National and International News Clippings & Press Releases
Providing members with information on policing from across Canada & around the world
April 17, 2014
Canadian Association of Police Governance 157 Gilmour Street, Suite 302 Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0N8 Tel: 613|235|2272 Fax: 613|235|2275 www.capg.ca
BRITISH COLUMBIA ...... 4 B.C. privacy report urges tougher rules for employment checks ...... 4 ALBERTA ...... 6 SASKATCHEWAN ...... 6 Saskatoon police welcome national mental health training standards ...... 6 Saskatoon police welcome national mental health training standards ...... 7 MANITOBA ...... 8 Manitoba communities to get 10 new RCMP officers ...... 8 ONTARIO ...... 9 Councillor Eli El-Chantiry wants answers on SIU charges ...... 9 End costly police suspensions with pay online petition begs ...... 10 Paul Pedersen, new Sudbury police chief, to tackle budget concerns ...... 12 'Eager' local support for federal Victims Bill of Rights ...... 13 Body Worn Cameras Could Stop Toronto Police from Being Racist...... 15 Security firms eye profits in push to privatize police services ...... 16 Government of Canada and Ontario strengthen policing infrastructure in Eabametoong First Nation Funding for new police facility under First Nations Policing Program ...... 19 Eabametoong First Nation to get new police detachment ...... 22 Violent crime down in Durham again ...... 23 Woodstock police Chief Rod Freeman announces his retirement ...... 24 Windsor Police: Human Rights Project extended ...... 25 Toronto police board concerns over Chief Blair end in costly 'review of a review' ...... 26 Ottawa police chief wants prostitution laws to target johns ...... 28 Mayoral candidate Ari Goldkind critical of $957-million Toronto police budget ...... 30 London police board drops threat to appeal budget ...... 31 QUEBEC ...... 32 Minister Blaney and Senator Boisvenu Discuss the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights in Quebec City During National Victims of Crime Awareness Week ...... 32 NEW BRUNSWICK ...... 35 Saint John police ratify deal for 12 per cent raise over three years ...... 35 Police in Saint John, N.B., sign deal ...... 35 Saint John Police Commission, union reach agreement ...... 36 NOVA SCOTIA ...... 37 Human trafficking rare charge for Nova Scotia police ...... 37 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ...... 38 NEWFOUNDLAND ...... 38 RNC to issue stun guns to officers...... 38 NATIONAL ...... 40 PTSD Awareness Tour Set to begin May 5, 2014 ...... 40 The Government of Canada's Response to the Standing Senate Committee Report on Harassment in the RCMP ...... 41 Why the government’s new Digital Privacy Act puts your privacy at risk ...... 42 Mental Health Community Committed to Repairing Damage Caused by Bill C-14, Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act ...... 44 Canadians' mental-health info routinely shared with FBI, U.S. customs ...... 46 Ministers Blaney and Anton Commend BC's Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons for Updated Online Training Program ...... 48
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS ...... 50 Police Oversight Commission called a 'mockery' ...... 50 Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing ...... 51 98% of English Police Not Trained to Fight Cybercrime ...... 52 City Councilors draft new legislation for police oversight ...... 53 Privacy an issue with police body cameras ...... 53 Open up complaint process, Police Review Board says ...... 56 How ‘Warrior Policing’ Fails the Homeless Mentally Ill ...... 57 Reform in Reverse: How Mayor Ed Murray Unraveled Two Years of Police Reform in Only Two Months ...... 61
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BRITISH COLUMBIA
B.C. privacy report urges tougher rules for employment checks
Dirk Meissner Canadian Press April 15, 2014
British Columbia leads the country when it comes to stepping on the privacy rights of people who need police information checks for employment, says a report released Tuesday by Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham.
In what Denham is calling her most important report ever, she concluded too much mental health and so-called non-conviction information is being revealed to employers.
Government and police boards should immediately stop providing mental health information as part of the documentation released in such checks, said Denham's report.
She's also calling for legislation stopping the release of information where a conviction hasn't been obtained, unless the jobs involve working with children or other vulnerable people.
"The time has come to find a new way forward in B.C. that meets the legitimate business interests of employers while respecting the fundamental rights of our citizens, including their statutory privacy rights," said Denham's 42-page report, Use of Police Information Checks in British Columbia.
Her report said thousands of these police checks are used by employers and volunteer groups every year in the hiring process and the information, which often goes beyond criminal records, can have lasting and profound impacts on a person's privacy.
"I've stated the system is broken," Denham said in an interview. "The release of non- conviction information is putting employers in an untenable position of contravention our privacy laws."
She said some people have given up looking for work because of what is contained in their police information checks — information that is not related to criminal convictions.
"We heard from hundreds of people," Denham said. "We heard from individuals who have been stigmatized because of the release of mental health information."
The report includes several examples of people — identified only by first names — impacted by the police reports. The people were not convicted of crimes.
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Shannon told the commissioner she was not hired for a job because she was once arrested for theft, but never charged. She said her employer saw the theft arrest and decided not to hire her.
Another case involved a man named Greg, who contemplated suicide and ended up calling a crisis line for help. Police were called and Greg was taken to hospital.
Six month's later when Greg was asked to volunteer to help coach his son's sports team, a police information check reported that Greg was at a risk to harm himself. Denham's report said he did not volunteer to coach the team.
"When somebody goes for a background check in B.C. today for these positions, non- conviction information is searched and used, and that means information about allegations that haven't led to investigations, investigations that haven't led to charges and charges that haven't led to convictions," said Denham.
"Mental health apprehensions, suicide attempts, all of this information is legitimate to be in the hands of police for law enforcement purposes, but should not be disclosed to a prospective employer," she said.
Many other provinces in Canada also allow the release of private information for police information checks, but B.C. is the worst for releasing mental health information to employers.
Attorney General and Justice Minister Suzanne Anton said in a statement she will consider Denham's recommendations and consult with stakeholders, but she made no promises about creating legislation.
The statement said the government and Denham support the effort to ensure people with criminal records and other issues don't end up caring for children or other vulnerable people, but there appears to be a gap when it comes to providing employers with information about employees looking for work beyond the non-vulnerable sector.
"With regard to police information checks, it's important to keep in mind that many serious incidents investigated by police don't result in criminal convictions but may still be relevant," said Anton's statement.
Vancouver Const. Const. Brian Montague said the department does release mental health information, but not in every case.
"In some circumstances, yes," said Montague. "We still do provide it in some cases, I know it's a subject that's raised some concerns. We continue to look at that and we continue to look at our policies to see if changes need to be made. " http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/privacy+report+urges+tougher+rules+emp loyment+checks/9740894/story.html#ixzz2z9uvM3ji
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ALBERTA
SASKATCHEWAN
Saskatoon police welcome national mental health training standards
Amber Rockliffe Global News April 10, 2014
SASKATOON – The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has joined forces with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to develop national training standards for all officers, and the Saskatoon Police Service is on board.
Police officers are trained to prevent tragedies, but Saskatoon Police Chief Clive Weighill said they are often the ‘last resort’ for those who struggle with mental illness.
“There’s a lot of capacity issues, where we can’t get people into the mental health system quick enough. They may want help for their substance abuse issues, or they may need psychiatric help, but there’s long waiting lists,” he explained.
“The more of us that can work together and can try to come up with solutions, [that will] have a big impact on our criminal justice system.”
Local mental health advocates are applauding the national partnership, and said it will set a precedent for all regions in Canada.
“We’re gaining a better understanding across the country,” explained Rita Field with the Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service.
“The Mental Health Commission, I think, is doing a good job of trying to destigmatize and ask that all of us who have contact with people with mental health problems, that we have a client-centred, person-centred approach,” she said.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, 20 per cent of Canadians experience a mental illness in any given year.
Most police calls related to mental health issues end peacefully, but others lead to accusations of police brutality.
One of those cases was the deadly police shooting of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar in July of last year.
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“The Mental Health Commission of Canada has really put some effort and attention on this issue,” said Tracy Muggli, director of the Saskatoon Health Region’s Mental Health and Addictions Services.
“Anytime we provide more information and training about mental health and addictions, we’re going to up our game in being able to respond,” Muggli said.
A national report outlining recommended education for officers and standards is expected by the end of June. http://globalnews.ca/news/1264088/police-chief-welcomes-national-mental-health- training-standards/
Saskatoon police welcome national mental health training standards
Amber Rockliffe Global News April 10, 2014
SASKATOON – The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has joined forces with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to develop national training standards for all officers, and the Saskatoon Police Service is on board.
Police officers are trained to prevent tragedies, but Saskatoon Police Chief Clive Weighill said they are often the ‘last resort’ for those who struggle with mental illness.
“There’s a lot of capacity issues, where we can’t get people into the mental health system quick enough. They may want help for their substance abuse issues, or they may need psychiatric help, but there’s long waiting lists,” he explained.
“The more of us that can work together and can try to come up with solutions, [that will] have a big impact on our criminal justice system.”
Local mental health advocates are applauding the national partnership, and said it will set a precedent for all regions in Canada.
“We’re gaining a better understanding across the country,” explained Rita Field with the Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service.
“The Mental Health Commission, I think, is doing a good job of trying to destigmatize and ask that all of us who have contact with people with mental health problems, that we have a client-centred, person-centred approach,” she said.
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According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, 20 per cent of Canadians experience a mental illness in any given year.
Most police calls related to mental health issues end peacefully, but others lead to accusations of police brutality.
One of those cases was the deadly police shooting of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar in July of last year.
“The Mental Health Commission of Canada has really put some effort and attention on this issue,” said Tracy Muggli, director of the Saskatoon Health Region’s Mental Health and Addictions Services.
“Anytime we provide more information and training about mental health and addictions, we’re going to up our game in being able to respond,” Muggli said.
A national report outlining recommended education for officers and standards is expected by the end of June. http://globalnews.ca/news/1264088/police-chief-welcomes-national-mental-health- training-standards/
MANITOBA
Manitoba communities to get 10 new RCMP officers
CBC News April 11, 2014
Manitoba communities will get 10 new RCMP police officers.
The province announced Friday the move is part of its commitment to increase resources for law enforcement.
"The number of officers continues to grow, providing a strong presence to prevent criminal activity before it happens and deterrence to provide peace of mind to residents," said Justice Minister Andrew Swan in a news release.
The officers' locations and specific assignments will be chosen by the RCMP.
"This is a significant investment in the future of Manitoba's provincial police service," said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Kevin Brosseau,
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Since 2010, the province said it has increased its investment in the RCMP by more than $26 million and added 40 officers. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-communities-to-get-10-new- rcmp-officers-1.2607299
ONTARIO
Councillor Eli El-Chantiry wants answers on SIU charges
Megan Gillis Ottawa Sun April 16, 2014
The chairman of the city's police services board wants to know how the province's civilian police watchdog decided to lay criminal charges against three cops who judges then acquitted -- leaving taxpayers holding the $1-million bag.
Coun. Eli El-Chantiry says he's getting no answers to questions like whether the Special Investigations Unit consulted prosecutors first.
"The taxpayer of the city is on the hook for approximately a million -- so did the SIU have a case?" he asked Wednesday. "The question should be sent to them -- are they dealing with those cases on the merits of the evidence or are they dealing with it based on public pressure, they read the paper and they see public outrage about something and they acted?"
A $1.2 million civil suit filed by a woman who was strip-searched and left in a cell topless for hours has been settled for less than $100,000, sources confirm, though details are under wraps.
