Quorum National and International News clippings & press releases
Providing members with information on policing from across Canada & around the world
6 September 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 Police complaints take too long to process, says watchdog ...... 4 Victoria’s deputy police chief rides into retirement in vintage cruiser ...... 6 New Appointments to RCMP Contract Management Committee ...... 7 Police tech could stop crimes before they even happen ...... 8 B.C. police complaints process fails to serve forces or complainants ...... 9 ALBERTA ...... 11 Operation Desino gang busts worth cost, says police chief ...... 11 Calgary police overtime during flood cost $3.6M ...... 12 RCMP: relationship with Hobbema positive ...... 12 Police association president sees need for specialized unit ...... 14 Edmonton police form Aboriginal relations unit ...... 16 SASKATCHEWAN ...... 17 In Canadian first, native woman becomes head of RCMP division ...... 17 Sask. supports recommendations to address cyberbullying ...... 19 Mental health top concern at policing conference ...... 20 MANITOBA ...... 21 Police chief denies executives behind review leak ...... 21 Review puts police under knife ...... 22 National union takes look ...... 24 ONTARIO ...... 25 Meaford to Consider Proposal From Owen Sound Police Service ...... 26 Police union and board reach three-year deal ...... 28 Improving Public and Police Officer Safety ...... 29 OPP rejects city's call for arbitration ...... 30 Opinion: Money not well spent by local police ...... 31 Opinion: Police board chair asks for answers in Sammy Yatim shooting ...... 34 Fanshawe looks to become leader in public safety programs ...... 35 Ontario SIU head singles out Toronto police chief for lack of co-operation ...... 36 Better training ‘not a bad thing,’ police board chair says ...... 38 Ontario ombud apologizes for wrongly accusing cop of sending offensive tweets ...... 40 New OPP boss, Inspector Jeff Smith, addresses Pembroke council ...... 44 Police association head questions handling of Denouden case ...... 45 Mayor needs fill-in on police board: Parnell ...... 46 Hamilton police lose link as Toronto leaves association ...... 48 Cellblock police officer's $540K legal bill goes to arbitration ...... 49 Municipalities fear fallout of soaring police costs ...... 50 Star editorial: The broken arbitration system ...... 53 Ontario to expand police access to tasers ...... 54 QUEBEC ...... 57 Challenging Police, Student Politicians ...... 57 NEW BRUNSWICK ...... 61 Fredericton faces shrinking police force ...... 61 NOVA SCOTIA ...... 62 RCMP's new digs has 'huge impact on policing' ...... 62 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ...... 63
2 NEWFOUNDLAND ...... 63 NATIONAL ...... 63 Canadian mental health commission head explores more collaboration, training with police ...... 63 Police should not be ‘front-line on mental health,’ chiefs say ...... 65 Sammy Yatim shooting a lesson for new police watchdogs ...... 66 National conference looking at policing and mental health ...... 68 Mental illness not police matter ...... 68 Tories act out of spite in pot spat with cops ...... 70 Mandatory minimum sentencing laws in Canada are counterproductive ...... 71 Child sex crimes to draw stronger penalties, PM Harper vows ...... 74 Give Harassed RCMP Officers Real Change, Not Lip Service ...... 75 Police chiefs try to make it harder for media to use officers’ radio calls ...... 76 Top Mountie remains mum over marijuana-ticketing proposal ...... 77 How Do We Protect the Mentally Ill From Police Violence? ...... 79 INTERNATIONAL NEWS ...... 81 Police union slams Christie’s suggestion of county force for Trenton ...... 81 PRINCETON: Council, mayor split on police supervision ...... 84 Ford Is Working on a Warning System to Protect Police Officers ...... 85 Police Chafe at Scrutiny ...... 87 West Yorkshire Police Commissioner announces maximum starting salary of £22k for new recruits ...... 89 Tom Barrett's 2014 city budget includes hiring 100 new cops ...... 90 Detroit police oversight board functions curtailed ...... 92 The Real Costs of Policing the Police ...... 93 In California, a Champion for Police Cameras ...... 95 Under a New Law, the Police Can Act as Gun Dealers ...... 98 In Our View: Worth Cost to Train Police ...... 100 Policing Twitter and Facebook ...... 101 Row over bid to curb police boards probing complaintsucy Adams ...... 102 Judge is asked to delay new use-of-force policy for Seattle police ...... 103 The Adventure of Blondie and the Bloodhound ...... 105 Arbitration Panel Sides With East Hartford Police Union ...... 108 Wave of reforms result in lower salaries for police and firefighters ...... 109 Stop-and-Frisk in Public Housing ...... 113 Northern Ireland Policing Board comes in for criticism ...... 114 PCCs, politics and relationships with chiefs ...... 115 Police pay: A cut hidden in a rise ...... 116 Policing police ...... 118 PCC: Appointment process for chiefs 'now less robust' ...... 121 PRINCETON: Police oversight could come to a tie-breaker ...... 122
3 BRITISH COLUMBIA
Police complaints take too long to process, says watchdog OPCC concerned as less than half of all investigations completed within required six-month period
ROCHELLE BAKER / THE TIMES AUGUST 15, 2013
The Abbotsford Police Department and other municipal forces are taking too long to complete complaint investigations, says the province's police watchdog.
The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner is concerned only 45 per cent of police complaint investigations are finished within the required six-month period of
180 days, according to a study by the Auditor General's Office.
Rollie Woods, deputy police complaint commissioner, said the OPCC will be pushing professional standards sections (PSS) in all 12 municipal police departments to wrap up complaint files in a more timely fashion.
"There's usually a good reason for delays but it's still unacceptable and we have to work to find a way to get these numbers down," said Woods.
The problem came to light in January after the Auditor General's Office conducted an audit of police complaint files from April 1, 2010 to August 31, 2012, said Woods.
From April 2010 to March 2011, the APD needed a median of 237.5 days, almost two months longer than required, to conduct complaint investigations, according to the OPCC's latest quarterly report.
Abbotsford Police had a total of 28 investigations and asked for 36 extensions from the OPCC.
The median for all the police departments to finish complaint files in that same time frame was 213 days.
Numbers improved in the 2011/12 time period, when APD took a median of 213 days for complaint cases.
The force had a total of 10 investigations and requested 13 extensions. The overall median for police departments for complaint investigations was 183 days.
4 In 2012 and up to March 2013, the APD's median dropped to required 181 days, however, some complaint files may still be under investigation. And the maximum number to finish a complaint file topped out at 270 days.
Over that time, APD had 10 investigations and requested three extensions.
The median figure for all the police departments' complaint files was 182 days. Overall, the time Abbotsford and other police departments need to resolve complaints seems to be trending downward, said Woods.
However, there are no consequences when departments exceed the six-month complaint investigation period stipulated in the Police Act.
"It's a challenge. [The OPCC] needs to keep encouraging compliance." Abbotsford Police Sgt. Elly Wright said the force takes the Police Act's six-month time frame for complaint investigations very seriously.
"In the last couple of years, we've improved and we'll continue to improve in resolving these investigations in a timely way," said Wright.
The APD has hired a civilian staffer for the PSS to do administrative work so officers can focus on investigations, she said.
The time required for an investigation depends on the number of complaints being examined, the complexity of the cases and vacancies within the PSS.
Additionally, the clock can tick on police complaint investigations that are suspended until any parallel criminal file is complete.
The APD also takes on external complaint investigations for other police departments, which can add to the caseload, Wright said.
Woods noted Abbotsford's PSS, which has three officers, is smaller than some other police departments of comparable size.
"You can't criticize the quality of their work," he said. "But sometimes professional standards sections can be under resourced."
APD does take PSS staffing levels into consideration, said Wright.
"But we have to balance that with the needs of the rest of the organization, and fiscal restraints on the department are a factor," she said.
"We are working to be more efficient and smarter with the resources we have and reduce the amount of repetition and the workload."
5 Victoria’s deputy police chief rides into retirement in vintage cruiser JEFF BELL / TIMES COLONIST AUGUST 29, 2013
Like so many Victoria police officers before him, Deputy Chief John Ducker rolled into retirement in the department’s long-serving Car 40 — a restored 1940 police vehicle that has taken on a ceremonial role.
Ducker, a 34-year veteran of the Victoria force who was once touted as a candidate for chief, walked out of police headquarters at 850 Caledonia Ave. on Thursday afternoon and climbed into Car 40 with wife, Bridget, and daughters, Jayne and Megan.
A police motorcade accompanied the family to Victoria and Esquimalt city halls, where Ducker, often called J.D. by his friends, had a final word with Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin and Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, both members of the Victoria Police Board.
From there, it was a short trip to his Esquimalt home, and the start of his post- police life.
Ducker gave a number of interviews when he announced his retirement in the spring, but he wasn’t speaking publicly for Thursday’s occasion. He held his emotions in check as he saluted the assembled officers and acknowledged others in the crowd.
Victoria police Const. Mike Russell said formalities like those given to Ducker are tradition for high-ranking officers leaving the force.
“We’re trying to standardize what we do here, so he’s getting a piper and the officers are coming out to say good bye.”
A similar observance will be put on for Police Chief Jamie Graham when he retires at the end of December.
After announcing in May that he was stepping down, Ducker told the Times Colonist it was a tough decision not to keep going and vie for the job as chief. But at 54, he said committing to the standard five-year term that chiefs usually take on seemed daunting.
He said he was an “old guy” in police terms: “The miles you put on doing police work are a lot different than in the civilian world.”
Russell said Ducker is admired and respected throughout the police department, and his retirement will be a big loss.
6 Ducker was one of two deputy chiefs along with Del Manak. Ducker’s replacement is 49-year-old Steve Ing, who has been with the Victoria police for 25 years and moves up from the rank of inspector.
“There’s going to be some big shoes to fill,” Russell said.
Desjardins said Ducker’s caring nature was seen both on and off the job.
“The man is so passionate about his work and about his community,” she said. “This is bittersweet in many ways to lose him, but we’re going to be gaining him in the community so that’s a huge positive for us.”
Fortin said Ducker is “an amazing individual” and has a huge heart.
“He’s recognized for that by the people in the homeless community, the people in the social-service community.”
Fortin said the selection process to replace Graham is ongoing.
“We’ve engaged a search firm that’s out there taking in all the applications, preparing the information for the board.”
Once that information is reviewed, the interview stage will follow, Fortin said.
New Appointments to RCMP Contract Management Committee
Sep 4, 2013
UBCM has appointed two new representatives to the British Columbia Local Government Contract Management Committee (BCLGCMC): Mayor Malcolm Brodie, City of Richmond as a Metro Vancouver representative, and Director Ray Boucher, Fraser Valley Regional District, as the representative of a regional district policed by the RCMP.
The new appointments fill vacancies on the current committee. The purpose of the BCLGCMC is to provide a forum for consultation, analysis and communication between local governments and the Province regarding the management of the Municipal Police Unit Agreements (MPUAs). The Committee analyzes and responds to changes proposed by the Federal government and the RCMP, and recommends changes that reflect local government priorities.
UBCM would like to thank all those local government representatives that expressed an interest in participating on the Committee.
7 Police tech could stop crimes before they even happen Tool helps Vancouver police ‘predict’ crimes
Vancouver police have a tool that helps 'predict' crime by creating algorithms using historical data. CTV British Columbia Published Monday, August 19, 2013 6:36PM PDT
Police technology is getting closer and closer to being able to stop crimes before they occur. Science fiction films like Minority Report no longer seem quite so far- fetched.
The Vancouver Police Department is working with technology that can predict where crimes are most likely to occur, drawing from a wealth of data including that of past offences.
Special Const. Ryan Prox expects the ground-breaking system will be used to stop crimes before they happen by early 2014.
The technology will draw from multiple data sets to predict that a specific crime will probably occur in a specific location at a specific time, he said, so police will know where to go before a crime has been committed. “We will actually be deploying police units pre-emptively to where crime isn’t happening, but where we’re predicting it might,” said Prox. Police cars are equipped with mobile terminals with touch screens for easy access to the data while on the go, so officers can make their own decisions on where they should be. The customized computer system from IBM has been used since 2007, and is making Vancouver's police force leaders in North America, keeping pace with the likes of New York and Los Angeles. In addition to preventing crime, “big data” can also be used to solve cases traditional techniques couldn’t crack, said Prox. He said their advanced computer system drew from extensive data sets to help solve a case in 2010 that had been unsolved for a year and a half. A rapist had been targeting young girls around the Lower Mainland since the 1990s when Prox was asked to put the data system to the test. A vast quantity of data was mined, including housing sale records and other data not typically included in a police investigation, using a method known as “geo-profiling.” Within six weeks, the computer spat out a name: Ibata Hexamer, with 99.7 per cent certainty. A warrant was promptly issued for his arrest. He pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault last August. Prox said that without the computer system, the case might not have been solved. “He would not have been caught until he would have offended again,” said Prox. Police are using an increasing number of data sources to find criminals. Using data to guide police work can help make their work smarter and more efficient, to keep costs low and streets safe, said Prox.
8 Such investigative technologies have also caught the attention of privacy watchdogs. For decades, there have been plenty of ways that everyday citizens are monitored by businesses, but SFU criminology professor Richard Frank said government agencies are getting access to more data than ever before. “More and more, the government is stepping in and collecting it from separate entities,” he said. He said those concerned about privacy infringement should remember that much of what we do online isn’t really that private. He said we should think of email providers and social media sites as public property.
B.C. police complaints process fails to serve forces or complainants
Over $278,000 spent to defend officers who used excessive force
BY IAN MULGREW, VANCOUVER SUN SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
A 2010 Victoria brawl that went viral on YouTube has turned, as predicted, into a massive legal expense for taxpayers.
Lawyer Richard Neary was fuming Tuesday after learning the Victoria police department has spent hundreds of thousands so far to defend two officers who used excessive force, including paying them overtime to attend a 10-day public hearing.
"I'm just staggered - there's a quarter-million in legal fees just on the public hearing and that doesn't include five days of a disciplinary hearing in New Westminster before police Chief Dave Jones," he complained. "That's $25K daily in legal fees and the same lawyers acted in the disciplinary hearing. Then there are all the fees spent defending the civil suit. Who is giving the green light for this? Who permitted this to happen - this amount of money to be spent? The matter could have been settled years ago for a fraction of that figure and a simple apology."
Neary, who represents Tyler Archer, complained last year his client was being re- victimized by being "dragged kicking and screaming" into a premature police complaints process. Constables Chris Bowser and Brendan Robinson were accused of using excessive force in breaking up a March 21, 2010 fight. A dramatic video of the incident showed that while he was on the ground following the drunken brawl, 20-year-old Archer was kicked and roughly handled.
The use of force report concluded the officers acted appropriately.
On Feb. 11, 2011, the Crown decided not to lay charges despite the disturbing video.
9
And the arm's-length disciplinary authority, New Westminster police Chief Jones, cleared the officers in November 2011.
Nevertheless, in February 2012, Police Complaints Commissioner Stan Lowe ordered a public hearing. In April, an adjudicator, former provincial court judge Ben Casson, concluded that Bowser, 41, and Robinson, 27, used excessive force.
Bowser was suspended for two days without pay but, in spite of his mistakes, Casson concluded the rookie Robinson did not abuse his authority.
Neary maintained last year those proceedings were a huge needless expense and potentially could taint the upcoming trial in the civil lawsuit Archer has filed seeking damages for assault, unlawful confinement and violation of his right to security of the person.
The case exemplified many of the concerns that have been raised about the province's expensive and problematic police complaints regime - that it serves neither the public, the accused nor the victim very well.
Neary erupted after the city police department said it spent $278,597 on the police complaints hearing - $245,057 for lawyers to represent the officers and $33,540 in overtime to cops who testified as witnesses, including Bowser and Robinson.
The figures were released in response to a request from Victoria journalist Stephen Andrew and published online this week by Focus magazine.
"It's important the figures came to light and important to recognize this is not the entire budget," Neary said.
"It doesn't even come close to what the city has spent on this entire affair. The constable apologized at the end of the public hearing and admits some wrongdoing, yet the position of the city on the civil suit is complete denial of liability and they've not offered a penny. I don't know how you reconcile those things. ... They're spending more legal fees on this - it boggles my mind."
Neary said he could understand the city spending money to defend an issue of principle, but not under these circumstances since it did not appeal Casson's findings: "How is it they're still refusing to settle and gearing up to spend more money on legal fees? It's incredible ... It's nuts."
10 ALBERTA Operation Desino gang busts worth cost, says police chief Rick Hanson gave an update on the biggest gang investigation in the force's history CBC News Posted: Jul 31, 2013 11:55 AM MT Last Updated: Jul 31, 2013 2:24 PM MT Calgary police say the biggest gang investigation in the force’s history is worth every penny — but the total cost of the operation has not yet been tallied.
Chief Rick Hanson gave an update to the Calgary Police Commission on Operation Desino Tuesday night.
He credited a cash infusion with the spate of recent gang busts.
“The successful conclusion of Desino was the direct result of the city and the police commission recognizing three years ago that resources had to be added in order to put the time and effort into these investigations, otherwise I could safely say these investigations would be unsolved today," said Hanson.
Fifteen investigators were brought in to help crack a string of deadly shootings, said Hanson.
That includes the now infamous News Years' Day triple murder at the Bolsa restaurant in southeast Calgary in 2009.
"I want you to know that this is a reflection of the support we got from you,” said Hanson.
Cost not tabulated But investigators were not able to reveal exactly how much Desino cost.
“'It's an ongoing investigation still, we haven't tabulated the numbers right now but we keep a running tally and those numbers will come out when we're all done,” said Hansen.
Mike Shaikh, Calgary Police Commission chair, says it's money well spent regardless of the bill.
"Our goal is to make sure that our streets are safer, and that's what we concentrate on,” said Shaikh.
The chair says he trusts the chief when he says he needs more resources, and said the commission monitors results carefully.
11 Insp. Mike O'Brien, a local gang expert, also stressed that it takes a lot of time and resources to solve these types of cases.
"This was a large investigation,” said O'Brien.
"People need to know that this isn't like a one-hour television show where everything is wrapped up in a nice neat bow and you have guilty pleas in an hour." Calgary police overtime during flood cost $3.6M Tally for extra hours worked by other emergency staff still being added up CBC News Posted: Aug 15, 2013 1:07 PM MT Last Updated: Aug 15, 2013 1:06 PM MT Besides huge costs for damaged property and lost business, officials revealed the flood disaster in June also left big overtime bills in its wake.
As Calgary coped with the flood and its aftermath, emergency workers were needed at all hours of the day in many areas of the city.
Now the cost of all the overtime hours logged by public workers is becoming clear.
“The overtime hours are about 30,000 approximately and about $3.6 million,” said Calgary Police Commission chair Mike Shaikh.
“They came out to help us with the evacuation, watch over the restricted flood areas, protection of people and property. Traffic control was very important. We wanted to make sure that people were not going into restricted areas,” he said.
The fire department expects to have its overtime numbers figured out by next month.
That tally is already included in the $20 million the City of Calgary estimates will have to be paid out.
It’s expected the province will cover that amount.
The provincial government has said some flood-related overtime will likely be covered, but final numbers have not yet been submitted to them. RCMP: relationship with Hobbema positive Sarah O. Swenson/Staff writer Wetaskiwin Times Advertiser Wednesday, August 14, 2013 1:02:03 MDT PM
12 Battle River District RCMP superintendant Curtis Zablocki met with leadership from the Maskwacis me at the Ermineskin Cree Nation band office the afternoon of Aug. 6 to discuss the fatal shooting that occurred near Ma-Me-O Beach Aug. 3.
Lance Cutarm died as the result of an officer involved shooting on Highway 13A near the beach.
Leadership from the Cree nations called RCMP to a meeting to air their concerns over the incident.
The meeting began just after 1 p.m. and went on for about five hours.
“It’s a tragic and impactful event for all that are involved,” commented Zablocki in a follow-up telephone interview.
“So, it was important as one of the first steps, to engage in some meaningful conversations and discussions and create as much understanding as possible.”
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is currently investigating the incident and the mounties are also conducting their own review.
“We do an instant review of all serious incidents that the RCMP are involved in,” explained Zablocki.
“We look at our current policies and procedures and equipment and training and at the end, if there are recommendations, we give consideration to making any appropriate changes.”
Zablocki admits that he was not able to satisfy all of the questions posed to him due to the current investigations.
“Not all of the answers are available right now.”
RCMP and leadership from the Four Nations meet regularly and Zablocki says that this contact and communication is important to foster a healthy relationship between the two groups.
“The relationship that the RCMP have with the Maskwachis Cree is a very positive relationship,” said Zablocki.
“We want to keep that moving forward in a positive fashion. Over the last number of years, there’s been a very positive initiatives and progress made in the relationships between the RCMP and the community in Hobbema.”
One of the main grievances that was discussed during the five-hour meeting was the level of experience among officers in the community. There were several inferences made by members of the public and by Ermineskin chief Craig Makinaw that Hobbema is used as a sort of training ground for inexperienced officers.
13 Zablocki insists that this is not the case and says that there are no detachments within K Division that are designated as training detachments.
“We believe it’s important to have a strong blend of junior and senior officers in all of our detachments across the province and we think that the communities we serve can take advantage of the strengths that each of those officers can bring,” said Zablocki, adding that junior officers and especially cadets are paired up with seniors officers to provide the training, supervision, and ongoing guidance that the new members require.
“When we look at our experience across the division, across the province, and we look at the average service of our constables in the field, in general duty policing right now, that service is at about the 5.5 year mark,” said Zablocki.
“And if we look specifically at the Hobbema detachment, and the service or experience at the Hobbema detachment, we’re slightly above that, we’re at the 6 year mark.”
“So it really shows the opposite of what the inferences were.”
In the Wetaskiwin detachment, of its 33 members, only seven officers have less that four years of service with the mounties.
“Wetaskiwin is a fairly busy detachment ,” said the detachment’s officer in charge, Inspector Scott Tod.
“I have an obligation to take recruits, because every detachment does, and I recognize and our staffing people recognize that you just can’t load us up with recruits.”
Tod points out that the Wetaskiwin detachment will be receiving three new members this coming fall. All are seasoned officers with more than five years of experience and asked to be transferred here.
“We’re attracting good quality members to the service,” said Tod.
Police hire investigator to handle spike in calls at new Edmonton Remand Centre
Police association president sees need for specialized unit
BY JODIE SINNEMA, EDMONTON JOURNAL JULY 20, 2013
EDMONTON - A “significant” bump in the number of police calls to the new Edmonton Remand Centre has prompted the police department to hire a dedicated institutional investigator.
14 But the president of the Edmonton Police Association said an entire unit dedicated to the many institutions in the city would provide a more solid, specially trained group that could better respond to such calls.
Tony Simioni with the police association said the institutional investigator, who receives support from a temporary second staff member, worked at the old remand centre downtown before the position was transferred to the north division for the new remand centre.
“There has been significant growth in calls for service at the new remand centre compared to last year, when there were 625 files generated,” according to a report received by the Edmonton Police Commission in early July. The report doesn’t say how many more cases have been generated this year at the new facility at 184th Avenue and 127th Street. The two staff who “manage the increased workload” cost an estimated $243,000, the report said.
Simioni said the surge in internal service calls was expected, since the new remand currently has 1,275 beds with future capacity for 3,000, compared to the old building that held upwards of 800 people, even though it was built for 300 to 350.
“The facility is larger and therefore with more people comes more work,” Simioni said. One non-criminal death has already occurred at the new facility. Inmate assaults and complaints against staff are also chronic and require investigation, Simioni said.
“The type of people who are housed there are high users of police product that require a lot of time and effort to keep ahead of it,” he said. “You need a specialized dedicated unit to deal with that. How many? Probably more than two for sure.”
Simioni said the Edmonton Institution for Women and the maximum security Edmonton Institution on Manning Drive also have similar investigators. Edmonton also has a young offenders centre and various halfway houses.
“Rather than scatter them across all divisions, there should be the expertise solidified and collectively put in one area so they can build protocols and procedures,” Simioni said. “There are more institutions in the city of Edmonton than any other community in this country, and all of them collectively put a strain on resources. Rather than haphazardly taking police resources from divisions who don’t have a lot of experience in the protocol of those institutions — how to do an investigation, what they’re going to run up against — better to have specialized people who know what the challenges are, who can get through that red tape quicker.”
That will require more money.
“The provincial and the federal government need to understand if they put institutions into any community, they need to step up and fund the challenges that presents,” Simioni said. “It’s unfair to always call on the City of Edmonton to
15 step up and provide the infrastructure for things outside the city’s control.”
Edmonton police form Aboriginal relations unit 3:33 pm, September 2nd, 2013
PAMELA ROTH | QMI AGENCY
EDMONTON -- In the next four to five years, the City of Edmonton is projected to have the largest urban population of Aboriginal people in Canada. In order to deal with that growing population and the increase of Aboriginal people that police deal with on a daily basis, the Edmonton force has created an Aboriginal relations unit to build partnerships and relationships with the community.
"Certainly in the downtown core, and the homeless community and the mental health issues, the predominance of First Nations people -- we are really seeing an increase there," said Police Chief Rod Knecht, adding historically police were ill equipped to respond to the increase.
"We are seeing a lot more people migrating to the City of Edmonton from First Nations communities and we have to better respond to them."
The Aboriginal relations unit began on July 29 and consists of one civilian and one police officer, Staff Sgt. Dan Jones.
The unit supports front-line operations by educating members about Aboriginal culture, the history of colonization, residential schools, segregation and the impact such issues have had on the community.
Part of the education also involves breaking down racism and discrimination, Jones said.
"You look at 7% of our city's population is Aboriginal. No other community has that significant percentage of our population," said Jones. "Our goal as a unit is to have our members have more comprehensive understanding of those things to allow them to better police an Aboriginal population."
According to national statistics, an Aboriginal person is twice as likely to be the victim of a violent assault, sexual assault or robbery and seven times more likely to be murdered.
During the last 10 years, the incarceration of Aboriginal people has increased by 53% in the federal prison system compared to a 9.6% increase from the rest of the population.
Jones said that number is significantly higher in the Prairies.
16 Lewis Cardinal, co-chair of the Aboriginal commission on human rights and justice, welcomes the new unit.
The relationship between Aboriginal people and city police has not been positive, he said, and many in the community don't feel the police are their friend.
"The perception from our people is that racism is still practiced within the police force. They don't feel that the police are interested in protecting Aboriginal people," Cardinal said.
Forming an Aboriginal relations unit is long overdue, he added, noting police and leaders from the Aboriginal community need to form a relationship agreement and get together on a regular basis to review how its going.
The unit is also partnering with recruiting assistance to get more Aboriginal members on the force.
At the moment, about 5% of Edmonton police are Aboriginal.
Knecht said he would like to see that number close to 7% or 8%.
SASKATCHEWAN In Canadian first, native woman becomes head of RCMP division JENNIFER GRAHAM Regina — The Canadian Press Published Thursday, Aug. 22 2013, 5:16 PM EDT
An aboriginal woman is taking the lead of an RCMP division for the first time in Canadian history.
Chief Superintendent Brenda Butterworth-Carr is the new top police officer in Saskatchewan. She says it’s a “bit surreal.”
“It’s pretty humbling, you know, to know that you have the support of the province, the municipal police chiefs, the partners, the commissioner of the RCMP and certainly the current commanding officer,” Chief Supt. Butterworth-Carr said at a news conference on Thursday. “It’s a humbling thing.”
