposed a new board, and in light of high crime rates and police opposition to the board, Republican mayoral candidate Rudy Giuliani proclaimed it “bullshit.” Republicans abolished a review board in Rochester in 1970 and opposed the Philadelphia board in the 1990s. Over in the scholarly realm, Edwin Delattre’s Character and Cops, first published by the American Enterprise Institute in 1989 (and republished in six editions) envisions no role for civilian review in the context of police ethics. “Experience in such programs,” Delattre writes, “has not established the rightful place of civilian boards in addressing problems of corruption.”
This hostility was, perhaps, inevitable. Civilian review, in its early years, did have an anti-police orientation. Early review boards were designed to address anger over police conduct, particularly by black city residents and civil rights organizations. The first proponents of review saw many police officers as racist, criminal, and out of control, which put them in direct conflict with those advocating for more “law and order.” This was a showdown that conservatives won, at least in most American cities; civilian oversight bodies were few and far between up into the 1980s, and those that did exist were controversial and ineffective.
The New Oversight Industry
But times have changed, and conservatives’ early opposition to and more recent neglect of civilian review seem decidedly outdated. The boards have grown up, and the field has exploded. The National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) lists around 100 oversight entities on its website (there were three when Buckley taped his 1966 “Firing Line” appearance), and they exist, in some from or other, in around 80 percent of the largest American cities. With this growth have come professional standards, ethics codes, and other forms of maturation. Talk of social justice at a NACOLE conference is far less frequent than talk about getting the “balance” right between law enforcement and complainants. Indeed, the popularity of the “political” volunteer within the oversight profession seems to be waning; oversight is increasingly dominated by auditors, investigators, and ombudsmen with legal and law enforcement training.
88
One of the central arguments against civilian review — that police can monitor themselves — has lost its relevance in the last two decades. Since the 1994 passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has had the incentive and authority to sue municipalities for unconstitutional policing practices. (Section 14141 of Title 42 prohibits governmental authorities or those acting on their behalf from engaging in "a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officials" that deprives persons of "rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution”). These suits, and the threat of these suits, have resulted in consent decrees and memos of understanding between cities and the DOJ mandating policing changes. The number of DOJ investigations, lawsuits, and agreements concerning police practices since 1994 is small — the Civil Rights Division’s website lists somewhere around two dozen — but they have had significant impact on local jurisdictions. Federal action (and the possibility of federal action) has produced a cottage industry of government experts and private consultants to enforce agreements or give advice about how to best avoid them. For example, Burbank’s police department has been the object of both DOJ and FBI scrutiny in recent years. The city council approved a contract in 2012 to pay superstar police consultant Mike Gennaco $180,000 over a three- year period to discourage further federal involvement.
The DOJ is not the only force driving oversight. As Charles Epp points out in Making Rights Real: Activists, Bureaucrats, and the Creation of the Legalistic State (University of Chicago Press, 2010), private lawsuits against police officers and departments have a similar effect. Hiring an outside consultant to review and improve the local police department’s policies is now standard risk management practice. (Epp’s insight is that local officials often capitalize on the threat of private suits to implement reforms that they find desirable). In light of DOJ investigations, private actions, and cities’ interest in reform, the days when police departments could claim authority to police themselves are over. The question now, for cities, is what form of oversight is best.
Many police chiefs have embraced civilian review as an acceptable alternative. There is no evidence that local review boards deter federal investigations (indeed, most DOJ investigations occur in places where civilian review agencies are in place), but they can make them a little less painful. There is an increasing tendency at the DOJ to recognize a well-functioning review entity as a sign of policing improvement. Police professionals, furthermore, see the value of citizen review as part of a larger strategy of community policing. As a 2000 report from the International Association of Police Chiefs explains, civilian review entities can foster improved community/police relations. “In many cities, citizen review proposals are not negative in character but an outreach from the community to help departments respond objectively to difficult internal situations. Many citizens see civilian review as a positive link to their departments.”