But the board will pay out about $500,000 for Sgt. Steven Desjourdy's legal bills after he was acquitted last year of a criminal charge of sexual assault laid in the Sept. 2008 incident. A judge found Desjourdy -- since convicted of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act -- cut the violent woman's clothes for a necessary search though her later treatment was "demeaning."
Based on officers' collective agreement, the board pays when they're cleared of criminal charges related to on-duty conduct.
So add on a bill nearly as high for constables Colin Bowie and Thanh Tran, acquitted of assaulting a homeless man by a judge who concluded the Crown's witnesses were totally unreliable and the officers efficiently grounded a drunk who struck out at them.
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An SIU spokeswoman said the director has "sole authority" to decide whether charges are warranted. He must have reasonable grounds to believe that a crime has been committed based on witness accounts, forensic evidence and the law.
"Whether there is reasonable prospect of a conviction is for the Crown to determine," Jasbir Brar said. "While the director may from time to time consult with the Crown there is no obligation to do so."
A spokesman for the Ministry of the Attorney General said the ministry will not comment on whether the SIU director sought legal advice from Crown counsel in specific cases and that any advice given is covered by solicitor-client privilege.
Once charges are laid it's up to prosecutors to assess the case at every stage.
"Where there is no reasonable prospect of conviction, or if it is not in the public interest to proceed, the Crown is duty-bound to withdraw the charge," Brendan Crawley said. http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/04/16/councillor-eli-el-chantiry-wants-answers-on- siu-charges
End costly police suspensions with pay online petition begs
CBC News April 16, 2014
A petition calling for the end of the practice of suspending Ontario police officers with pay while they're being criminally investigated has cropped up online.
The petition posted at thepetitionsite.com launched just days after a Windsor, Ont., police officer was arrested and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance. U.S. officials allege Const. David Bshouty was attempting to bring three grams of cocaine into the U.S.
Bshouty is now the fourth member of the Windsor Police Service are currently suspended with pay. Ontario is the only province in which it's mandatory for suspended police officers be paid.
In other provinces, police chiefs have the discretion to suspend an officer with or without pay. In Ontario, suspended officers are paid until their case runs its course through the justice system.
"Such inquiries usually last several years during which these suspended police officers sit home and draw 6 figure salaries for literally doing nothing," the petition reads. "There is no recourse to getting that money back even after the office was found guilty."
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Windsor Police Chief Al Frederick is a member of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police. The group has been lobbying the province since 2007 to have more control over their own personnel, including the ability to revoke pay to suspended officers.
"That is something we have been lobbying for long and hard; changes to the provincial legislation," Frederick said. "It has nothing to do with police officers making these rules up. this is provincial legislation that we are governed by."
In some provinces a suspended officer gets their full pay for the first 30 days of the suspension, then whether they continue to be paid after that is up to the chief.
The Ontario Police Act mandates suspended officers be paid. Under Ontario's Police Services Act, the only circumstance in which a police officer doesn't get paid while suspended is if he or she is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment.
If an officer is convicted of a crime but doesn't have to serve time behind bars, they remain suspended with pay until they can be fired through the police disciplinary procedure. The same process applies to officers internally charged with misconduct.
If the officer appeals their termination, it can be delayed for months, even years.
The Windsor Police Association, the union representing officers in Windsor, says the law provides a safeguard for officers.
"To give a chief the sole discretion on whether or not to suspend a member without pay provides a lot of power and could potentially be devastating to that member who is facing allegations at this point," union president Jason De Jong said.
De Jong says that while he's troubled by the seriousness of the allegations against Bshouty, none of the charges has been proven in court.
"We have had Windsor members that have been suspended, that have returned to work and would have suffered a tremendous financial burden if they had been suspended without pay," De Jong said.
$4.8 million paid to suspended officers
A 2008 survey by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police found 52 officers in the province were on suspension at that time. Their annual salaries and benefits would have added up to about $4.8 million.
"The bar for the enforcers of law must be higher than it is for regular citizens and if they breach their conduct thye [sic] should be held accountable and penalized even while they are going thru [sic] the process of investigation," reads the petition, which has a goal of 1,000 signatures and is addressed to Premier Kathleen Wynne.
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A person named Mirza Baig started the petition. Attempts to reach the creator were unsuccessful.
Frederick wasn't aware of the petition until CBC Windsor brought to his attention, but he said he supports the idea.
Frederick defends his officers, overall.
"That perception's out there that somehow this is indicative of all of us, and clearly it's not," he said. "We have 100,000 calls a year, we have over 1 million interactions every year with our community, through different mechanisms, and last year we had 40 public complaints - so it's a minuscule number." http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/end-costly-police-suspensions-with-pay- online-petition-begs-1.2611867
Paul Pedersen, new Sudbury police chief, to tackle budget concerns
CBC News April 10, 2014
Sudbury's incoming police chief says dealing with the finances of the police force will be near the top of his to-do list.
Paul Pedersen doesn't start for a few weeks, but was introduced at yesterday's police services board meeting.
A large number of Pedersen’s remarks to the board were about the financial challenges facing police forces. The 52-year-old said he expects that will be a big part of his job as Sudbury's next police chief.
"Whether it's cutting the budget or being transparent about the budget or being honest about the budget."
He said the main way to save is to realize that police officers can't do everything — especially when 85 per cent of calls last year were not related to crime.
"There are individuals and organizations out there that can do somethings better than us,” Pedersen said, citing changes to mental health services as an example.
"Hiring more police officers will never be the sole solution to community safety. Equally impractical is the notion that we can just reduce numbers and maintain service levels. Saying no, blindly voting against things is not always the answer."
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But exactly how that would trim the $51-million police budget is unclear. Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk has been critical of the rising cost of policing but said it seems the force is becoming more focused on being efficient.
"When I worked here, it wasn't like that. Police would come, bring their budget, that'd be it. It has over the last couple of years changed."
The policing bill has gone up $5 million since Matichuk became mayor. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/paul-pedersen-new-sudbury-police-chief-to- tackle-budget-concerns-1.2605492
'Eager' local support for federal Victims Bill of Rights
Lisa Rutledge The Record April 10, 2014
WATERLOO REGION - The federal government’s proposed Victims Bill of Rights is a step in the right direction, say local victims’ rights advocates.
While Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recently announced Canadian Victims Bill of Rights has taken some criticism for not going far enough, many are hailing the move as encouraging.
“Any bill that puts victims at the centre of the process is a positive step forward to ensuring survivors get the support they need and deserve,” maintains Kimberley Clark, executive director at Victim Services of Waterloo Region and chair of the Ontario Network of Victims Service Providers.
“We are eager to work with the federal government on implementation following the passage of this critical bill.”
The proposed bill attempts to make good on the federal government’s pledge to introduce legislation that offers victims statutory rights to receive information about their case, to be treated with sensitivity and to create a process that makes it mandatory to investigate when victims complain justice has not been served.
The controversial bill could also force an alleged offender’s spouse to testify in court.
Ontario does have support services in place to guide victims through legal processes and assist with recovery, but the bill will add more legal tools to better help meet the needs of victims, explained Clark.
“Victimization is complex and therefore support needs to align accordingly,” she said. “Survivors of crime need support in rebuilding their lives.”
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Some of the noteworthy points of the bill, according to Clark, include provisions that allow victims to access specific information about offenders, ultimately providing a greater sense of security.
“Highlights of the bill include the new restrictions on where offenders can be located after release and an improved restitution system where together, victims can feel safer and move forward in the healing process.”
Cambridge MP Gary Goodyear, minister of state responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, called the proposed bill a significant development in the bid to protect victims.
“This proposed legislation is historic: for the first time in Canadian history victims will have clear, statutory rights at the federal level,” stated Goodyear, in an opinion piece submitted to the Times.
“The proposed Canadian Victims Bill of Rights will transform our justice system by providing statutory rights for victims of crime under four key areas: rights to information, protection, participation and restitution.”
Under the proposed victims rights bill, victims have the right to receive general information about their cases and proceedings, as well as decisions and sentencing related to offenders.
They also have a right to personal privacy during all stage of the justice process, including keeping their identity private.
Victims would have the right to share his or her views about legal decisions at any stage of proceedings and would be able to submit a victim’s impact statement that must be considered by the courts.
They can also have input on restitution orders for offences where financial losses are easy to estimate.
It’s important for victims to feel safe, Goodyear noted.
“If they are victimized, they need to feel confident that the justice system will treat them with the courtesy, compassion and respect they deserve,” he said.
Justice should not just be done – it should also be seen to be done, and I agree.” http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4459721--eager-local-support-for-federal- victims-bill-of-rights/
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Body Worn Cameras Could Stop Toronto Police from Being Racist
Abdi Hersi Huffington Post April 11, 2014
This past fall I was carded by a Toronto police officer near my own neighbourhood. It wasn't my first time being carded, but this time was different. This time I was fed up because I had learned about these issues as part of a grassroots organization, the Policing Literacy Initiative, and I knew my city deserved better. During the incident I thought to myself "how can I put an end to this practice, or at least make these officers think twice before engaging with me?"
After returning home that day I did some research on the topic of police surveillance and came across Body Worn Cameras (BWC). Since then I've been researching and advocating for the use of BWC because they would prove that Toronto police disproportionately target minorities and community outrage in the city is justified.
Conducting research confirmed two things I assumed beforehand: that public trust in police is badly broken in Toronto and that coming up with a single answer to address this issue was next to impossible. Body cameras are not enough to address all policing issues. Nobody ever claimed that BWC would eliminate bias and racial profiling issues. The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all measure that restores public trust in police. But in Toronto, where there is a clear crisis of distrust between minority communities and police, it becomes clear that police officers might have to wear these cameras to regain some of that trust.
In my research I've come to understand that the benefits of the cameras go both ways. BWC help protect the public from police brutality and also protect officers from frivolous complaints. As Toronto Deputy Police Chief Peter Sloly said in an interview with the Policing Literacy Initiative, "whenever you put cameras anywhere it does suppress that overt element of misconduct, whether it be officers mistreating people or people mistreating officers." I believe BWC could serve as a tool to win confidence and trust by providing hard evidence of accountability.
A 2012 scientific study of BWC with police in Rialto, California confirms what common sense already suggests; people behave better when they are being watched. That's just human nature. Yet, even though there is widespread support for the cameras, some claim the measure is not effective. People holding this position ignore the growing collection of data and analysis that continues to mount in support of these cameras.
This is why I was disappointed to see an article in the Globe and Mail that undermined the importance of introducing these cameras to Toronto Police Service. Authors Daniel Bear and Johannes Reiken also made use of objectionable language. For example, "Policing is a complex and challenging job, and it is inevitable that things will occasionally go wrong."
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Go wrong is a dismissive stance to take. Go wrong is what transpired this past summer with Sammy Yatim, the teen who was shot during a streetcar incident involving TPS. Go wrong characterized the Adam Nobody case; his shattered cheekbone, broken nose and black eye became the face of controversy surrounding police conduct during the G20 summit in Toronto. These incidents highlighted the need for more measures to protect the public from police misconduct. BWC could be part of the solution.
As Canada's biggest municipal force, Toronto should be a leader in testing and implementing these new technologies. Yet, in contrast to police departments across the country, Toronto continues to lag behind on this issue. Toronto Police Services Board Chair Alok Mukherjee told the Policing Literacy Initiative last fall that, as of yet, "the Board does not take a position on the use of body worn cameras." He claimed more research needs to be done.