Chief Supt. Butterworth-Carr, 45, is from the Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation in Dawson City, Yukon.
She started working with the RCMP as a teenage summer student and was a detachment clerk. She knew she wanted to serve and joined the RCMP in 1987 as a native special constable.
17 “I think some of the challenges were that I was a very young mom. I had already had a three-year-old son at the age of 19,” she said. “But fortunately for me, I had a lot of family support and I still do.”
Chief-Supt. Butterworth-Carr climbed the ranks. She has served in the Yukon and British Columbia and has spent the past 11 months as criminal operations officer in Saskatchewan – essentially the second-in-command.
The mother of three sons believes her work ethic is what caught the attention of those looking to fill the command job. “I love what I do and that’s the passion that I bring to it. It’s about always recognizing where I come from and staying grounded in that aspect, as well as ... what can I contribute to the safety of the province,” Chief-Supt. Butterworth-Carr said.
She said she wants to develop relationships the force has with organizations throughout the province. She’s also talking about crime prevention initiatives in communities.
Chief-Supt. Butterworth-Carr takes over from Assistant Commissioner Russ Mirasty, who was the first First Nations person to command an RCMP division when he started the job in Saskatchewan in December, 2010.
He said he’s retiring with “some mixed emotions” because his work has been the greater part of his life.
“It’s been a terrific journey, a terrific ride,” said Assistant Commissioner Mirasty, who is from La Ronge, Sask., and joined the force in 1976 when he was 19 years old.
“I never thought for one instant when I left La Ronge to take that bus trip to Regina … to train that I would be occupying the position like I am today, the commanding officer of a division. Certainly, I’m very proud of that.”
In his time as commanding officer, Assistant Commissioner Mirasty focused on reaching out to employees and communities. He said he feels good about building a relationship between the force and First Nations communities.
“I will miss the RCMP. There’s absolutely no question about that.”
He plans to retire to La Ronge with his wife. But he doesn’t plan to sit still for long.
“At 56, obviously it’s not like going home to La Ronge, sitting on my deck in my rocking chair and watching the boats go by, although that’s attractive I guess for a few weeks,” he said with a laugh. “I look forward to contributing to my community somehow, I just don’t know what that means today.”
18 Sask. supports recommendations to address cyberbullying
AUGUST 23, 2013 The Government of Saskatchewan supports proposed reforms to the Criminal Code to address cyberbullying and non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
A report released today by the federal government on behalf of federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for justice and public safety contains several recommendations to combat cyberbullying.
"The issue of cyberbullying requires ongoing collaboration and we are committed to working with our counterparts across the country to support proposed criminal law reforms," Justice Minister and Attorney General Gordon Wyant said.
The report cites several recommendations that include updating sections to the Criminal Code that would enhance the criminal law response to cyberbullying by ensuring its existing provisions apply to any form of electronic communication, and would create a new offence of non-consensual distribution of intimate images. Today's report also recommends enhanced tools that will enable police and courts to deal with electronic technology.
In April, federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for justice directed officials to review potential criminal law reforms to address cyberbullying. Today's report reflects how the provinces and territories are working in collaboration with the federal government.
"This is a complex issue that requires more than a criminal justice system response," Wyant said. "That's why we are also focusing on other ways jurisdictions are responding to bullying and cyberbullying so we can ensure a more comprehensive response."
In June, anti-bullying consultations were held in communities across Saskatchewan. The experiences shared during the consultations will help in the development of an anti-bullying strategy for the Government of Saskatchewan. Written submissions are being accepted until
October 31, 2013 at [email protected].
Currently, Saskatchewan supports efforts to combat Internet based crime through efforts like the RCMP-operated Canadian Anti-fraud Centre and Cybertip.ca.
The Province also provides funding to the Regina, Prince Albert and Saskatoon Police Services, in partnership with the RCMP for 11 dedicated officers to investigate cases of Internet child exploitation.
19 Mental health top concern at policing conference
Daily Herald
Published on August 20, 2013 Tyler Clarke
Greater attention needs to be paid when it comes to mental health concerns among police officers and the people they deal with.
This, Prince Albert Board of Police Commissioners chair Richard Ahenakew said, was the key thing he took home after attending last weekend’s Canadian Association of Police Boards Conference in Saskatoon. “There are a lot of initiatives that are no longer supported through different government venues,” Ahenakew said. “This leaves a lot of vulnerable people on the streets, who have to deal with things without support. “We end up with a segment of our society who aren’t getting the proper support so that they can deal with things in a better way. “At the end of the day, they really don’t know how to react, and people don’t know how to react with them and work with them and it creates conflict that’s unnecessary and creates a lot of stress not only for them but the people who have to deal with them.” A key segment of the people who members of the Prince Albert Police Service deal with on a regular basis have mental health issues that haven’t been properly addressed, mayor and police board member Greg Dionne said, adding that it’s best to work on these situations “before it comes into something worse.” One presenter at the conference who Dionne took special note of was Saskatoon Police Service Cst. Henry Ly, who joined his partner in discharged his firearm at the scene of an altercation, killing a suspect in 2007. Dionne said that Ly’s presentation helped those in attendance understand “the level of stress that the officer is in during the engagement, and the level of stress that they and their family are in after the engagement.” Post traumatic stress disorder comes into play, Dionne said, noting that in some cases, police forces might not have a full grasp of the mental health needs of its members. “Sometimes we forget the impact that (accidents and homicides) have not only for them, but the support staff that they have to work with, too,” Ahenakew said. “A lot of them are impacted by what they see and what they have to deal with, too.” With the Prince Albert Board of Police Commissioners sworn in only four months ago, it was lucky that the conference was held in Saskatoon, Dionne said, noting that its limited transportation costs allowed all seven members to attend. It’s a valuable experience for board members to have under their belt, Dionne said, noting that networking was key. “Some of our best times were the 45 minute breaks where we got to sit with other councillors and commission members and talk about our own issues and how
20 they were related, and how we were resolving them and how they were resolving them.” Ahenakew said that everything board members saw and learned during last weekend’s convention will serve as excellent food for thought during upcoming meetings. “It’s been a good learning experience so far, and I continue to look forward to spending more time and working close with the police on making this community a little safer and better.”
MANITOBA Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION Police chief denies executives behind review leak By: James Turner Posted: 08/29/2013 4:22 PM |
Leaked information about potential cuts to the Winnipeg Police Service in an operational review did not spill from the lips of top police brass, Chief Devon Clunis said Thursday.
"I can say without a shadow of a doubt that information did not come from any member of our executive," Clunis told reporters during a hastily called news conference.
Clunis was responding to allegations that leaks about the review were made by WPS senior executives out of self-interest.
The Free Press exclusively reported Thursday that the operational review of the WPS by Matrix Consulting Groups Ltd. recommends major cuts, including disbanding the vice squad and the cold-case unit that digs into unsolved homicides.
A final draft of the report is expected to be presented to Mayor Sam Katz and his executive committee next month.
It also proposes reducing the size of the stolen-auto unit and closing the clandestine-laboratory unit and contracting the work out to the RCMP's lab. The depth of the cuts deepened after Matrix's initial drafts got feedback from city councillors and senior administrators, a source said. The accuracy of this information was confirmed by city Coun. Russ Wyatt. It was Wyatt who identified senior police executives as its source to the newspaper, adding they are motivated by self-interest.
Clunis declined to answer questions about the operational review, results of which are expected in the next few weeks. He said he has seen the report as he sits on the steering committee.
21
"This specific operational review, I've said very consistently, that I'm very supportive of," he said.
Clunis said he was stepping forward to comment in order to clear the air with the public.
"This particular news story, when I saw it, is actually attacking the credibility of the organization, the leadership. For us not to step forward and say, 'this is what the truth is,' I think people form their own opinions, decisions and in the absence of something from ourselves — I know typically what human nature is," Clunis said.
"'If they're saying nothing, it must be the truth. Well, it's not the truth," he said.
Review puts police under knife Proposed cuts to WPS operations deeper after feedback, source says By: Aldo Santin Posted: 08/29/2013 1:00 AM Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
An operational review of the Winnipeg Police Service recommends major cuts, including disbanding the vice squad and the cold-case unit that digs into unsolved homicides.
The Free Press has learned a draft of the final report from Matrix Consulting Groups Ltd., expected to be presented to Mayor Sam Katz and his executive committee next month, also proposes reducing the size of the stolen-auto unit and closing the clandestine-laboratory unit and contracting the work out to the RCMP's lab.
In a clear sign of the politics surrounding the cost of policing, a source said the depth of the cuts has deepened after Matrix's initial drafts got feedback from city councillors and senior administrators. "It's obvious that the changes were made to fulfil the expectations of those individuals who had ordered the review," the source said. The accuracy of this information was confirmed by Coun. Russ Wyatt, who identified senior police executives as its source, adding they are motivated by self-interest. However, Coun. Scott Fielding, chairman of the new Winnipeg Police Board, said there has been only one draft of the Matrix report presented to a steering committee, and steering committee members have not seen any subsequent versions or a final report. Fielding, a strong advocate on council for the operational review, said a preliminary version was presented to a steering committee consisting of himself, Wyatt, who is chairman of the finance committee, two senior members of the audit department, police Chief Devon Clunis, and deputy police chief Art Stannard.
22 Fielding said the final report hasn't been completed, but added it's standard practice in operational reviews for a preliminary version to be circulated among a small number of people to ensure there are no factual errors and for feedback. He said he would not confirm operational cuts were added to the Matrix report after the steering committee saw the first draft. He said he would not comment on any portion of the report until it's made public. Wyatt said there's a culture in parts of the Winnipeg Police Service that resists change and the need to find efficiencies and savings. "This cultural thinking may go all the way to the top and will do anything to protect the empire they have created," Wyatt said. "The very fact that documents were leaked to (the Free Press), that only the senior members of the WPS would have had possession of, and then given a certain spin, is proof that unfortunately this culture inside the WPS, which resists change and believes it to be unaccountable, is alive and well." Coun. Paula Havixbeck said she was shocked most of council has been excluded from reviewing the preliminary findings from Matrix. Havixbeck (Charleswood-Tuxedo) argued against the operational review, saying new police Chief Devon Clunis and the new police board should be given an opportunity to find efficiencies within the service, "It's appalling that all city councillors do not have a copy (of the preliminary report) and it's appalling that no council seminar was called to go through what the findings were." Havixbeck said it's not acceptable for Matrix to add cuts to the police department after getting feedback from a select group of individuals. "There is no credibility left when things like this happen at city hall," Havixbeck said. Clunis did not respond to an interview request on how the proposed cuts outlined in the draft Matrix report would affect the police service. A spokesman for the Winnipeg Police Association could not be reached for comment. The source said Matrix's initial draft presented to the steering committee contained several recommendations for new police resources, such as improved training procedures and administrative changes to create standards and performance measures. But the source said the recommendations to enhance the service were dwarfed in subsequent versions by cuts to almost all segments of the police operation. Fielding said Matrix had been providing the steering committee with regular updates on what they've been doing and the work that still needs to be done. He said the operational review is being done to find cost-savings within the police service and he expects the final report will contain a host of such cuts. "We put it out there to find cost savings and efficiencies," Fielding said. "At the end of the day, there will be a menu of options. There's going to be a whole bunch of recommendations. "It's an open slate. Nothing is off the table. It doesn't necessarily mean we'll implement everything that is in the report, but we'll study it and make some changes to make it a more effective service." Fielding said it will be up to the newly appointed Winnipeg Police Board to determine which cuts will be made. "Is the operational review going to be a holy bible that we're going to follow? Probably not. We're going to take a look at it. We're going to evaluate it and see what makes sense."
23 He said Matrix interviewed some councillors, members of the WPS executive and police union and community stakeholders to determine where police savings could be found.
National union takes look Counters city review with separate report By: Aldo Santin Posted: 08/29/2013 1:00 AM | Winnipeg Free Press
A national police union has quietly conducted an operational review of the Winnipeg Police Service to counter a review ordered by city council that hardliners expect will find millions of dollars in savings.
The Canadian Police Association hired Simon Fraser University criminologist Curt Griffiths to head a review team that spent several months earlier this year meeting with community leaders and WPS officials and reviewing all aspects of WPS operations.
CPA president Tom Stamatakis said he shared concerns brought to him by the Winnipeg Police Association that the outcome of the review by American-based Matrix Consulting Groups was predetermined before it began.
"The way the (council-ordered) announcement was made was troubling," Stamatakis said. "Before the review even occurred, they were anticipating there would be millions of dollars in savings... It seemed council was presuming an outcome even before the review had been done."
City council approved an operational review of the WPS in its 2012 budget, issued a request for proposals a year ago and awarded the contract to Matrix in December 2012 at a cost of $174,000.
It did not identify the firm until January. Matrix has a reputation of recommending job and service cuts after similar reviews of U.S. police forces.
Winnipeg Police Association president Mike Sutherland said Matrix's expertise was dealing with American police forces, which have historically had higher per capita staff ratios and where it's been easier to make budget cuts. Sutherland said he's not convinced the type of budget-saving measures Matrix generated in the U.S. are realistic for the Winnipeg Police Service.
Stamatakis said the CPA review, which cost about $200,000 and was paid for entirely by the association, should be completed and released by mid-September before the Matrix review.
Griffiths' team was given full co-operation by WPS executives, Stamatakis said, adding he believes they saw the process as a positive experience.
24 "We were able to have that access with consent of the service," Stamatakis said. "The service came at it from the perspective that 'we want to have a very careful review of our operations to see where we are doing things well, where we are seeing some challenges and whether there are issues that need to be dealt with.' " Coun. Scott Fielding, chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board, said he was aware of the police union review and senior police service officers were given permission to participate and co-operate fully.
Fielding (St. James-Brooklands), who has chaired finance and protection and community services committees, said the two reviews did their research in a similar way, but added it was no secret council expects the Matrix review to generate savings.
"The focus (of the Matrix report) is to spend our money a little bit smarter," he said.
Stamatakis said critics of police forces in Canada have become fixated on policing costs and ignore the harder-to-measure value of policing.
"Policing is not a factory producing widgets," Stamatakis said. "We just wanted to make sure the conversation around police costs and resources was a complete and contextual conversation rather than one just focused on dollars."
He said he expects the final report will recommend the reallocation of resources to higher-need areas, call for reviews of existing deployment models, identify funding gaps and suggest possible financial efficiencies.
ONTARIO
Award, contract leaves NRP with $3.8M budget hole Thursday, August 29, 2013 4:31:19 EDT PM St. Catherines Standard ST. CATHARINES - An arbitration award and contract settlement has left Niagara Regional Police with a projected $3.8 million budget hole.
At a Thursday’s police services board meeting, a “variance report" outlined the financial state of the service at July 31.
It also compares the approved budget to the year’s forecast.
As of July’s end, it showed the NRP had realized $1.8 million in savings, but was predicting a $3.8 million net deficit.
25 A May arbitration award for the Niagara Region Police Association, and another senior-officer settlement, is expected to have a $5.7 million impact in the service’s operating budget.
Among savings listed were those in hiring, a benefits refund and the deferral of a speciality-vehicle purchase.
Board chair Henry D’Angela says the lion’s share of the deficit comes from the arbitration award affecting uniform and civilian collective agreements.
“We were arbitrated a settlement beyond what we thought would be a reasonable amount,” said D’Angela, in an interview afterward.
“The board didn’t anticipate a 3% increase in wages for the year 2012.
“From a service perspective, we know we’re running a deficit, but we’ll look at ways of mitigating that deficit by the end of the year,” D’Angela said. “I know we’ll be working with the Region to make sure that we get (it as) best under control as possible.”
The police services report — received by the board for information — says it’s identified only two potential sources of funding for the deficit; using NRP reserves, and additional money from the Region.
It recommended the use of the force’s $486,000 contingency portion of its $12.8 million in reserve balances.
It said the balance of its reserves are either already committed or in place to offset unfunded liabilities.
On a piece of good news, it was also revealed that overtime dropped dramatically over the last quarter.
For the second quarter, uniform officers worker a total of 13,052 hours of overtime. For that same period, there were 21,100 hours last year and 17,303 in 2011.
At the meeting, board member Vance Badawey asked Chief Jeffrey McGuire if he saw this overtime trend continuing.
“I would hope so,” said the chief.
Among the reasons cited by McGuire was a reduction in follow-up required for major investigations, the cross-district redeployment of officers and a rigorous accounting of overtime. Meaford to Consider Proposal From Owen Sound Police Service Friday, 16 August 2013 08:30
26 By Stephen Vance, Staff News - Council News Meaford Independent
At their August 12 meeting Meaford councillors voted in favour of accepting an offer from the Owen Sound Police Services Board to provide a proposal for providing police services to the Municipality of Meaford.
Since amalgamation in 2001, the municipality has had their police services provided by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). The most recent contract for this service expired earlier this summer, and at the same August 12 meeting councillors voted in favour of a six month extension with the OPP before committing to a long term contract.
Staff advised council that a proposal from the Owen Sound police service would be compared to the proposal for a new contract from the OPP and the more favourable proposal would be selected.
In response to Meaford's consideration of a proposal from Owen Sound, and to refute statements made in another newspaper from the Owen Sound police service, the OPP have issued a press release which outlines their take on the current policing of Meaford.
“The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) would like to respond to comments reported in the media that were attributed to the Chair of the Owen Sound Police Services Board regarding the costs associated to policing the Municipality of Meaford and the Township of Georgian Bluffs. The OPP also wants to correct the misleading statement that the OPP is the most expensive, highest paid police force in all of the province,” said Grey County OPP Detachment Commander Mike Guilfoyle in the press release.
Guilfoyle noted that the OPP currently provides police services to 325 municipalities in Ontario.
“A lower cost combined with a high quality of service is the reason that many municipalities have amalgamated their services with the OPP. OPP costs compare favourably on a per household basis to municipal police services which can be attributed to economies of scale in administration, purchasing, training, and supervision. The OPP is constantly looking to improve efficiencies in its operations and service delivery costs. These cost savings are factored into the billing for OPP policed municipalities,” offered Guilfoyle.
The OPP currently polices the Municipality of Meaford as a Section 10 Contract under the Police Services Act (PSA) at a cost of $306 per household (5,591 households for $1,713,435 in 2012).
In comparison, the Township of Georgian Bluffs is also under a Section 10 PSA contract with the OPP at a cost of $201 per household (4,987 households for $1,002,227 in 2012).
27 “When compared to the 2011 cost of nearby Owen Sound, which has its own municipal police service, the per household costs for OPP service in Meaford and Georgian Bluffs are less than half the per household cost for policing in Owen Sound according to information supplied to the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing by the municipality,” said Guilfoyle.
“The OPP believes that the Municipality of Meaford and the Township of Georgian Bluffs are getting excellent service and value through their contracts,” suggested Guilfoyle. “The OPP not only provides our communities with policing service that is second to none, but we often enhance our local service with other OPP units and programs.”
The Detachment Commander also said that the comment that the OPP is “the highest paid police force in all of the province” as stated by the Chair of the Owen Sound Police Services Board is incorrect.
“In 2011 the Ministry of Government Services and the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) negotiated a Collective Bargaining Agreement that resulted in OPP members accepting a two-year wage freeze in 2012 and 2013. In exchange for the wage freeze the Province agreed to provide OPP members with a salary increase in 2014 equivalent to the highest paid municipal police service in Ontario. The percentage of that increase is dependent on the wage increases negotiated between municipal police services boards and their municipalities. In fact, according to the most recent RCMP Pay Council Report from June of 2013, there are 27 municipal police services in Ontario that currently pay higher salaries to their officers than the OPP. (based on 2012 information). It is estimated that the OPP will receive an 8.5 percent increase as of 2014 based on recent municipal policing contracts,” advised the press release.
“The OPP realizes that deciding how you want to be policed is a difficult and often an emotional decision for municipal leaders. We are committed to providing all the information required for them to make an informed decision that is best for our communities,” offered Guilfoyle.
Police union and board reach three-year deal By Standard Staff Friday, August 16, 2013 10:55:59 EDT AM
Niagara Regional Police will take three years of raises step by step in the force's first negotiated contract since 2005.
A new three-year contract was ratified by the Niagara Police Services Board and Niagara Region Police Association Aug. 8 and 15 respectively. Cops in Niagara will get a 2.6% raise this year and 2.5% in 2014 and 2015, but it will be broken into six-month intervals to help Niagara Region save money.
"There was movement on both sides, which allowed us to realize a fair and equitable contract for our members," said police association president Cliff Priest.
28
He said the contract was welcome because it's only the second time this decade the board and the union have been able to negotiate a deal. The last contract went to an arbitrator.
"My membership is very pleased that we were able, for once, to negotiate a contract instead of having to go to arbitration," he said, noting arbitration is pricey on all sides.
The new contract affects 697 uniform members and 301 civilian members of the police service.
Police board chair Henry D'Angela said the contract allows for cross-district deployment. That means if one of Niagara's police districts is short an officer, another can be transferred in from a different district, avoiding the need to call someone to work overtime.
He said the split raises will help save money. officers will get 1.4% on January 1 of this year, 1.2% as of July 1, 1.4% in January 2014, 1.1% in July 2014, 1.3% in January 2015 and 1.2% in July 2015.
"It's the lowest that we've seen it in years. We're quite pleased to get it to that situation," D'Angela said.
He said the board was glad not to go to arbitration. "We just didn't want to head down that road after an arbitrated settlement just a couple of months ago."
Arguing the previous arbitration, he said, cost the board $400,000.
"At the end of the day, these numbers are really reasonable compared to what's out there," D'Angela said.
Priest said the contract brings Niagara cops closer to wage parity with their peers in other jurisdictions. "We're still not there," he said.
D'Angela said, "When you do look at some of the other numbers that have come in, ours are a little lower. We're quite pleased with that."
Improving Public and Police Officer Safety Ontario to Allow Police Services to Equip Officers with Conducted Energy Weapons August 27, 2013 10:50 a.m.Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services Ontario is allowing local police services to decide which officers will be permitted to carry conducted energy weapons (CEWs).
29 Currently, the province restricts the use of these devices to certain designated positions and police teams such as members of tactical units, hostage rescue teams, containment teams and frontline supervisors.
The new approach is based on evidence that shows CEW use results in fewer significant injuries to both subjects and police officers when compared to other use-of-force options. Since CEWs were first introduced in Ontario in 2002, the government has been carefully reviewing independent research, stakeholder input, and the recommendations of several coroners' inquest juries, all of which contributed to this decision.
The government is committed to openness and accountability in policing. After consulting with policing and community groups, the government is introducing changes that:
Provide direction and guidance as to when a CEW would be deemed to be appropriate; Increase reporting provisions (i.e., CEW use will be reported in an open and transparent manner, including when a CEW is displayed with the intention to achieve behaviour compliance); Enhance training, including scenario-based training and training for interactions with people with mental health issues, to assist in ensuring the safe, appropriate and effective use of CEWs; and Expect that police services should engage local communities prior to deciding to expand CEW deployment in their jurisdiction. Permitting local police services to expand CEW use is part of the government's plan to build safe communities for all Ontarians.
Quick Facts All but one province (Quebec) allows frontline officers to carry CEWs. A summary outlining the changes to the Use of Force Guideline will be posted publicly on the ministry website for at least 30 days prior to changes taking effect.
OPP rejects city's call for arbitration
Orillia Today ByFrank Matys Aug 29, 2013 |
The OPP has rejected a city request for binding arbitration on staffing and cost issues.
The provincial force stands by its cost-recovery formula and staffing numbers, said Supt. Rick Philbin, municipal policing bureau.
“We firmly believe what we are using abides by, first of all, fair-cost recovery and also a methodology that is defensible as far as establishing the number of
30 officers required to provide the adequate and effective police service as provided in the Police Services Act,” he said.
In an Aug. 28 letter to the city, Philbin says neither the Ontario Civilian Police Commission nor the Ontario Police Arbitration Commission have the power to arbitrate Section 10 contracts.
The two commissions were named in a council motion requesting the OPP enter binding arbitration on issues of staffing and costs.
According to Philbin, the civilian police commission deals largely with amalgamations of police services, while the provincial arbitration commission’s authority is limited to municipal forces.
“It doesn’t apply to the OPP,” Philbin said.
Asked why the OPP responded to council’s request for arbitration at the last minute – the deadline was Aug. 29 – Philbin said his department is overseeing 325 contracts, adding, “we are pretty busy.
“We have to consult with lawyers,” he added. “They gave me two weeks, why shouldn’t I use it?”
Philbin said the “OPP remains committed to meeting with City of Orillia representatives to discuss a process of accountability and audit,” as requested in a separate part of the motion.
Philbin reminds council that the city’s current Section 10 contract with the OPP expires Sept. 1, at which point the local detachment will begin serving Orillia under a non-contract arrangement.
“Should the City of Orillia wish to enter into a Section 10 contract in the future, a new proposal will be required,” Philbin adds.
Opinion: Money not well spent by local police
By Tom Mills, Sault Star Friday, August 9, 2013 10:54:50 EDT PM
Maybe it’s time to send members of Sault Ste. Marie’s Police Services Board to a parenting class.
They seem to be suckers for the “everyone else is getting one” argument.
Last week the board agreed to Chief Bob Davies’s request to buy the force a five-minute promotional video, at a cost of $22,500.
31 Davies said the video, shot by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, will explain “how we engage the community to look after our issues and make our community safer.”
A link to it will be sent to about 1,400 people who follow the police department on Twitter.
Likely it will be viewable from the service’s website.
And the video will be played, along with those of the Ontario Provincial Police and Waterloo Regional service, at the IACP annual conference in Philadelphia in October, so the Sault service will have a chance to show off there.
Davies said the video will demonstrate the city force is “a modern, progressive police service.”
And, I have to think, one that’s a little spoiled by its police services board.
Just a couple of years ago the board approved spending $210,000 to equip the service with a ballistic armoured tactical transport (BATT), a bulletproof vehicle to help officers handle high-risk calls.
Only 10 Canadian police forces had them, and the Sault was by far the smallest population centre in the BATT club.
Davies said then that without the BATT police would “have to be more discreet and stand back as far as containment.”
But maybe that would be a good thing, in light of incidents such as the recent fatal shooting of Sammy Yatim, the 18-year-old armed with a knife who held an empty streetcar hostage, by Toronto police.
As for the video, my parental instincts sent me cruising the internet to see what other police forces are doing.
Sudbury has a video targetting aboriginal youth for careers in policing. Kingston and Barrie employ recruiting videos.
North Bay produced a video series this spring about internet safety. Waterloo has videos on topics such as bullying and how to report crimes online.
All of these are specific-purpose videos, unlike the Sault project. Some seem to be produced in-house.
I saw no sign of widespread use of general promotional videos by police services.
Indeed, most forces are using their web pages and social media to educate the public about what they do. That’s a strategy the IACP itself advocates.
32 If the Sault video will be accessible primarily online, its potential viewers will already have had ample opportunities to get the message it might deliver.
Police board chair Ian MacKenzie did question if the video is the most effective way to market city police, asking “How big of an audience are we actually going to get for our $22,500?”
Yet he voted for it, along with all other board members, including Sault mayor Debbie Amaroso.
Davies said “a lot of people . . . really have no idea” what Sault police do.