89 Civilian oversight is less expensive and intrusive than federal involvement when it comes to identifying problems. In cities such as Albany, review boards are part of the police department’s early warning system, helping identify problem officers and policies in their early stages. It is also less confrontational. Exact figures are hard to come by, but it is estimated that less than 10 percent of police complaints that are brought to civilian boards’ attention are resolved in the citizens’ favor. Civilian review is attractive to some police departments because it tends to vindicate their officers. For example, in my little city of Bainbridge Island, Washington the friendly new police chief, Matthew Hamner, embraces civilian review because, in his experience, review board volunteers are generally sympathetic to officers.
As civilian review has matured, it has expanded its concerns from particular incidents to broader policy issues. To borrow the language of Debra Livingston, who once served on the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board (and now is a federal judge on the Second Circuit), civilian review is at its best when it is not backward looking and punishment driven. The most useful forms of civilian review are concerned with department policies, procedures, and culture, since these are the things that influence officer behavior. In Seattle, the newly established Community Police Commission doesn’t consider complaints at all. Its job is to provide input on federally mandated police reforms and police department policies. This aspect of civilian review has tremendous potential, as it provides city leaders with new policing ideas and practical insight into what is and isn’t working. It engages at least some city residents, in a meaningful way, in shaping policing priorities and objectives.
In light of the changed nature of civilian oversight in the last two decades and the recognition within law enforcement that it can be beneficial, it is high time for conservatives to adopt a more positive stance. Local civilian review (in contrast to federal review) provides voice to local preferences. It is very much in line with the conservative interest in preserving at least some forms of local government power. A police department in San Diego should be concerned with different issues than a department in Chicago — and civilian review is a mechanism to encourage these differences. There are many constitutional reasons why some policing standards are national, and many incentives exist (like federal grants) that nationalize police practices. But, as our founders understood, there is nothing more essentially local than the function of policing.
Conservatives should also celebrate civilian review because Buckley was right: civilian oversight does politicize policing. But this politicization is precisely what is needed if police departments, like other government agencies, are to be held accountable to the people they are there to serve. Thanks in part to the late 20th century rise in urban crime and the “tough on crime” approach that followed, too many police departments were given the leeway to amass power, which made them insulated, unresponsive, and unaccountable to the public. Civilian oversight has the capacity to reverse this trend, particularly through its policy function.
90 Civilian review is not a panacea for policing problems. It is still a relatively new addition to American politics. In the words of former NACOLE president Kathryn Olson, it is experiencing “growing pains” that should not be glossed over. But the solution is more attention and energy toward improvement. Civilian review needs friends if it is to have a meaningful and positive place in municipal government. Conservatives, with their allegiance to federalism, accountability, and limited government, are its natural defenders. Let this be the next step in the Right’s criminal justice reorientation.
Editorial: Disclosure is the best policy for probes of police misconduct
Oct. 17, 2013 @ 09:27 AM The Herald-Dispatch Huntington WVA
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals this week was asked to answer an important question: Shouldn't the public be allowed to know how police police themselves?
The answer should be "yes," based primarily on the fundamentals of how our state and national governments should work. And that means the public has access to most of the information about the workings of government and the acts of its officials and employees. That, by the way, is spelled out in the opening lines of the state's Freedom of Information Act.
The question came up in a case involving The Charleston Gazette and the West Virginia State Police. The Gazette in 2010 sought records of abuse and misconduct of state police officers from the police agency's Professional Standards section, which handles internal investigations. The Gazette sued after requests for the information were repeatedly denied. A circuit judge sided with state police last year, and the Gazette appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
The newspaper's attorney argued that a strong public interest exists in holding police officers accountable for on-duty conduct. Consequently, the public has a right to know about situations of alleged police misconduct, which police supervisors reviewed the allegations and the findings, including what went into the decision and whether an officer was disciplined, the attorney argued.
An attorney representing state police countered that privacy considerations for officers outweigh other factors because reviews of officers' conduct can include medical or psychiatric issues. She also talked about how disclosure could inhibit officers' discussions of police actions in volatile situations. And previously, the state police had argued that complaints against officers could be used to "harm or embarrass" officers.
91
Those arguments in favor of continued secrecy seem lame in comparison. Medical information can be redacted. The internal reviews themselves should be able to pinpoint any needed policy changes. And, "embarrassment" is simply a price an officer will have to pay if the officer has been abusive or engaged in police misconduct. Likewise, if the charges are unfounded, the public should know that, too.