The in-car dashboard cameras now used by Toronto police -- a measure endorsed by the Toronto Police Services Board -- have been praised by many as a positive tool to ensure greater accountability, but they do have deficiencies. The problem with dashboard cameras, and civilian use of cell phone cameras for that matter, is that the point of contact is often not captured. These cameras only start recording once contact has already occurred. As such, the footage fails to provide context, which makes video evidence only partial and not very helpful in court. By providing hard evidence, cameras would save money used to gather evidence. It would help address the city's backlog of cases in the court system and cut costs related to lawsuits.
There is no doubt that every police agency in North America will have BWC within the next decade. Thankfully, Toronto Police Services will pilot the use of these cameras this year. Pilot programs in other cities, like Calgary, have led to the expanded use of the cameras, where officers now wear the devices on a full-time basis. Community groups should hold Toronto police and the Toronto Police Services Board accountable to further implementation of this important tool of community safety. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/abdi-hersi/body-worn-cameras_b_5132931.html
Security firms eye profits in push to privatize police services
David Sali Ottawa Business Journal April 16, 2014
When it comes to skyrocketing policing costs, Eli El-Chantiry points his finger squarely at fingerprinting.
“Does that need a police officer to do it?” says the chairman of Ottawa’s police services board and city councillor for West Carleton-March ward.
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In fact, he says, fingerprinting is just one of many current police duties that private security agencies could perform at a lower cost, potentially saving local taxpayers millions of dollars every year.
“Really, do you need a police officer to do traffic (control)?” he asks.
Those are also some of the questions being raised in a recent report from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute on the rising costs of policing in Canada. The Ottawa-based think-tank says that while calls for service have remained stable over the past decade, police budgets have increased at an annual rate almost double that of GDP growth.
“Canadians are not getting all the police they pay for,” the report says. “In fact, a great deal of work now done by highly trained, well-paid and experienced uniformed officers is only tangentially related to law enforcement and could be done as well or better and more cheaply by someone else, freeing police to do their core job.”
Civilian employees or private security firms could perform many police functions at a lower cost, the report says, including fingerprinting, investigating burglaries, collecting DNA evidence, conducting background checks, transcribing interviews and transporting prisoners.
Almost 40 per cent of the Toronto Police Service’s workforce earned more than $100,000 in 2012, including six parking enforcement officers, the report notes. In Ottawa, meanwhile, more than 1,000 of the service’s 1,950 uniformed and civilian employees garnered six-figure salaries in 2013.
“The real question is why police who are making upwards of $100,000 a year are performing so many tasks that are not really core policing duties,” the report says.
Mr. El-Chantiry wonders the same thing.
“To be honest with you, the sustainability of police is in question right now,” he says. “The budget is going out of our control.”
Business opportunities
Those in the security industry say the Macdonald-Laurier study highlights a golden opportunity for private companies.
“We are aggressively pursuing this as a business because we believe it fits very well with our workforce,” says Paul Guindon, the CEO of Commissionaires Ottawa.
The second-largest private-sector employer in the region, with a head count of about 3,700, the firm already provides security for the Federal Court and handles a variety of bylaw enforcement duties in other Canadian cities, he says.
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“Everybody agrees things have to change, but they have yet to change (in Ottawa),” says Mr. Guindon, adding the not-for-profit enterprise has met with local police board officials several times over the past few years about doing everything from background checks to crime scene security, but has yet to make any inroads.
“Change is scary,” he says, adding police boards must also deal with unions that resist the outsourcing of their members’ work.
Nevertheless, the firm, which employs a large number of former military members and ex-RCMP officers, has landed contracts with forces in several other large Canadian cities.
In Halifax, for example, 39 Commissionaires now perform a wide range of roles for the regional police. In addition to doing front-counter reception and security duty, they take fingerprints, perform background checks, deliver subpoenas and work in the mailroom.
Deputy chief Bill Moore estimates that handing over those responsibilities to the private sector has saved the Halifax police almost $3 million a year in labour costs, while providing valuable experience to Commissionaires if they eventually want to apply for full-time jobs with the service.
“It’s actually a win-win,” he says. “We’ve had a very good relationship with the corps.”
‘Many possibilities’
Competing security firms also believe there is a place for them with Canadian police forces.
Montreal-based GardaWorld, which has about 800 employees in Ottawa, provides screening and security at airports across the country and enforces parking bylaws in some cities.
Chief operating officer Marc-André Aubé looks at the numbers in the Macdonald-Laurier report and sees a huge new potential client base.
“There are so many possibilities,” he says, listing traffic control and responding to burglar alarms as two areas where he thinks his company could save big money for municipal forces. He has addressed the issue with the Quebec police chiefs association and says that while top cops everywhere seem intrigued with the idea of handing over work to companies like his, few are prepared to follow through, at least for the time being.
“It’s a sector that has been immune to budget reduction,” Mr. Aubé says. “I see a clear desire from some administrations … to hear the message, but it ends there. They’re not at the cliff yet. There’s a will, but I don’t see hundreds of millions of dollars of business being outsourced to the private sector. It’s not happening.”
Mr. Guindon agrees.
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“There’s been no crisis yet,” he says. “It’s a very slow evolution.”
University of Ottawa criminologist Michael Kempa, who studies policing trends, says that while privatization might save municipalities money, it could end up creating other problems.
“The danger with private policing is, it’s much less accountable than public police,” he says. “The public system is not perfect, but at it’s least it’s visible, and people have some sense of who they’re supposed to go to if they feel they’ve been wronged.”
Privatizing police work is a sensitive issue and can’t be taken lightly, Mr. Moore says.
“I don’t know if I could say it’s a trend, but I think it’s certainly something that’s on the minds of most chiefs in this country,” he says.
“There’s been a lot of calls to simply move (duties such as fingerprinting) to private (firms). I think it’s not as simple as that. I think that you need to really look at your organization. I don’t think there’s one right answer.”
Here in Ottawa, Mr. El-Chantiry says turning to agencies like the Commissionaires is something at which the cash-strapped police board has to take a serious look.
“Every job in the organization should be evaluated and we should ask ourselves, ‘Who can do this job? Can this job be civilianized? If that’s the case, who is best?’ I’m not ruling anything out at this point.” http://www.obj.ca/Local/Defence-and-security/2014-04-16/article-3685358/Security- firms-eye-profits-in-push-to-privatize-police-services/1
Government of Canada and Ontario strengthen policing infrastructure in Eabametoong First Nation Funding for new police facility under First Nations Policing Program
Marketwired April 14, 2014
EABAMETOONG FIRST NATION, ONTARIO - Public Safety Canada
Today, the Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario, on behalf of the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, announced funding under the First Nations Policing Program (FNPP) to construct a new police facility to replace the Eabametoong detachment located in Eabametoong First Nation, a fly-in community in Ontario.
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The Government of Canada committed $1.82 million for this project, and the Government of Ontario committed $1.68 million, for a total investment of $3.5 million. As part of that agreement, Ontario will invest $173.2 million over 5 years.
The FNPP provides funding to support professional, dedicated and responsive policing services for First Nations and Inuit Communities. Under the Program, the federal government provides 52 percent in funding, with the provinces and territories contributing 48 percent.
This initiative demonstrates the Government of Canada's support for First Nation and Inuit communities as part of its ongoing commitment to keeping our streets and communities safe.
Quick Facts
In 2013, the federal government announced that it will provide $612.4 million in funding over 5 years as part of its renewed commitment to the FNPP. In 2013-14, the FNPP funded 172 policing agreements, which represent approximately 1,250 professionally-trained and dedicated police officers working in approximately 400 First Nations and Inuit communities, serving a total population of over 338,000. Quotes
"I am very pleased to announce, along with the province of Ontario, funding for a new police facility for the Eabametoong First Nation. This is a wonderful initiative for Northern Ontario and one that will help improve the safety and security for all of the people in the surrounding area."
- The Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of Natural Resources and MP for Kenora
"The Government of Canada is proud to work with the province of Ontario to support this construction in the Eabametoong First Nation. This is yet another example of how, together with our partners, we continue to support the provision of dedicated, responsive, and professional policing services which lead to safer streets and resilient communities across Canada.
- The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
"We are happy to see the Federal and Provincial Governments come together to assist our community in getting the police station that we absolutely need. We are confident that having the new facility will provide a renewed sense of safety and security for our community members. We especially want to thank Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Harvey Yesno and Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler for their diligent lobbying and advocacy work in moving this project forward."
- Chief Elizabeth Atlookan, Eabametoong First Nation
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"Our government continues to work diligently to ensure our law enforcement partners have adequate resources through relationship-building and investments such as the one we are announcing today. We remain committed to supporting strong, safe and prosperous communities across the North and we will continue to ensure they have the level of policing that is needed in their communities."
- The Honourable Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development and Mines and MPP for Thunder Bay-Superior North
"Ontario values its relationship with First Nations communities and is committed to giving police officers the tools and facilities they need to keep Ontarians safe. This new detachment will improve the working environment for officers for years to come and will help them keep the streets of the Eabametoong First Nation safe."
- The Honourable Yasir Naqvi, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Government of Ontario
Associated Links
First Nations Policing Program Follow Public Safety Canada (@Safety_Canada) on Twitter.
For more information, please visit the website www.publicsafety.gc.ca.
Jason Tamming Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness 613-991-2924
Media Relations Public Safety Canada 613-991-0657 http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1848903#ixzz2z9tAfbx8
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Eabametoong First Nation to get new police detachment
CBC News April 14, 2014
Eabametoong First Nation is set to receive a new police facility, government officials say.
The new detachment will replace the existing building in the fly-in community in northwestern Ontario.
Funding for the $3.5 million job comes from the First Nations Policing Program, which provides funding to support professional, dedicated and responsive policing services for First Nations and Inuit Communities.
Under the program, the federal government provides 52 per cent in funding, with the provinces and territories contributing 48 per cent.
"We are happy to see the federal and provincial governments come together to assist our community in getting the police station that we absolutely need,” Eabametoong Chief Elizabeth Atlookan said.
“We are confident that having the new facility will provide a renewed sense of safety and security for our community members. We especially want to thank Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Harvey Yesno and Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler for their diligent lobbying and advocacy work in moving this project forward."
The province's minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services said the new detachment “will improve the working environment for officers for years to come and will help them keep the streets of the Eabametoong First Nation safe."
"Ontario values its relationship with First Nations communities and is committed to giving police officers the tools and facilities they need,” Yasir Naqvi said.
Kenora MP and federal cabinet minister Greg Rickford made the announcement on behalf of Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney. Rickford called it "a wonderful initiative...that will help improve the safety and security for all the people in the surrounding area."
According to a news release issued by Public Safety Canada on Monday, the First Nations Policing Program funded 172 policing agreements in 2013-2014. Those agreements represent about 1,250 police officers who work in roughly 400 First Nations and Inuit communities and serving a total population of more than 338,000. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/eabametoong-first-nation-to-get-new- police-detachment-1.2609861
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Violent crime down in Durham again
Jeff Mitchell Durham Region April 16, 2014
DURHAM -- Incidents of violent crime continue to decrease, according to statistics compiled by Durham police.
Police investigated 1,015 crimes against persons in the first three months of 2014, a 15- per cent decrease compared to the same time period last year, when 1,199 incidents were reported, according to a report received Monday by the Durham Police Services board.