I’d have to say most Sault residents are far better acquainted with the operations of Sault police than they are with all other city departments combined.
Sault police can and do deliver messages about their operations to an assortment of media, social and traditional, that relay them verbatim to the public.
If the city’s planning, social services or public works departments planned to spend $22,500 on a video explaining its operations to the public, doubtless there would be howls of protest.
I’m confident most city taxpayers could list many, many other ways they’d like their money spent, inside or outside of the policing realm, than on a promotional video.
These are tough financial times, so any new expenditure of city tax dollars should be considered very carefully.
The Sault’s tax base is aging. Some of the dollars for that police video are coming from pensioners who can ill afford it.
The police services board should consider that, and the fact that crime rates are dropping, and the difference between things it would be nice to have and things that are essential.
It’s not Davies’s fault for asking; naturally he wants nothing but the best for his police service.
But like a $250 composite hockey stick for a 10-year-old, the video might look good but it probably won’t improve anyone’s play.
Like a good parent, the police services board should learn to say “no” a bit more often.
ON THE POSITIVE side, Chief Davies and the police service deserve high praise for the fact that officers have fired their weapons during confrontations only twice in the past 21 years.
33 Davies revealed that statistic this week when asked if the Sault service would review its use of lethal force in the wake of the Yatim shooting in Toronto.
He went on to outline the many procedures and precautions taken to avoid an officer discharging a gun on duty and to review it if it happens.
Confrontational incidents with armed and potentially dangerous people don’t happen just in large municipalities. Sault police handle dozens of high-risk calls each year.
So this long-term record of restraint must have a lot to do with officer training and a non-confrontational culture promoted within the force.
It could happen here. It isn’t happening here. The Sault’s police service should take a bow for that.
Opinion: Police board chair asks for answers in Sammy Yatim shooting ALOK MUKHERJEE Contributed to The Globe and Mail Published Saturday, Aug. 03 2013, 6:00 AM EDT
My wife and I came to Canada from India in 1971. We were in our 20s then. India was a very different country at that time, independent for not quite 25 years, trying to make its way in the world. We were allowed to bring with us $7 (U.S.) each.
We grew fond of this place and decided to sink our roots here. It was a peaceful place, and despite the fact that it didn’t really know how to facilitate the integration of people such as us, we liked it. Some old-timers took us into their homes and made us feel welcome. Now it is our home.
Our son was born here. In 1978 came my first publication, East Indians, Myths and Reality (yes, we were called East Indians then, not South Asians). The dedication on the book’s first page says the work was for our son “and all other beautiful children with the hope that they will be permitted to grow without discrimination or persecution but with freedom and dignity.”
The book contributed to changes in the curriculum of Ontario’s school education, and ever since, my personal and professional lives have been guided by the hope expressed in those words. In the 1980s, it was in the sphere of education; in the 1990s, the focus was on human rights; and since 2004, I have done what I can in the area of policing.
I imagine that Sammy Yatim’s family came here four years ago to pursue a similar objective for themselves and their children. The fate that befell the 18- year-old – who died after being shot by police on a Toronto streetcar – is not one that they could have expected or imagined. It is one that none of us can accept,
34 whether we came here four or 40 years ago or our family has been here for generations.
Ever since that tragic night when the Yatims lost their son, I have been trying to put myself in their situation. Every time, that leads me to one question: “How could this happen?”
It leads me to this question because of all the effort that I and many other people of goodwill have made to realize a different vision of policing than we had been accustomed to. I can say in all honesty that it has been a significant effort, intended to bring about comprehensive change in the culture and practice of policing. Those efforts, to a very large degree, have been in response to earlier incidents, such the deaths of Edmund Yu and Jeffrey Riodica in police shootings.
Tragedy such as the one that has befallen the Yatims causes profound soul- searching. I very much hope there will be a collective soul-searching on the part of all of us involved with policing, in whatever capacity.
I know there will be no letup on my part until we have an answer to the question, “How could this happen?” I have heard and read the pat, instant solutions that have been offered so far, and I find them wanting or off-base.
Until we have the answer and respond to it with concrete action, the hope expressed in that dedication from 1978 will not have been realized, as far as policing is concerned.
We had better get down to the task quickly and in all seriousness. We owe it to the memory of Sammy Yatim.
Alok Mukherjee is chair of the Toronto Police Services Board. The opinions expressed here are his own, not the board’s.
Fanshawe looks to become leader in public safety programs
By Melanie Anderson, The London Free Press Friday, August 23, 2013 10:05:41 EDT AM
Fanshawe College is joining six programs, including its policing and paramedic courses, and adding 10 new ones in a move that will create one of Ontario’s largest schools of public safety.
The school will open in September 2014 with its existing programs, most in the health or human services departments, consolidated.
In 2015, several new programs will be launched.
35 “They will cover off everything from advanced police studies through cyber- security and order and protection services,” said Ben Cecil, associate vice- president academic.
Cecil heads the project with the new school’s interim chair, Mark Hunter, who’s been with Fanshawe more than 20 years.
By the end, the school will have 1,800 to 2,000 full-time students a year. The program expansion means Fanshawe will need to make some room. Its new School of Applied and Performance Arts launches downtown this fall, and the college has also expressed interest in the Market Tower at Dundas and Richmond streets.
“As we build our downtown presence, that means we’re going to be freeing up space for growth at our Oxford Street campus for this new programming,” Cecil said.
The new programs will bring a hands-on, interprofessional approach to public safety training.
“It will allow these programs to work together on practical scenarios. So if you had a motor vehicle collision, you could have policing students and paramedic students and dispatch students all working together to resolve that issue,” Hunter said.
Area employers will benefit.
“It’s going to provide them with the next generation of fully-trained employees and give the current EMS and public safety practitioners the opportunity to update and upgrade their skills on a regular basis at a level that they haven’t been able to,” Cecil said.
Ontario SIU head singles out Toronto police chief for lack of co-operation JILL MAHONEY The Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Aug. 29 2013, 11:36 AM EDT Last updated Thursday, Aug. 29 2013, 10:53 PM EDT
The head of Ontario’s police watchdog has strongly criticized Toronto’s Police Chief, suggesting Bill Blair does not recognize the importance of maintaining public confidence in civilian police oversight.
Special Investigations Unit director Ian Scott lambasted Chief Blair for not responding to more than 100 letters detailing possible violations of the force’s duty to co-operate with the SIU over a 4.5 year period.
36 “He doesn’t answer my letters, and I think if he bought into the concept [of public confidence in civilian oversight], there would be a freer discourse and dialogue between the two of us,” Mr. Scott told The Globe and Mail on Thursday. “I’m trying to resolve these issues and I’ve managed to do it with other police services and I just can’t get anywhere with Toronto.”
Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash fired back, saying Mr. Scott was overstepping his authority by suggesting that Chief Blair should report to him.
The latest flare-up between the SIU and the country’s largest municipal police service – which have long had an antagonistic relationship – comes less than two weeks after the agency charged a Toronto officer with second-degree murder in the July shooting death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim.
In the days after the high-profile shooting, which sparked widespread public concern about excessive force, Chief Blair pledged that his officers would “fully co-operate” with the SIU. On Thursday, Mr. Scott indicated that he is not impressed with that commitment.
“That’s the law of the province,” he said.
Under the Police Services Act, officers must co-operate with the SIU, a civilian agency that probes serious injuries, deaths and sexual assaults involving police in Ontario. For instance, forces are required to call the SIU immediately to investigate relevant cases and preserve crime scenes so as not to taint evidence, and witness officers have to answer questions.
Mr. Scott, whose five-year term as SIU director ends in October, said there were problems with the Toronto Police Service’s co-operation in nearly half of SIU cases – 106 out of 224 – that did not result in charges against its officers. Of his 106 letters outlining the issues between October, 2008, and March, 2013, Mr. Scott said Chief Blair provided a substantive response to only one, which was related to the issue of blacked-out notes.
“I think frankly he’s hurting himself when he doesn’t co-operate,” said Mr. Scott, who singled out Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Chris Lewis for answering his letters and looking into his concerns.
In responding to Mr. Scott’s criticism, Mr. Pugash referred to part of a 2011 report by former Ontario chief justice Patrick LeSage saying that police chiefs, who also investigate cases in which the SIU is called, must report their findings to their police services board. "The SIU director’s authority does not extend to requiring the chief of police or OPP commissioner to investigate or report to him and should not be part of the SIU director’s communication with the chief of police or OPP commissioner," the three-page report says. It also says the SIU’s public statements should be confined to the integrity of its investigations.
“Can you imagine a situation where a public official is told you have no authority to do this and don’t do this and he is somehow trying to now turn that into we
37 don’t get civilian oversight?” Mr. Pugash said. “That is just extremely roundabout and totally wrong.”
Mr. Scott acknowledged that Chief Blair is not required to respond to his letters, but said he has had success in addressing co-operation problems with other police forces.
Mr. Scott said the 106 problems with the Toronto Police Service included delayed notifications, officers refusing to answer questions and police interviewing witnesses after the SIU had invoked its mandate.
Chief Blair is expected to address the media on Friday, to announce a replacement for retired judge Dennis O’Connor, who announced on Wednesday that he was withdrawing from the internal review into the Yatim case. Mr. O’Connor cited a perceived conflict of interest because his law firm handled civil cases involving Toronto police and use of force.
Better training ‘not a bad thing,’ police board chair says AJIT JAIN Special to The Globe and Mail Published Friday, Aug. 09 2013, 9:07 PM EDT Last updated Friday, Aug. 09 2013, 10:23 PM EDT
Alok Mukherjee, chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, says he’s open to the idea there is room for improvement in police training in light of the shooting of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, he said the board will wait for the results and findings of “different investigations that are happening” before deciding its course of action. On Thursday, Ontario Ombudsman André Marin announced that his office would be reviewing use-of-force protocols and other directives from the province’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. The death of Mr. Yatim, who was shot by police and then tasered on an empty streetcar after pulling a knife on passengers minutes before, is already being investigated by the Special Investigations Unit and Police Chief Bill Blair.
Dr. Mukherjee, who was named chair of the board in 2005 and whose term expires in 2015, said he is expecting a thorough review of the events, which have caused a public outcry about whether deadly force was justified. Explaining that the Toronto Police employ a national protocol regarding use of force, he said “lethal force should be used only when there’s no other option.”
Should police not be looking at their existing use-of-force protocols?
There’s a use-of-force model which requires police officers to use a variety of tools and techniques from verbal to use of a weapon. According to this national
38 model, they should assess the situation and use appropriate tactics or tools in order that they don’t resort to the use of a lethal weapon right away.
If, as a result of various reviews and investigations, it is found that the training can be strengthened further that’s not a bad thing.
What’s the definition of what constitutes a threat?
The focus is on judgment and assessment of the situation: What danger is there to members of the public, and public safety, [whether] the safety of the police officer is threatened, the safety of the individual concerned, who may be in a crisis or threatened. So, there are various circumstances that police officers have to take into account in judging what level of force that they have to use.
Our police officers have thousands of interactions with members of the public in many different situations. They resolve a vast majority of them simply through communications and verbal interventions.
Would you say a person refusing to obey the command of a police officer is enough to deem this person threatening?
It is not just one factor. I can’t prejudge what the assessment may be in a given time and in a given situation. That’s why we have, in this case, a SIU investigation and review by the Chief of Police.
So, I am not saying just because someone refused to obey command of a police officer [that] is enough to use lethal force. I don’t think that’s how vast majority of officers make their decisions. They look for another way.
Do you have in the police ETF (Emergency Task Force) a team expert, psychiatric professionals who could, through their expertise, help de-escalate the situation when police may be dealing with mentally disturbed people?
What the police deal with is behaviour of emotionally disturbed persons. We don’t have psychiatrists on our staff. We have access to various resources that we can bring in depending on what’s needed in a given situation.
There was another situation in Montreal at the same time as the incident involving Mr. Yatim. That situation was successfully de-escalated through communications after several hours of standoff.
On balance, police use varieties of ways to defuse situations.
Should police not be looking at innovative solutions to avoid tragedies?
The Police Services and the Ministry, through their authorities to establish provincial standards, certainly do that.
39 The community is organizing another demonstration outside the police headquarters Tuesday when the Board will meet for its monthly meeting. What are your thoughts on this?
There’s a great deal of emotion in the community. There was a demonstration last week. I am aware that people have called for a second demonstration. We just have to wait and see. I believe the demonstration last week was a peaceful one and people wanted to express their anger over what happened and they also wanted to urge some improvements in police training etc. because they feel maybe there are some deficiencies.
As we said in our statement last week (first issued on July 30 and then corrected on August 6), the SIU investigation hopefully will be expeditious. Following that, the Chief of Police has to do a review of procedures, policies and training and conduct of individual officers and so on.
I guess the public has a right to express their concern and demonstration is one way of doing that. My hope will be that, like last week, the next demonstration will also be peaceful. The Board will still have to conduct its business. I have to make sure that we are able to conduct that business.
Are you going to discuss Sammy Yatim’s tragedy at the board meeting?
Not in any depth, as it will be premature. Also legally we can’t discuss this issue until the investigations and the reviews are completed. What I will be doing is to reiterate what we said in our statement, as well as to clarify what the law says about why we can’t make any pronouncement at this stage.
Anything you, as Chair of the Police Services Board, would like to tell the public?
I believe we need to continually look at every experience [to see] if there’s something that could be improved upon, done better. I also believe we do pretty good training for police officers but we have to keep an open mind.
Ontario ombud apologizes for wrongly accusing cop of sending offensive tweets
BY ALLISON JONES, THE CANADIAN PRESS AUGUST 28, 2013
TORONTO - Ontario's ombudsman apologized Wednesday for wrongly naming a Durham region detective as the culprit behind a series of offensive tweets, an incident that led to a public tiff between the watchdog and the police force.
Andre Marin publicly identified a police officer who he believed was behind a Twitter account using the fake name "Joe Mayo" that was directing offensive messages at him.
40 The tweets appeared on Aug. 8, before Marin was to give a news conference on the death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim in police shooting on a Toronto streetcar.
Marin took to Twitter minutes before the news conference started to identify Det.- Const. Scott Dennis as the source of the tweets calling Marin a "card carrying member of Al Qaida" and telling him not to stick his nose "in business it doesn't belong."
The ombudsman also tweeted Dennis' badge number and his salary, as well as reposting messages people sent him, complimenting him for outing the officer on Twitter.
But the Durham police force said Monday that Dennis was on annual leave at the time and did not know about the account, which investigators said was set up by a fellow officer without his knowledge or consent.
As of Tuesday evening, Marin said he didn't see the need at the time for an apology to the wrongly accused officer, but after police officials met Wednesday with members of the ombudsman's staff and gave them "concrete information" exonerating Dennis, Marin said he was sorry.
"Their investigation is still ongoing," Marin wrote in a statement. "However, they provided their assurance that they are confident, based on the digital, witness and other evidence they have gathered, that Det.-Const. Scott Dennis — whose name and badge number were used to create the Twitter account in question — was in no way responsible for it."
Marin said he reached out to Dennis and also spoke to the officer's lawyer.
"In light of this information, I apologize to Det.-Const. Dennis for any distress that my role in this matter may have caused him and his family," the ombudsman said in his statement.
"I understand this has been a very difficult time for Det.-Const. Dennis, and I hope that in addition to my apology, he will also receive a proper apology from both the colleague who fraudulently impersonated him, and his police service."
Durham police haven't named the officer who they believe is responsible, but say the detective, who is facing disciplinary charges, remains on duty but has been removed from his current assignment.
The organization representing front-line police officers in Ontario criticized Marin earlier Wednesday both for publicly naming Dennis as well as what the organization called his failure to take responsibility for his mistake.
"Mr. Marin's approach was slipshod and his attitude is cavalier," said Dave McFadden, president of the Police Association of Ontario.
"His behaviour is unacceptable, particularly coming from someone holding such a high position of public trust and authority. Mr. Marin, of all people, knows there is
41 a process in filing complaints for investigation. If he had a concern, he should have followed that process. Instead, he publicly maligned an innocent person."
A message seeking comment from Dennis' lawyer was not immediately returned.
Orillia police board recommends council accept OPP proposal Gisele Winton-Sarvis, QMI AGENCY Tuesday, September 3, 2013 7:44:53 EDT PM
Orillia city council will be asked to sign a new contract with the Ontario Provincial Police rather than start a municipal force.
The Orillia Police Services Board voted 3-1 Tuesday to recommend to city council it accept, under protest, Option 2 of the OPP’s contract proposals. The issue will go before council committee Monday and council Sept. 16. Assuming both bodies approve the recommendation, the contract will be signed.
It would be subject to the OPP agreeing to include a contract provision allowing the city to opt into any new costing methodology developed during the term.
Option 2 means the OPP will be policing the city, Ramara and Severn townships and provincial highways at a cost of $8.6 million with another 8.5% increase in 2014 for a total of $9.4 million.
“We are not getting any discount now whatsoever,” said Orillia Mayor Angelo Orsi.
Orsi said Orillia’s recent negotiations with the OPP were an effort to find a local solution to the provincial problem of increasing police costs for municipalities that are not taking in increasing tax dollars.
“Unfortunately, that can’t happen,” Orsi said.
He said he now plans to join the Mayors’ Coalition for Affordable, Sustainable, Accountable Policing through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to work with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to negotiate a solution.
“I understand the minister (Madeleine Meilleur) has already committed to a new policing model. We want to make sure it happens and that the rate is fair and square,” Orsi said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Mary Silverthorn, provincial commander for corporate services of the OPP, said the new model of police costing will be effective Jan. 1, 2015. Next year will be a transition year.
42 “It will enhance fairness and equalize billings across the province. Every municipality will pay its fair share,” she said, adding the new model will be made up of a base amount and a ratio based on calls for service.
Later in the meeting, Silverthorn said for its population, Orillia is one of the busiest detachments in the province for the number of calls annually.
The fact no money is being saved was the reason OPSB member and Orillia Coun. Patrick Kehoe voted against the new contract.
“The word ‘fair’ was used and I think it’s anything but,” Kehoe said.
“I find it ridiculous that an agency of this government, which is now a quarter of a trillion dollars in debt, is focused on service enhancements rather than service efficiencies. Negotiations have not produced results for either side. It’s careless for us to move forward with this recommendation on the expectation that something might happen. Something won’t happen.”
Kehoe said accepting the contract exacerbates an already out-of-control problem.
“This is going to cause substantial hurt in our community,” he said. “We have one of the lowest family median incomes in the province. As many as 10,000 residents used the food bank last year. The only thing this will serve is to increase the lineup at the food bank.
“If our role is to represent the needs of the citizens of this community, we failed,” Kehoe said.
Currently, Orillia is being policed by the OPP under Section 5, because its contract expired Aug. 31.
Section 5 does not recognize the police services board, said Roman Martiuk, Orillia’s chief administrative officer.
Under Section 5, bylaw enforcement that was previously handled by the OPP after city business hours is discontinued. Also, no grants can be awarded without a police services board and, as some grants are coming up for renewal, it will affect a couple of organizations, Martiuk said.
Orsi said the approval of Option 2 under protest “allows us the right to accept the terms but further negotiate the accountability and audit. Also, we are awaiting further information from the province on the costing model. If there is any adjustment down, then we get that lower rate.”
The City of Orillia had previously requested the OPP go to arbitration with it to resolve the matter of the difference in costing between the OPP price and the $7.9-million price MPM Consulting Ltd. had determined it would cost for the city to establish a standalone municipal police force.
The OPP rejected the request from the city Aug. 28.
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New OPP boss, Inspector Jeff Smith, addresses Pembroke council By Stephen Uhler, OBSERVER MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST Wednesday, September 4, 2013 10:00:54 EDT AM Inspector Jeff Smith has taken command of the Upper Ottawa Valley Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police.
The officer has already been in the driver’s seat for the past 15 months in the position of Acting Inspector, as he oversaw both the operations of the detachment and the transition process of the Pembroke Police Service as they were folded into the OPP.
“This is certainly an advantage,” he said, to be promoted to the position. “I’m familiar with the community, members of the police board and the officers, so I hope to hit the ground running instead of walking.”
“I want to give the detachment some stability and give what I hope will be effective leadership,” he continued, seeing his overall job as one to support the officers under his command, as they work together.
The new commander was introduced to Pembroke city council on Tuesday evening by Mike LeMay, head of the Pembroke Police Services Board.
“Inspector Smith will help manage local response to our policing needs,” he said, noting the police board’s role in this is to serve as a link between the public and the detachment commander
Smith began his policing career with the Carleton Place Police Service in 1990.
During his career, Smith has done general policing duties, drug enforcement, criminal investigation, interim detachment commander at various locations and most recently, until he was promoted, he was Detective Staff Sergeant, Criminal Operations, working out of East Region Headquarters in Smiths Falls.
With a combined command of 78 officers and civilians, along with more than 20 auxiliary officers, Smith will be splitting his time between the two offices: the Upper Ottawa Valley detachment building in Petawawa, and the old police station in Pembroke; that is, until the new police building opens its doors sometime in the fall of 2014.
The inspector said the large number of officers driving through the municipality, as well as patrolling it as part of their duties, provides a high visibility which gives the community a sense of security, as well as serves as a deterrent for those thinking of breaking the law.
44 Smith said his priorities will be completing the post-transition growing pains for the members of the former city police who have joined their ranks, ensuring all of them receive the training and support they need.
“The training is both formal and informal as well,” he said, as the newer members are being showed the ropes by their Upper Ottawa Valley peers, which is all in how they become part of the team. They will also be trying to meet the needs of officers as they try to balance work with their private lives.
Smith said he also wants to meet with the community at large and city council, in order to help determine their goals, which will be outlined in their first business plan as an integrated OPP police service.
That plan will be incorporating much of what the former city police service had outlined in its business plan, which reflects the policing needs of the city, as defined by the public, council and the police board.
Smith said they will be focusing on traffic concerns and some property crime issues as they work on the plan for 2014. Assisting them in this is the resources the OPP have on hand.
“We have analysts at East Region Headquarters who keep track of all of the trends throughout the region,” he said, “and alert me to those which need attention.” That information, combined with local concerns brought forward, help him determine what resources to dedicate to that matter. Such planning is what is detailed in the business plan.
Smith said the combined resources of the detachment and the OPP as a whole will benefit the municipality. He said they have two traffic control officers who specialize in that, a complement of officers who are out on the road, more assigned to specific tasks such as drug enforcement, major crimes, and property crimes, and other resources if needed, two community service officers – one for the Upper Ottawa Valley, the other assigned to Pembroke, and support for court.
So far, the feedback from both the officers and the public has been really positive to their activities to date.
“We are going to accomplish our goals as a team,” he said. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”
Police association head questions handling of Denouden case
CTV Kitchener Published Wednesday, September 4, 2013 4:47PM EDT
45 The head of the Waterloo Regional Police Association says he’s concerned with how the body that oversees the police handled an investigation into one of its own members. Kim Denouden, vice-chair of the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board, stood down from her position last month due to an investigation by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission into comments she made to a WRPS staff member. The commission announced last week that they would not hold a hearing into the comments, which led Denouden to return to the board, having missed one meeting.
Denouden’s stepping down and the existence of the investigation were only made public after a leak to the media. Bruce Tucker, president of the police association, says the police services board should have been more up-front about what was happening. “They are the overseers of this local police service and must be held more accountable than we ourselves are,” he tells CTV News. “I don’t think we need to know the nitty-gritty details of what was being said. I think we need to know that it’s been handled, it’s been handled properly and the public’s best interest has been taken care of. Right now I don’t feel that’s been met.” Tuesday was the first police services board meeting since Denouden’s return to the board. She declined to speak with CTV News, but board chair Tom Galloway said she would issue a statement in the “very near future”. Denouden’s situation was discussed in a closed portion of the meeting. Galloway says the conversation occurred at the police headquarters in Cambridge, but not during a police services board meeting.
Mayor needs fill-in on police board: Parnell
By Brendan Wedley, Peterborough Examiner Wednesday, September 4, 2013 12:01:54 EDT AM
City council can appoint another representative to the Peterborough Lakefield Police Services Board, Coun. Lesley Parnell said as Mayor Daryl Bennett updated council on his Ontario Civilian Police Commission case Tuesday night.
Bennett has been effectively suspended from the board since Sept. 17 last year when the commission asked him to stop fulfilling his duties as a board member until it finished an investigation into his conduct or any subsequent hearing or inquiry.
The commission’s allegations against the mayor revolve around the debate between council and the board over the cost of policing in the community.
Bennett’s suspension has left council without representation on the board for the police force’s last two annual budgets. The city’s spending $21.3 million on policing this year, up 5.4% from last year.
46
The commission’s pre-hearing process is slated to resume Sept. 18 in Toronto — it hasn’t set dates for the actual hearing, which will likely extend into next year.
“Why don’t we appoint another member to the board while the investigation is ongoing?” Parnell said. “At least then one of us will be around that table and in the closed sessions.”
While the mayor can’t act as a police board member and participate in board meetings, he’s still a member of the board.
There isn’t a vacancy that would allow council to appoint a replacement, said Richard Taylor, Bennett’s lawyer.
“He has to continue to be a member of the board in order to keep some of these issues alive,” Taylor said.
Bennett is using his own money to pay for his legal defence.
The mayor told council he’s looking to make changes to the way the commission is allowed to direct elected officials.
“My freedoms of expression and freedoms of association … are under attack here through this procedure,” Bennett said.
Parts of the commission’s case revolve around Bennett’s public criticism of the police service’s hiring of a communications co-ordinator, his sending to other council members an email from a resident concerning the police chief that was sent to the mayor’s office, and his public criticisms of the commission’s investigation into his conduct.
The commission contends that Bennett is always a board member and his actions are restricted by the code of conduct for police services board members. The code of conduct is a provincial government regulation.
Bennett maintains that he’s first and foremost the mayor since he’s on the board because he’s the mayor.
Beyond defending himself against the allegations, Bennett has remarked that he wants to change the system to prevent the commission from doing the same thing to other board members in the future.
“If I resign the investigation stops, the process stops and that’s not going to benefit anybody,” he said Tuesday.
The infringement of Bennett’s rights and freedoms that are guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has national implications, Coun. Bob Hall said.
47 “This is a significant commitment that his worship has made,” he said. “I would just like to thank his worship. I’m sorry that he’s put in this position…. I think it’s been an abuse of power and unjust.” Hamilton police lose link as Toronto leaves association
The Hamilton Spectator BySusan Clairmont Aug 16, 2013
The powerful Toronto Police Association has pulled out of the Police Association of Ontario in part because of the issue of lethal force.
The TPA, representing 7,800 sworn officers, is going it alone because "we deal with a lot of issues that are unique to Toronto," says president Mike McCormack. The most prominent of those issues right now — "on the front of every newspaper" — is the police shooting of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, he says. Yatim died last month after being shot at nine times while on an empty streetcar.
McCormack says while fatal police shootings happen in other communities, too (Steve Mesic was shot and killed by Hamilton police in June), the "volume of calls" in Toronto puts that association in a unique position.
"Our board felt that we were taking a little bit of a different direction" than the provincial association, says McCormack. He would not elaborate.
“I do wish Toronto would reconsider and come back to our association.
Mike Thomas
Hamilton Police Association president
For Hamilton, which has many policing ties to Toronto due to proximity and size, this now means connections will have to be forged without the PAO network.