The vast majority of police officers, whether at the state or local level, carry out their duties admirably. And certainly, police agencies play a vital role in protecting the public's safety. But police officers have authority that everyday people don't, and there should be mechanisms for holding that authority in check. Accountability and disclosure are two ways to do that.
The recent corruption charges out of Mingo County serve as a reminder of what can happen when power is abused. A judge, a county commissioner and a prosecutor have been implicated in various scandals in that county. But so too have a state police officer and a town's police officer, who authorities said played a part in schemes to try to frame an individual.
In deciding this case, the Supreme Court has models to work with. In cases involving state disciplinary proceedings against doctors and lawyers, the court has ruled on the side of reasonable disclosure. It found that if a disciplinary board finds probable cause to substantiate disciplinary charges, then all related records and proceedings are open to the public. If probable cause is not found, the public has a right of access to the charges and the findings of fact and conclusions of law supporting dismissal, the court has ruled.
The public should expect no less accountability regarding the people who are paid with taxpayers' money to enforce the law.
The Future Is Here: How Police Officers’ Videos Protect Officers and Departments
By Craig E. Ferrell, Jr., Deputy Director/General Counsel, Houston Police Department; Retired & Adjunct Professor Houston Baptist University, Houston, Texas
The old adage that “seeing is believing” is truer now than ever before given the ability to record law enforcement encounters. Cameras are everywhere; the proliferation of smart phones, iPhones, mounts in stores, ATMs, and the many videos of law enforcement arrests and interactions with the public that are uploaded to You Tube on a daily basis underscore how important video evidence is to law enforcement. We live in a world of digital media, and cameras have become commonplace. Unfortunately, many of these videos are taken by the
92 public at the point where force is being used on a resisting suspect with law enforcement being portrayed in an unfavorable light. They rarely record the incident that led up to and justified the use of force. This often leads to community and media outrage over legitimate and justified uses of force that are being negatively shown in partial video recordings and do not tell the whole story from the officers’ perspective.
What Every Police Chief Needs to Know About On-Officer Mounted Videos
Video evidence, also referred to as the “silent witness” has the ability to present unbiased facts. It is by its nature “extremely persuasive, vivid, and unforgettable.”1 Video images have always been compelling when presented as evidence in court. Juries that are presented with video evidence will stay alert and will remember far more information than those who simply hear the words without having the advantage of the corresponding visual depiction that should have accompanied it.
In a study conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, prosecutors were asked to rate the value or effectiveness of video evidence in court proceedings. They reported that the presence of video evidence enhances their ability to obtain convictions and increases the number of guilty pleas prior to going to trial. Ninety-three percent reported that video evidence is an effective tool for prosecutors and the majority reported a reduction in the time they actually spent in court.2
In any litigation involving law enforcement action, whether civil or criminal, a big legal hurdle is overcoming the “he said, she said” dilemma. In civil rights cases involving claims of excessive use of force, this factual dispute will preclude the court from granting summary judgment in favor of the officer. The court must find that there is no dispute as to material facts before granting summary judgment. If there is a video recording of the event, the video speaks for itself as to what really happened. If the police officer and department have a complete video that shows the circumstances leading up to the use of force and captures the entire incident, oftentimes there will be no dispute as to material facts and the court is able to grant summary judgment, often saving significant time and expense for the law enforcement agency and officer, as well as avoiding the risk of a large award for damages.
The value of video evidence was emphasized by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Scott v. Harris where the court held that video recordings are more reliable than eyewitness testimony, which was later contradicted by the video of the incident.3 The Court in its landmark 8 to 1 decision went on to say that when opposing parties tell two different stories, one of which is blatantly contradicted by the record, so that no reasonable jury could believe it, a court should not adopt that version of the facts for purposes of ruling on a motion for summary
93 judgment. That was the case in Scott—and whether Scott was driving in such fashion as to endanger human life. Scott’s version of events was so utterly discredited by the record that no reasonable jury could have believed him. “The Court of Appeals should not have relied on such visible fiction; it should have viewed the facts in the light depicted by the videotape.”4 Wow! What a great decision for police officers and agencies alike. That decision answers the question of whether to film or not to film; who would not want this added protection for their police officers and departments?