Crimes of violence including robbery -- down 31 per cent -- and assault (21 per cent) reflect the downward trend, the report said. Chief Mike Ewles said that while crime stats are down across the nation, the trend is especially evident in Durham Region.
“Durham’s rates are decreasing at a greater rate than the provincial or national numbers,” he said.
Calls for service declined by about one per cent over the first three months of 2014 -- that’s 253 fewer calls than in early 2013 -- but officers dealt with a higher number of emergency calls including no voice contact calls, which can be generated inadvertently by cellphones in so-called “pocket dialling” incidents.
Efforts are made to contact cellphone customers when such incidents occur but when there’s no response police must respond, board members heard.
Also on the rise were tickets issued for distracted driving, a reflection of a commitment by Durham police to combat cellphone use by drivers, the chief said.
“It’s been broadly communicated to our offices and the community,” Chief Ewles said. “We are going to maintain our focus.” http://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/4465216-violent-crime-down-in-durham- again/
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Woodstock police Chief Rod Freeman announces his retirement
Sentinel-Review Staff April 15, 2014
The longest serving active police chief in Ontario is calling it a day.
“I wanted a career where I could make a difference,” Woodstock Police Chief Rod Freeman said Tuesday. “I can honestly say I’ve accomplished that.”
Referring to it as “a tough decision,” Freeman announced his retirement for the end of the year late Monday because he wanted to “end the speculation.”
“The biggest challenge was to make the decision and be comfortable with it,” he said Tuesday.
Freeman, who has served as chief in Fergus, Orangeville and Woodstock, said all day he has been receiving emails from police leaders across the province in response to his announcement wishing him “well in retirement.”
“I never could have imagined the opportunities and challenges this career could have given me,” he said.
Highlights of his career include graduating from the FBI’s National Academy in Quantico, Virginia as one of about 100 Canadian police leaders who studied at the iconic academy.
“I rubbed shoulders with police leaders from around the world,” he said. “That’s a dream I never would have dared go far enough to think of.”
Freeman began his career almost 37 years ago in Timmins and at the age of 36 became the youngest police chief in Ontario heading up the Fergus police department.
While he has overseen seven murder investigations during his tenure, Freeman said the two most intense investigations during his career both occurred in Woodstock.
The first was the murder of Tori Stafford, whom Freeman has always referred to as Victoria.
“I do that out of respect,” he said. “It’s a pretty name for a girl who became a tragic victim.”
The second investigation involved the tragic death of Baby Alex Fleming, who was killed by convicted impaired driver Bonita Purtill on Thanksgiving Day 2008.
“Those two (investigations) stand out as being very important,” he said.
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In 2004 Freeman was invested as a Member of the Order of Merit for the Canadian Police Forces by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson.
“That’s an immense and highly respected honour,” Freeman said.
He was also awarded The Ontario Medal for Police Bravery for his role in rescuing a 13- year-old girl trapped under the Beatty Dam in Fergus in 1996.
Freeman, 57, said he plans to continue working in some capacity, but is unsure where that path might lead.
“There is going to be a second chapter, doing something for me,” he said.
It will be up to the Woodstock Police Services Board to determine Freeman’s successor.
Board chair Sandra Talbot said in a release that Freeman “served his community with skill, talent and integrity.”
“The Woodstock Police Services Board thanks him for his exemplary leadership and wishes him well in retirement,” she said. http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2014/04/14/woodstock-police-chief-rod- freeman-announces-his-retirement
Windsor Police: Human Rights Project extended
OurWindsor.ca April 15, 2014
The Human Rights Project, a joint joint initiative between the Windsor Police Service, Windsor Police Services Board, the Ontario Police College and the Ontario Human Rights Commission to identify human rights issues within policing, has had its deadline extended by six months.
The Windsor Police Service and the Windsor Police Services Board reported via a press release Tuesday that work on the final year of its three-year Human Rights project is about 85% complete. The Executive and Sponsor Group have decided to extend the Project until August 2014 to allow subcommittees to complete work on outstanding initiatives.
“We welcome this decision. Such an important project involves many steps and sometimes it needs a little extra time to get it done right,” said Windsor Police Chief Chief Al Frederick. “The extension will help us to complete remaining work and compile a Final Report that fully covers the actions we’ve taken to promote a culture of human rights within our organizations.”
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The Human Rights Project was launched In February 2011, and called for the Police Service and the Board to look at existing policies and programs, and to develop strategies to address human rights concerns. Areas being looked at include recruitment, selection, promotion, and retention, as well as training, education and outreach.
The final report on the Project is slated to be released in October 2014. It will update progress made towards advancing the delivery of bias-free policing services and the provision of fair and equitable employment opportunities for people who want to work with the police service. http://www.ourwindsor.ca/news-story/4466674-windsor-police-human-rights-project- extended/
Toronto police board concerns over Chief Blair end in costly 'review of a review'
Ann Hui The Globe And Mail April 16 2014
Toronto’s police board has budgeted $300,000 to conduct a “review of the review” already completed by Chief Bill Blair to find efficiencies in the force.
The chief was asked by the board to look for cost-savings within the service several years ago, and delivered the results of his “internal organizational review” earlier this year. Several board members have since expressed concerns, leading the board to decide to hire a separate group of consultants to conduct their own assessment.
The decision comes against the backdrop of continuing tension between at least one board member and the police chief, and lingering questions over the chief’s future – his contract expires next April, but could be extended.
Chief Blair has been involved in a public battle with Mayor Rob Ford and his brother, Doug, after the chief remarked that he was “disappointed” over the mayor’s alleged crack video and revealed that Rob Ford is the subject of a continuing investigation. In response, the mayor called the investigation “politically motivated,” and Doug Ford alleged that the chief was biased in favour of mayoral rival John Tory.
Although he denied any conflict of interest, Chief Blair recently announced he was handing oversight of the Ford probe to the Ontario Provincial Police.
The police board decided in January to hire separate consultants to look at the results of the “chief’s internal organizational review” (CIOR), after members raised questions
26 about the transparency of the process, as well as the “modest financial efficiencies” it managed to find.
“It seems to have gotten away from the board,” said vice-chair Councillor Michael Thompson, who described the board-led assessment as “a review of the review.” He said the intention from the outset in 2011 was that the board – and not the chief – be in charge of the organizational review.
Mr. Thompson made headlines recently for going public with his opposition to extending Chief Blair’s contract. After the board voted to censure him, Mr. Thompson launched legal action against them.
“It was my understanding as well that the board was going to be an integral part of the review process, which doesn’t seem to have happened,” he told The Globe, adding that at least two board members were assigned to “a CIOR steering committee” to be involved with the process.
When asked why the board was not integral to the chief’s review, Mr. Thompson said “apparently, whatever instruction was given wasn’t followed.” He made clear that Chief Blair was the subject of that remark by later clarifying: “the board only has the authority to give instructions to the chief.”
Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said Tuesday that the chief’s review found a savings of $7-million per year for the force. He declined to respond to Mr. Thompson’s comments about the chief.
The force’s total annual budget is more than $1-billion. The board has allocated $300,000 from the Toronto Police’s 2013 operating budget surplus to pay for the second review.
Board chair Alok Mukherjee played down dissent between the board and the chief in e- mails to The Globe Tuesday. “The board is undertaking an assessment of the results of the Chief’s internal review and not a review of his review,” he wrote. He said that an assessment is different from a review in that “it involves an in-depth examination of the measures in terms of several factors such as cost-benefit, risk, value added, long term implications.”
Mr. Mukherjee, who would only respond to questions submitted to him by e-mail, wrote in a January report to the board that the chief’s review does include “important recommendations,” despite the “modest financial efficiencies” found.
And though Mr. Mukherjee did not answer directly whether the chief followed instructions, he did say that the board recommended to Chief Blair in October, 2011, that he “retain external expertise” in conducting the review. Chief Blair hired Accenture to assist with part of the review, but “the internal review was not conducted by an external consultant,” Mr. Mukherjee wrote.
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And though terms of reference for the review were to be “developed in consultation with the board,” Mr. Mukherjee said that “the terms of reference for CIOR were not developed in consultation with or shared with the Board.”
Mr. Mukherjee could not say how much the chief’s original review has already cost the TPS, except to say it is “significantly more” than the $44,265.60 paid in 2013 alone to consultants at Accenture for part of the CIOR. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/toronto-police-board-orders-review- of-chief-blairs-review/article18035308/
Ottawa police chief wants prostitution laws to target johns
CBC News April 15, 2014
Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau says he'd like to see the country's prostitution laws follow the leads of countries like Sweden and France, who have laws that target the men who buy sex instead of the prostitutes themselves.
Last December the Supreme Court of Canada struck down several of the country's prostitution laws and has given the government a year to come up with new legislation, should it choose to do so.
The decision has sparked a debate throughout the country about how best to strike a balance that both protects women from being exploited or trafficked and also respects the rights of the women who choose to work in the sex trade.
Bordeleau said he is concerned total decriminalization doesn't do enough to protect women.
"I don't want something that is legitimized or decriminalized that you have more and more women being trafficked and victimized," he said.
The majority of complaints police get about the sex trade involve street prostitution. But street prostitution makes up only 10 per cent of the sex trade, with the majority happening online and indoors through escort ads.
Bordeleau said he wants a legislative tool that respects Charter rights while allowing his officers to respond to community concern by rounding up the buyers, or johns.
"What we've been doing here in Ottawa and seen some success is more like the Nordic model where we target the johns and those who prey on vulnerable women purchasing the sex. As a police service we'd like to see that continue down the path that we've taken," he said.
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117 men arrested last year in john sweeps
In Ottawa, first-time offenders caught in sweeps had to pay $600 to attend john school, with that money going towards a program that helps street prostitutes.
Last year police arrested 117 men in targeted sweeps, including men who were found carrying bondage equipment and in one case a stun gun.
Another man was charged with sexual assault after allegedly choking prostitutes he picked up.
Criminology professor Christine Bruckert said a law like the one Bordeleau advocates for would push prostitutes into more remote areas and put them even more at risk.
"They are now going to be coping with clients who are nervous, hard to read," said Bruckert.
"The most marginalized sex workers will experience this in the most horrific way."
Vanier residents divided over laws
Residents in Vanier, where most of the street sweeps took place, are divided on what should be done about Canada's prostitution laws.
Patrick Morin, who runs the Vanier Snack Shack, said he wants to see prostitution decriminalized.
"You have to be able to put her in a safe environment, they have to be able to call for help to pay taxes to feel comfortable," said Morin.
"They have to be like 'this is my job' and be accepted in society."
Gillian Kirkland lives in the neighbourhood and has young children. She wants police to continue targeting johns, but said if the new law prohibits that, she thinks the city should create a red light district.
"I think the people who engage in prostitution should also be willing to deal with the consequences of living in a neighbourhood with drug use, with condoms on the street," said Kirkland. "If that's what they think is a good use of their time, they should be willing to deal with everything that comes along with it." http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-police-chief-wants-prostitution-laws- to-target-johns-1.2611285
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Mayoral candidate Ari Goldkind critical of $957-million Toronto police budget
Erika Stark National Post April 15, 2014 nother mayoral candidate is taking aim at Toronto’s massive police budget and calling for more scrutiny of police wages.
Ari Goldkind, a criminal defence lawyer, said the city “can’t keep up” with increasing police salaries.
“We need to trim the police budget beast,” he said Monday, standing in front of police headquarters on College Street.