"For me, it doesn't mean I don't work with them," says Hamilton Police Association president Mike Thomas. "We're still dealing with the same issues."
Still Thomas, who was re-elected Thursday for his second term representing Ontario at the Canadian Police Association, says he's disappointed Toronto has left, taking its clout with it.
"I do wish Toronto would reconsider and come back to our association," he says. "To have one voice."
Thomas says Hamilton has no interest in joining Toronto by leaving the PAO.
48 The TPA announced it was leaving at the end of July. It is now the only association in Ontario not to belong to the provincial group.
The TPA is the fourth largest municipal police association in North America, after Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. The Ontario Provincial Police Association, Ontario's second largest police union, is now the biggest member of the provincial association, which is still more than 25,000 front line officers strong without Toronto.
The PAO website has already taken Toronto off its list of members, leaving 54 associations. The provincial association is arguably one of the most powerful lobby groups in Ontario, with a history influencing public policy on law-and-order issues.
Dave McFadden, president of the PAO, says the association has been undergoing "a strategic review" of its operations for the first time in its 81-year history. The TPA told the association it didn't agree with the new direction it was taking.
"We'll continue to talk with Toronto on a case-by-case basis," says McFadden.
McFadden would not say how much the lost membership dues from Toronto amounts to.
Cellblock police officer's $540K legal bill goes to arbitration Ottawa lawyer Michael Edelson represented Sgt. Steve Desjourdy in sexual assault case CBC News Posted: Jul 23, 2013 12:18 PM ET Last Updated: Jul 23, 2013 1:16 PM ET Dispute Ottawa's police services board has refused to cover the $540,000 bill for Sgt. Steve Desjourdy's defence so his union is taking the city to arbitration.
Desjourdy was acquitted of a sexual assault charge in April connected to a Sept. 2008 incident inside the Ottawa police cellblock.
Defence lawyer Michael Edelson and his team represented the officer and soon after, it handed the police services board the lofty bill.
Eli El-Chantiry, chairman of the police services board, claimed the bill lacked specific details for services rendered.
He also told CBC News the bill would have never passed through the city's legal department.
But in what El-Chantiry called a "clerical error," a cheque was issued to cover all legal fees. Then five days later, a stop payment was issued for the cheque.
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Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association, called the move "unprofessional."
Letter sent to all police officers He has since sent a letter to all police officers informing them the union will take the police services board to the arbitration to settle the issue.
Skof argued the legal fees debate is more than a clerical error, but instead centres on a disagreement regarding the collective bargaining agreement between the police service and officers.
Matt Skof of the Ottawa Police Association says the police services board has been unprofessional in its dealings with Desjourdy's legal fees. (CBC) Skof said the police services board has challenged the language of the indemnification clause, which details the extent of protection Desjourdy receives from legal issues related to his work.
Skof claimed the board wanted to link indemnification to the result of the pending discreditable conduct charge against Desjourdy under the Police Services Act.
In other words, the city would not cover costs if Desjourdy were found guilty. They would if he was let off.
El-Chantiry would not comment on that claim.
Desjourdy is facing this latest charge related to the same cellblock incident.
Municipalities fear fallout of soaring police costs
Doug Schmidt, The Windsor Star | Aug 22, 2013 | Last Updated: Aug 22, 2013 - 9:07 UTC Police salaries are growing at twice the rate of those for other Ontario public sector employees, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Municipalities spent more than $3.7 billion on police services in 2011, according to an AMO report. Those costs grew nearly six per cent from the previous year - a pace nearly three times the rate of inflation. Since 2001, total policing costs in the province have grown by $1.5 billion.
In Windsor, despite being hit by double-digit salary hikes awarded through arbitration, the police service has been able to hold the line on spending.
But it's achieving that by thinning the ranks.
"In order to hold the budget at zero, you have to reduce staffing levels - there's no other way," said Windsor police Chief Al Frederick.
50
Since the end of 2011, the police department has seen its workforce shrink by more than 20 positions. The service went from 612 at the end of 2011 (466 sworn officers and 146 civilian staff) to about 590 today (450 officers and 140 civilians). At $67 million, policing is one of the single-biggest items in the city's annual budget. The police board, chaired by Mayor Eddie Francis, told the department to maintain its 2011 spending through 2012 and 2013.
That was even with a $1.8-million hit that came in January when an arbitrator awarded a 12 per cent wage hike over four years.
"I haven't put my mind to the 2014 budget yet ... I'm not looking forward to it," said Frederick. He added he's heard "informally" that another zerobudget will be expected.
"I don't think the service can sustain more cuts," said Windsor Police Association president Jason DeJong. "At some point, he (Frederick) may have to go to the board and say we need a budget increase."
Frederick said the staff cuts have been achieved without layoffs, through attrition and without reducing frontline services. The association, representing the rank- and-file, has worked with the brass so far to implement cost-saving changes such as improving shift scheduling within the investigative branch.
While the police union argues that continued spending freezes are not sustainable, politicians meeting at the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa this week told Premier Kathleen Wynne that the province's arbitration system is broken and will end up bankrupting municipalities.
"The growth is not sustainable," said AMO president Russ Powers, a Hamilton city councillor. Politicians lined up to complain that arbitrators consistently award the highest going rates in the province, without consideration to a municipality's ability to pay.
The contract for the Ontario Provincial Police comes due next year, and the province has already agreed that it will be the highest-paid Ontario force.
"We can't afford the wage increases that the OPP is about to get," Powers told the nearly 1,600 delegates, including several Windsor city councillors. "We can't afford the precedent that it sets for our local police forces, we can't afford fire halls that house six-figure salaries, we can't afford - or understand - Ontario's interest arbitration system."
Wynne told the gathering that Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi would be sitting down soon to work out a deal satisfactory to all sides. But critics noted that the plan by the minority Liberals is at odds with ideas floated at the same conference by Progressive Conservative Party Leader Tim Hudak and New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath.
51 "It's in limbo ... they said they tried but the opposition wouldn't agree to it," Ward 9 Coun. Hilary Payne said of the Liberals' explanation on why the government's proposed legislative changes have so far failed.
"They're cowards ... it's very easy to do, they just don't want to do it," Francis said. "The three party leaders should appoint three mayors and let them fix it."
"It's terrible, it's beyond reason," Payne said of the status quo.
A first-class Windsor constable who made nearly $81,000 in 2010 will be earning $90,300 by the start of 2014. The same officer in London earns between $87,000 and $94,600, while the Hamilton rate is $85,619 and Toronto's is $86,400. A first- class OPP constable with three years seniority makes almost $83,500, which AMO claims will be going up a minimum of 8.55 per cent in 2014.
When Windsor's arbitrator announced his decision in January, Francis said "he admitted that he was bound to this policy of replicating other decisions."
Francis said Windsor is not crying poor and that he holds the city's police and firefighters "in high regard." But what's being awarded Ontario's public emergency service workers, especially compared with the concessions agreed to by other municipal employee sectors, is taking away spending from other priorities.
Ever-rising police costs means fewer resources available for delivery of other core municipal services, including road and bridge repairs, waste management, public transit and social housing, delegates at this year's AMO conference were told.
Under the current legislation, police associations can appeal any decisions by the employer they feel negatively affects service levels. Frederick said it was the arbitrator's ruling that permitted the most recent internal reorganization and rescheduling within the detective branch.
While reluctant to discuss "operational stuff," Frederick said that, where it's possible, civilians are being employed to perform more duties, like crime analysis.
The big police money crunch was also one of the main topics of discussion at this week's annual Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police gathering in Winnipeg.
Frederick, who attended with deputy chief Rick Derus, said part of the discussion among his peers was on the desirability of having more policing duties carried out by civilians. The City of Winnipeg, for example, has "much more leeway in how it deploys civilians."
For example, civilian cadets, who earn about a third of what uniformed officers make, can be employed for crime scene protection - keeping citizens out of taped-off areas. Ontario's Police Act currently requires sworn officers to do that job.
52
Star editorial: The broken arbitration system
The Windsor Star Aug 23, 2013 - 10:51 PM EDT Last Updated: Aug 24, 2013 - 3:00 PM EDT The message coming from Ontario municipal leaders is loud and clear — taxpayers can no longer afford the expensive contracts that are being routinely awarded by arbitrators to police officers and firefighters.
Russ Powers, a Hamilton councillor and president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, says his members are getting stuck with “cookie-cutter” settlements that ignore both the economic health of communities and more reasonable settlements that have been made with other bargaining units.
“The growth is not sustainable,” says Powers. “We can’t afford the precedent that it sets for our local police forces, we can’t afford fire halls that house six-figure salaries, we can’t afford — or understand — Ontario’s interest arbitration system.”
Not surprisingly, policing costs and the province’s broken arbitration system were key issues at the annual AMO conference in Ottawa this week.
According to an AMO report, municipalities spent more than $3.7 billion on police services in 2011. Those costs grew nearly six per cent from the previous year — a pace nearly three times the rate of inflation. Since 2001, total policing costs in the province have more than doubled.
The Star’s Doug Schmidt reported a first-class Windsor constable who made nearly $81,000 in 2010 will be earning $90,300 by the start of 2014. The same officer in London earns between $87,000 and $94,600, while the Hamilton rate is $85,619 and Toronto’s is $86,400. A first-class OPP constable with three years seniority makes almost $83,500, which AMO claims will be going up a minimum of 8.55 per cent in 2014.
The frustration of municipalities is understandable. There is no end in sight to an arbitration system that’s stacked against the interests of taxpayers. There is no incentive for police or fire to negotiate with any notion of fiscal responsibility. One high settlement is matched by the next. Unaccountable arbitrators feel free to award whatever they want, and then it becomes someone else’s job to figure out how to foot the bill.
Unless things changes, Barbara Marlow, the deputy reeve of Ryerson Township near Huntsville, says exorbitant fire and police contracts are “going to bankrupt us.”
But there seems little chance the Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne has any intention of sticking up for taxpayers. Wynne says she thinks the affected parties
53 can work out a deal that will make everyone happy — as long as they come “with an open mind.” She’s dreaming. And there’s little sympathy from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who like Wynne, doesn’t want to see any kind of “heavy- handed” approach taken to change the system.
What AMO wants to see is what PC Leader Tim Hudak has unsuccessfully attempted to put into law — and it’s more than reasonable. AMO wants to force arbitrators to consider a municipality’s ability to pay when making an award. That would include the unemployment rate, the median household income and social service caseloads.
In AMO’s words, arbitrators must be given “clear and measurable criteria” when it comes to assessing a municipality’s ability to pay. They must also “give priority to and provide a clear, written explanation of how the fiscal health of a community was considered.”
Perhaps newly minted Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Percy Hatfield — who as a two- term city councillor understands the impact of arbitration as well as anyone — can convince NDP Leader Horwarth that it’s time to legislate change to a system that literally holds taxpayers hostage.
Ontario to expand police access to tasers ADAM RADWANSKI The Globe and Mail Published Tuesday, Aug. 27 2013, 3:00 AM EDT Ontario’s government is set to expand the use of tasers by police, a move that will give more officers access to weapons other than their sidearms.
Despite pressure from police chiefs and associations to expand their use, Ontario has restricted tasers to a select few supervising and specialized officers. That has set its police forces apart from those in Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, along with the RCMP.
Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur will announce on Tuesday morning that all front-line officers in the province will be permitted to carry tasers if their forces so choose, sources told The Globe and Mail. The announcement will come one month to the day after the fatal police shooting of Toronto teenager Sammy Yatim – an incident that has sparked debate about the province’s use-of- force laws – but appears to have been in the works before then.
The decision marks a major change in thinking for a province that has long been more resistant to tasers, which are classified as non-lethal weapons, but have been the subject of controversy in Canada since the taser-related death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport six years ago.
The new rules are not expected to be accompanied by provincial funding for new weapons or training, which could cost millions for jurisdictions such as Toronto.
54 As a result, it remains to be seen how widespread the use of tasers will be even after the government has open the door to it.
Officials for Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and for Ms. Meilleur would not confirm the contents of Tuesday’s announcement, other than to acknowledge that it will mark a significant change in use-of-force rules. And they said the changes have not been influenced by Mr. Yatim’s death, nor by a related investigation launched subsequently by provincial Ombudsman Andre Marin.
Questions have been raised about whether use-of-force rules played a part in that incident.
Amateur videos have shown that the 18-year-old Mr. Yatim, who was distraught and brandishing a three-inch knife on a streetcar from which other passengers and the driver had been evacuated, was shot at nine times by police. Eight bullets hit him. Constable James Forcillo has since been charged with second- degree murder.
Mr. Yatim was tasered after he was shot. The tasering was by a different officer who was not on the scene when the bullets rang out, leading to speculation about whether Mr. Yatim’s life might have been spared if Constable Forcillo had been carrying a stun gun – something the provincial rules did not permit him to do.
The prospect of arming more police officers in Ontario with tasers has been kicking around since at least 2009, when a government report described them as “an appropriate tool for law enforcement.”
The same report also cautioned that “extensive media coverage” of deaths involving tasers had led to “heightened apprehension” about their use.
A source familiar with the changes to be announced by Ms. Meilleur said they will be “permissive rather than prescriptive,” meaning they will merely give forces the option of expanding taser use rather than mandate it.
Taser boss shocked Canada using old technology
BY JOE WARMINGTON ,TORONTO SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 09:59 PM EDT
TORONTO - If critics thought the Taser was controversial with one electrical charge, how about the new ones which fire two?
Ontario has given permission for all front-line police officers to be armed with a stun gun.
55 But the company that makes them says the ones being used here now are antiquated.
“The X26 is a 2003 technology,” Taser International vice-president Steve Tuttle said Tuesday. “It’s an old design.”
What he thinks Canada needs is either an $800 X26 P or a $1,200 X2 model.
“It’s a far superior product,” he said of either. “They are dual shots. That eliminates an officer having to reload. There is a backup shot and it has a laser.”
It would make it more difficult for anybody trying to get away.
One major obstacle is that this new technology is not yet approved in Canada.
It turns out Tasers used by our cops do not fall under their umbrella of the Canadian Standards Association.
The Taser is not charged by AC power but 100% by disposable batteries.
So whose standard do they have to meet?
“It’s up to the Solicitor General (Public Safety ministry),” Tuttle said.
“We have been working on it with them for more than a year.”
The company makes no bones about what it is they are selling.
“Being Tasered is an unpleasant experience,” Tuttle said.
But, he added, it usually works out better than being shot with a bullet.
“Canadians can’t have it both ways,” Tuttle said over the line from Arizona.
On one hand Canadians “trust their officers with lethal weapons” but, he said, some seem to have reservations with them with “non-lethal” Tasers.
While there is a sticker on a Taser that says it “may cause death or serious injury,” Tuttle said, most of the time it doesn’t.
“It’s never going to replace deadly force,” he said.
But it is an alternative.
Taser is a legal product and our police chiefs vouch for it.
On the other hand, there have been several high-profile cases in which people have died or been badly injured after being subdued by officers with a stun gun.
56 Since there is a new generation of Taser on the horizon, my suggestion is before every front-line officer has a Taser in hand, it becomes mandatory that this product is passed through the scrutiny of not just government but the CSA.
Just like most products have to.
If the product is safe, it should have no problem getting CSA approval.
It’s especially important since in the past, a top Ontario coroner did have his hotel and travel expenses covered by Taser to speak at two conferences.
He also testified at inquests saying the Taser was not responsible for the deaths.
Tuttle said that there are no Canadian government or law-enforcement official on retainer for his company.
But talk about the Taser and one can see he is a believer.
“I was mugged three times when I was lived in Washington, D.C.,” he said.
If the Taser had have been in his hands then, he feels he would have fared better.
He sounded just like a guy who carries a Taser himself.
“I do and so does the rest of my family,” he said. “Tasers can be carried in 45 states.”
Ontario is not a state and Canada is not the United States.
“I won’t be taking that on,” he said with a chuckle. “Our major customer is law enforcement.”
But it's the taxpayer who is essentially footing the bill. Taxpayers, therefore, have the right to be fully briefed exactly how our police officers are armed and that their weapons - all of them - have passed Canadian safety standards.
QUEBEC Challenging Police, Student Politicians Activist Calls For Support From CSU As Police Lawsuit Looms NEWS by Andrew Brennan — Published September 3, 2013 | Updated September 3, 2013 | Katie Nelson says Montreal police have been treating her differently since she filed a lawsuit against them last week.
“I [saw] a cop the other night, and I haven’t seen any since [the lawsuit] came public, and he was a cop from the strike,” she told The Link last week, referring to
57 last year’s Quebec student strikes which saw a clash between thousands of protesters denouncing increases to university tuition and an increasingly heavy- handed police force.
“[Police] were harassing these kids from France, so I was videotaping ‘cause I felt like I should, and they were very interested [in the case].”
But what the officers seemed concerned with seemed rather odd to her.
“They were very curious as to whether I was Democrat, which was really weird,” she said.
While she maintains she was treated well, one officer “told the other cop that, ‘you know, Katie’s kind, but she makes us look bad,’” Nelson said.
Nelson, a first-year philosophy student at Concordia, filed a lawsuit against the City of Montreal and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal last Tuesday. She alleges she has been the victim of harassment at the hands of police officers since becoming involved in the student strikes last year.
Having received 33 tickets in the last 15 months—amounting to over $6,500 worth of fines—she also argues police are unfairly targeting her, with charges against her ranging from swearing in public, jaywalking amidst a marching protest of thousands of people, and spitting on the ground.
Nelson and her attorney—constitutional lawyer Julius Grey, who is fighting the case pro-bono—are asking for $24,000 in damages.
“The whole goal of this is not to win money, but to set a legal precedence for, I guess, radicals or any activists, really,” she said.
“We’re trying to set legal precedence against political profiling, which is really huge in Canada and something I think a lot of [activists] have been working [on] for a while,” she continued. “That would affect people in Toronto, that would affect people in Vancouver, in Alberta, where all these activists that are being persecuted for their beliefs.”
But as to why more cases have not been brought forward in Quebec courts denouncing the alleged actions of the SPVM, Nelson, who considers herself an anarchist, says it’s hard for fringe groups to trust the rest of society. “I come from a community that doesn’t agree with anything in the world,” she said.
“Anarchists are really cautious before they use the justice system or the media as tools, and I think that’s why we don’t see more legitimate ways to fight against the police. “I think I see a lot of tactical and really strong organizing underground, but not in the conventional methods of society.”
A Matter of Pride
58 Nelson, who is originally from Alberta, only moved to Montreal last May.
Though it was the height of the student strike, Nelson says that her problems with police only truly began mid-summer, after she created a Facebook group compiling information on officers that she says were engaging in police brutality.
“We created a group that would provide every piece of evidence that somebody needed so a complaint wouldn’t just go away,” she said.
“That pissed cops off, because we were taking pictures of them with […] their badge number. “I think that’s when they started to become more personal about it. I would get a ticket for everything.”
According to Nelson, who has no charges of violent behaviour against her, police began ticketing her for whatever they could, such as jaywalking and uttering swear words.
“It was kind of like they lost a little bit of pride,” she recalled. “They tried really hard to put on criminal charges or intimidation charges or whatever and they didn’t work, and so instead they went after anything else. “They couldn’t just let it go.”
Because of the number of tickets she’s received, the majority of Nelson’s charges that have yet to see a date in municipal court have been compiled and will be collectively ruled upon on Jan. 10, according to Nelson. But with her upcoming case before Quebec’s Superior Court, that may change.
“I don’t think they can even come to a conclusion because it’s ongoing in Superior Court, but it’s pretty clear with the tickets—and the cops that have given me the tickets—that something else is going on, and I think that the prosecutor’s going to look at that,” she said.
“On top of that, a lot of the tickets are invalid to begin with; there’s no possible way I could even be guilty because they’re not valid tickets.
“I don’t expect them to come to a decision […] but if I was guilty I imagine we would appeal it.
“I’m not a lawyer or anything, but I feel if they ruled me guilty, it would give us more amp in the lawsuit.”
“The important thing is that the CSU passed a motion last March against the SPVM and nobody really followed through with it,” she said, adding she wants Prunty’s original letter released as well.
“I think students should see it, and I think the media should see it too, because it shows there’s still solidarity within students in schools,” she said.
59 “We need to show students there’s someone backing them for people to keep stepping forward. It’s not just me—it’s a lot of Concordia students that were attacked.”
CSU Issues
Her lawsuit may be ongoing, but Nelson still has other things on her plate. The 21-year-old is beginning classes at Concordia this semester.
“I don’t know Katie Nelson, and I have only the vaguest awareness of her situation; I don’t want to comment because it’s all before the courts,” said Concordia President Alan Shepard.
But Shepard did say he is not a fan of the university name being “broadened to a situation where Concordia really had nothing to do with it.”
Though a Montreal Gazette story originally identified Nelson as a soon-to-be student, much of the subsequent press identified Nelson solely as a current Concordian.
As for the Concordia Student Union, Nelson says the CSU has some promises to keep.
In an emergency session on March 28, the CSU voted unanimously to publicly denounce municipal bylaw P-6, which requires that a route be provided to police at least 24 hours before all protests set to take place on public property, and further restricts the wearing of clothing that hides one’s face. Failure to comply with the bylaw could result in the protest being declared illegal.
While not widely used over the course of the student protests against tuition increases last year, SPVM officers have escalated their use of the bylaw since February—often detaining protesters en masse by corralling and boxing in the entire group in a tactic known as kettling.
While the vote was made public, a letter that accompanied the original motion decrying the SPVM’s tactics has not yet seen wide release. The letter was written by VP Sustainability Benjamin Prunty, who served as a CSU arts and science councillor at the time.
While both Prunty and CSU President Melissa Kate Wheeler say there is no specific reason that the letter was not released, Wheeler claimed the responsibility lay with last year’s council and may have been overshadowed during the transition.
But her executive is not done with P-6, she continued.
“What we’ll have to do is continue to discuss it with our council and see what direction they’d like to take and then we’ll honour that and take that direction,” said Wheeler. Though with all resolutions being binding, they must respect the decision of last year’s council, she added.
60
As for Nelson, who has received multiple tickets for P-6 infractions, she says she wants results.
NEW BRUNSWICK Fredericton faces shrinking police force Retiring officers won't be replaced, says chief CBC News Posted: Aug 15, 2013 1:15 PM AT Last Updated: Aug 15, 2013 2:48 PM AT The City of Fredericton is reducing the number of police officers on the force through attrition over the next three years, says the chief.
There are currently 13 or 14 officers eligible for retirement, Leanne Fitch told CBC News, including herself.
When they leave, they will not be replaced, she said.
But it's unclear when that will be. Those 14 officers "could have retired over the last couple of years," said Fitch.
"I would never try to guess when people are going to retire, particularly in this day and age, with the economy the way that it is," she said.
Civilian members of the force could take over some of the retiring officers' duties, said Fitch.
"For example, we've had staff sergeants that have assisted inspectors who have been responsible for overseeing building security, purchase orders, making sure that different equipment is tended to.
"And some of those functions really, quite naturally, fit better with some of our civilian staff, that already have bits and pieces of that type of activity," said Fitch.
Meanwhile, citizens may see more officers in visible policing roles, she said.
For example, an inspector and staff sergeant will now oversee day-to-day policing activity on the neighbourhood action team.
The Fredericton Police Force currently has 113 sworn officers, plus civilian staff.
61 NOVA SCOTIA RCMP's new digs has 'huge impact on policing'
Published on August 20, 2013 Ken Partridge The Burnside News
Assistant Commissioner Alphonse MacNeil, commanding officer of the RCMP in Nova Scotia, says the investment by provincial and federal levels of government in the new RCMP headquarters in Burnside is already paying off for Nova Scotians. "By being able to bring together 12 seperate sites from across Halifax, this building has already had a huge impact on police work in the last several months," MacNeil says. MacNeil says that impact isn't limited to the greater efficiencies of having all RCMP units operating under a single roof, but extends to the greater feeling of camaraderie among members and an improved morale. "We are beyond impressed with the design and function of our new home," MacNeil says. "I can't believe how many members have come up to me and said, 'They got it right!' The renewed spirit here is obvious." Special guests were in abundance at the official opening of the new building today, including Diane Finley, minister of Public Works and Government Services, who – along with Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry (a former RCMP officer himself) – cut the ribbon to officially open the new H Division Headquarters in front of hundreds of employees, dignitaries and stakeholders. The $113-million project is applying for LEED (Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design) Gold certification and is considered one of the most energy efficient buildings ever constructed by the Government of Canada. The building's long narrow shape allows natural light to penetrate to the interior and combines sustainable design features that represent a showcase for new, but proven, smart technologies, including: • a reflective and living green roof that's the largest in Eastern Canada to reduce the amount of heat the building absorbs from the atmosphere; • the use of a recycled rainwater system to reduce water consumption; • maximized use of regionally available materials and materials with recycled content where possible;
• maximized diversion of construction waste from municipal landfill; • measures to provide efficient thermal operation, including a high-performance building envelope, efficient mechanical systems, and utilization of Nova Scotia's natural gas as the primary heating/cooling source; estimates of energy use indicate this building will be approximately 47 per cent more energy efficient than a building constructed to today's minimum standards;
62 • developed with careful control and monitoring of the potential impact of the construction site on the adjacent Spectacle Lake Wetland Reserve; and • occupancy sensors to activate lighting only when it is necessary. In addition to these technical enhancements, a memorial wall and garden, dedicated to the memory of RCMP members from H Division who have fallen in the line of duty, provides a formal focus in the building's circular entrance pavilion. There is also a public exhibition area illustrating H Division's history in Nova Scotia. "The Harper Government is incredibly pleased to officially open this new facility and we are especially proud that the project was delivered on budget and ahead of schedule," Finley says. "This is more than a building - it is an investment in the men and women of the RCMP, giving them the facilities and equipment that they need to keep safe streets and communities for Canadians and their families." "The opening of this new headquarters is an important milestone for Nova Scotia's provincial police force," Landry adds. "Centralizing critical units like major crime investigators, dog units, bomb disposal units, emergency response teams and traffic patrols for our 100 series highways will contribute to safer communities in Nova Scotia."
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
NEWFOUNDLAND
NATIONAL Canadian mental health commission head explores more collaboration, training with police
BY THE CANADIAN PRESS AUGUST 15, 2013
SASKATOON - The head of the Canadian Mental Health Commission says good education and training will help police officers interact better with people who have mental health issues.
But Louise Bradley also cautions there's no easy answer.
"There isn't, unfortunately, one thing that will fix it all," said Bradley. "It is a variety of things and a very complex issue."
63 A coroner's inquest is scheduled this fall into the deaths of three people with possible mental health issues who were shot by Toronto police.
Michael Eligon, 29, was killed in February 2012 after fleeing from Toronto East General Hospital, where he had been involuntarily admitted under the Mental Health Act.
He was dressed in a hospital gown and armed with two pairs of scissors.
Reyal Jardine-Douglas, 25, died in August 2010 after pulling a knife when police confronted him on a public transit bus for acting irrationally.
Sylvia Klibingaitis called 911 from her home and said she was going to commit a crime. When officers went to her house, Klibingaitis walked toward the officers with the knife in her hand.
And on Sept. 10, 2012, a former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder was fatally shot by RCMP in Surrey, B.C., after coming at an officer with an axe.
B.C.'s police watchdog agency said the officers involved acted appropriately, but relatives of Greg Matters said the actions of the officers escalated the situation and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association called for an investigation into whether the shooting could have been avoided.