Another example of how video evidence can impact a civil case is the case of Burton v. Taylor where, an officer followed the driver of a car into a gas station following a high-speed chase and deployed a TASER on him a few times when he resisted being handcuffed.5 Although the man’s story contradicted the officer’s, the video of the event fully credited the officer’s story and completely discredited the man’s version of events. Consequently, the officer was granted summary judgment following the roadmap laid out in the Scott decision by utilizing evidence that previously had not been allowed to be considered by a court until the time of trial.
Since video evidence is so compelling, courts have set high standards to ensure the integrity and admissibility of those images in their rules of civil procedure concerning the admissibility of video evidence.
Admissibility of Video Evidence
In federal court the admissibility of video recordings as photographic evidence is governed by Rule 1001(2) of the Federal Rules of Evidence (Federal Rules) that establishes seven criteria to determine admissibility:
The recording device was capable of recording the activity. The recording is authentic and correct. No changes, additions, or deletions have been made to the recording. The recording has been preserved in the manner shown to the court. The operator was competent to operate the recording device. The persons being recorded are identified. The activity elicited was made voluntarily, in good faith, and with no inducements. Most states have similar rules of evidence that vary by jurisdiction. The foundation for the admissibility of video recordings is generally laid through eyewitness testimony, usually the operator, establishing the video as an “accurate and faithful representation” of the scene or object depicted.
It should be noted that the first five of the above seven admissibility criteria from the Federal Rules are dependent on the ease of use, quality, reliability, security, and integrity of the recording device and the software storage and management
94 system where the video recording is stored. It is critical therefore, that these factors are given serious consideration when evaluating an on-officer video camera and backend software storage and management systems.
An Added Benefit of Police Videos—Reduced Complaints and Improved Community Relations
William Farrar, the police chief in Rialto, Calif., conducted a study that began in February 2012 to determine whether officers’ use of video cameras can improve relations between the police and citizens. Chief Farrar stated that “it wasn’t the easiest sell,” when he informed officers in Rialto of the introduction of the new, on-officer, miniaturized cameras, with some officers “questioning why ‘big brother’ should see everything they do.” He reminded them that citizens could use cellphones to record interactions, “so instead of relying on somebody else’s partial picture of what occurred, why not have your own?” he asked. “In this way, you have the real one.” Chief Farrar describes the before-and-after figures for complaints and uses of force as “simply amazing.”6
Citizen Complaints: Citizen complaints about perceived officer misconduct or poor performance declined nearly 88 percent. In some cases, citizens decided not to file grievances after they were shown the video of their incident.
Use of Force: Uses of force dropped 60 percent. The study found that “[s]hifts without cameras experienced twice as many incidents of use of force as shifts with cameras.”7 In addition, the rate of use of force incidents per 1,000 contacts was reduced by 2.5 times compared to the 12 months prior to the study period.
Change in Behavior: Chief Farrar stated that the study showed there was a change in behavior both by his officers and the public. He explained “I think it’s a mixture: Officers become more professional, and citizens tend to behave better.”8
Legal Considerations When Evaluating On-Officer Video Systems
Ease of Operation and Training: One of the criteria under the Federal Rules for a video to be admitted as evidence is that the operator was competent to operate the recording device. Both ease of use of the recording system with safeguards, as well as good officer training in the operation of the camera are critical to meet this criterion. For example, the recorder should have a very simple, easy to use on/off switch that can be easily operated by dexterity alone without looking, with private audio signals to confirm when it is turned off and on, as well as safeguards to prevent accidentally turning it on or off. Video transfer from the recorder to a secure evidence database should be very simple and automatic with no room for error. Be sure to evaluate the manufacturer’s training program to ensure operator training to a competency level.
95
Quality and Reliability: Another requirement for admissibility under the Federal Rules is that the recording device be capable of recording the activity. To satisfy this requirement, the video recording system must have professional- grade quality, ruggedness, and reliability to work the first time, every time—and with extended battery life. In addition, the camera should have low-light capability to mirror the human eye. Many consumer grade cameras do not meet this standard. Also pre-buffering is an important feature where the camera continuously records and holds the most recent 30 seconds of video when the camera is off. With this feature, the initial activity that causes the officer to turn on the camera is likely to be captured automatically, thereby increasing the capability of recording the entire activity.