Mr. Goldkind questioned why the starting salary of a Toronto police officer is $63,000 when a new officer in New York, converted into Canadian dollars, earns roughly $48,000.
About 90% of Toronto Police’s $957.7 million operating budget goes to police salaries and benefits.
“We vastly overpay, and what’s worse is that we leave these decisions to arbitrators who will only look at what other jurisdictions pay,”Mr. Goldkind said. “We don’t look at what the needs of the city of Toronto are.”
He also suggested that police outsource certain services to save costs, such as background checks, evidence collection and court services.
“In all other areas of Toronto, we ask what value are we getting for our dollar,” he said. “Why is it, when it comes to the police, we never ask that question?”
Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, said Mr. Goldkind was “ill-informed” about the police budget and people shouldn’t compare Toronto police salaries to other jurisdictions.
“There’s no relevance at all,” he said. “New York, for instance, has all kinds of different incentives for pensions and overtime, so it’s not a fair comparison.”
He said people instead should compare salaries to other professions within the city.
“When I compare police, I look at elevator mechanics, electricians, flight attendants, pipefitters, people like that, we’re right in the middle of that list in what we learn hourly,” Mr. McCormack said.
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Councillor Mike del Grande agrees with Mr. Goldkind that police budgets have “gone straight up.” Public sector salaries in general are on a “vicious upward spiral,” he added. But, he noted, city council has little say on the police budget.
The Toronto Police Services Board reviews the budget, and even its input is minimal, Mr. del Grande said.
He added that an overhaul of the provincial Arbitration Act would give municipalities more control over salary negotiations.
“There isn’t a comparison to the outside world anymore,” Mr. del Grande said. “The comparatives are city-to-city, police department to police department. Because those budgets are going up higher than the private sector, arbitrators aren’t even comparing anymore to the private sector.”
David Soknacki, another former city budget chief, called in December for a review of the police budget. On Monday he said he wants to see a strategic review of the entire police service, not just its budget.
“We’ve been doing policing the same way for a generation,” Mr. Soknacki said. “We have the same organization, we have almost the same technology, we have the same structure, and the world has changed so much.” http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/15/mayoral-candidate-ari-goldkind-critical-of- 957-million-toronto-police-budget/
London police board drops threat to appeal budget
Scott Taylor Metro April 15, 2014
The London Police Services Board won’t appeal its 2014 budget to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission because of the projected expense of the fight and the divisiveness it would have caused, said one of its members.
The board fought for a 3.3 per cent funding increase, but city council could only agree to go as high as 2.9 per cent, or about $636,000 less than the force wanted.
Throughout the budget process, which often became heated, Chief Brad Duncan and board chair Michael Deeb stressed the need for the full amount in order to stave off service cuts and layoffs.
They also warned on numerous occasions that if they received anything less than their request they’d have little choice but to appeal the budget to the civilian police
31 commission, which has the power to reject a police budget if there are concerns for public safety due to a lack of officers or services.
Although police will have to dip into reserves to cover the expected 2014 shortfall, the OCPC trigger was never pulled. Board member Paul Paolatto said the expense of doing so could have run between $100,000 and $200,000.
He said council demonstrated a willingness to compromise to the point where the board felt it should do so as well, especially as it gears up to negotiate the next contract with officers.
“Had we still had a couple of years left on the contract or if the gap between our request and council’s decision remained too wide, the board’s ability to absorb the arbitrary reduction in our budget request through reserves would have been much more difficult,” he told Metro.
Next year, he warned, it will be impossible. http://metronews.ca/news/london/1004434/london-police-board-drops-threat-to- appeal-budget/
QUEBEC
Minister Blaney and Senator Boisvenu Discuss the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights in Quebec City During National Victims of Crime Awareness Week
Marketwired April 11, 2014
QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC - Public Safety Canada
Today, the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, met with stakeholders to discuss new legislation that was announced on April 3, 2014, to create a Canadian Victims Bill of Rights that will transform the criminal justice system by creating, at the federal level, clear rights for victims of crime.
Quick Facts
The Victims Bill of Rights Act would create the following statutory rights for victims of crime:
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Right to information: Victims would have the right to general information about the criminal justice system and available victim services and programs, and specific information about the progress of the case, including information relating to the investigation, prosecution, sentencing and conditional release of the person who harmed them.
Right to protection: Victims would have the right to have their security and privacy considered at all stages of the criminal justice process, to have reasonable and necessary measures to protect them from intimidation and retaliation, and to request their identity be protected from public disclosure.
Right to participation: Victims would have a right to convey their views about decisions to be made by criminal justice professionals and have them considered at various stages of the criminal justice process, and to present a victim impact statement.
Right to restitution: Victims would have the right to have the court consider making a restitution order for all offences for which there are easy-to-calculate financial losses.
By introducing legislation to create a Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, the Federal Government is delivering on a commitment from the 2013 Speech from the Throne that was reinforced in Budget 2014. The legislation is also in line with the Government's Plan for Safe Streets and Communities, which focuses on holding violent offenders accountable, enhancing the rights of victims, and increasing the efficiency of our criminal justice system.
The National Office for Victims (NOV) at Public Safety Canada is a central resource that offers information and referrals to victims of crime. NOV also provides input into federal policy and legislative initiatives, develops and distributes information products for victims and members of the criminal justice system, and supports the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada in delivering services to victims of crime.
Quotes
"The Victims Bill of Rights Act, introduced by our Government last week, will provide victims with legislated rights at the federal level - rights to information, protection, participation, and restitution. Under Prime Minister Harper's leadership, we have worked hard to introduce reforms that give victims a more effective voice in the criminal justice system, and we will continue working to ensure victims receive the courtesy, compassion and respect they deserve."
Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
"The Canadian Victims Bill of Rights will give more rights to victims, meaning that they will now be actors, not just spectators, in our justice system."
Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu
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Related Products
• Backgrounder: Overview of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights
• Backgrounder: Right to information
• Backgrounder: Right to protection
• Backgrounder: Right to participation
• Backgrounder: Right to restitution
• Backgrounder: Victim Surcharge
Associated Links
• National Victims of Crime Awareness Week
• Public Safety Canada - National Office for Victims
• News release: Victims Week Federal Symposium
• News release: Introduction of Canadian Victims Bill of Rights
Follow Public Safety Canada (@Safety_Canada) on Twitter.
For more information, please visit the website www.publicsafety.gc.ca.
Jean-Christophe de Le Rue Director of Communications Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness 613-991-2924
Media Relations Public Safety Canada 613-991-0657 [email protected] http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1845956#ixzz2z9sRjblk
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NEW BRUNSWICK
Saint John police ratify deal for 12 per cent raise over three years
The Canadian Press April 11, 2014
SAINT JOHN, N.B. - The Saint John Police Association has ratified a three-year collective agreement giving police a 12 per cent wage increase over three years.
The city's board of police commissioners says there is a 4.5 per cent increase retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013, followed by increases of 3.75 per cent in each of the following years.
The board also says the agreement allows the conversion of some police positions into civilian jobs. The board says in a news release that some operational efficiencies are included in the new contract to help reduce policing costs, but it did not elaborate. http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/saint-john-police-ratify-deal-for-12-per-cent-raise-over- three-years-1.1771601#ixzz2z9ewPvPn
Police in Saint John, N.B., sign deal
The Canadian Press April 10, 2014
SAINT JOHN, N.B. – The Saint John Police Association has ratified a three-year collective agreement giving police a 12 per cent wage increase over three years.
The city’s board of police commissioners says there is a 4.5 per cent increase retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013, followed by increases of 3.75 per cent in each of the following years.
The board also says the agreement allows the conversion of some police positions into civilian jobs.
The board says in a news release that some operational efficiencies are included in the new contract to help reduce policing costs, but it did not elaborate. http://metronews.ca/news/canada/999734/police-in-saint-john-n-b-sign-deal/
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Saint John Police Commission, union reach agreement
CBC News April 10, 2014
The Saint John Police Commission has reached an agreement with the union representing the city's police officers, just as binding arbitration hearings were beginning.
The three-year deal, reached on Wednesday, provides a 4.5-per-cent hike, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013, followed by increases of 3.75 per cent in each of the consecutive years.
It includes protection for current employees, according to a statement by the commission.
But it allows for lay-off provisions of employees hired after Nov. 1, 2011, turning a number of traditionally sworn police positions into civilian positions and "operational efficiencies and improvements" that helped reduce contract costs, said Jonathan Franklin, the board chair, without elaborating.
The deal "reflects compromise on both sides, improves community and officer safety while respecting the economic climate," he said.
New contract talks were launched on Tuesday.
Police union president Jamie Hachie said the two sides had just sat down with arbitrators when they decided to take one last crack at negotiation.
"I believe that wholeheartedly, the arbitration process is not beneficial to either side in my opinion. This is something that everyone can live with," he said.
The contract was ratified by both the commission and the Saint John Police Association during emergency meetings on Wednesday night.
It follows a two-year contract in which the police union took zero increases both years.
The union, which represents about 149 officers, had applied to the provincial government for arbitration in September.
In January, Saint John city council voted to look at the process and costs involved in switching to the RCMP for policing.
But Saint John did not meet the criteria. A municipality not previously policed by the RCMP must have a population of less than 15,000 people to be considered by Public Safety Canada, officials had said.
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Last June, Saint John council voted unanimously to promote the idea of creating a regional police force.
But the proposal was quickly shot down by the Fundy Regional Service Commission.
The 2014 police budget increased by $1 million to almost $24 million.
The Saint John Police Force represents about 13 per cent of the city's overall budget. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/saint-john-police-commission-union- reach-agreement-1.2605537
NOVA SCOTIA
Human trafficking rare charge for Nova Scotia police
CBC News April 13, 2014
Human traffickers going unpunished in Canada, experts say RCMP say human trafficking is a rare charge in Nova Scotia, but applies to what police allege happened over two days in a North Preston basement late last week.
A 15-year-old girl says she escaped from a home on Clarence Street Thursday night after she was held against her will and sexually assaulted.
Police won't confirm the identities of the two 18-year-old men accused until they appear in court on Monday, but CBC has learned they are Doreze Beals and Andre Grey. Both are from North Preston.
The two are accused of human trafficking, sexual assault, sexual interference and unlawful confinement.
One of the men is also charged with uttering threats, use of a weapon during an assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and breach of probation.
"As far as exercising control over someone in an attempt to force them into the sex trade industry. Those are the reasons why human trafficking was laid in this case," said RCMP Const. Tammy Lobb.
Lobb says more charges could follow as the investigation grows.
She said the 15-year-old was treated in hospital and police say she is safe.
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By the numbers
According to Public Safety Canada’s latest report there have been 35 human trafficking convictions since new laws to fight the problem came into effect in 2005.
At least nine of the victims were under the age of 18.
Sentences for the 35 convictions obtained in Canada ranged from one day to nine years imprisonment. One company was fined more than $200,000.
When it comes to charges, Statistics Canada data shows that 125 people were charged in Canada between 2005 and 2012 in incidents in which trafficking in persons was the most serious offence.
Under a Criminal Code provision established in November 2005, people can be charged with trafficking in persons if they recruit, conceal or otherwise exercise control over a person for the purpose of exploiting them. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/human-trafficking-rare-charge-for-nova- scotia-police-1.2608546
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
NEWFOUNDLAND
RNC to issue stun guns to officers
Daniel MacEachern The Telegram April 17, 2014
The new RNC chief says equipping officers with stun guns will improve public safety.