Bradley, who is scheduled to speak Thursday at the Canadian Association of Police Boards' annual meeting in Saskatoon, said she will talk about how the worlds of policing and mental health intersect and how those in the mental health field can work more effectively with first responders.
"I think that there is a lack of understanding overall of mental health problems and illnesses, but that's not just for police officers. That unfortunately is the case in many areas, including health care itself," said Bradley.
"It's something that isn't well understood."
Bradley is a registered nurse with a master's of science degree specializing in mental health. She has worked on the front line and in mental health care in corrections.
She said the lack of understanding of mental health illness puzzles her.
"I've been in mental health for about 30 years and while I'm encouraged that this is a time when we are taking about mental health more openly than we ever have before, I still don't understand why it is that there is such stigma attached to it," she said.
"There's virtually none of us that are not impacted in some way, either ourselves, a family member or a close friend or a work colleague. And yet it's shrouded in secrecy, it's shrouded in shame and embarrassment."
64
Bradley said she hopes that at the end of the conference there will be "clear, discernible action items" to help mental health workers collaborate with police.
Education and training is just a start, she said.
"But it isn't as simple as saying 'OK, we're going to go in and give you a day's (education) and then you know how to do it,' " she said.
"In the same way that we do CPR training and we have to get re-certified every year, it's something that's ongoing." Police should not be ‘front-line on mental health,’ chiefs say WINNIPEG — The Canadian Press Published Wednesday, Aug. 21 2013, 2:04 PM EDT
Canada’s police chiefs say governments must “step up” and provide more support for the mentally ill.
The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which has been meeting in Winnipeg, says lack of health-care funding is putting people with mental-health issues on the streets.
Association president Jim Chu says police should not be the front line on mental- health issues.
He says officers spend too much time in waiting rooms and dealing with people who don’t have adequate social and medical support.
Chu, who is chief constable of the Vancouver Police Service, says the focus needs to shift from dealing with a crisis to preventing it in the first place.
Chu says the number of people apprehended by police under the Mental Health Act has more than quadrupled since 2002 — more than 2,600 people in Vancouver so far this year.
“We went from the agency of last resort to the mental-health service agency of first resort,” Chu said Wednesday on the last day of the meeting. “And that’s wrong. That’s failing those who are mentally ill and who deserve better care.”
He also said it’s not right that the burden has fallen to law enforcement officers.
“Other levels of government ... by not taking responsibility for helping the mentally ill (have) pushed the workload onto the front-line police officer and that’s wrong.”
65 Chu pointed out that police services throughout Canada are investing in education and trying to develop new models for officers who deal with the mentally ill.
One approach has been to include mental health professionals on response units.
A conference is planned for next March on the issue. It’s a joint initiative between the police chiefs association and the Mental Health Commission.
Sammy Yatim shooting a lesson for new police watchdogs More provinces moving to independent police oversight as Ontario charges Const. James Forcillo By Amber Hildebrandt, CBC News Posted: Aug 22, 2013 5:10 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2013 9:32 AM ET A notepad sits on Zane Tessler's bedside table within easy reach. It's there in case he suddenly thinks of yet another task for his growing to-do list on how to set up a police watchdog from scratch.
"Every night I wake up," said Tessler, "and quickly jot down something that I never thought about: What about this and what about this, and this?"
A former Crown attorney, Tessler is charged with creating Manitoba's first independent agency to delve into serious incidents involving police. And, like Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, it will be able to lay criminal charges.
When it becomes operational in 2014, it will make Manitoba the fifth province to install such an independent review agency for police.
Tessler describes the Independent Investigation Unit as the part of the "next wave" of police oversight in Canada. "This is the next level of investigative agencies and it's a very, very exciting opportunity," he said.
As part of his preparation, Tessler has been talking to the four other agencies that preceded his — and he's been carefully watching the Sammy Yatim case unfold in Ontario, home of Canada's oldest civilian police watchdog.
"Our very first case could be just that," Tessler says. "It could be that kind of a shooting and we have to be ready to react to it."
Earlier this week, Ontario's police watchdog, the SIU, charged Toronto Const. James Forcillo with second-degree murder in Yatim's death.
The controversial police shooting, caught by a bystander video in which nine shots can be heard, has spurred a national debate about the police use of lethal force and led to numerous protests in Toronto.
66 Three other fatal incidents recently involving RCMP in Alberta — two involving firearms and the third a Taser — have further raised questions about police conduct in these tense confrontations.
'Still evolving' Peter Tinsley, a former SIU director who currently works for the Institute for Justice Sector Development in The Hague, Netherlands, says Canada ranks among the top in the world when it comes to police oversight.
"We have one of the most sophisticated systems for oversight anywhere in the world and it continues to develop," he said.
In Canada, unlike some countries, police oversight is often divided between two agencies: one that looks into public complaints about police and the other that examines potential crimes or serious misconduct.
Each province has a body that handles complaints about the police, but only five, including Manitoba, have an agency that can examine potential crimes on the part of officers.
Ontario's SIU was created in 1990, Alberta's Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) came on board in 2007, and B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office and Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) opened their doors last year.
The Quebec government is working on creating a civilian oversight body to examine incidents involving police.
Stan Lowe, president of the Canadian Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement and also B.C.'s Police Complaint Commissioner, says many issues still face this kind of oversight, particularly the debate over whether those investigating police should be former officers, or civilians with no connection to policing.
"Generally speaking," he says, "governments are deciding that oversight is a good thing."
In Manitoba's case, Tessler hopes to eventually strike a balance between civilian and police investigators in his new unit. But he also notes that training civilians can take time.
A tipping point
"Truly, most of the really good investigators who have handled tough cases are police," says Bruce MacFarlane, a former federal prosecutor and professor of criminal law at the University of Manitoba.
But he also notes that for years the Winnipeg police railed against having an external body investigating its officers. The force developed a professional standards unit to probe criminal matters among its employees.
67
"The public generally doesn't have confidence where the police service is investigating itself," said MacFarlane. "It just doesn't resonate with the public and that's why you need that external body. You need to ensure that the public has confidence in the decisions that are made."
Like most provinces, Manitoba required a specific controversy before changing its course on police oversight.
The tipping point was the 2005 death of Crystal Taman, a 40-year-old mother of three, who was killed when an off-duty officer struck her vehicle from behind after a night of partying. The botched police service's investigation into one of their own was the last straw.
"There can be a growing demand from a community, but then generally there is some sort of catalyst that brings the whole thing into focus and the pressure to bear on the government," said Tinsley. National conference looking at policing and mental health CBC News Posted: Aug 15, 2013 4:58 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 16, 2013 7:21 AM ET Police boards from across the country are in Saskatoon for a conference looking at policing and mental health issues.
The Saskatoon Police Service is hosting the 24th annual conference of the Canadian Association of Police Boards. The meeting will explore the relationship between police services and people with mental illness, while coming up with ideas on how officers can effectively respond to those with mental health issues.
Sudbury's chief of police Frank Elsner said dealing with suspects who have mental health issues presents a real challenge.
"An armed intervention of the state, a very expensive one, is just the wrong way to go in my opinion," Elsner said, adding that his officers now divert troubled suspects away from hospitals and into community-based centres.
Elsner said the approach helps ease overcrowding at hospitals and is a way to get people longer-term care.
The conference began on Thursday at the Radisson Hotel in Saskatoon and wraps up Saturday. Mental illness not police matter
THE STARPHOENIX AUGUST 15, 2013
68
It may be pithy and technically inaccurate, but the adage that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results could be on the agenda when the Canadian Association of Police Boards meets this week in Saskatoon.
In what has proven to be a bit of prescient agenda setting, the association is scheduled to discuss how police deal with the mentally ill - particularly in potentially dangerous encounters.
Late last month, a Toronto police officer shot and Tasered 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, who was alone on a streetcar and armed with a three-inch penknife. Several investigations have been launched since that fatal shooting, including an internal police review, an investigation by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, another by Ontario Ombudsman André Marin, and Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair's call for review by retired justice Dennis O'Connor of actions taken by officers.
All of this should satisfy even the most skeptical, except for two things: This isn't the first time so much attention has been focused on police handling of mental health cases that have resulted in death, and Toronto already happens to have among the most developed programs to deal with mentally ill persons. Since the mid-1990s, its mental health court (known locally as 102 Court) has expedited assessment and helped with diversion strategies for persons who become involved with the criminal justice system because of their mental illness.
Even this downstream intervention strategy and the increased training that came from a coroner's inquest recommendations more than a decade ago - the last time Toronto police shot to death someone alone on a transit bus - isn't enough to make the system foolproof, however.
Too often police officers not only are forced to become frontline mental health workers, as Saskatoon Police Chief Clive Weighill told The StarPhoenix this week, but they spend a disproportionate amount of time looking after those with mental illness or addictions until the social system kicks into gear.
This is a costly and dangerous situation that continues to exist even after years of examinations, inquests, warnings and academic reports. As welcome it is that the Canadian Association of Police Boards is talking about the issue, they aren't the only ones who should be at the table.
Provincial governments are responsible for health care and must step up when it comes to mental health. Particularly since the movement to deinstitutionalize the ill in the last half of the 20th century, provinces have increasingly allowed mental health services to decline.
There is a role for the federal government, as well. Its bloody-minded determination to "get tough on crime" has resulted in prison overcrowding and a
69 degradation of inmate support services, with angrier and sicker people being released into the community.
If we are to lose the image of a society repeatedly and futilely reviewing police shootings, we must start to look at the situation holistically and start putting in place the services these reviews suggest are needed.
The editorials that appear in this space represent the opinion of The StarPhoenix. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. The positions taken in the editorials are arrived at through discussion among the members of the newspaper's editorial board, which operates independently from the news departments of the paper.
Tories act out of spite in pot spat with cops By: Dan Lett Posted: 08/22/2013 1:00 AM | Winnipeg Free Press It appears the cold war between Canada's police chiefs and the Tory federal government has not entirely thawed. On Tuesday, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police made headlines at their annual conference in Winnipeg by adopting a proposal to punish simple possession of marijuana with a citation as opposed to a criminal charge. The chiefs noted nearly half of all drug charges involve individuals with 30 grams or less of pot. Although the chiefs expressly rejected the idea of legalization or decriminalization, they argued punishing simple possession with the equivalent of a speeding ticket would allow police to reallocate resources to more serious crimes. With its proposal, the CACP falls significantly short of community standards on this important issue; a healthy majority of Canadians already support some form of decriminalization, if not outright legalization. And yet, there is value in the CACP proposal. The CACP has come up with a proposal that does not require any seismic changes to drug laws. It would clearly free police, and the justice system, from having to spend valuable time dealing with something most people agree is a very minor offence. It does not legalize pot, but does establish a platform from which a debate about legalization can more effectively take place. There must have been disappointment when Justice Minister Peter MacKay, who was in Winnipeg the same day, issued a terse reaction to the CACP proposal: "These drugs are illegal because of the harmful effects they have on users -- and society for that matter," MacKay said in an email to The Canadian Press. "As a government, we have a responsibility to protect the interests of families across this country." What stands out in MacKay's response is his failure to respond to the key element in the CACP proposal. Namely, that pot remains illegal but that simple possession be treated less harshly.
70 CACP officials would not publicly admit to any disappointment, saying they would rather give MacKay more time before concluding he is as uninterested in the proposal as he seemed to be this week. It's good at times like this to remember police chiefs are equal parts cop and politician. And that it doesn't make any political sense to start a scrap with MacKay right out of the gate. Even so, this is yet another tidbit of evidence about the chiefs' estrangement from the tough-on-crime Conservative government. Relations have been a bit rocky between the chiefs and the Tories following a well-publicized disagreement about the value of the now-abandoned long-gun registry. The chiefs liked the registry, and lobbied the Tories to keep it intact. The Tories were deeply committed to killing it, if for no other reason than keeping a long-standing promise to the bedrock supporters of the Conservative party, for whom the registry was an assault on their basic freedoms. The conflict caused tempers to flare on both sides. The low-point in this cold war came at 2011 House of Commons committee hearings into the bill that would ultimately scrap the long-gun registry. Not only did Tory MPs not yield to a plea to keep the registry, they went on the offensive, accusing the CACP of misleading Canadians on the amount of law enforcement support for the registry. The fallout from this conflict would become apparent a year later when the Tories struck a firearms advisory committee and excluded both the CACP and the Canadian Police Association, which had also supported the registry. Since then, it's unclear whether there has been a mending of fences between the Tories and the chiefs. The CACP has been a vocal defender of other Tory crime legislation, and yet the response to the marijuana proposal suggests relations between the two are still frigid. This is a federal government that demands its allies offer unwavering support of all policies. As was seen with the gun registry, even those groups that support most but not all of what the Conservative government has done, can lose traction very quickly indeed. However, in this instance, the Tories appear to be acting out of spite. Canada's police chiefs are a valuable resource. No one can argue they do not have the credibility to discuss the consequences of federal laws and policies on the front line of the war on crime. The chiefs stand vigil over that line, each and every day, and should have the government's ear based on that fact alone. The CACP should not have undue influence on government policy; they are, in fact, just one voice in the national debate over crime and punishment. However, the idea the chiefs could lose credibility in Ottawa based on a single issue is troubling to say the least. Reducing penalties for simple possession of marijuana is not perhaps the complete solution to Canada's muddled drug laws. However, it's an idea that deserves more attention than the federal Tories seem willing to give it now. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws in Canada are counterproductive
Other countries have a 'safety valve' that gives judges the tools to prevent injustice
71 BY IAN MULGREW, VANCOUVER SUN AUGUST 29, 2013
Even as Americans declare mandatory minimum sentencing the new Jim Crow laws, Ottawa continues to defend the practice of tying a judge's hands.
A new report from a blue-ribbon group of senior legal stakeholders says that, after the U.S., Canada has created the most robust mandatory sentencing regime in the common-law world without a safety valve to prevent injustice.
Eric Gottardi, a Vancouver lawyer and member of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada working group that authored the study, said prosecutors and defence lawyers agreed there are exceptional situations that call for leniency, but judges are powerless under the mandatory scheme.
"We're the only jurisdiction that doesn't have a general exemption clause in the criminal code," he said.
Gottardi, who is also chair of the Canadian Bar Association's national criminal justice section, said the report is based on the comparative research and analysis of Yvon Dandurand, of the University of the Fraser Valley.
The criminologist studied mandatory minimum sentences around the globe - particularly in England, Wales, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
"As much as many of us oppose mandatory minimum penalties, they are here and they're not going anywhere," Gottardi said.
"We thought, why not take a different approach? If they are here, why not make it a coherent, logical regime that applies to 98 per cent of the people like it's intended to, but ... that the judge might have a little escape valve to give some relief in the exceptional case."
He said there was broad consensus on the issue.
"The group envisioned a standard that was above the appellate threshold for a sentence being demonstrably unfit, but lower than the 'cruel and unusual punishment' standard of (a challenge under) Sect. 12 (of the Charter of Rights)," he said.
Still, Gottardi added that the Law Conference was not advocating only laying out the evidence for giving judges a new tool. The working group looked at nine different exemption approaches.
There are a handful of cases making their way through the courts in B.C. and Ontario challenging the constitutionality of mandatory sentences in firearms legislation.
72 Basically, the government's critics argue it is unconstitutional for lawmakers to declare a jail sentence without any consideration for the particular circumstances of the crime or the individual offender.
That's not as black-and-white as it appears, however, especially when you consider few disagree with mandatory penalties for murder or impaired driving.
And when questioned about the report at a recent legal conference, new Justice Minister Peter MacKay told The Lawyer's Weekly that he doesn't "favour general exemptions."
"I think that the mandatory minimums that are in place now are a reflection of the harm done to society, and the need to reflect that in sentences," said the former Nova Scotia prosecutor.
"And the issue of deterrence is one that people sometimes don't want to talk about. But general and specific deterrence, I can assure you, (are) applied every day in courtrooms across the country, and mandatory minimums help in that regard, in my view."
But that does not address the unintended consequences of these laws. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently vowed to substantially eliminate mandatory sentencing because it has led to the disproportionate imprisonment of minorities and America becoming the globe's biggest jailer.
The mandatory penalties are compared with the insidious Jim Crow laws enacted between 1876 and 1965 to maintain racial segregation and systemic discrimination.
A HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted Aug. 13-14 among 1,000 adults released on Tuesday indicated half of Americans oppose the controversial laws brought in primarily to buttress the so-called War on Drugs.
A similar number across party lines also favoured giving U.S. judges more leeway to determine sentences.
"I think the American experience shows that this approach is not going to work long-term," Gottardi said.
"And I think we would want to count ourselves in the same company as other common-law countries like Britain, Australia and New Zealand ... who have a similar regime, but have a safety valve .... especially in a country where its aboriginal population is hugely and unfairly represented in the prison system."
Gottardi said "I don't think there's any question" Ottawa's approach is pushing up legal and corrections costs for the provinces while exacerbating the scandalous racial disparity in Canada's prisons.
"There is no question the problem is worse now," he insisted.
73 The CBA has been lobbying since 2011 for the government to change its approach to maintaining mandatory sentencing as counterproductive.
"We're starting to see some of the downstream consequences of the lawand- order agenda and the mandatory minimums," Gottardi said.
"I'm hoping the provinces are going to start pushing back a little bit against the federal government, saying, 'We can't cover the cheque you're writing, because it's us that have to administer the court system, it's us that have to administer the provincial remand centres and jails.' "
Child sex crimes to draw stronger penalties, PM Harper vows Proposed measures include forcing spouse of person charged with child porn to testify in court By Laura Payton, CBC News Posted: Aug 29, 2013 10:44 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2013 3:36 PM ET The Conservative government will bring in stronger penalties for people who commit sexual offences against children, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today in Toronto.
It's not clear when the legislation will be introduced. Harper said last week that he plans to ask Gov. Gen. David Johnston to prorogue Parliament and then return for a throne speech in October. Legislation can't be introduced until Parliament returns.
Former justice minister Rob Nicholson said in February the government would bring legislation later in the year to strengthen penalties for child sexual offences, including addressing "the risks posed by known sex offenders."
Harper said the focus must be on the rights of victims, especially on those of children, "the most vulnerable of all victims."
The government, he said, has filled in gaps in the justice system and made it more responsive to victims.
Over the years, he said, it had gotten "progressively skewed in favour of the offender." People who had done "dreadful things" didn't complete their sentences or served their sentences at home."
"The victims, on the other hand, have to cope for the rest of their lives with what such people have done to them."
Justice Minister Peter MacKay was with Harper to make the announcement, pledging to offer help to victims and their families.
The new measures being proposed would:
74 Require those convicted of child pornography and related offences to serve their sentences consecutively. A press release from Harper's office notes that would "apply particularly to offenders who have victimized multiple children." Increase maximum and minimum penalties for child sexual offences. Increase penalties for violation of conditions of supervision orders. Ensure that if a crime was committed while on parole or statutory release, it would be a mandatory factor to be considered in sentencing. Ensure that the spouse of a person charged with child pornography offences could be obliged to testify in court. "I cannot even begin to comprehend why those who sexually prey on children do the heinous things they do," Harper said, noting there are "truly evil people out there."
"We don't understand them and we don't particularly care to. We understand only that they must be dealt with. We must deal with them to protect our children."
Give Harassed RCMP Officers Real Change, Not Lip Service Blog Posted: 09/04/2013 5:46 pm Huffington Post On September 5, 2013 we will be hosting a roundtable in St. John's Newfoundland about issues of harassment in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The event is the third of a series of five roundtables being held across the country, culminating with a national roundtable summit which will produce a report with findings and recommendations.
After a string of reports over 10 years, government legislation Bill C-42, and more recently a report by the Senate Defence Committee providing 14 recommendations for change, our offices continue to receive emails from RCMP staff. The emails provide a grim look into the past, and offer little hope for the future. These are individuals who have either experienced harassment, with no repercussions for the harassers, or are currently being harassed but are having difficulties navigating the cumbersome review and complaints process. They are asking us: "what's actually changed?" and more importantly, "what's next?"
From evidence collected so far, it's clear that there is a disturbing culture of sexual harassment and bullying within the organization. The evidence is underscored by first-hand accounts from RCMP staff, many of whom suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to the abuse. We have also yet to see evidence that there have been any significant changes within the organization.
Government legislation, Bill C-42 was construed by the Commissioner and the Government as the solution to problems facing the organization. The Bill included four provisions: the power to fire members; the ability to investigate serious incidents; a public complaints review mechanism; and a reconfigured grievance process. However, each of those deals with problems once they have occurred,
75 none of them proactively address the fundamental problem -- a work culture which enables harassment to occur in the first place.
In fact, Bill C-42 may actually end up making things worse for victims. The Commissioner told the Defence Committee that he needed the legislation to deal with "bad apples"; but, in public testimony before the Committee, he named and shamed three officers who have filed harassment cases. Singling out injured members in that way makes us question: who will senior leadership end up determining to be the "bad apples," the harassed or the harassers?
If C-42 was not the solution, then what is? In answering this question, the Senate defence committee's report considered the experience of the military in the 1990s; best practices from major Canadian municipal police services, and a range of testimony from various RCMP personnel. The report laid out a roadmap for reform, suggesting the creation of an Ombudsman position; recommending re-professionalization through enhanced educational requirements for the officer cadre; and implementing ongoing harassment training throughout all of its curricula.
But there is still more to be done, including: establishing a full independent police commission structure; implementing independent monitoring bodies to supervise cultural transformation; ensuring merit-based promotions; and considering an independent (union-like) police association to represent members throughout the grievance process. Allowing a range of harassment victims to present their cases could also offer first-hand solutions.
The emails we receive are from people at the end of their ropes. Reassurances from Ottawa, they tell us, have little impact on their daily lives and they are looking for real change. Those who have publicly spoken out have been chastised for doing so, but most of victims still love the organization and want to lend a hand fixing it. It is our hope that by allowing victims to be heard from in a formal way, it will help them heal and assist us with coming up with better solutions to the very serious issues still facing the organization.
Police chiefs try to make it harder for media to use officers’ radio calls
BY DOUGLAS QUAN, POSTMEDIA NEWS SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
Citing privacy concerns, the association representing police leaders in Canada is pressing the federal government to amend a law to make it more difficult for media outlets to publish or broadcast police officers’ radio communications.
A resolution passed by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police last month cited how media outlets broadcast the distress call and published the last words
76 of York Regional Police Const. Garrett Styles, who was killed in the line of duty in 2011, without consent from his family or police officials.
It called on the federal government to amend the Radiocommunication Act to prohibit anyone from making use of or divulging any radio transmission without permission from the sender or receiver in order to “protect the privacy of victims, the integrity of criminal investigations and the safety of both the public and emergency responders.”
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has previously ruled that media outlets did not breach privacy rules in the York police case, saying that the officer’s non-encrypted radio transmissions had been received on the public airwaves and then re-broadcast on the Internet and “therefore in the public domain.”
The council also concluded that broadcasting the officer’s last words was in the public interest and highlighted the professionalism of the officer, who, despite being pinned under a minivan during a traffic stop, was concerned with the fate of the van’s occupants.
The Ontario Press Council ruled that newspapers that published the last words of the dying officer did not breach journalistic ethics.
York Regional Police officials previously complained to Industry Canada about the use of the radio transmissions but were told that fines would not be levied against the media outlets because it could not be proved that the outlets had intercepted the transmissions.
A spokesman for Industry Minister James Moore did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the resolution.
Michel Cimpaye, a spokesman for Industry Canada, did note, however, that the government has set aside a broadband network dedicated to emergency services and that the use of advanced mobile wireless technology, along with encryption, “will reduce the possibility of interception and divulgence of sensitive radiocommunication between first responders.”
Top Mountie remains mum over marijuana- ticketing proposal
BY DOUGLAS QUAN, POSTMEDIA NEWS SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Police leaders from Victoria to Halifax have spoken out publicly in recent days in support of giving officers the option to ticket people for minor pot possession instead of laying criminal charges.
77 But one leader, who, arguably, is in the best position to take this proposal to lawmakers in Ottawa — RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson — has been silent on the issue.
Asked this week if Paulson could share his views on the marijuana-ticketing idea, a spokesman said the commissioner was “not prepared” to comment.
“The RCMP as an organization does not comment on proposed legislation,” Sgt. Greg Cox said in an email.
Some observers suggested Wednesday that the top Mountie faces constraints making his views known on policy matters, particularly if those views go against the position of the Conservative government.
Liberal Sen. Colin Kenny, who frequently comments on public safety matters, said it’s likely that Stephen Harper will use the marijuana debate as a wedge issue in the next election, citing the prime minister’s recent remark that Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau — who has admitted smoking pot since becoming an MP — is “promoting marijuana use for our children.”
“Essentially he wants to paint Trudeau’s comment as one that encourages young people to smoke pot and wants to exploit concerns parents might have with kids experimenting with any drug,” Kenny said. “I think Commissioner Paulson understands that. He’s putting himself squarely into that issue the moment he starts talking about it.”
Paulson, Kenny said, is “expected to be part of the Harper communications team and strategy. That’s the pressure on him.”
Robert Gordon, professor of criminology and associate dean of arts/social sciences at Simon Fraser University, said Paulson now finds himself “between a rock and a hard place.”
“It is an unstable policy environment, lots of fog out there, and Paulson is probably unsure of his footing given the federal government’s position.”
Harper has previously said that the government is looking “very carefully” at the marijuana-ticketing proposal.
Asked Wednesday if Paulson is free to speak his mind on policy debates, Jean- Christophe de Le Rue, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, said via email “the role of the RCMP is to enforce Canadian laws and we know we can count on them to protect the interests of families across this country.”
Paulson was not among the police chiefs who gathered in Winnipeg last month and who voted overwhelmingly to support a resolution urging the federal government to amend drug laws to give officers the option of issuing a ticket for possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana.
78 Under current legislation, officers have the option of issuing a warning or laying criminal charges for simple possession. That latter option, supporters of the resolution said, can be a waste of police resources and put a burden on the justice system.
“It’s so simple, it makes you cry,” Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill told CTV News of the ticketing proposal.
“It’s a good strategy that needs to be discussed with the federal government,” Windsor, Ont., police Chief Al Frederick told the Windsor Star.
“A young 19-year-old kid is found to have a small amount of marijuana on him. Is it really necessary for that person to have a criminal record?” asked Waterloo Regional Police Chief Matthew Torigian in an interview with the Waterloo Region Record.
Tim Smith, spokesman for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said Wednesday the association is not disappointed that Paulson has failed to publicly endorse the resolution like so many of his counterparts.
“We’re satisfied within the CACP … that we have broad support from police leadership across Canada whether it be federal, provincial or municipal services,” Smith said, noting that several senior RCMP members were present for the “nearly unanimous” vote.
Mark Mander, chief of the Kentville Police Service in Nova Scotia and chair of the association’s drug abuse committee, which put forward the resolution, added Wednesday that a member of the committee is an RCMP chief superintendent.
However, Cox, the RCMP spokesman, was careful to point out that the police chiefs association is “separate from the RCMP” and that “any member of the RCMP attending and participating in a CACP function is doing so as part of the CACP.”