Security, Anti-Tampering, and Audit Trail: The Federal Rules also require that the recording be authentic and correct and that no changes, additions, or deletions were made to the recording for it to be admitted as evidence. To meet this requirement, the whole camera system, including the camera, the transfer of video from the camera to storage, and data storage system must be secure and tamper proof. The best systems are those with no human access to camera memory where the original video cannot be modified, only viewed. Also important are anti-deletion safeguards and permissions for viewing and copying. The worst systems are those that use an accessible SD card, which allows the security risks of either losing the SD card or tampering with the original video on the SD card. Best practices also require a time and date stamp, watermarks and hashing to ensure integrity, and safeguards to ensure that the camera cannot record over or delete video files. Another important security consideration is requiring permissions for viewing and copying a video file.
Chain of Custody: Because video tampering is possible, it is important to establish chain of custody or other evidence establishing that the content of the video has not been altered from the original recording. The Federal Rules require proof that the recording was preserved in the manner shown to the court. This is best accomplished with an audit trail record and chain-of-custody report that lists all persons who had access and viewed or copied the video, the time and date of each event, and what action was performed. Software systems that preserve the original video file unaltered and track the audit trail and chain of evidence automatically with report writing capability are usually more accurate than an officer trying to keep manual track of removable SD cards and personal computer video files, documenting all people who had access to the video, and what action was taken.
Officers’ Perspectives: In Graham v. Connor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all excessive force claims against law enforcement are properly analyzed under the Fourth Amendment’s “objective reasonableness” standard.9 It held that the “reasonableness” of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene. Therefore, any camera system
96 that best records the incident from the perspective of the officer at the scene would be best qualified to meet this evidentiary standard.
There are generally four types of video camera systems currently being used by law enforcement:
In-Car Camera. This type of camera records the perspective of the officer while in the car looking forward within the fixed field of view of the camera. It has been estimated that 90 percent of the officer’s interaction takes place outside the field of view of the in-car camera.
Camera Mounted on Conducted Energy Weapon (CEW). This camera records the perspective of the officer when he is looking in the direction of where the CEW is aimed and the safety is turned to power on.
Body-Mounted Camera. This camera is usually mounted on the officer’s uniform facing forward and has a fixed field of view pointing in front of the officer, but does not see what the officer sees since the field of view is quite a bit lower than eye level, which results in obscured views when a firearm or CEW is raised to firing position or when driving a car where the steering wheel and hands on the steering obscure the view or when the officer turns his or her head. Head-Mounted Camera. Since the camera is mounted on the officer’s head at eye level facing forward on a head band or a pair of glasses, it best records what the officer sees and is the best evidence of the officer’s perspective.
Privacy: Some states require two-party consent before video recording, and some states allow video recording but not audio recording. In addition to these privacy issues, there is also a concern about first amendment rights and other privacy concerns. The New York Times reported that Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “We don’t like the networks of police-run video cameras that are being set up in an increasing number of cities. We don’t think the government should be watching over the population en masse.”10
Mr. Stanley states that all parties benefit from officer-worn cameras. They protect the public from police misconduct—and officers from bogus complaints. “There are many police officers who’ve had a cloud fall over them because of an unfounded accusation of abuse,” he said. “Now police officers won’t have to worry so much about that kind of thing.”11
Conclusion
The future is here, and police chiefs need to equip their police officers with the tools required to protect themselves, the public, and their departments. Police officer videos are the answer to combating negative public perceptions created by partial cellphone videos often showing only an officer’s use of force, and,
97 more importantly, they help courts have the evidence needed to overcome the “he said/she said” situations resulting from a police officer’s need to use force to effectuate an arrest or to protect themselves or others. As Captain Joe Fiumara said in the Technology Talk column, “The Future Is Near: Getting Ahead of the Challenges of Body-Worn Video,” in September 2012: “It is imperative that law enforcement takes proactive steps to guide policy development, standards, legal processes, and best practices in a manner that will foresee and overcome the anticipated challenges [facing police officers].”