RNC Chief Bill Janes announced Wednesday morning at RNC headquarters in St. John’s that the police force has ordered 15 stun guns, which will be given to a “select group of officers,” including the tactics and rescue unit, which responds to high-risk situations such as armed barricades, patrol officers, and the crime suppression unit, a new team tackling organized crime, especially motorcycle gangs.
Janes said the RNC’s use of force committee recommended adding stun guns to the force for several reasons, including their use by other police forces across Canada, technological improvements to stun guns that have “enhanced their reliability and
38 consistency” and an “event log” that will record the deployment and use of the weapons, which incapacitate people with a brief electric shock.
Janes also cited the Braidwood Inquiry, which concluded “our society is better off with these weapons in use than without them.” The Braidwood Inquiry was a public inquiry into the use and safety of Tasers — a brand of stun gun — after Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant to Canada, was killed after being shocked five times by police officers attempting to subdue the unruly Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport.
The Braidwood Inquiry concluded the officers weren’t justified in using Tasers against Dziekanski.
The Braidwood Inquiry also noted several factors that make stun gun use problematic, including mental health problems and heart conditions, and concluded strong provincial oversight in the regulation of their use, due to a “troubling lack of consistency” in police agencies’ approach. Among municipal police forces, the inquiry found at least 160 instances — out of 1,397 uses — when stun guns were used against people either co- operating or not actively resisting arrest, “neither of which justifies deployment,” according to the report. The report recommends the weapons be used only to enforce federal criminal law, and that any officer equipped with a stun gun should have an automated external defibrillator readily available as well.
The chief told the Telegram later Wednesday that a decision on whether officers will also have defibrillators has not been made yet, and he noted the Braidwood Inquiry is just one piece of information the RNC used to making a decision.
“It was a look at the calls that are officers were responding to and the jeopardy they are in and the jeopardy the community is in … and the improvement in these weapons over the last decade, their reliability and consistency, the event log within the device which records the deployment,” he said. “When we look at other provinces and other police services, we’re either seeing a continuation or an expansion of the conducted energy weapons usage.”
Janes said stun guns will only be used by officers who have been trained to use them, and Janes hopes they’ll be in use by mid-summer. “The RNC has a full policy in place to provide direction on usage and followup reporting,” he said, adding the use of the weapons would be authorized on “violent or aggressive individuals,” or people equipped with a weapon other than a firearm. “That will be fully explored and developed in our policy and in training for the officers.” http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2014-04-17/article-3692319/RNC-to-issue- stun-guns-to-officers/1
39
NATIONAL
PTSD Awareness Tour Set to begin May 5, 2014
PRWEB.COM Newswire April 10, 2014
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is "an anxiety disorder characterized by reliving a psychologically traumatic situation, long after any physical danger involved has passed, through flashbacks and nightmares". CMHA explains that PTSD is caused by a psychologically traumatic event involving actual or threatened death or serious injury to oneself or others. Such triggering events are called 'stressors'; they may be experienced alone or while in a large group.
First responders and members of public safety organizations which include paramedics, firefighters, police, RCMP, military personnel are exposed to events that can leave them susceptible to PTSD. The Tema Conter Memorial Trust (TEMA) is an organization that provides peer and psychological support to Canada's first responders and public safety organizations.
TEMA has launched a cross-country Canadian PTSD awareness tour, which begins on May 5, 2014. The tour, known as the 2014 Heroes are Human Tour kicks off in St. John's Newfoundland and travels from coast to coast, visiting 48 towns and cities across Canada. The tour will finish in Toronto, Ontario on July 18, 2014. In each city and town the Tour visits, the tour members will host 2-hour educational community-based events to highlight the impact of PTSD on front- line responders.
TEMA provided the following statistics:
8% of Canadians suffer with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and this number is 2-3 times higher within the emergency service sectors 16%-24% EMS personnel in Canada suffer from PTSD TEMA estimates this number is low due to stigma associated with seeking and accepting help Aaron Waxman and Associates, the well-known, experienced Toronto long-term disability firm is a generous supporter of TEMA.
Mr. Waxman hopes that that 2014 Heroes are Human Tour is successful and opens the conversation about the seriousness of post-traumatic stress disorder and fosters a sense of understanding with respect to the the impact of PTSD on Canada's military, police officers, emergency personnel and all front-line responders.
About Aaron Waxman and Associates:
Aaron Waxman and Associates is a Toronto based long-term disability firm, servicing the GTA and many areas of Ontario. Our focus is, and has always been helping injured
40 persons and people whose claims have been denied by insurance companies. We do not do any work for insurance companies.
If your claim for long-term disability benefits has been denied, or if you have a question about a long-term disability matter, contact the legal team at Aaron Waxman and Associates for a free, no obligation consultation.
We do not get paid until your case settles. Visit our website for further information at http://www.awaxmanlaw.ca
Contact: Aaron Waxman P: 416 661-4878 TF: 1-866-955-5342 E: awaxman(at)awaxmanlaw(dot)ca Find us on Twitter: @InjuryLegal Firm http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1843748#ixzz2z9ZvvNpu
The Government of Canada's Response to the Standing Senate Committee Report on Harassment in the RCMP
Marketwired April 11, 2014
OTTAWA, ONTARIO - The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, today issued the following statement on the tabling of the Government response to the final report of the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, entitled Conduct Becoming: Why the Royal Canadian Mounted Police must Transform its Culture.
"The tabling of the Government response to the Committee's final report is another important step for the RCMP: it highlights the solid progress the RCMP is making in addressing issues of harassment in the workplace.
The RCMP is clearly focused on modernizing its approach to management and leadership; the majority of the Committee's recommendations are aligned with and complementary to the significant efforts already underway. This is an encouraging sign - demonstrating that the Force is on the right track to creating a healthier, more positive work environment.
The RCMP has made the Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act the cornerstone of its efforts to reinforce a culture that promotes accountability, responsibility and transparency, and a safe, healthy and respectful workplace for its employees. The RCMP is taking advantage of the important tools afforded by the Act to
41 modernize its 25-year-old discipline, grievance and promotion processes, and effectively address harassment complaints and other workplace-related issues.The RCMP is also implementing its Gender and Respect Action Plan which lays out specific milestones to monitor its progress in transforming its culture.
As the Minister responsible for Canada's national police force, this is an issue that I take very seriously. All RCMP members and employees have the right to feel safe and respected amongst their colleagues and superiors, and Canadians have the right to expect professional and exemplary conduct from their national police service.
I would like to again thank the Committee for their final report and the significant time and effort that went into preparing it. I also thank the many individuals whose testimonies before the Committee contributed to the recommendations. We all share the common goal of ensuring the RCMP remains a national police service we can trust and be proud of."
Follow Public Safety Canada (@Safety_Canada) on Twitter.
Jason Tamming Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness 613-991-2924
Media Relations Public Safety Canada 613-991-0657 [email protected] http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1846422#ixzz2z9lFijJk
Why the government’s new Digital Privacy Act puts your privacy at risk
Michael Geist The Star April 11, 2014
After years of false starts, Industry Minister James Moore this week unveiled the Digital Privacy Act, the long-awaited reform package of Canada’s private sector privacy law. While the government promised that the bill “will provide new protections for Canadians when they surf the web and shop online,” buried within Bill S-4 is a provision that threatens to massively expand warrantless disclosure of personal information.
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The centrepiece reforms within the bill are much-needed security breach disclosure requirements that would force organizations to disclose breaches that put Canadians at risk for identity theft. Security breach disclosure rules are well-established in other countries and long overdue. The Canadian rules include notification to the federal privacy commissioner, the prospect of wider notices to affected individuals, and tough penalties for organizations that fail to comply with these obligations.
While security breach disclosure requirements are a welcome addition to the Canadian privacy framework (as is the introduction of compliance orders that may help hold organizations to account where violations occur), the expansion of warrantless personal information disclosure raises enormous concerns.
The law currently entrusts companies such as telecom companies and Internet providers with a gatekeeper role in law enforcement cases since it permits them to either voluntarily disclose personal information as part of a lawful investigation or to demand that law enforcement first obtain a court order. Bill C-13, the cyber-bullying bill, creates an incentive for companies to voluntarily disclose to law enforcement by granting them full immunity from any civil or criminal liability for doing so. In light of recent revelations that they already disclose subscriber information tens of thousands of times every year without a court order, the immunity provision has raised significant fears in the privacy community that the practice will become even more commonplace.
Yet the voluntary disclosure to law enforcement rules pale in comparison to the Digital Privacy Act, which would expand the possibility of warrantless disclosure to anyone, not just law enforcement. The bill features a provision that grants organizations the right to voluntarily disclose personal information without the knowledge of the affected person and without a court order to other non-law enforcement organizations provided they are investigating a breach of an agreement or legal violation (or the possibility of a future violation).
When might this be used?
Consider the recent copyright case in which Voltage Pictures sought an order requiring TekSavvy, a leading Internet provider, to disclose the names and addresses of thousands of subscribers. The federal court responded by establishing numerous safeguards to protect privacy and to discourage copyright trolling by requiring court approval for any demand letters being sent to subscribers.
If the Digital Privacy Act were the law, the court might never become involved in the case. Instead, Voltage could simply ask TekSavvy to voluntarily disclose the subscriber information (including details that go far beyond just name and address) without any court order and without informing the affected customers.
In fact, the potential use of this provision extends far beyond copyright cases. Defamation claims, commercial battles, and even consumer disputes may all involve alleged breaches of agreements or the law. While the organization with the personal information (including telecom companies, social media sites, and local businesses)
43 might resist disclosing information without a court order, the law would not require them to do so.
The end result makes a mockery of the notion that Canadian privacy laws are premised on consent and court oversight. Organizations would be permitted to voluntarily disclose personal information to law enforcement as part of a lawful investigation (with legal immunity) and to voluntarily disclose to private organizations if they are investigating a contract breach or alleged legal violation. Moreover, the disclosures would be kept secret from the affected individuals and the disclosing organizations would be under no obligation to publicly report on their practices.
The government may be promising new protections, but the troubling reality is that legislation currently before Parliament will expose all Canadians to the prospect of widespread warrantless disclosure of their personal information.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at [email protected] or online at http://www.michaelgeist.ca www.michaelgeist.caEND http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/04/11/why_the_governments_new_digital_pri vacy_act_puts_your_privacy_at_risk.html
Mental Health Community Committed to Repairing Damage Caused by Bill C-14, Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act
Canada NewsWire April 14, 2014
Ottawa, April 14, 2014 /CNW/ - Eleven national health organizations opposed to the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act expressed their disappointment in the legislative process that has allowed a bill to pass that could jeopardize public safety, limit recovery for victims, and cause harm to people living with a mental illness.
In February 2013, the Conservative Government introduced the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act that was intended to enhance victims' rights, ensure public safety is the paramount concern, and create a new "high risk accused" category within the Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) regime. While enhancing victims' rights and protecting the public is very important to Canada's mental health community, the Bill does neither.
"The unnecessary and highly stigmatizing 'high risk accused' category is based on no evidence and encourages Canadians to be afraid of people living with a mental illness", said Dr. Sandy Simpson, Chief of Forensic Psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. "While previous crimes may be an indicator of future crimes in the criminal system, this is not the case for people found NCR. This unjust category may
44 result in people with serious mental illness, who are in fact NCR, going to jail instead of a health facility where their needs, and society's, would be better served".