How Do We Protect the Mentally Ill From Police Violence? Marvin Ross Writer, publisher Huffington Post
Posted: 08/19/2013 5:00 pm I was very encouraged when I received a press release that Louise Bradley, the president of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, was going to speak to the Canadian Association of Police Boards in Saskatoon on August 15. The conference was to discuss the relationship between police forces and people suffering from mental health issues and illnesses.
In light of the publicity surrounding the killing by Toronto Police of Sammy Yatim in Toronto, the timing was perfect. And while there is no evidence that Mr. Yatim
79 had a mental illness, his shooting has reminded everyone of all those with mental illness who have been shot by police. The Toronto coroner has called for a combined inquest into three recent deaths of mentally ill people at the hands of police -- that of Michael Eligon, a 29 year old shot near Toronto East General Hospital in his hospital gown brandishing a pair of scissors; Reyal Jardine- Douglas, 25 who was shot by police as he jumped off a Toronto bus in 2010; and Sylvia Klibingaitis, 52 who was shot by police in 2011.
The case that was very similar to that of Mr. Yatim was of Edmund Yu, a man with schizophrenia, who threatened police with a hammer on a streetcar in Toronto in 1997. That inquest recommended that police have a mobile crisis team involving a police officer and a psychiatric nurse. Unfortunately, these teams only work till 9:00 PM.
I had hoped that Ms. Bradley would add to the discussion of police interactions with people with mental illness. Toronto Police Chief, Bill Blair, has appointed retired judge Dennis O'Connor to look into these matters while Ontario Ombudsman, Andre Marin, will also be reviewing police procedures.
Police shootings are not just a Toronto problem. In an earlier post, I had talked of Douglas Brown in Burlington, a man with schizophrenia, who is suing the Halton Region Police Department for his having been tasered and charged criminally (and then acquitted by a judge) by five members of that force in a hospital emergency room. Then, there is the Hamilton case of a man who was on a short leave from a psychiatric unit in a Hamilton hospital who was found wandering along the middle of a busy highway. Confronted by two police officers, he left the highway and went up a hill into a wooded area that bordered his house. Shots rang out and he is dead. No one knows what happened (and the police are not talking) but the case is being investigated.
Unfortunately, Ms. Bradley, in my opinion, blew it. She did not deal with the reality of police shootings nor did she even mention it in her talk, although she alluded to it in her discussion of housing. Housing the homeless, she suggested, would prevent some of the police interactions that have been in the news in the past few weeks. But, one reality of police shootings is the lack of proper resources to treat people with serious mental illnesses in the first place. She told the conference attendees that one if five have a mental health problem and that these people are less violent than others. But, your average cop does not come into contact in a potentially violent situation with someone with a mild depression. They are more likely to come into contact with someone who is floridly psychotic, unreasonable, untreated and who may do anything.
Ms. Bradley paid lip service to that by saying that she would like to see that police encounters with the mentally ill be more positive for all and to make police forces healthier places and hence safer for citizens. In fact, she urged police services and boards to discuss mental illness openly and create work environments where officers will not fear ridicule or rejection if they themselves seek help. She did say that the commission has produced a study of police academy training on dealing with the mentally ill but not if or how it would or should be implemented but she did encourage them to implement them.
80
More and more police services are using specially trained police and psychiatric personnel to diffuse situations. but they are not widespread enough and do not seem to be used in these situations. The Toronto team goes off-duty at 9:00 PM as mentioned above and the reality of these police teams is nowhere near as good as it is on the CBC drama Cracked about a specialized police psychiatry unit.
The most realistic comment from that conference that I saw came from Chief Frank Elsner of the Greater Sudbury Police Service. "State intervention in the home because of mental illness is not appropriate," he said. When he was offered funding for more officers, he turned it down, saying the money needed to go to mental health services instead. Like most police services across Canada, his spends more and more time dealing with mental health crises that should be dealt with earlier by other agencies better suited to treatment. Chief Elsner added that governments have abdicated responsibility for the huge problem of mental illness.
Laura Sky, a documentary film producer who has investigated police use of force told the conference according to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix that public policy has led to people with mental illnesses being moved out of institutional care to the community, adequate funding for their care hasn't followed, and problems that draw in the police have increased.
In contrast, Ms. Bradley told the conference that the MHCC wants to improve attitudes and behaviours around mental health. Again according to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Bradley urged police services and boards to discuss mental illness openly and create work environments where officers will not fear ridicule or rejection if they seek help. The stigma attached to mental illness is part of the reason for the complacency of Canadians and their governments, Bradley said. Police, with their exposure to traumatizing events, are as vulnerable as any other worker to conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder or alcohol abuse, she told those present.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada could make a significant contribution to reducing these tragedies by using some of its money to fund more specialized police/psychiatry units and to have them operate for longer periods of time
INTERNATIONAL NEWS Police union slams Christie’s suggestion of county force for Trenton
By David Foster Trentonian [email protected] Posted: Thursday, 08/22/13 10:33 pm
81 TRENTON — Mostly everyone agrees the capital city needs more police officers.
How that is achieved remains a point of contention.
The State PBA released a statement Thursday criticizing remarks made the prior day by Gov. Chris Christie, who suggested that Trenton should follow Camden in abolishing its police department and forming a regional police force to put more boots on the ground.
“The significant increase in violent crime in Trenton recently is a direct result of the layoff of more than 100 police officers due to city budget and state aid cuts and the inability of Mayor (Tony F.) Mack to realize that his indictment makes it impossible for the city to move forward with a public safety plan,” said Anthony F. Wieners, president of the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association. “So I was very disappointed to see the governor (Wednesday) blame ‘public sector union politics’ for Trenton’s crime problems.”
Two years ago, the city laid off 105 officers citing state aid cuts.
Recently, the depleted police force has garnered much attention due to the capital city in the middle of a nearly historic crime wave — just one homicide shy of the record of 31 from 2005 — and a gunfight last week that left two Trenton police officers injured.
Mack, who is facing federal corruption charges for an alleged bribery scheme, requested funding from Christie earlier this month to hire 75 more officers.
That was met by a response from the governor stating he would not respond to any request from the “indicted” mayor of Trenton.
“I, quite honestly, can’t comprehend how the governor could somehow ignore the incompetence of city leaders and cuts in state aid as Trenton’s problem and turn it into a chance to bash the officers who are so desperately trying to keep themselves and the public safe as they work understaffed,” the State PBA president said.
Wieners also said Trenton is not in the same situation as Camden because there are no contract disputes.
“Abolishing the Camden Police Department was always about breaking the (union) contract and the deal only works if the state continues to pump tens of millions into the city of Camden,” Wieners said. “If the state has the resources to do that for Camden then they can find a way to provide funds to hire or rehire Trenton officers now before more lives are lost or another Trenton cop is targeted.”
Camden County had a feisty, two-year political fight from community members, police and union leadership, to install its regional police force.
82 Camden’s old 270-officer department was replaced with a force proposed to total 401 officers. Approximately 155 veteran officers joined the new formation.
Some called the disbanding of the Camden Police Department union busting.
Trenton Council President George Muschal, who served 40 years as a city police officer, said he opposes creating a regional police force in Mercer County.
“We don’t know if it’s working in Camden,” Muschal said. “There’s not enough stats on it. It just started.”
Camden’s new force was unveiled in May.
So far this year, there have been 34 homicides in Camden. Last year, there were 67 murders.
Muschal said the Camden lost a lot of experience when they switched departments.
“You got guys who have been there 18 to 19 years and they got rid of them,” Muschal said. “They brought in a lower paid guy, who has no experience, no knowledge, no nothing. You don’t throw away your old pair of shoes until you have a new pair of shoes, so you got to train these guys.”
Muschal said it takes years to learn the job.
“You might wear the badge, you might stand tall, but you don’t know the job,” he said of the less experienced officers.
The formation of a regional police force would need approvals from both the county and any municipality that wanted to join the force.
Muschal said he’s all for keeping what the city currently has.
“Once Mack’s trial is over, the governor will see that we’re moving forward and I’m sure he will loosen some money for us,” Muschal said. “In the meantime, the city of Trenton should obtain their own money by revenue coming in to bring the cops back. We should be dependant on nobody.”
The council president said in order to bring in revenue, the city should collect $8 million owed to the municipal court and issue more citations.
Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local 11 President George Dzurkoc did not return several calls for comment.
On the PBA Local 11 Facebook page, a statement was posted Wednesday on Christie’s suggestion.
“The governor has orchestrated this all along. Hold back on necessary funds from urban municipalities; drive the murder & crime rates up through the roof.
83 Then come in and tell the people, do I have a deal for you. This man has blood on his hands, all in the name of union busting,” the post stated.
PRINCETON: Council, mayor split on police supervision The Princeton Council and Mayor Liz Lempert are deeply divided over who should have civilian oversight of the Police Department, one of the issues that officials have failed to settle eight months into DATE POSTED: Thursday, August 29, 2013 5:05 PM EDT By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer Princeton Packet
The Princeton Council and Mayor Liz Lempert are deeply divided over who should have civilian oversight of the Police Department, one of the issues that officials have failed to settle eight months into consolidation.
By law, there must be a so-called “appropriate authority” over the department. On Monday, the council voted, 3-2, to introduce an ordinance giving themselves and Mayor Lempert that responsibility, a move the mayor opposes.
Rather, she would prefer to see Municipal Administrator Robert W. Bruschi fill that role, something typically done in similarly sized communities that have a full- time administrator. To Councilwoman Heather H. Howard, that would allow Mr. Bruschi to focus on the day-to-day things that come up within the department, and leave the council to handle big picture items.
”It’s just more professional and avoids the politicization” of the department, Ms. Howard said Tuesday.
But a bloc on council, led by Councilwoman Jo S. Butler, see things differently. She and council members Jenny Crumiller and Patrick Simon on Monday introduced an ordinance giving that power to the mayor and council. Ms. Butler, in a phone interview Tuesday, said public safety is the “most essential” function of municipal government. She feels officials ought to have oversight, which would enable the governing body to act as a quasi-judicial board to hear appeals of personnel decisions within the department.
She noted that the council has not received monthly police reports — listing crime statistics and other information — as officials used to get in the former borough. And she said the one report they recently got was for May.
Ms. Crumiller said Tuesday that she did not want to “delegate” oversight to an employee. “I feel it is our responsibility,” she said.
The council could not play any direct role in the day-to-day operations of the force, which was hit with turmoil with the negotiated retirement of Police Chief David J. Dudeck earlier this year.
84
Council still needs to vote to adopt the ordinance, scheduled for Sept. 9. One unknown is how council President Bernard P. Miller will vote at that time. He was not at Monday’s meeting.
It is not clear at this point if there are four votes on council to pass anything. In that case, Mayor Lempert might have to cast her first vote as mayor if she wants to give the oversight to Mr. Bruschi.
”We shouldn’t be playing politics with our police force,” Mayor Lempert said.
All this comes with officials needing to make important decisions about the leadership of the department and its manpower strength.
To achieve the savings of consolidation, a big chunk of that was supposed to come with the winnowing of the department to 51 officers. Also, with Chief Dudeck out of the picture, the town will weigh whether to go with a different leadership model to run the department.
At the moment, the senior most officer, Capt. Nicholas K. Sutter, is in charge.
Ford Is Working on a Warning System to Protect Police Officers By BENJAMIN PRESTON September 5, 2013, 3:38 pm The New York Times
The way The Boston Globe and most other media outlets reported Officer Sean Collier’s death, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus policeman didn’t even see it coming. As he sat in his cruiser, the men suspected of the Boston Marathon bombings crept up to him, and Officer Collier was shot and killed.
Police officer spend a lot of time sitting in their cruiser waiting, watching and filling out reports. So what’s to keep an assailant from sneaking up on an officer distracted by other tasks? Now, there’s new technology available that could help protect them from being taken unawares.
Using devices already installed in many high-tech cars – backup cameras, traffic sensors and vehicle information systems that do things like lock and unlock doors and roll windows up and down – Randy Freiburger, a Ford engineer, designed a system that can detect movement an officer might not necessarily be able to see. In essence, it gives them eyes in the back of their heads.
Mr. Freiburger got the inspiration for the system – which Ford calls “Surveillance Mode” – after riding along with officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The deputies he was riding with ended up running after a suspect.
85 Mr. Freiburger said that being left alone in the cruiser made him realize how vulnerable he was.
“A lot of times, officers are writing reports, operating the radar gun, doing surveillance – it isn’t feasible to maintain a 360-degree view,” he said in an interview. “The same sensors that would detect a car in your blind spot, and the sensors in the bumper that tell you if you’re about to hit something, operate the system.”
In essence, the cameras and sensors that create rearview imaging, lane departure sensors and adaptive cruise control can help detect movement near the car, such as when someone approaches from a blind spot. Mr. Freiburger’s system beeps when someone comes near the car, then immediately rolls up the windows and locks the door. It won’t stop the bad guys from shooting, but it could provide a few critical seconds of warning to officers.
Ford Motor Ford said that even police interceptors that are a few years old, like the one pictured here, can be outfitted with Surveillance Mode. That brings up the question of how the system will work in more mundane situations, like when an officer is at a rest stop or a convenience store. Mr. Freiburger says that officers can turn the system off, so that it doesn’t become a nuisance when it’s not needed. Furthermore, the system disables when the officer leaves the vehicle, so the doors and windows won’t be closed automatically, blocking re-entry.
The system, which Ford hopes to have available in 2014, works on newer vehicles – up to about five or six years old in most cases and on some older vehicles as well, said Mr. Freiburger – regardless of whether they were originally equipped with backup cameras and traffic hazard sensors. Those pieces of equipment can be added, then tied into the vehicle’s computer area network bus, which is more commonly known as the CAN bus. CAN-equipped vehicles began appearing on the market in the United States in the early 1990s. Now, a mechanic can plug in a computer scanner, press a few keys and listen as all the lock mechanisms, solenoids and motors operate in sequence throughout the vehicle. That same means of control can be used to operate door locks, window motors, chimes and lights.
For a newer police cruiser – like Taurus and Explorer-based interceptors – with the right equipment, Mr. Freiburger said the module to tie those features together costs about $240 per car. He said Ford was also working on a Surveillance Mode system for civilian vehicles, as well as for older CAN bus-equipped cars and trucks.
“It’s very customizable,” he said. “It can be adapted to just about any car, and we can continue to make safer vehicles.”
86 Police Chafe at Scrutiny The Wall Street Journal, September 5 2013 As Stop-and-Frisk Numbers Plummet, Some Officers Say They Are Pulling Back
By PERVAIZ SHALLWANI and SARAH ARMAGHAN With the New York Police Department facing the prospect of a federal monitor and two new measures designed to rein in stop and frisk, a debate is growing: Will all the scrutiny cause officers to second-guess themselves on the beat?
In more than a dozen interviews across the city, current and former NYPD officers said police are more on edge as they go about their jobs. Some said they are conducting fewer stops out of fear of being accused of racial profiling. Others said they had received confusing signals from superiors and media reports about what the installation of a court-imposed federal monitor, a new inspector general and a bill banning racial profiling would mean.
"No one knows what to expect," said a patrol officer in the East New York section of Brooklyn. Like nearly all officers interviewed for this article, the officer declined to allow his name to be published because of department policy against talking to reporters without approval.
He said officers were conducting fewer stops in a historically high-crime neighborhood. "There's nobody here to protect them," he said of residents. "Proactive policing has given way to reactive policing."
Stops conducted by city police officers have declined in four of the past five quarters, beginning in 2012, a fall that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly attributed to increased training and a decline in staffing in its impact zones, high-crime areas of the city that in shows of force are flooded with officers who are early in their careers.
Officers interviewed for this article offered another reason: They are concerned about being scrutinized for making stops.
"A few months ago you wouldn't have a problem stopping someone," said one officer in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, who said he is now more cautious when performing the procedure. "But now, you're going to second-guess yourselves."
Under federal court rulings, officers can stop, question and sometimes frisk people they reasonably suspect are involved in criminal activity. Critics say the tactic has been targeted unfairly at minorities, and the large majority of people stopped during Mr. Bloomberg's three terms have been black or Hispanic.
87 A federal judge has ruled that stop and frisk, as conducted by the NYPD, has violated people's constitutional rights and ordered a federal monitor to oversee the tactic. The City Council passed a law creating an inspector general for the police and a law allowing racial-profiling lawsuits in state court against police.
Mr. Bloomberg and Commissioner Raymond Kelly have said the stops are conducted constitutionally and have helped produce historic reductions in violent crime. Mr. Kelly has said the department has made no changes in stop-and-frisk policy in response to the heightened oversight. The NYPD's chief spokesman, John McCarthy, said New York City police officers "are professionals who perform to the best of their ability and they have done a tremendous job reducing crime in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs."
Officers said the new racial-profiling law, which the city's law department is seeking to overturn, scared them the most.
In the South Bronx, a rookie officer said she and her colleagues weren't taking stop-and-frisk report forms—known as 250s—with them as they go out on patrol. "When I was in the academy, they taught us the correct way [to do stop and frisk]. They told us about seeing a bulge or if there's suspicion, you basically had a right to stop a person," said the officer. "But now, everyone is scared about getting a lawsuit."
To be sure, some officers said they were going about their jobs today just as they had always done. One officer walking the beat in the Jamaica section of Queens said he is doing as many stops today as he always has.
"Nothing is set in stone yet so we're just waiting to see what happens," the officer said.
Police union leaders have told rank-and-file officers to take caution. "Lawsuits against police officers will take a very serious toll and will, tragically, impact public safety by putting our members in a defensive, reactive position," Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Union, said in an email response to questions.
Mr. Bloomberg raised the issue of officer morale after the council overrode his vetoes. "We don't need another level of supervision," he said, calling the new levels of oversight a "disaster." "Cops in a situation have to know what the rules are and who they work for. It's easy to sit there and criticize when your life isn't on the line everyday as the police are."
Eugene O'Donnell, a former NYPD officer who now lectures at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said it isn't unusual to see shifts in morale during times of increased scrutiny, but police usually come back from bouts with low morale. Predictions of officers second-guessing themselves after the Amadou Diallo shooting in 1999, for instance, didn't lead to sustained spikes in crime. Mr. O'Donnell said police officers remain among the most respected professions, even during times of increased scrutiny. "They rebound because they perform a
88 really vital service that touches on every area of the city," Mr. O'Donnell said. "Most New Yorkers need them."
West Yorkshire Police Commissioner announces maximum starting salary of £22k for new recruits
The Halifax Courier August 15 2013
West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson will pay new recruits an annual salary of £22,000 - the maximum allowed following a decision by the national Police Arbitration Tribunal.
14 new officers, who are starting their training this week, will be paid the revised amount following a decision by PCC Mark Burns-Williamson, pictured below, to oppose the lower starting salary of £19,000 which formed part of the Winsor Review into police pay and conditions.
Under the new starting salary pay scale, which was introduced by the Home Secretary earlier this year following recommendations by Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor, forces’ across England and Wales have discretion to pay new recruits between £19,000 and £22,000 per annum dependent upon experience and the policing needs of the area.
A further 30 officers, who are due to begin their training in November, will be paid £22,221. This will follow a one percent pay rise across the ranks due to come into force in September.
PCC Mark Burns-Williams said: “In West Yorkshire we have outstanding and committed police officers, many of which I have had the privilege of speaking to and seeing the work they are achieving. I believe the best way to ensure we continue to attract high calibre candidates is to pay people accordingly.
“The new starting salary pay scale, which have been introduced nationally by the Home Secretary following a review by Tom Winsor, are at a lower level than previously but this was broadly to be expected and is in line with government cuts we’ve seen to policing.
“While we are continuing to work hard to make the savings we need to we are determined to protect front line policing and provide the people of West Yorkshire with the best police service we can afford.
89 “Recruiting high quality candidates that are representative of the diverse communities we serve is the best way to ensure the people of West Yorkshire feel safer and are safer.”
Deputy Chief Constable Jawaid Akhtar said: “I welcome the support of the Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson for our police officers. I am pleased at the agreement by Mr Burns-Williamson to pay the starting salary of £22,000 for new recruits, 14 of whom have started their training this week. Paying at the top of the salary band helps to make sure we remain in a position to recruit talented individuals to become part of West Yorkshire Police and keep our communities safe.”
In the latest recruitment period over 384 applicants applied to become one of 44 new police officers.
Tom Barrett's 2014 city budget includes hiring 100 new cops
Milwaukee Mayor says move is not a reaction to a recent string of shootings By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel Aug. 17, 2013
As part of his proposed 2014 budget, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says he will recommend to the Common Council that the city hire 100 more police officers.
In an interview in his office at City Hall, Barrett said he had been thinking about the plan to add more cops on the street for some time and that the move was not a reaction to a recent string of shootings that prompted him to spend $500,000 to pay for additional police overtime.
Currently, there are 50 officers who were hired using federal stimulus money. Those funds are gone, but Barrett said he was committed to keeping those officers on the force with city funds.
The cost of keeping the 50 officers in place, plus hiring 100 new officers: $4.5 million.
The Police Department's budget, with approximately 1,860 officers, is the largest part of the city budget. This year, the budget totaled $237.5million. The department budget alone was $10.4 million more than the entire amount of shared revenue coming from the state.
Nine years ago, shared revenue from the state was $240.3 million, more than enough to pay for a police budget that then totaled nearly $180 million.
90 Barrett said under his plan, a class of 50 candidates would begin training early in January with the anticipation that they would be on the streets in mid-June 2014.
A second class would begin training late in December 2014, with the hope of having them on the streets in mid-2015.
Barrett noted that his proposal, which requires Common Council approval, is in contrast to what some other large cities are dealing with in terms of public safety.
"We have seen layoffs in other police departments, or they leave those positions vacant. We aren't doing that," Barrett said.
Ald. Michael Murphy, chairman of the council's Finance and Personnel Committee, said while he was concerned about the recent increase in crime, his committee must balance the call for more public safety with the other needs of taxpayers.
Murphy, along with Barrett and other aldermen, have been critical of the way the city has been treated in Gov. Scott Walker's budget.
In an interview Friday, Murphy challenged Walker and Republican leaders. If GOP leaders were really serious about crime in Milwaukee, he said, the city could double the number of officers Barrett is calling for by bringing police and firefighters under the umbrella of Act 10.
Act 10, signed into law by Walker, severely curtailed collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions, except for fire and police. Under the act, union members were asked to pay more for health and pension benefits.
If Act 10 covered police and fire, the city could hire more officers with the savings, Murphy said.
"It wouldn't cost the state a single dollar," Murphy said.
Walker has opened the door to a possible expansion of Act 10. He first said it was a possibility. Later, he said, "I said I'm not pursuing it, but it's one of those where I think in the future there's a possibility, at least, that that could be included in the discussions."
At the same time, Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), co-chair of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, told a forum in Ozaukee County that she hopes police and firefighters around the state would be open to accepting Act 10.
In his proposed budget, details of which will be discussed at a public budget hearing Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Zeidler Municipal Building, 841 N. Broadway, Barrett also said he would request:
■ An increase from $1 million to $3 million to pay for resurfacing high-impact streets around the city. The resurfacing work has been done on Water St., near City Hall, and on E. Kilbourn Ave., downtown. The proposal calls for more
91 resurfacing on other high-impact streets around the city as a means of "breathing life" into areas, Barrett said.
■ A continued commitment to providing broadband to the city's libraries. Funds for expanding broadband service at the libraries had been paid for through federal economic stimulus money. Now the city will take that over, Barrett said.
■ Committing about $61million, some of it from a reserve fund, as part of the city's contribution to the pension program. The city's pension fund is in good shape, in contrast with other large American cities.
The mayor also said he and members of the Department of City Development, Department of Neighborhood Services and the Department of Public Works are working on what he called a substantive plan to deal with the city's growing inventory of city-owned tax-foreclosed homes. The money committed to addressing that will be substantial, said Barrett and Mark Nicolini, the city's budget director.
Barrett said it was too early to say whether property taxes will go up in the city under his budget proposal.
Detroit police oversight board functions curtailed
Decision-making in limbo with only 3 members, emergency manager in place
August 19, 2013 at 1:00 am
George Hunter The Detroit News
Detroit The Board of Police Commissioners, the citizen oversight board that rules on Detroit police policy and personnel matters, is in limbo.
The board can't make decisions because there are only three members, one short of a quorum and even if all the seats were filled, an executive order by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr gave Police Chief James Craig the ability to bypass the board on personnel matters, one of its most crucial functions.
Commissioner Jerome Warfield is planning a public meeting to let residents know what's going on. He said he's made several requests to Orr to appoint at least one member to give the board a quorum, but hasn't gotten an answer.
"It's important that the citizens don't lose their voice and power," Warfield said. "We need the EM to make a decision either the board is still in effect or not. And, if not, let's stop the charade and stop meeting every week."
92 Although the board's powers are limited under the emergency manager, Orr spokesman Bill Nowling said it still performs a valuable function.
"I hear the criticism, but just because the board doesn't have a quorum, there's still a process for citizens to air grievances, and for questions to be asked and looked into," he said.
Voters approved a civilian Board of Police Commissioners in 1974, with its five members to be appointed by the mayor. Under the new City Charter that passed the 2012 ballot, the board will have 11 members, seven of whom will be elected, with the remaining four mayoral appointments.
Regarding the appointment of a board member, Nowling said Orr is likely to take the same approach he's taken with City Council members who've abdicated their positions: "He's chosen not to replace them, and will let the electoral process take care of that in November," he said.
Currently, Warfield, Chairwoman Jessica Taylor and Donnell White are the three board members. When Toney Stewart's term ended recently, he was not replaced. The board has been operating for months with only four commissioners, although that was enough for a quorum.
According to its website, the board's mission is "to increase public confidence in the Detroit Police Department by providing accountability through competent, objective and effective civilian oversight."
That confidence is eroding, said Ron Scott, director of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, who raised the issue at Thursday's board meeting.
"I've had it up to here with this dictatorship," Scott said. He asked Warfield to hold a hearing to let the public know what the board's role is.
"I agree, the idea for a hearing is timely," Warfield said. "We'll schedule that meeting." No date has been set.
Scott said the board's denuding has set the city back "all the way to 1959."
"Citizen oversight is just that," Scott said. "That's not what's happening now. If the police commission has been gutted, then all the reforms that took place are nullified." The Real Costs of Policing the Police
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR By JOHN F. TIMONEY Published: August 19, 2013 MANAMA, Bahrain — SETTING aside the legal wisdom of the recent decision by a federal judge against the New York Police Department and its stop-and-frisk policy, one thing seems clear: the judge’s remedy will be enormously expensive
93 and time-consuming to implement, and at a time when the number of stops is falling dramatically. No one, of course, should be stopped by a police officer on the basis of skin color or ethnic origin. The judge, Shira A. Scheindlin of Federal District Court in Manhattan, found that the benefits of ending what she considers to be unconstitutional stops would far outweigh any administrative hardships.
Still, the reforms she has laid out are sweeping in their impact on the department and its 35,000 officers, who have been excoriated and vilified in the months leading up to the trial and in the aftermath of the ruling.
The city has filed a notice of appeal, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he hopes the appeal process would allow current stop-and-frisk practices to continue. But Mr. Bloomberg, an independent, leaves office at the end of the year. The Democratic candidates vying to succeed him have vowed to scale back, or even halt, the practice.