Therefore, common sense and best practices (as seen in the Scott decision) demand that, if at all possible, all departments should equip their officers with body-worn video cameras. To do less is no longer acceptable. ♦
Notes: 1See Jordan S. Gruber, “Videotape Evidence,” 44 AM. JUR. TRIALS 171, § 74 (2009). 2The Impact of Video Evidence on Modern Policing (Alexandria, Va.: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2003), http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Publications/video_evidence.pdf (accessed August 21, 2013). 3Scott v. Harris,127 S. Ct. 1769 (2007). A link to the video from the case can be found on the U.S. Supreme Court website http://www.supremecourt.gov/media/media.aspx. This case marks the first time the Court posted video evidence on its website. 4Id. 52012 WL 832624 (M.D. Tenn. Mar. 12, 2012) 6Randall Stross, “Wearing a Badge, and a Video Camera,” The New York Times, April 6, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-cameras-for-police- officers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed August 21, 2013). 7Nick Kolakowski, “Should Cops Wear Google Glass?” Slashdot, August 15, 2013, http://slashdot.org/topic/bi/should-cops-wear-google-glass (accessed August 27, 2013). 8“New Study Measures Impact of Body Cams on Complaints, Force Use,” Force Science News 230, http://www.forcescience.org/fsnews/230.html (accessed August 27, 2013). 9Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 395 (1989), quoting Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U. S. 1 (1985). 10Stross, “Wearing a Badge, and a Video Camera.” 11Joe Fiumara, "The Future Is Near: Getting Ahead of the Challenges of Body-Worn Video," Technology Talk, The Police Chief 79 (September 2012): 54.
Please cite as:
Craig E. Ferrell, Jr., "The Future Is Here: How Police Officers’ Videos Protect Officers and Departments," Chief’s Counsel, The Police Chief 80 (October 2013): 16–18.
Arbitrator praises Denver Police Chief Robert White's staffing plan By Sadie Gurman The Denver Post POSTED: 10/16/2013 05:21:34 PM MDT4 COMMENTS| An arbitrator praised Denver Police Chief Robert White's new staffing plan that has officers working in teams with their supervisors, saying it has improved productivity and allowed officers to become more familiar with the areas they patrol.
98
The commentary came in a ruling this month denying police union leaders a grievance that claimed White's "team concept" violates their contract because it forces them to choose vacation days based on seniority within their team rather than within their patrol district.
"The Chief was clearly acting within the authority reserved to him ... to reorganize the department," arbitrator Harry N. MacLean wrote in the decision. "The new team models are sound and unquestionably beneficial."
Although their grievance was related only to vacation days, union leaders have sharply criticized the pace of White's move to the team concept and his shifting of police district boundary lines, saying the changes have delayed response times and put officers in harm's way.
But the arbitration board, which heard testimony from police officials and rank- and-file officers alike, said the change has made the department more efficient. Officers are more accountable because they work more regularly with supervisors who can evaluate their efforts, MacLean wrote.
"Importantly from the public's point of view, the same officers are working their areas allowing for more familiarity and better communication," the ruling said. "Officers have also benefitted from consistency in their supervision and evaluations and in the ability to make long range plans."
MacLean's comments reflect how the team concept should ideally work, but short-staffing means the reality is much different, union president Nick Rogers said. The department's ranks have shrunk because of departures and budget cuts that have kept it from hiring since 2008.
The department is mismanaging its limited resources, he said.
"No one stays in their precinct. The precincts were made so much wider, they'll go anywhere in the district. They'll answer calls from border to border, which is totally contrary to community policing," Rogers said.
"They're going from call to call to call. They don't have time to do anything but handle radio calls."
The union disagrees with the arbitrator's interpretation of its contract, but the decision is binding.
White said he was "elated" by the decision as it validates his efforts and allows him to move forward with his reorganization.
99 "We're directing how our resources are allocated much more effectively than we have in the past," White said. Of the team concept, he added, "The advantages far, far outweigh the drawbacks."
Proposed changes to Portland police complaint system to go before council
The Oregonian
By Maxine Bernstein | [email protected] | Follow on Twitter on October 16, 2013 at 12:01 AM, updated October 16, 2013 at 12:03 AM
Investigators from Portland's Independent Police Review Division, the intake center for complaints against police, could directly question and compel testimony from any officer under a proposed city code change.
If a sworn officer or civilian member of the Police Bureau refused an interview, they could face discipline, up to discharge, by the chief or police commissioner. Employes would be told the date and time of the interview and would have the right to have a union representative present.