The mental health community was not consulted during the creation of the Bill. Past and present Justice Ministers Nicholson and MacKay both declined to meet with the organizations in person. Highly respected research that supported concerns around the Bill was dismissed. The Conservative government argued the Bill would not stigmatize people living with a mental illness, however, the mental health organizations that represent millions of people in Canada living with a mental illness, and their families, wholeheartedly disagree.
"Mental illness can be complex and difficult to understand for many Canadians. Leaders and decision-makers have a responsibility to help educate and advance our society rather than perpetuate fear from that lack of understanding. Although this Bill falls far short of meeting its intended goals and the needs of Canadians, the mental health community is fully dedicated to working with government and other stakeholders to address the impact of the Bill's changes. To do so, we need to be guided by evidence of what works for victims, persons found NCR and the Canadian public." said Chris Summerville, CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada.
Victims themselves have also indicated their support in repairing the damage. "As a mother of a 2 ½ year-old son who was brutally murdered by a person found NCR, I find Bill C-14 extremely offensive" said psychologist, Dr. Lori Triano-Antidormi. "Labeling particular individuals with a mental illness as high risk will not assist victims in their healing and recovery. Victims deserve better".
Members of the National Health Coalition Opposed to the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act:
Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention Canadian Association of Social Workers Canadian Mental Health Association Canadian Nurses Association Canadian Psychological Association Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Mood Disorders Society of Canada National Network for Mental Health Peer Development Initiative Psychosocial Rehabilitation Canada Schizophrenia Society of Canada http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1848834#ixzz2z9tRmlaE
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Canadians' mental-health info routinely shared with FBI, U.S. customs
CBC News April 14, 2014
Ontario’s privacy commissioner has discovered that the mental-health information of some Canadians is accessible to the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
Ann Cavoukian said Monday that some Ontario police services routinely uploaded attempted suicide calls to the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC), to which U.S. border guards and the FBI have access.
Cavoukian began investigating how U.S. law enforcement had access to such personal information after last fall's news that some Canadian travellers with a history of mental- health issues had been denied entry into the U.S.
Ellen Richardson was turned away at Toronto's Pearson airport by U.S. customs agents because she was hospitalized in June 2012 for clinical depression.
She attempted suicide in 2001 by jumping off a bridge, leaving her a paraplegic. But her mental health has since improved with medication and professional help from a psychiatrist, she said.
The border agent cited the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, which denies entry to people who have had a physical or mental disorder that may pose a "threat to the property, safety or welfare" of themselves or others, she said.
The privacy commission said she was “deeply concerned” by the incident.
“I found it so unnerving to think about the embarrassment and humiliation a person would feel,” Cavoukian said. “I needed to find out exactly how such sensitive and personal info was ending up in the hands of U.S. border officials.”
Cavoukian spoke with police departments from Toronto, Waterloo, Hamilton and Ottawa. She also spoke with the OPP.
She said only the Toronto Police Service “automatically” uploads all attempted suicide and suicide calls “across the board" to CPIC.
Cavoukian found that it is “not mandatory” for police services to upload such calls.
“This is entirely at the discretion of the police service involved,” Cavoukian said.
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She said there is no legal requirement that suicide attempts be entered into the Canadian Police Information Centre database and claimed it was the policy of the Toronto Police Service.
But Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash says that's just not so, and officers do use discretion about which cases are uploaded to the database.
However, Pugash also says the force feels the information is important for officers to have, and if Cavoukian doesn't want it shared with American officials, then she should ask the Mounties to change who has access to what data.
Cavoukian said the information is then loaded into the CPIC database, which is available to U.S. border guards through a co-operation agreement between the RCMP and the FBI.
She said Hamilton, Waterloo, Ont., Ottawa and the OPP “all exercise discretion in doing this.”
Personal health info should be protected, CAMH says . Cavoukian found that 19,000 “mental health episodes" have been uploaded to CPIC.
"The untenable practice of automatic or blanket sharing of police information related to suicide threats or attempts simply cannot continue," Cavoukian said.
"The record of a person's suicide attempt is personal health information, that should be protected to the greatest extent possible," said Dr. Peter Voore, medical director at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
“I am calling upon all police services across Ontario to immediately cease the practice of automatically uploading or disclosing personal information relating to threats of suicide or attempted suicide via CPIC, by default,” Cavoukian said.
She said suicide attempts should only be uploaded to CPIC if:
They involved the threat of serious violence or harm, or the actual use of serious violence or harm directed at other individuals.They could reasonably be considered to be an intentional provocation of a lethal response by police.
The individual involved had a history of serious violence or harm to others. The suicide attempt occurred while an individual was in police custody.
"CAMH is in full agreement with the findings of this investigation and we strongly support the recommendations that the commissioner has put forward," Voore said. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/canadians-mental-health-info-routinely- shared-with-fbi-u-s-customs-1.2609159
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Ministers Blaney and Anton Commend BC's Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons for Updated Online Training Program
Marketwired April 14, 2014
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - Public Safety Canada
Today, the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and the Honourable Suzanne Anton, Attorney General and Minister of Justice for British Columbia, commended British Columbia's Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons (OCTIP) on the launch of their updated online training course aimed at enhancing the ability of first responders and service providers to support victims of human trafficking.
The Second Edition of Human Trafficking: Canada is Not Immune, has been updated to provide training to front-line service providers and first responders across Canada to help identify trafficked persons, support them and provide appropriate referral services for help and protection.
The update to the online training course was developed through a contribution agreement with Public Safety Canada.
Quick Facts
- Since April 2012, nearly 8,000 people have accessed the OCTIP Training.
- In June 2012, the Federal Government launched the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, which introduced aggressive new initiatives to prevent human trafficking, identify victims, protect the most vulnerable, and prosecute perpetrators, in addition to consolidating ongoing efforts of the federal government to combat human trafficking. The National Action Plan supports organizations providing assistance to victims and builds on our current response of working together with our partners to prevent and combat this disturbing crime.
- OCTIP coordinates British Columbia's strategy to address human trafficking. OCTIP works in partnerships with all levels of government, law enforcement agencies, community organizations and Crown prosecutors to protect trafficked persons and prevent human trafficking. In March 2013, the Provincial Government launched BC's Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking which provides a clear roadmap for priority actions over three years to prevent the trafficking of youth, vulnerable workers and Aboriginal youth and women.
Quotes
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"Our Government is committed to strengthening partnerships and collaboration to prevent and combat the crime of human trafficking. British Columbia's online training course is a perfect example of the importance of working together to fight a despicable crime that preys on the most vulnerable, especially women and children. Our National Action Plan on Human Trafficking is working, by focussing on prosecuting traffickers, protecting victims and preventing these terrible crimes".
The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
"Our province has taken a leadership role in combating human trafficking. Trafficked persons are often kept hidden from view and are extremely fearful of seeking help. The Human Trafficking: Canada is Not Immune course provides information on how to recognize, protect and assist trafficked persons with appropriate and culturally relevant services. The updated version of this training fulfills a priority action of our BC Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking to increase the number of service providers and front-line personnel with training on human trafficking."
Suzanne Anton, Attorney General and Minister of Justice
"The updated version of this training reflects changes in Canadian laws on human trafficking, incorporates the voices and unique experiences of trafficked persons in Canada, provides a certificate of completion, and includes a national resource list of organizations working on human trafficking. We encourage all front line workers and anyone concerned about human trafficking to take this free, online course. Simply, trafficked persons have their basic human rights violated and need our assistance."
Rosalind Currie, Director, Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons
If you have information concerning a human trafficking situation, please call your local police or report it anonymously to Crime Stoppers at: 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). In B.C. contact 1-888-712-7974 24/7 for assistance with coordinating services for trafficked persons.
Jason Tamming Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness 613-991-2924
Media Relations Public Safety Canada 613-991-0657 http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1849657#ixzz2z9u3J6VJ
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Police Oversight Commission called a 'mockery'
Erica Zucco KOB Eyewitness News April 14, 2014
One of three Police Oversight Commissioners who stepped down from the group today called the commission a “mockery” of real civilian oversight.
All three of them said the group has no power, citing an April 10 message from the city attorney’s office as the final straw. They say they do not want to deceive citizens into thinking they do have effective civilian oversight.
“I think they're frustrated cause they're just not getting the kind of power and oversight that they need and so we're seeing people resign,” Ralph Arellanes of LULAC, who served on a task force to reform the POC, said.
Peter Simonson of the ACLU was on that task force too.
“We felt the police oversight commission and the Independent review office, in whatever way shape or form they take, should form a single system and ultimately that the IRO should respond to, be supervised by, the oversight body,” Simonson said. That task force created eighteen recommendations, some of which city council is working on now. But most of the recommendations haven’t been put into action by city officials.
In the meantime, Richard Shine, Jennifer Barela and Jonathan Siegel resigned from the commission.
“It's unfortunate, maybe it's inevitable. The situation we have currently, we know that the POC and the IRO are in a state of complete uncertainty as they wait to see what the city council plans to do,” Simonson said. “They were extremely frustrated with the way in which the city attorney's office has construed the relationship between the IRO and the POC, construed the power of the POC to weigh in on policy matters and obtain certain kinds of data from the police department and so I think all of their concerns were completely legitimate, I can totally understand why they had the reaction they did and I know both Mr. Siegel and Mr. Shine and I think they are upstanding individuals, devoted to their community.”
In their letters, all three resigning commissioners said they hope the city will take action to reform the POC.
“I think they truly wanted to see an effective civilian oversight body process here in the city of Albuquerque and I think it’s a shame to lose them from the civilian oversight
50 process. I hope that they can remain engaged because really they have committed literally thousands of hours on our community's behalf,” Simonson said. http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3400831.shtml?cat=500#.U0_Z1_ldXQg
Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing
New York Times APRIL 15, 2014
Police Commissioner William J. Bratton lists the following guidelines on his blog.
PRINCIPLE 1 “The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.”
PRINCIPLE 2 “The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.”
PRINCIPLE 3 “Police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.”
PRINCIPLE 4 “The degree of cooperation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.”
PRINCIPLE 5 “Police seek and preserve public favor not by catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.”
PRINCIPLE 6 “Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.”
PRINCIPLE 7 “Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”
PRINCIPLE 8 “Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.”
PRINCIPLE 9 “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/nyregion/sir-robert-peels-nine-principles-of- policing.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1
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98% of English Police Not Trained to Fight Cybercrime
Info Security 15 April 2014
Police have to be prepared for any contingency, but when it comes to cybercrime in the UK, it turns out that the boys and girls in blue have some work to do. A report from her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has found only 2% of police staff across 37 forces in England and Wales had been trained to effectively investigate cybercrime.
The report, outlined by the BBC, added that only three jurisdictions had “sufficient” plans in place in the event of a cyber-threat: Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and West Midlands.
The UK government has identified cybercrime – and specifically, large-scale cyber- attacks – as one of the top five threats facing the nation, up there with organized crime and terrorism. According to the government's definition, these threats would be "a criminal attack on a financial institution to gather data or money,” an "aggregated threat where many people or businesses across the UK are targeted,” or “the response to a failure of technology on which communities depend and which may also be considered a civil emergency.”
Given the potential for catastrophe, the BBC pointed out that the Home Office has required that every department have a policing response to counter it. But so far, most individual forces are not following the guidelines.