Judge Scheindlin named a monitor — Peter L. Zimroth, a former corporation counsel — to oversee changes in training, supervision, monitoring and discipline. Officers, in effect, will be untrained in the old policy, then trained in new stop-and- frisk procedures. They will be taught about racial profiling and “unconscious racial bias,” and what constitutes a stop and the legal basis for a search. They will learn how to fill out a new stop-and-frisk form, with the current checkboxes replaced by a “narrative section where the officer must record, in her own words, the basis for the stop.” Finally, a facilitator will also be appointed to work with community groups and other “stakeholders” on the reforms.
Court-appointed monitors are nothing new in police departments. Nationally, there have been about two dozen in the past 20 years. And while there is no agreement on the efficiency and effectiveness of these monitors, the one thing that all police chiefs involved agreed with is that the monitoring always lasted longer (some more than 10 years) and was vastly more expensive than expected.
New York’s experience is not likely to be different. The training regimen laid out by Judge Scheindlin will require transferring dozens of officers from precincts and permanently reassigning them to the police academy as trainers. Because minimum staffing levels are required by the department, much of the new training will have to be done on overtime, unless the city spends money to expand the number of officers.
Front-line ranking officers (sergeants and lieutenants) will likely require one week of training, while patrol officers and detectives will require at least two days. My estimate is that this remedial process will cost tens of millions of dollars and last at least 10 years. This does not include the incalculable but sizable costs of taking an officer off patrol for training. Nor does it include the cost of the monitor, staff, expert advisers or the yet-to-be-named facilitator and his or her staff.
The facilitator will hold town hall meetings to receive as much input as possible, particularly from those most affected by police searches. But Britain’s experience, following riots in London in August 2011, offers a cautionary tale. There,
94 community members were asked for their ideas about the underlying problems that caused the disturbances, only to have their hopes for change dashed.
In New York, Judge Scheindlin also ordered a one-year program requiring officers from the precinct in each borough with the highest number of stops to wear body cameras. This program could involve some 2,000 officers, including those assigned to public housing. The judge cites the success of a similar program in Rialto, Calif., but that city of 100,000 can’t be compared to New York. (Rialto had 54 police officers, half of whom wore cameras.) The judge argued that body cameras will, among other things, “encourage lawful and respectful interactions on the part of both parties.” But anyone who watches the reality show “Cops” has good reason to be skeptical.
The prolonged controversy over stop-and-frisk has chilled officers’ enthusiasm and initiative. As a result, the number of stops has dropped sharply, from 203,500 in the first three months of 2012 to fewer than 100,000 stops over the same period this year. Cops have gotten the message.
Judge Scheindlin made clear that she was “not ordering an end to the practice of stop and frisk.” A few years from now — after the facilitator has gotten the community’s input, the monitor’s agenda is in place, the new, time-consuming stop-and-frisk form is available, and the Police Department is geared up to train its 27,500 front-line officers and detectives — the problem may already have fixed itself.
In California, a Champion for Police Cameras The New York Times August 21, 2013
By IAN LOVETT
RIALTO, Calif. "Get on the ground," Sgt. Chris Hice instructed. The teenage suspects sat on the curb while Sergeant Hice handcuffed them.
"Cross your legs; don't get up; put your legs back," he said, before pointing to the tiny camera affixed to his Oakley sunglasses. "You're being videotaped."
It is a warning that is transforming many encounters between residents and police in this sunbaked Southern California city: "You're being videotaped."
Rialto has become the poster city for this high-tech measure intended to police the police since a federal judge last week applauded its officer camera program in the ruling that declared New York's stop-and-frisk program unconstitutional. Rialto is one of the few places where the impact of the cameras has been studied systematically.
95 In the first year after the cameras were introduced here in February 2012, the number of complaints filed against officers fell by 88 percent compared with the previous 12 months. Use of force by officers fell by almost 60 percent over the same period.
And while Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg railed against the federal court, which ordered New York to arm some of its own police officers with cameras, the Rialto Police Department believes it stands as an example of how effective the cameras can be. Starting Sept. 1, all 66 uniformed officers here will be wearing a camera during every shift.
William A. Farrar, the Rialto police chief, believes the cameras may offer more benefits than merely reduced complaints against his force: the department is now trying to determine whether having video evidence in court has also led to more convictions.
But even without additional data, Chief Farrar has invested in cameras for the whole force.
"When you put a camera on a police officer, they tend to behave a little better, follow the rules a little better," Chief Farrar said. "And if a citizen knows the officer is wearing a camera, chances are the citizen will behave a little better."
Despite concerns about privacy and cost, more citizens across the country will probably soon find themselves on camera when talking to the police.
Albuquerque, Fort Worth and Oakland have all begun arming officers with tiny video cameras. And demand for the devices has exploded in recent years, according to Taser International, one of the companies marketing body cameras to law enforcement agencies.
Experts increasingly say that body cameras are likely to become an industry standard over the coming years, just as cameras in patrol cars, which once prompted similar objections about privacy, have become commonplace in recent decades.
William J. Bratton, who has led the police departments in New York and Los Angeles, said that if he were still a police chief, he would want cameras on his officers.
"So much of what goes on in the field is `he-said-she-said,' and the camera offers an objective perspective," Mr. Bratton said. "Officers not familiar with the technology may see it as something harmful. But the irony is, officers actually tend to benefit. Very often, the officer's version of events is the accurate version."
Still, the technology has proved divisive. Police officers and citizens alike have bristled at what they see as the latest incursion of Big Brother. In New York City, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called the equipment "an encumbrance." Privacy advocates worry that video of police officers searching a suspect's home could end up on the evening news.
96
"The body camera issue opens up certainly more questions than it answers," Raymond W. Kelly, the commissioner of the New York Police Department, said Sunday on "Face the Nation." "The only place that this has been implemented are cities that are much, much smaller."
Mr. Bratton acknowledged the difficulties that would be involved with phasing in body cameras in a large police department like New York's, which employs about 35,000 uniformed officers.
At up to $900 per camera, the cost of phasing in officer cameras in major cities promises to be immense. While he was police chief in Los Angeles, from 2002 to 2009, Mr. Bratton pushed to have cameras installed in squad cars, after a recommendation from the federal monitor. But it took years, and $5 million, to outfit less than a fifth of the department's fleet with cameras.
Nonetheless, police officials from Oakland to Greensboro, N.C., all cited the swift resolution of complaints against officers as one of the primary benefits body cameras had offered. In some cases, citizens have come to the police station to file a complaint and decided not to after they were shown the video of the incident.
In other cases, though less frequently, officials said, accusations of officer misconduct have been corroborated by video from body cameras.
"It's definitely not cheap," said Paul Figueroa, an assistant chief with the Oakland Police Department. "But over the long term, just from a liability and management perspective, it's definitely an investment that's worth it."
Thus far, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has not received any complaints about police body cameras. And despite privacy concerns, the organization supports increased used of the technology.
"Cameras hold real promise for making it easier to resolve complaints against police," said Peter Bibring, a senior lawyer with the A.C.L.U. of Southern California. "They do raise privacy concerns, but ones that can be addressed by strong privacy policies."
Mr. Bibring said that video should not be stored for prolonged periods, except in cases of alleged misconduct, and at least some video, like searches of private homes, should not be made available to the public.
Thus far, though, almost every department has handled officer cameras differently. With about 450 cameras for 620 officers, the Oakland Police Department is one of the largest agencies using them; it stores video indefinitely.
Next month, the Police Executive Research Forum will host a conference on officer body cameras, with the goal of developing best practices for departments across the country.
97 Rialto's experience offers other cities a lot to emulate.
During the yearlong study, half of the city's patrol officers were randomly assigned to wear body cameras each week, and instructed to turn them on whenever they made contact with a civilian.
Officers used force 25 times, down from 61 over the previous 12 months. And those wearing cameras accounted for 8 of those incidents.
Sergeant Hice said he has come to view the camera as a kind of protection. The video would show the two teenagers running through the field matching the description he was given, he said, and that he did not use excessive force while detaining them.
"It captures what's really occurring in real time," he said. If the suspects later "think of a good story, with bits of detail thrown in to enhance a false story," he added, "we can dispel it."
Under a New Law, the Police Can Act as Gun Dealers
Starting on Sept. 1, Texas police departments will be able to raise money by selling some of the guns they seize. By IAN FLOYD TEXAS TRIBUNE
Published: August 24, 2013
For decades, weapons confiscated by the police in Texas were supposed to be used for law enforcement purposes — or else destroyed. Starting next month, police departments across the state will be allowed to sell some of them.
Some local departments have already been selling confiscated weapons, operating under a gray area of existing law, said T. Edwin Walker, president of Texas Law Shield, which provides legal services to Texas gun owners.
House Bill 1421, which passed during the last legislative session, formally permits law enforcement officials to sell found or unclaimed weapons to licensed firearms dealers. They can also sell confiscated weapons that are left unclaimed after cases that were never prosecuted or did not result in a conviction. In cases that do result in a conviction, police departments keep the firearms as evidence in case they are needed for appeals.
The new rule gives law enforcement another option, said State Representative Charles Perry, Republican of Lubbock and the author of the bill. “It has a fiscal impact in a positive way, and it makes sense if the weapons are in good shape.”
98 It is unclear how well the measure will meet its stated goal, which Mr. Walker said is allowing the police to “recoup some money, to put some money back in their budget.” Police departments in large Texas cities like San Antonio, Houston and Austin, which destroyed hundreds of guns in 2012, have said they would not participate.
Some law enforcement officials said they already had department policies against selling confiscated firearms and worried about putting more weapons back on the street.
The Waco Police Department has not yet decided if it will sell confiscated guns, but “at first blush it is probably not something we will be willing to do just for the fact that we don’t want to put additional weapons back out there on the street that have already been confiscated or used in a crime,” said Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, the department’s public information officer.
Those who might rely on the new law? Small, cash-starved departments in rural Texas, some of which have already been making such resales.
In Crane County, home to about 4,300 people at the base of the Texas Panhandle, even two gun confiscations a year are a lot, said Chief Deputy Andrew Aguilar of the county sheriff’s office. Firearms his department has seized in the past have already been sold, he said.
In many rural towns, sheriffs’ sales of seized property are common sources of income, said Alice Tripp, the legislative director of the Texas State Rifle Association.
After the law takes effect on Sept. 1, law enforcement agencies will be able to sell confiscated guns to licensed weapons dealers. The proceeds will first cover outstanding court or auctioneer’s fees; the remainder will go to the police department that seized the weapon.
Jason Knowles, the manager of Patriot Firearms in Lubbock, said he doubted the confiscated gun market would be bustling.
“The majority of firearms seized by law enforcement typically are relatively cheap and of low quality,” he said. “You don’t get a lot of high-end guns in the seizure world.”
Sgt. Jason Lewis, the Lubbock Police Department’s public information officer, said the department had destroyed 56 firearms in 2012, many of them cheap, stolen guns in very poor condition. He said it would not participate in gun sales.
“Every once in a while, you get something that you are like ‘Whoa, that’s too bad that you are melting that,’ ” Sergeant Lewis said. “For the most part, it is junk.”
99 In Our View: Worth Cost to Train Police Reduction in crime shows skilled, informed officers add value to life Tuesday, August 27, 2013 The Columbian Cost of salary and benefits during an 18-week stay at the police academy: $27,790. Cost of salary and benefits during a 16-week field training program: $24,340.
Value of having a well-trained new officer for the Vancouver Police Department: Priceless.
In an age when seemingly every penny of government spending is subject to criticism from somebody, when politicians and citizens alike live by a mantra of "cut spending," we'll take issue with anybody who argues over the cost of training police officers.
A Sunday story by Columbian reporter Patty Hastings detailed the finances and training involved in the hiring of new officers. In the Vancouver Police Department, for example, the total cost of training an entry-level officer is calculated to be $65,261.73 (after the costs of recruiting and vetting applicants).
That includes psychological screenings; police academy and field training; and additional costs. The Clark County Sheriff's Office, which calculates its recruiting and training costs in a slightly different fashion, estimates that the hiring of a new deputy costs more than $98,000.
Those figures might sound like a lot for taxpayers to bear, but consider the alternative. While diligence is necessary in the oversight of any government spending, the value of well-trained public safety officers cannot be overstated.
In 2012, according to the article, the Vancouver Police Department hired four entry-level officers from a pool of 400 applicants, and three experienced officers from a pool of 248 applicants.
This isn't the kind of profession in which somebody just wakes up one day and says, "I'm going to be a police officer," then goes down to the station to fill out an application. In truth, it requires a special type of dedication and decorum backed by months or years of preparation.
For example, candidates who have recently used illicit drugs or have a slew of traffic violations on their record are automatically disqualified, a standard that eliminates 20 to 25 percent of applicants. The wisdom of such a person's applying for police work stretches the bounds of credulity, but apparently it happens.
And for those who do make it past all the roadblocks and become officers, the training never really ends. As Hastings writes, "Officers say it takes five years before they've seen everything, and 10 to 15 years before they're really good at what they do."
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Nationally, over the past couple of decades, there has been a renewed emphasis on law and order. And apparently that emphasis is paying off.
While there still are horrific crimes that grab headlines, the violent crime rate is about half of what it was 20 years ago, according to statistics compiled by the FBI. That includes a precipitous drop in murders, from 23,760 in 1992 to 14,612 in 2011, despite a growing population. The frequency of rapes, robberies, assaults, and property crimes also has fallen in the past two decades, despite a slight upturn in 2012.
Much of that, experts say, is due to improved and increasingly sophisticated police work — and that begins with diligent training and hiring practices. Modern investigative and crime-prevention techniques require officers to be more savvy than ever before. Along those lines, the Vancouver Police Department has added nine officers this year, each after undergoing the extensive hiring process that can take 6 to 8 months, but the department still has not been fully staffed since 2002.
The hiring process can be taxing, but there's little doubt that it's money well spent.
Policing Twitter and Facebook August 15, 2013 09:05:58 am The Crime Report
Law enforcement agencies have long understood the value of social media as a public relations tool, but many have begun to recognize its potential for investigating crime and managing large gatherings of people.
A new guide published by the non-profit Police Executive Research Forum provides insights and tips for departments looking to do more than public relations outreach with their Twitter and Facebook feeds.
The guide advises departments to “not be afraid to take calculated risks” in disseminating certain information to the public in real-time.
“The Toronto Police Service and other departments have demonstrated that social media can be used for many purposes, from crime prevention and community policing to intelligence and criminal investigations,” the report’s authors wrote. “It is not merely a function of a police department’s public information unit.”
But the report warns that police should be careful to identify the “right people” to handle social media. Departments should look for not just those with good writing and communication skills, but those who understand the medium’s potential value.
101 Row over bid to curb police boards probing complaintsucy Adams Chief Reporter Wednesday 28 August 2013 Herald Scotland A ROW about centralised control has erupted between Scotland's new policing authority and a local board, with one politician claiming it is eroding the "winning formula" in one region.
The head of the police transition committee at Fife has written to the chairman of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), which is responsible for holding the new national force to account, to express "shock and disappointment" at moves to end their local oversight of police complaints.
The move, which has fuelled concerns of growing antipathy between the local and national approach, follows criticism of a Glasgow-centric approach under the new national structure. Following the raids on Edinburgh's saunas in June, Independent MSP Margo MacDonald criticised the "heavy-handed" Glasgow approach to prostitution in the capital.
The Fife committee has also complained about "central" decisions to cut their chief inspectors from seven to three and warned it could impact on performance.
The police board in Fife traditionally checked some complaints about local police to ensure they had been appropriately handled. Earlier this month they say the local commander was told by the Authority to stop providing them with such information.
Councillor Gavin Yates, Fife's police committee chairman, said: "It is clear, looking at the crime figures, we have a winning formula in Fife that is being eroded by centralised control being driven by Government cuts. What this says to me is the financial squeeze placed on Police Scotland by the Scottish Government is really starting to bite and our communities will now pay for that.
"The decision of the SPA to remove dip sampling of police complaints is a hugely backward step and flies in the face of the commitment of the Government to make policing 'more accountable'.
"Kenny MacAskill should tell the SPA they have got this one wrong and allow local authorities to have full sight of police complaints to offer the public some confidence that nothing is brushed under the carpet."
The Police And Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 specifies the local commander "must" provide to a local authority: reports on policing in the area; statistical information on complaints; and other information about policing "as the local authority may reasonably require".
102 Before the eight forces were amalgamated into one in April there were eight police boards responsible for holding forces to account. Now every local authority has a different and often less formal structure in place to work with local commanders.
Ian Ross, chairman of the Scottish Police Authority's Complaints and Conduct Committee, said: "We have had discussions with Police Scotland over the implications for legacy procedures on the area of complaints because as the new legislation does not give a formal right of access to local scrutiny bodies to the files of closed complaints cases.
"That clearly means there must be a different approach in future to the procedures local elected members might have been used to in the past.
"As part of the SPA's new role in scrutinising police complaints, we will be reviewing a number of statistical reports and infor-mation provided by Police Scotland on complaints, including details of local complaints cases.
"However, we do not rule out a future role for local scrutiny bodies in further scrutiny of local complaints, provided we can ensure confidentiality, propriety, and consistency with the Act and other relevant legislation.
"We acknowledge the SPA has a responsibility to support local scrutiny arrangements and to work together with local partners to make these new arrangements as effective as we can.
"I have offered to meet Councillor Yates on this issue, and to develop a way forward that fulfils our shared objective of enhancing the scrutiny of policing."
Judge is asked to delay new use-of-force policy for Seattle police
The fledgling Community Police Commission is asking the federal judge overseeing reforms in the Seattle Police Department to postpone implementing a new use-of-force policy to allow more time to review it.
By Mike Carter, staff reporter The Seattle Times August 21, 2013
The Community Police Commission (CPC) is asking the federal judge overseeing reforms in the Seattle Police Department to postpone implementing a sweeping new use-of-force policy because the community and the departments rank-and- file haven't had enough time to review it.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge James Robart, the CPC is seeking a two-month delay in the Aug. 31 implementation of the new policy, which is the top priority of the city and the court-appointed monitor overseeing the reforms.
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The federal monitor, Merrick Bobb, presented the draft policy to the CPC earlier this month and, according to the letter, offered the commission a chance to gather and give comment on Aug. 8. The deadline was set when the city and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a federal settlement agreement over police reforms a year ago.
We are deeply concerned that the time allotted is insufficient to ensure our considered review and will not serve the reform effort or the intent of the Court in establishing the CPC as a vehicle for community input, wrote CPC acting director Betsy Graef in a letter filed with the court Wednesday.
The letter said Bobb intends to approve the new policy at the end of the month.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said it would not oppose a delay in the deadline.
We plan to ask the court to extend the deadline for public comment, including from the CPC and unions, so that everyone has sufficient time to review the policies and make recommendations, said Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Bates. We need to make sure reform efforts and the deadlines that were created as part of Monitoring Plan stay on track while doing everything we can to get reform right. The community's input will help us get it right.
Bobb said he would be willing to go along with a reasonably short extension to the deadline. Mayor Mike McGinn's office likewise said, We have no position on a timeline.
The final decision on any delay belongs to Robart.
The policy is key to the reform efforts at the SPD and would completely overhaul the SPD's current rules on when and how officers use force, from their fists to their firearms.
Where the departments current policy is about five pages long, the new policy is 70 pages and includes core principles that state the community expects police to use the minimal force necessary to accomplish their job.
The sweeping new policy is central to addressing issues identified in a DOJ investigation that found Seattle police routinely use unnecessary and unconstitutional force during arrests, most often against the mentally ill or chemically impaired.
It found that SPD officers often escalate minor situations into incidents that require force, and then use a lot of it. The DOJ cited the improper use of impact weapons like batons and flashlights, and incidents where several officers would subdue an individual, often resulting in injuries, and situations where force was used against individuals merely for mouthing off.
104 The departments use-of-force reporting mechanism was also faulted, and the DOJ said the city's Office of Professional Accountability, which investigates police misconduct, was broken.
Last year, after intense negotiations, the city and DOJ entered into a settlement agreement. Bobb, the court-appointed monitor from Los Angeles, is overseeing changes that are expected to take years to fully bring about.
The new force policy, for instance, specifically tells officers that, when time and safety allow, they should do everything possible to de-escalate potentially violent situations. For the first time, the policy will specifically describe when and how officers can use less-than-lethal weapons such as Tasers, beanbag guns or impact weapons.
Officers will also, for the first time, be required to report when they point a firearm at someone.
It is because of the very fact that the proposed policy is so crucial to the reform effort that CPC officials want more time to talk about it before it is adopted and implemented even though use-of-force is not a topic the CPC was necessarily intended to address, according to its charter.
Mostly, the CPCs job is to ensure community engagement and address issues of accountability with the SPD, including a hard look at the OPA.
We just don't think this is enough time for us to go through this and ensure the community has an adequate chance to respond, said CPC co-chair Diane Narasaki.
The use of force is the very reason the DOJ investigated, and that is what led to the formation of the CPC, she said. It doesn't make sense for us not to review the policy that is key to the reason we are here in the first place.
The Adventure of Blondie and the Bloodhound By MAUREEN DOWD The New York Times Published: August 31, 2013 188 Comments WASHINGTON — CATHY LANIER’S early life plays like a season of MTV’s “Teen Mom.”
Skipping school at 13. Pregnant at 14. Married at 15. Separated at 17, on food stamps and back with her mother on a working-class block by a railroad in suburban Maryland; her mother had also relied on welfare and donated food to feed Cathy and her brothers after her husband split when Lanier was a toddler.
“I didn’t even know how to write a check much less pay the bills,” said the attractive and nearly 6-foot-tall blonde, now 46.
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Her mother and grandmother cared for the baby while Lanier sold awnings and hair products, worked as a waitress at a barbecue joint at night and a secretary for a real estate developer by day.
“When I took that job, I was 16,” she recalled. “Typing classes come in the 10th grade, and I didn’t make it to the 10th grade. I got my G.E.D. So when they offered me the secretary job, they said ‘Can you type?’ I said, ‘No, but I’ll learn if you let me take the typewriter home.’ So my mother taught me how to type at the kitchen table.”
Eventually, Lanier traded the typewriter for a gun. She joined the D.C. police force at 23, attracted by a program that offered to cover her tuition to go to college by day while she worked the late shift as a beat officer; she went on to get two master’s degrees.
Now, remarkably, she is the very popular police chief of the nation’s capital, a white woman in charge of law enforcement in a city with a black majority; a watchdog for a city — with its monuments, mandarins and diplomats — that is a maze of different security forces and a target for terrorists, hackers and retaliatory strikes.
As tensions over aggressive stop-and-frisk tactics shake up the New York mayor’s race, Lanier has reviewed the D.C. version. Over the years, she has shifted her force from mirroring New York’s “zero tolerance” and “hot spot” policing, the “broken windows” theory that ignoring minor offenses leads to major ones.
She’s tough on crime — she shared an award for most arrests soon after becoming a cop — but also wanted her officers to be compassionate, to interact with D.C. residents, develop sources, use new media to connect with the community, consider arrest a failure. She issued a directive on how to talk to transgender people, ignoring those who complained she was too touchy-feely. She started an anonymous text tip line and got in-car computers and BlackBerrys for officers.
She made it clear, she told Governing magazine, that she expected officers to “give their cellphone number to the old lady sitting on her porch drinking her beer at 9 o’clock in the morning instead of making her dump her beer.”
She hugs the down-and-out and gives out her cellphone number. “If they call me in the middle of the night,” she said, in her offhanded manner, “they’ve got something I want to hear.”
She says she tells graduates of the police academy: “Look, this uniform does not automatically give you respect. People will either view that uniform as a symbol of hope and honesty or they will view it with fear.”
As Lanier travels around gritty neighborhoods in D.C., swaths invisible to many of the high and mighty here, residents call out to greet her.
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“Some people will yell ‘Cathy,’ some will yell ‘Chief’ and some will yell ‘Blondie,’ ” she said, sitting in her office, dressed in a police uniform, a 9 millimeter Glock on her hip. Two teddy bears are incongruously perched on the couch with her. The chief, who has a goldendoodle named Po-Po and an affinity for disabled dogs, toys with pieces of a chess set where firefighters and arson dogs face off against police officers and their canines.
She is excited about the department’s newest rookie: a bloodhound named Sam who has already tracked two missing persons.
Being called “Blondie” doesn’t offend her?
“No, that’s an affectionate nickname,” she smiles, leaning back and putting arms that rival Michelle Obama’s behind her head.
When she started in 1990, she was an upright rookie on an undisciplined force. She had to endure sexual harassment from a lieutenant supervising her; she sued the city and won a $75,000 settlement. Back then, D.C. was nicknamed “the murder capital of America.” Once, as a sergeant, Lanier waved at an elderly African-American woman sitting on her porch “and she flips me the bird, and I’m like ‘What?’ I was shocked, but people really didn’t think a whole lot of the police back then and that was during the height of violence in the city.”
She says that, personally, “in 24 years here, I’ve never had an issue with race — ever. I think people in general don’t really care what your race or gender is if they feel like you are legitimate.”
Last year, D.C. had the lowest number of homicides on record since 1961; juvenile victims of homicides decreased by 85 percent in the last four years, according to the chief’s office. She presides over about 4,000 officers and 450 civilians.
“She’s done a phenomenal job,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.
Lanier has never shot a person, just a rampaging pit bull. She says she “can take a punch,” and did so once from someone she was busting for drugs. She affectionately recalls being taught how to by her two older brothers, who she says were “bullies” and “still are.” One is a Maryland police officer, the other a retired firefighter, like her dad.
“I think that the physical demands of firefighting are much greater than the physical demands of policing,” she said. “A lot of police work does not require brute strength. In fact, I’d say, really good communications skills are probably every bit, if not more, important as brute strength.”
While “some women can meet the physical challenge” for superior upper-body strength, she is skeptical about having one carry her down a ladder out of a burning building, given that “I’m 6-foot tall and I’m not petite.”
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The chief is a workaholic who rarely vacations, works out twice a day and sleeps “in short bursts.” Her friends have urged her to use concealer on the dark circles under her eyes and, she says, “my mother and grandmother both used to say when they saw me on TV, ‘Can you just put some lipstick on?’ ”
Asked what she does to relax, she replies, “the chores” and yardwork. She doesn’t watch cop shows and hasn’t seen the two recent movies about terrorists taking over the White House. She prefers animated films like “The Croods” and “Despicable Me” to blow-’em-ups.
The Washington Post’s Allison Klein checked out the chief’s closet in her townhouse and found 30 police uniforms.
“That can be an issue sometimes,” the single Lanier told me, grimacing, “when I want to go out and I don’t have anything to wear.”
Where does she wear her gun when she gets dressed up for a dinner date with her boyfriend?
“I find ways,” she says, smiling mischievously.
Arbitration Panel Sides With East Hartford Police Union August 09, 2013|By SUZANNE CARLSON, [email protected], The Hartford Courant EAST HARTFORD — For a second time, a state arbitration panel has sided with the police officers' union on several key issues in a disputed 10-year pension agreement.
Town Council Chairman Rich Kehoe said the council has voted not to pursue further legal action and will accept the panel's decision.
The council had voted unanimously on April 19 to reject the first arbitration panel's decision, which selected the police union's last best offer on three of nine issues.
Two of those concern whether lump sum payments upon retirement from accrued sick time would be included in the calculation of pension benefits. The third was a proposal by the town to change from the existing pension plan to a defined contribution plan for all employees hired after Jan. 1.