In another proposed code change, public reports on alleged police misconduct cases heard by the Portland Police Review Board, which recommends discipline to the chief, would be expanded to include the board's recommended findings, the police chief's proposed discipline and the final discipline.
If the chief imposes discipline different from the review board's recommendation, the chief would have to provide a written explanation to the police commissioner.
The chief's final discipline is not included in the public reports now.
The matter was raised when Police Chief Mike Reese last year disregarded the review board's recommendation to fire then-Capt. Todd Wyatt and instead demoted Wyatt to lieutenant. The review board found Wyatt had inappropriately touched female employees under his command, wasn't truthful about what had occurred and escalated an off-duty road rage encounter by flashing his gun and badge.
Mary-Beth Baptista, then director of the Independent Police Review Division, criticized the chief's decision in the Wyatt case, saying it wasn't what police accountability looked like.
100 Other proposed changes would alter the makeup of the Citizen Review Committee, now a nine-member volunteer group that hears appeals from people who have filed complaints against an officer and seek to challenge the bureau's findings. The committee would grow to 11 members, and all would have to sign a confidentiality agreement.
The Independent Police Review Division also is recommending changes in Police Bureau command structure. The head of police internal affairs would report directly to the police chief, "given the sensitive nature of misconduct investigations.'' That's essentially occurring now but hasn't been formalized. The chief also could delegate authority to start or complete a misconduct inquiry to the head of internal affairs.
The City Council is set to hear the proposals on Oct. 23.
63 cops suspended over deadly chase in Cleveland Associated Press October 15, 2013
CLEVELAND – A review of a deadly police chase in Cleveland nearly a year ago has led to suspensions for 63 patrol officers who violated orders and department rules, the city's police chief said Tuesday.
A fleeing driver and passenger were killed when officers fired 137 shots at them in the 23-minute chase that involved five dozen cruisers and wove through residential neighborhoods before ending in gunfire.
Police Chief Michael McGrath said the suspensions were the result of disciplinary hearings, and violations ranged from insubordination to driving too fast during the chase.
The hearings did not involve any of the officers involved in the shooting because a county grand jury is investigating possible criminal wrongdoing among the 13 officers who fired their weapons. No weapon or shell casings were found in the fleeing car.
An initial review of the chase found 75 patrol officers violated orders, but the disciplinary hearings reduced that number to 64 officers. All but one received a suspension, with the longest being 10 days, McGrath said.
None of the violations was so serious it warranted termination. Some of the officers received a written warning.
101
Police previously announced punishments for 12 supervisors stemming from the chase. One sergeant was fired. A captain and lieutenant were demoted, and nine sergeants were suspended.
The nighttime chase began last November when an officer thought he heard a gunshot from a car speeding by the police station in downtown Cleveland. A parking lot attendant thought it might have been a car backfire, a theory endorsed by the driver's family.
The officer jumped into his patrol car and radioed for help. The chase went through neighborhoods, onto Interstate 90, and eventually ended in East Cleveland.
Driver Timothy Russell, 43, was shot 23 times and passenger Malissa Williams, 30, was shot 24 times.
Police say they don't know why Russell didn't stop. He had a criminal record including convictions for receiving stolen property and robbery. Williams had convictions for drug-related charges and attempted abduction.
McGrath said Tuesday that some of the officers continued the chase after being told to stop because they thought an officer was in trouble. He said the officers who were disciplined were honest and professional during the review process. He also said police supervisors failed to take charge of the chase and allowed it to escalate.
The union has said the shootings were justified because the driver tried to ram an officer.
Pay survey: Future of staff remuneration raised
Survey will establish current pay structure for police staff across UK and could ignite negotiations over a national pay structure.
Date - 17th October 2013 By - Jasmin McDermott - Police Oracle 1 Comment The results of a national survey of the current pay arrangements for police staff could be pivotal in negotiations for a standardised national pay structure, it is hoped.
The survey, which is being sent to forces across the country by the employer’s side of the Police Staff Council, will ask senior managers to confirm the number
102 of police staff they have at each of their pay points as well as the remuneration at each point.
As well as documenting what effect the government’s austerity measures have had on staff pay, the survey will attempt to fill the “dearth of information” in relation to the current state of play with staff pay in each force.
In an interview with PoliceOracle.com, Unison’s Police Lead Ben Priestley (pictured) said that in his first report into the pay and conditions of officers and staff, Tom Winsor criticised the lack of up-to-date information on staff pay.
He said: “We need to know what the current state of play is regarding police staff pay.
“There has never been very effective practice of recording and registering police staff pay on a regular basis like there is for officer pay.
“The purpose of the survey is to get a snapshot in time following the implementation of the one per cent pay deal in September.
“This could form part of the negotiation for a national pay structure.”
Unlike officers, the pay scales of staff are set by each force due to a lack of a national pay body or grading system. This can lead to a significant wage disparity between forces.
Despite the implementation of a number of controversial recommendations from both of the Winsor reports to police officer pay and conditions, none of the recommendations for police staff have been put in place.
Mr Priestley admitted that this has been in part due to the fact that staff pay is split 43 different ways making the system much more difficult to reform.
Mr Winsor’s promise that some police staff jobs could be guaranteed if forces implemented the proposed cuts was not deliverable, Mr Priestley added.
“Winsor had no basis on which to negotiate with police staff over the cuts,” he said.
“We asked 10 forces how many jobs they would be able to save by implementing the cuts and none could come back with an answer – so even the forces were struggling with this recommendation.
“Winsor part one has been put on ice and we are still talking about Winsor part two.
103 He added: “The police staff trade unions are still pressing for a national pay structure for police staff. We cannot see why forces are wasting money continually reinventing the wheel.”
Why policing experience matters
Direct entry is unsuitable for the service in the UK – and could end up causing a serious problem, argues Royston Martis.
Date - 17th October 2013 By - Royston Martis - Police Oracle 11 Comments We are fortunate to live in a country that has “the greatest Police Service in the world”.
We are told this fact by the government – constantly.
And yet we find out this week that the tens of thousands of men and women who currently work as officers are not that great in the eyes of politicians – because direct entry into the service’s senior ranks will begin next year.
Around 100 superintendents and inspectors are to be parachuted into policing from 2014.
They – unlike the officers they will command – will not have had to get their hands dirty on the shop floor.
They will not have served as front line constables.
They will never have made an arrest.
This is a mistake.
One of the great strengths of the British Police Service is that all those who serve in it as officers have started at the same level.
They have the respect of their peers. They have the respect of those that serve under them. They give an order, knowing that they have been there and done it themselves.
And they have many years of operational experience to call upon when they make those decisions.
This experience counts.
How – for instance - would a “direct entry” officer be able to command a public order or firearms incident?
104
This is not a game. Very tragically there is a real risk that the decisions they will make in these new roles will lead to injuries if not fatalities.
And it is a plain fact that their lack of operational experience will undermine their credibility with officers on the front line.
It is fair to say bobbies on the beat are very unhappy about plans for direct entry in policing.
One officer told me this week: “These new entrants will garner nil respect or admiration from those at the sharp end and will add zilch to our method of policing.”
Another simply added: “I won't be calling them boss..."
Is there not enough talent already in policing? This decision will do nothing for already non existent police officer morale – especially among those looking to climb the career ladder.
PoliceOracle.com told earlier this year how more than 14,000 police constables and sergeants are already locked in career limbo across England and Wales. Research showed 10,444 PCs and 3,778 sergeants had passed both OSPRE Parts I and II, or work-based assessment equivalents, but have not been substantively promoted.
This is because there have been no jobs for them to go to.
So what then happens to these bright and ambitious people who have devoted their careers to policing – to only see whatever few jobs do become available going to candidates with no policing experience?
Frankly the whole thing is a disaster waiting to happen.
That is unless I suddenly get bored of this writing and communications lark and decide to become a senior police officer.
Well, why not?
I have never arrested anyone or rolled around on the floor with a drunk and disorderly on a Friday night.
I have never had to deliver a death message to a family or come across a gruesome fatality on the roads.
I have never commanded firearms incidents, helped find a missing child or taken firm decisions to quell a riot.
105
So size me up for a uniform.
Sounds like I am the government’s ideal candidate to join the senior ranks of the “greatest Police Service in the world.”
106