In a letter to the Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration rejecting the decision, the council described the pension plan's payments and health benefits as "burdensome and unsustainable." Kehoe also said at the time that, "in our view, to continue down the road we are on is untenable for a town government and taxpayers who already pay a significant portion of their income in property taxes."
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But Mike Weglarz, president of the police officers' union, said the town spent a large amount of money in an attempt to "go for broke" and squeeze officers as much as possible.
"Obviously I'm pleased with the decision by the arbitrators. You know, I'm still kind of confused why the town would spend over $30,000 of taxpayer money to go to double arbitration," Weglarz said. "I believe that the town is anti-union. They want everything from us ... they're trying to be union-busters."
Kehoe said the council had hoped that the town and union could find a way to reduce the annual pension liability before the second arbitration panel reached its decision, which only concerns the penion plan. The police union's three-year collective bargaining agreement expired on June 30 and negotiations for a new contract are underway.
"While we recognized the union's concerns, we also believed that at the end of the day the town does not have the resources to continue the increases for years to come and that steps need to be taken to address this long-term liability," Kehoe said.
The second arbitration panel upheld the original decision and ruled that compensation and final average salary for employees would continue to include overtime and accrued sick time, and rejected the town's proposal to switch to a defined contribution plan.
Weglarz said that while the town has argued that it cannot afford to fund the pension plan's provisions, some top workers are receiving raises and the town has mismanaged pension funds in the past.
"My guys can't help but take offense to that," Weglarz said. He also acknowledged that it's become politically "popular" to blame unions for municipalities' financial woes, but said government officials should take responsibility for those issues and give workers what they're due.
Wave of reforms result in lower salaries for police and firefighters By Jarrett Renshaw/The Star-Ledger September 02, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated September 02, 2013 at 8:17 PM
TRENTON — After years of winning at the negotiating table, cops and firefighters across New Jersey are losing and walking away these days with much less money.
Since January of 2011 — following a wave of reforms that capped municipal spending and arbitration awards — police and firefighter unions have signed at least 160 new contracts, according to the Public Employment Relations Commission.
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The average annual wage increase for those contracts was around 1.86 percent, the lowest bump in at least two decades, PERC records show. The drop is happening in all contracts, whether negotiated or awarded by an arbitrator, and suggests a seismic shift in police and fire negotiations.
The new data are the latest piece of evidence that the joint efforts of Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic leaders in Trenton to rein in public employee benefits and municipal spending are yielding results.
“We all know that the key and reasonable complaints of many in New Jersey is property taxes, and one of the key drivers was arbitration awards that were in the 3 and 4 percent range,” a Christie spokesman said. “Reasonable salaries are important to police and fire personnel, but the indisputable result was runaway increases that were not sustainable, particularly when we entered a period of recession.”
In 2010, Christie and Democratic lawmakers who control the Legislature enacted a 2 percent cap on local tax growth. But they said the levy cap would be impossible to manage if arbitrators awarded new contracts to police and fire unions — the biggest expense in many towns — that included salary increases above 2 percent.
So, Christie and lawmakers took the dramatic step of capping arbitration awards at 2 percent, too, the only state in the nation to enact such a restriction. They also dramatically sped up the arbitration process and required arbitrators to consider the full compensation package, such as longevity pay and step increases — not just salaries — as counting toward the cap.
But critics of the arbitration cap say it’s a heavy-handed overcorrection that has tilted the scales so heavily in favor of towns that collective bargaining is all but dead.
No town would offer more than a 2 percent raise knowing unions can’t get a higher raise from an arbitrator, critics argue.
Cops and firefighters, unlike other public employees, are forbidden from striking because of their role in protecting the public. In exchange, they can arbitrate disputes over wages, health benefits and work rules.
When deciding salary increases, arbitrators are required to consider nine criteria, including cost-of-living adjustments and pay in comparable towns.
But critics say those historical standards have been all but rendered moot by the cap. “What difference does cost of living make or comparables make when all that matters is the 2 percent cap?” union attorney Richard Loccke said. “This is not negotiations. It’s a formula.”
110 Loccke, who has worked with many unions in the state, said contract increases were already on the decline because of the municipal caps.
“Absent this act, the numbers would have gone down anyway,” Loccke said. “We have caps on appropriations and municipal levies, so the hard cap on arbitration awards is like killing a mosquito with a hand grenade.”
Applying new rules
In 2011, 34 police and fire negotiations went to arbitration, but none was forced to comply with the new arbitration cap because of a “grandfathering” clause.
The average hike of those awards was 2.05 percent, much lower than previous years, PERC records show.
Hanover Township was among those places where the new rules didn’t apply.
The 25-person police force was seeking a 3.5 percent retroactive increase. The township countered with an average 2 percent increase, arguing that any more would eat into the $288,108 in new funds it could raise under the state’s tax levy cap.
The arbitrator sided with the township and awarded the union an average increase of 2.35 percent over the lifetime of the contract.
Cap obligations
“The PBA’s proposal of 3.5 percent increases to base salary cannot be awarded,” the arbitrator Gretchen Boone ruled. “It places little, if any, consideration on the township’s declining ratables, declining revenues and the township’s obligation to meet all of its cost obligations under the tax levy cap.”
The arbitration caps are set to expire in April unless the Legislature extends them, setting up one of the first legislative battles of the year. A task force was created to evaluate the caps, and its most comprehensive report is expected to be issued next month.
Christie wants to extend them, but his opponent, state Sen. Barbara Buono (D- Middlesex), who supported the 2010 reform, is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Sen. Buono believes that the only responsible way to address this issue is to review the findings of the interest arbitration task force, evaluate revenues and sit down with stakeholders,” Buono spokesman David Turner said. “Then, as governor, she will weigh in after analyzing their final report.”
On Buono’s approach, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said, “Well, that’s courageous, isn’t it?”
111 Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), one of the most vocal supporters of the cap, said any lawmaker who doesn’t support its extension “needs to go back to remedial math.”
“You can’t have a levy cap without an arbitration award cap. It’s completely contradictory,” O’Scanlon said. “You can’t say we are going to cap the amount you can raise to pay your bills and then let an arbitrator hand out higher awards on your biggest budget line item.”
O’Scanlon also said the real power of the reform law is that it requires arbitrators to consider the full compensation package. He said historical records of salary increases are misleading because they fail to take into account other perks like longevity pay and step increases.
Those factors were central to the dispute between the New Milford police union and township. The case was the first to go before the appeal board of the PERC and significantly shaped future decisions.
After failing to reach an agreement on a new contract, the 32-member police union filed for arbitration in January of 2012. The union sought a four-year contract with annual increases of 2.75 percent, and the town countered with a three-year contract with no increases in the first two years and a 2 percent bump in the final year.
The arbitrator eventually awarded the police union a three-year contract, with a 1 percent increase in the first year and bumps of 2 percent and 2.5 percent in the remaining years, but the town appealed the award, saying it violated the new cap.
Siding with the town
The appeals board sided with the town and vacated the decision. The board ruled the arbitrator failed to calculate the future costs of longevity pay, clothing allowances and other perks that are also subject to the 2 percent cap, a stark reversal of previous practices.
Take a town that pays its police department $1 million in salaries and other benefits, including step increases and longevity pay. Under the cap law, an arbitrator can’t award the union more than a 2 percent, or $20,000, increase on average for each contract year.
That $20,000 increase can be divided among salary increases, step increases and longevity pay. So if five officers are expected to hit a benchmark based on their length of time with the department and get a $4,000 bump in longevity pay — for a total cost of $20,000 — that leaves no money for raises for anyone else.
After tense negotiations failed, the Atlantic City firefighters union filed for arbitration in May of 2012.
The union accused the city of seeking vengeance for highly publicized retirement payouts by offering members no salary increases and rolling back other benefits.
112 For its part, the union wanted a three-year deal with a 4 percent salary hike the first year and 2 percent each year after.
Adhering to the cap
In the end, the only thing that mattered was the 2 percent cap. The arbitrator kept in place longevity and step increases at a cost of about $1 million over the three-year deal and awarded a 1.2 percent salary increase in the first year and nothing in the remaining two years.
The arbitrator, Michael Pecklers, said he heard the unions’ concerns about revenge but said he must adhere to the cap.
“The New Jersey Legislature has enacted the current statute, and Gov. Christie has made the reduction of perceived exorbitant public sector benefits with concomitant tax savings passed along to residents the cornerstone of his administration,” Pecklers wrote. “As such, any interest arbitrator who ignores this imperative without supporting the award with substantial credible evidence exposes himself to a collateral attack upon appeal.”
Stop-and-Frisk in Public Housing By New York Times THE EDITORIAL BOARD Published: September 5, 2013 Judge Shira Scheindlin of Federal District Court in Manhattan made the right decision last week when she granted class-action status to a lawsuit brought by public housing residents and visitors who say they were illegally stopped or arrested by the police in their buildings.
The ruling in Davis v. the City of New York clears the way for a trial in one of three federal class-action suits challenging different aspects of the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program, under which hundreds of thousands of times a year people are detained, often while doing nothing wrong.
Judge Scheindlin, who oversees all three cases, has issued a blistering series of rulings making it clear that many police stops in New York City violate the Fourth Amendment. Courts have long ruled that police officers can legally stop and detain a person only when they have reasonable suspicion that the person is committing, has committed or is about to commit a crime.
Earlier this year, in Ligon v. City of New York, Judge Scheindlin excoriated the Police Department for persisting in making illegal stops and arrests outside private apartment buildings — even after prosecutors had pointed out that they were wrongful. Last month, she ruled in Floyd v. City of New York that street-stop tactics violated the constitutional rights of minority citizens who were disproportionately singled out. She also appointed an independent monitor who will be responsible for reforming Police Department practices.
113 The city has sometimes tried to deny that the Police Department has an actual stop-and-frisk program. But the judge points out in the Davis case that police training materials actually direct officers to approach and question people in New York City Housing Authority buildings “without reasonable suspicion of trespass, and to arrest for trespass those who fail to leave or affirmatively establish their right” to be present in a building.
The Housing Authority’s population is larger than most cities. It houses more than 400,000 New Yorkers in more than 330 developments spread around the five boroughs.
In certifying the class action, Judge Scheindlin said that the police policy has led to “large numbers of apparently unjustified trespass arrests,” and testimony presented thus far supported the inference that many of the Housing Authority’s black or Hispanic residents had been “impeded in coming and going freely from their homes and having guests.”
One resident, the president of a public housing leadership group, testified that life for families harassed by stop-and-frisk policies in their own apartment buildings was like life in a “penal colony.”
Beyond being illegal, abusive stop-and-frisk practices have made law enforcement even more difficult by causing law-abiding people to be deeply wary of the police. Instead of appealing these cases, the next mayor needs to bring department policy in line with the Constitution.
Northern Ireland Policing Board comes in for criticism
More information is needed to establish how the PSNI is performing, says Audit Office.
Date - 5th September 2013 By - Cliff Caswell - Police Oracle The Northern Ireland Policing Board has come under criticism for the way it holds the Police Service and the chief constable to account following the publication of a new report.
The organisation, which publishes annual objectives, priorities and indicators to measure police performance,was criticised by the Audit Office for a lack of precise targets for improvement in this year’s policing plan.
Kieran Donnelly, the Comptroller and Auditor General at the Northern Ireland Audit Office, said the 2012-13 policing plan had 13 separate performance indicators with 44 associated performance standards.
114 But only four of them – relating to road safety – were expressed in quantative terms – the others only expressed whether there had been an increase or decrease in performance levels.
The Audit Office report said: “The decision to move away from numerical targets within the plan to a narrative based performance assessment represented a major shift in approach.
“The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the revision is a result of continued difficulty with a target driven approach to planning – it considers that setting realistic but challenging targets is difficult to achieve.
“It also said that setting numeric targets can, in certain cases, have a detrimental effect on improving performance.
“The Auditor General acknowledges that setting numeric targets can be difficult and does involve uncertainty – however, he does not see that as a justification for not setting any targets at all.”
The report suggested that there needed to be a review of performance measurement, with the level of improvement sought clearly spelt out and timeframes established.
The document also said it was “important that the Policing Board and the PSNI make every effort to further enhance the quality of their relationship” with all parties taking a close interest in monitoring progress.
The Policing Board has said it has accepted all of the recommendations, and said board members had already held discussions with Chief Constable Matt Baggott about developing performance targets.
PCCs, politics and relationships with chiefs
Evidence suggests that concerns over how senior officers and elected commissioners would interact with each other were justified, says Jon Collins.
Date - 6th September 2013 By - Jon Collins - Police Foundation Ahead of the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) last year, one of the primary concerns was around their relationships with chief constables. Evidence is now building that this concern was justified, with significant issues having emerged in four areas, Avon and Somerset (immediately following the election), Gwent, Lincolnshire and – most recently – Cumbria.
Although the details of these disputes differed, they have all highlighted the challenges in managing this important relationship. They will also have affected the way that PCCs are perceived by chief constables. The fact that PCCs have
115 shown that they are willing to remove chief constables has ruffled a few feathers. But at the same time the fact that a PCC’s decision was overturned by the courts has demonstrated that their powers in this area are not unfettered, a point reinforced by HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor in his recent John Harris Memorial Lecture. This may make chief constables more likely to stand their ground in the future.
In addition, while disputes have emerged publically in only four out of 41 areas, new chief constables have also been appointed by PCCs in 15 forces (a unique situation created by the moratorium on appointments in the run up to the first PCC elections). In those areas you would expect the relationship to be functioning better, as the PCC will presumably have chosen somebody that they believed they could work with and the chief constable would have known both the individual they would be working with and their plans and priorities for the future.
It is therefore worth considering what will happen following the next round of PCC elections in May 2016. Many PCCs may well be re-elected, and will therefore be able to build on existing relationships, but some have already decided not to stand again and there may be areas where voters decide a change would be welcome. In these areas, will new PCCs want to bring in their own chief constables? Will chief constables be pushed out if they are not receptive to a new PCC’s agenda or are seen as being too close to a rival’s political views? If Ian (now Lord) Blair’s experience is anything to go by, it certainly seems that further change is likely.
As the Home Affairs Select Committee has concluded, “it is essential to commissioners’ role as directly elected office-holders that they have the power to dismiss chief constables”. While more effective scrutiny of their decision-making might be beneficial, in the end somebody needs to be able to make a decision and, despite some criticism, the legislation is in fact fairly clear.
PCCs should, however, consider whether a quadrennial merry-go-round of chief constables – accompanied, in all likelihood, by messy court disputes – is really the best way to bolster both staff morale and public confidence in policing.
Jon Collins is Deputy Director of the Police Foundation.
Police pay: A cut hidden in a rise
Officers are still being hit in the wage packet despite a 1 per cent pay rise as the cost of living surges, writes Royston Martis.
Date - 5th September 2013 By - Royston Martis - Police Oracle 17 Comments Don’t spend it all at once.
116 On the day the world discovered a footballer is going to earn some £300,000 a week, £42,857 a day, £1,786 an hour for kicking a small round object in Spain, police officers received their 1 per cent pay rise.
Many British Bobbies will now receive around £30 a month extra into their pay packets.
Real Madrid’s Welsh international footballer Gareth Bale will pocket around £30 every single minute.
Do you ever think you chose the wrong career?
Whatever the rights or wrongs of Bale’s bounty – in a country where one in four people is reportedly unemployed - there is little doubt that the police officer "cost of living" rise received in this country at the beginning of September is wrong.
It’s not enough for the tough job police officers do. And it has no reflection on the cost of living.
Has anyone seen how much life really costs these days?
Let’s have a look at some numbers since police officers last received a pay rise in 2010.
The price of milk has gone up from 44p to 46p or more – that’s a near 5 per cent rise.
And what about petrol? According to the AA, in October 2010, unleaded prices were 117.7 pence per litre. Last month, August 2013, prices had risen to 137.5 pence per litre. That’s about a 17% rise.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the rate of consumer prices index inflation is now 2.8 per cent.
The rate of retail prices index is 3.1 per cent, and house prices in the year to June rose by 3.1 per cent, up from 2.9 per cent in May.
As you can see, this is all comfortably more than 1 per cent. And let’s remember there has been a pay freeze in policing for three years.
I could go on but you get the point. A 1 per cent “cost of living” rise is not really going to touch the sides.
Yes, something is better than nothing. But officers are frankly not going to be thankful.
The pay rise is less than half of that given to officers in the three years before the three year pay freeze.
117 In 2008, a deal was struck with the then Labour Government that saw an increase in officers’ pay of 2.65 per cent for 2008/09, 2.6 per cent for 2009/10 and 2.55 per cent for 2010/11.
Again, way more than 1%.
And let’s not forget that since 2010/11, as well as their pay and incremental rises being frozen, thanks to the Winsor and Hutton reports, officers have lost Special Priority Payments, are losing Competency Related Threshold Payments and are having to pay some 2.5 per cent more each month in pension contributions.
So, however you try and dress it up – “Pay rise” or “cost of living” rise – police officers across the board have taken a hefty pay cut over the past few years.
The situation is even worse for plenty of police families when you think many police officers have other halves who are fellow cops or members of police staff.
As one officer told me – the Government seem to be giving with one hand. And have been taking away with two.
So yes, whatever you do, don’t spend it all at once. In fact you’ve probably already spent it by now.
Think it’s time to become a footballer.
Policing police Committee to decide if consultant should check into civilian oversight of police
By André Coleman 09/04/2013
The Pasadena Weekly
On the heels of investigations clearing several local police officers of nearly a dozen charges of misconduct and wrongdoing, a spokesperson for the local ACLU said the Pasadena Police Department needs to be overseen by a board of citizens with broad legal powers.
“I think there needs to be great independence,” said ACLU Pasadena-Foothill Chapter spokesperson Kris Ockerhauser. “The body will need the funds to operate vigorously and they will need subpoena power.”
Ockerhauser will be in attendance on Sept. 16 when the City Council’s Public Safety Committee votes on a motion by recently elected Councilman John Kennedy — who once served as deputy chief of administrative services for the Richmond, Va.., police department — to hire an outside consultant to study how civilian oversight commissions function in other cities.
118 “Certainly the ACLU supports and advocates for civilian oversight, and with the track record of the Police Department, and with the current scandals going on, we need vigorous rigorous oversight,” Ockerhauser said.
Police Chief Phillip Sanchez — much like his predecessor, former Chief and onetime City Manager Bernard K. Melekian — said he is against the formation of such a board. Without providing details, Sanchez said a recent meeting of the committee that there have been 11 citizen complaints against Pasadena police officers so far this year. An additional seven complaints have been made internally by officers with the department. Of the 18 complaints, only one involved the use of force.
According to Sanchez, of the 2,931 arrests made from January to Aug. 7, only 18 — less than 1 percent — involved the use of force. That number is down from the last two years, with 53 incidents in 2012 and 52 incidents in 2011 involving the use of force. The department, the chief noted, averages less than one officer- involved shooting a year. Eighty-nine unspecified complaints were filed against Pasadena officers in 2012, according to Sanchez. Of those, 26 were sustained and resulted in 14 written warnings, 10 suspensions and the termination of two sworn officers.
“That does not suggest the Pasadena Police Department is rogue or out of control. What it suggests is there is a firm foundation for accountability,” Sanchez told committee members.
Last week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Pasadena Police Department cleared Officer Kevin Okamoto and Detectives Keith Gomez and William Broghamer of claims that either individually or together attempted to influence witness testimony, inappropriately used an informant and failed to provide a copy of a search warrant when asked. Other claims against the officers included harassment, unlawful arrest, submission of a misleading police report and inappropriate recording a jailhouse conversation.
Results of the investigation were released to the public, but the department did not list the officers by name. The vague and in part confusing report on the probes that was released to the press found only that “an officer” made an inappropriate comment and that “an officer” failed to submit discovery material before a trial began. “One officer,” the report, which was reviewed prior to its release by attorneys for the city and the Pasadena Police Officers Association, remains under investigation for allegedly threatening a witness.
The department is also waiting for the results of an independent probe being conducted by the Office of Independent Review, which is investigating the officer- involved shooting death of Kendrec McDade, 19, who was shot and killed on March 24, 2012, after 911 caller Oscar Carrillo Gonzales told police that he had been robbed at gunpoint by McDade and a juvenile at a taco stand in Northwest Pasadena. The officers— Matthew Griffin and Jeffrey Newlen — have been cleared by an internal review and a separate probe by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
119 In 2010, the department disbanded its Disciplinary Review and Use of Force Review boards — both with citizens and police department employees as members — after the City Attorney’s Office concluded that the department could not protect privacy laws protecting the police officers and adhere to state open meeting laws allowing residents to attend the meetings. Among other things, the panels served as advisory panels to the police chief on officer misconduct matters.
Since that time, the council’s Public Safety Committee — made up of Kennedy, Vice Mayor Jacque Robinson and Council members Gene Masuda and Steve Madison — remains the Police Department’s lone oversight committee. “In recent years, we have had this discussion at the Public Safety and City Council levels a couple of times,” said Robinson, who chairs the council committee. “Council member Kennedy is new member of the committee and there is always room for discussion. I don’t know the parameters of his proposal, but we have received information from staff and community about models in other communities before. To date, there has been no appetite for altering the current level of oversight that the City Council provides through the public safety committee.”
This is not the first time there have been calls for stronger civilian oversight of the Police Department. In 1992, following the Los Angeles Riots, a number of community leaders proposed the creation of citizens’ panel to oversee department operations. That did not happen. Instead, then-Police Chief Jerry Oliver started a citizens’ police academy, a 12-week class designed to provide participants with an inside look at police operations while promoting the principles of community policing. Kennedy worked under Oliver after the former chief took over as the head of the Richmond police department in 1995.
In 2005, Melekian, when he was chief in Pasadena, opposed calls for more civilian oversight in the aftermath of the officer-involved deaths of Maurice Clark and LaMont Robinson.
The call for more accountability came up again in 2009 after officers shot and killed Leroy Barnes after Barnes exited the backseat of a vehicle with a weapon during a traffic stop.
Kennedy said his motion would help the Public Safety Committee and local stakeholders by providing more facts about civilian oversight.
“The objective is for the Public Safety Committee and the public to be educated about the pros of cons of civilian participation in the oversight of Police Department in other jurisdictions and what that could look like in Pasadena,” Kennedy told the Weekly. “At the very least, we want a study that is objectively produced by a third party that shares the pros and cons and benefits and negatives of the structure. Then one can make a decision on the value of such an organization in Pasadena.”
120 * Due to incorrect information provided to the newspaper, the print version of this story contains the wrong date of the Public Safety Committee’s next meeting. The correct date of the meeting is Sept. 16.
PCC: Appointment process for chiefs 'now less robust'
Commissioner maintains that elected individuals do not have the benefit of police authorities' appointments regime.
Date - 6th September 2013 By - Jack Sommers - Police Oracle A Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has said that the new elected individuals have appointed a weaker standard of chief constables than their predecessor police authorities.
In an interview with PoliceOracle.com, West Midlands PCC Bob Jones (pictured) believed the new appointments process for chiefs was worse under the new regime. He criticised how commissioners no longer had the benefit of a senior appointment panel or a representative from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, both of which were previously involved in the process.
He said the advice and expertise of these bodies gave police authorities a more rounded view of candidates.
Speaking to this website, Mr Jones, who previously served as the chairman of the now defunct West Midlands Police Authority, said “one or two” recent chief appointments surprised him. He added: “That’s my subjective opinion. Obviously I wasn’t in their interviews so I don’t know how they performed on the day.
“But in one or two cases I was slightly surprised that they were deemed the strongest candidates. This is my own subjective and perhaps an out-of-date view. I haven’t been on a senior appointment panel in some time.”
When asked to name those recently-appointed chiefs he was referring to, he said: “I don’t think that would be appropriate.”
Mr Jones also said there had been more internal appointments and criticised the “largely unprecedented” appointment by PCCs of assistant chief constables as chiefs, meaning they skipped the deputy chief constable rank.
Mr Jones said being a DCC was an important stepping stone, as they experiened leading forces when chiefs were absent. He pointed out that the force-wide responsibilities of assistant chiefs awere more likely to focus on a specialist area.
The Labour politician added that PCCs should also have the power to appoint and dismiss deputy and assistant chief constables, as was the case with police authorities but which now falls to chiefs.
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Mr Jones added that this issue, combined with the expected transfer of most police staff from the office of PCC to chief constables, limited the PCCs’ powers. Writing in The Guardian, he said dismissing a chief could prove “the only real hard accountability tool left” to the commissioners.
But he told PoliceOracle.com he anticipated chief dismissals would be rarer in the long-term as they damage public confidence in policing appointments.
PRINCETON: Police oversight could come to a tie-breaker The Princeton Council cannot agree on who in municipal government should have civilian oversight of the Police Department, as it looks increasingly likely that Mayor Liz Lempert will need to cast her DATE POSTED: Thursday, September 5, 2013 5:05 PM EDT By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer Packet Online
The Princeton Council cannot agree on who in municipal government should have civilian oversight of the Police Department, as it looks increasingly likely that Mayor Liz Lempert will need to cast her first vote as mayor to break a deadlock.
The unresolved issue will resurface at the council meeting Monday, when officials are due to consider adopting an ordinance that makes themselves and Mayor Lempert the “appropriate authority.”
Among other things, that would mean the council would have the final say in police disciplinary matters.
Mayor Lempert, opposed to the ordinance, said Tuesday that there are not the minimum four votes necessary for the measure to be adopted. She said Council President Bernard P. Miller has indicated to her that he plans to vote no. He was vacationing in New England when council voted Aug. 26 to introduce the ordinance by a 3-2 vote.
For his part, Mr. Miller said Tuesday that he has been “pretty clear on what I’m supporting.” That leaves the council split 3-3; Mayor Lempert has no plans to vote in favor. Instead, she called it a “likely” possibility that council would try again to make Municipal Administrator Robert W. Bruschi the appropriate authority. Mr. Miller initially voted against doing that Aug. 5 when it came up.
”I voted against introducing the resolution at that time as I had not had an opportunity to adequately consider the alternatives to designating the administrator as the appropriate authority,” he said Wednesday.
122 In remarks this week, he spoke approvingly of having the administrator fill that role. It provides a “clear line of authority” between the police leadership and the full-time town administrator, who is already in regular daily contact with that leadership.
”My experience would tell me (that) would probably function in a more straightforward and better manner than the other possibilities,” he said. “The administrator is ultimately responsible to the mayor and the council.”
Councilwoman Jo S. Butler, who has been in favor of giving the council the civilian oversight, said she on Tuesday that she wants to get monthly police reports — listing crime statistics and other information — along with power to approve police rules and regulations. She said she is not interested in dealing with the day-to-day “minutiae,” willing to cede that over to Mr. Bruschi.
”The two things I want rest with the appropriate authority,” she said.
The split vote, falling mostly along the old borough-township lines, has highlighted the political dynamics that exist on the council.
Mayor Lempert can count on having Mr. Miller and councilmembers Lance Liverman and Heather H. Howard in her corner on any controversial issue such as this.
All this comes at a time with some uncertainty at the top of the Police Department. For most of the year, the force has been without a chief in the office.
Chief David J. Dudeck, who had been out on extended medical leave, reached a deal with the town to retire originally as of Oct.1, although he changed that to Sept. 1
In his absence, Capt. Nicholas K. Sutter, who did not return a phone call seeking comment, has been in charge.
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