Worryingly, the report found that senior officers are largely "unsure of what constituted a large-scale cyber-incident,” noting that inspectors were "struck by how incomplete the police service's understanding of the national threats was."
“The report highlights the need to review policing priorities and the continued challenge of addressing the growing cyber-threat,” said Peter Armstrong, director of cybersecurity at Thales UK, in a note to Infosecurity. “As a nation we are only now waking up to the pervasive nature of the cyber threat, but we will have to recognize as a nation that there is a broad-based shortage of cyber skills, not just in the police service.”
Armstrong said he believes that police forces can rise to the occasion. “Adapting to new threats in the criminal space is not new to the police service, and The Home Office and newly formed National Crime Agency (NCA) are responding,” he said. “Working closely with regional law enforcement and police colleges, the NCA and the National Cyber Crime Unit have seen successes in helping to establish the capabilities that are needed to police this threat.”
The newly organized NCA has overseen the establishment of the NCCU with the remit to help martial a national response to the most serious cybercrimes; it has already established an NCA Special Constables scheme targeting specialist skills like cyber, supported by a strong recruitment campaign.
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“At the same time, local law enforcement understands clearly their responsibility to protect the vulnerable in our society from cyber incidents and are working without exception to juggle their funding and distributing resources across an increasing landscape of criminality at a challenging time for budgets,” Armstrong added.
In response to the damning evidence, Chief Constable Justine Curran, the national policing lead for public order at the Association of Chief Police Officers, acknowledged the police had more to do, and said that they were ready to tackle the requirements.
"This report will assist chiefs and the College of Policing in this ongoing work and provide useful ideas for enhancement where this can be achieved within the current financial austerity across policing," she told the BBC. http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/37961/98-of-english-police-not- trained-to-fight-cybercrime
City Councilors draft new legislation for police oversight
Chelo Rivera April 11, 2014
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Part of the problem the feds had with civilian oversight was the Police Oversight Commission the group that polices the police.
The DOJ says it has no teeth something the community has been saying for a while now.
The city council appointed a task force to come up with ways to fix that and Friday Councilors Brad Winter and Rey Garduno released a draft of a bill to make most of their recommendations law.
Those include developing a community outreach program that would get public input and allow the POC to investigate citizen complaints against police. http://krqe.com/2014/04/11/city-councilors-draft-new-legislation-for-police- oversight/
Privacy an issue with police body cameras
Pauline Repard UT San Diego APRIL 12, 2014
SAN DIEGO — San Diego’s police chief wants 300 officers outfitted with body cameras by July, a move she hopes will help restore waning public trust in the department.
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But how and when will the cameras be used? Who can view the footage? Will people’s privacy rights be protected?
These are some of the issues the police union and privacy rights experts want addressed before the technology is rolled out across the San Diego Police Department.
“We don’t want the data used for keeping a watch over the city. We have serious privacy concerns,” said Kellen Russoniello, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego and Imperial counties.
Leaders of the San Diego Police Officers Association met with police supervisors on Wednesday to talk about how the cameras may be used.
Association President Brian Marvel said the union’s legal team will review the information and he expects more meetings as the department wrestles with draft policies.
The department has been rocked by numerous allegations of sexual misconduct in recent years. One officer faces criminal charges for allegedly frisking several women in a sexually inappropriate way.
The debate over whether the department was policing itself effectively prompted 10- year Chief Bill Lansdowne to announce his retirement at the end of February. New Mayor Kevin Faulconer chose Zimmerman, a 32-year department veteran, as his successor, and she quickly adopted Lansdowne’s intentions to equip officers with body cameras.
“We’re doing this for the accountability of our officers, and regaining the public’s trust that has been somewhat eroded away,” Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said in a recent interview.
She said some of the camera policy issues to be decided include what type of interactions with the public to record, how to upload and store the video, how long to keep it, and who can access it later. The chief said she favors recording all law enforcement contacts, excluding interviews with victims of child abuse or sex crimes, and certain crime witnesses and informants.
“The policy will be ready before the end of the fiscal year, before we implement the cameras,” Zimmerman said.
Ten officers from Central Division, who work downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods, have been trying out two styles of body-worn cameras since January.
One, the AXON Body, is a small, square, fish-eye lens camera and power unit worn in the middle of the chest. The other, the AXON Flex, can be fastened by magnets to eyeglasses, a shirt collar or epaulet, or a car dashboard.
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The cameras are made by Taser International, better known for its electronic stun guns. They come with recharging stations that upload the day’s video to the cloud, also maintained by Taser.
The City Council approved $1 million to buy the first 300 cameras and associated equipment this fiscal year, which ends June 30. By then, Zimmerman said, she wants all patrol officers in the Central, Southeastern and Mid-City divisions to have a camera. She said she chose the divisions because they are busy, and because of complaints about racial profiling she heard at a town-hall meeting in the southeastern area.
Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said the company came out with a stun gun-mounted camera in 2004. They invented a bulky body camera in 2009 that included GPS and a video screen. A scaled-down version then was developed, and it is being used by 800 law enforcement agencies, Tuttle said.
Now officers can stream their video onto their own smartphones. They can hold the camera to see around corners or in dark attics. They can insert dates and labels on the video later for archive retrieval.
The Rialto Police Department in San Bernardino County was one of the first in the nation to adopt the technology, and Chief William Farrar ran a yearlong study in 2012 on its effects. Rialto Capt. Randy De Anda said complaints about officer behavior dropped 88 percent from the prior year, and the use of force by officers also declined, by 60 percent.
“We believe it was hugely successful,” De Anda said.
Scott Greenwald, a privacy law expert in Cincinnati, called body cameras “a huge technology revolution.”
“It will be as transformational as Tasers and personal radios on officers’ bodies,” said Greenwald. “They’re going to totally change the interactions between officers and the public in a very positive way.”
However, Greenwald, who serves as ALCU general counsel, cautioned that police agencies should require officers to record every contact with the public until the contact is completed.
That, he said, “will assure the integrity of the recording. … You don’t allow individual officers to ever decide when to use it.”
The City Council is to consider budgeting for about 700 more cameras on June 18. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/Apr/12/police-cameras-taser- privacy/2/?#article-copy
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Open up complaint process, Police Review Board says
Jim Wise The Durham News April 16, 2014
DURHAM, NC — Easing the process for citizens to file complaints about police, and better information on how police officials respond, are changes the Civilian Police Review Board has concluded Durham needs.
After several months of reviewing its own role and procedures and hearing from Durham residents, the board sent its report to City Manager Tom Bonfield last Tuesday.
The report makes 10 specific recommendations to open the complaint process up for those who complain and the public in general.
But it stops short of advocating for some new powers citizens had suggested: among them, authority to investigate complaints on its own, subpoena witnesses and discipline officers who transgress professional standards of behavior.
“We understand there are some concerns in the community about the way the Police Review Board operates,” said board Chairman DeWarren K. Langley.
“We looked at what the confines of the law require,” he said. “The city manager does have the ultimate decision when it comes to discipline, hiring and termination of city employees and we think we have an appropriate role in providing advice and consultation to the city manager. And that’s something we will continue to do.”
City Manager Tom Bonfield said he had received the board’s report, but not evaluated what it has to say.
“We’ll be reviewing it with our staff over the next several weeks,” Bonfield said, “and will be looking at any of those recommendations in conjunction with any of the other recommendations that come forward from the Human Relations Commission.”
Durham’s Civilian Police Review Board has nine members appointed by the city manager. It receives appeals from citizens who disagree with the police department’s own handling of their complaints about officer behavior.
If the board decides, based on written evidence, that a police investigation was not handled properly, it may hold its own hearing on the investigation – not, though, on the original complaint itself. If the board concludes, after a hearing, that the police investigation was improper, it informs the city manager who makes the decision on any further action.
Bonfield asked the Review Board to examine itself while the Human Relations Commission was investigating alleged racism in the Durham Police Department. Both
56 processes began in response to public complaints last fall. The commission plans to make its report to the City Council at Thursday’s work session.
Human Relations Commission members are among those calling for a stronger civilian review board, but in its self-review the board found that state personnel law constrains what a citizens’ board can do, and decided that the time, knowledge and skills necessary to conduct proper investigations of police conduct are beyond the abilities of a group of citizen volunteers.
Since 2003, according to city records, the board has received 31 appeals but granted only two hearings. In listening to the public, though, board members found that few citizens know what it does, what the law allows, how citizen complaints about police are handled and how to go about making one.
Few of those who came to board meetings or its February open house with complaints about police had actually filed formal complaints that the board could consider for review.
“The only way that we can ensure that we have a complaint process and a board that is responsive to our community is for people to utilize the process,” Langley said, and in its self-review and recommendations, he said, “We did a good job.”
The board recommended that it produce and distribute a brochure on the complaint process and hold an open house for the public once a year.
“For individuals that have used that Langley said, “the board has ensured that the internal affairs unit, or the Professional Standards Division, has conducted a thorough investigation and when we have seen anything that required attention we have shared recommendation with the city manager. http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2014/04/16/3789838/open-up-complaint- process-police.html?sp=/99/586/
How ‘Warrior Policing’ Fails the Homeless Mentally Ill
The Crime Report Joe Domanick April 15, 2014
The fatal shooting last month of homeless, mentally ill James Boyd by Albuquerque, New Mexico police officers raises serious questions about their strategy and tactics in dealing with the 38-year-old Boyd, whose initial crime was camping out illegally in the desert.
Most fair-minded people who’ve seen the police helmet-cam video of the incident, will come away, like me, believing that that the 38-year-old Boyd—although holding two
57 knives—posed no immediate threat to officers who were confronting Boyd in the Sandia Foothills.
Too far away to lunge at the cops or throw his knives, Boyd seemed guilty of nothing more than the sin of annoying a cop.
Such incidents have happened often enough for the Albuquerque PD to have shot an astounding 37 people over the past four years; and for the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to accuse it on April 10 of being guilty of “a pattern or practice of use of excessive force,” and of regularly violating people’s constitutional rights.
The wider question is what the incident says about the culture of American policing. And, in particular, whether that culture is capable of handling the mentally ill, especially the homeless mentally ill.
The Albuquerque officers acted as if they were on patrol in Fallujah, and James Boyd was an enemy combatant. The same mind-set has accompanied the increasing militarization of U.S. police departments, who conducted up to 80,000 “no knock” raids on citizens’ homes in 2010; and deployed SWAT teams 45,000 times in 2010—often on small-time drug raids and searches based on unsubstantiated tips from informants.
Experience tells us that this “warrior” kind of policing cannot address effectively, safely— and democratically—the homeless mentally ill.
What works is a community policing approach, with its emphasis on problem-solving, working in partnership with local residents, and enhancing neighborhood stability and cohesion.
Although training in de-escalating potential volatile encounters between the police and the HMI is, in fact, already taking place within many police departments, nonetheless, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center and the National Sheriff’s Association, half those killed by police are mentally ill -- indicating that something other than just relevant officer training in psychiatric social work is required.
And that something is for cops to be professionally committed to the underlying precepts of community policing—even when confronted with the difficult, irrational and potentially violent among the HMI.
That will require cultural buy-in.
In traditional police culture, formal training in the kind of counseling that is viewed as “do-good social work” is often disparaged and ignored.
Police managers, moreover, only reinforce that cynicism when they fail to hold officers accountable for violating that spirit of the operational philosophy, as well as the letter, of that training.
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That was clearly the case in Albuquerque.
If police departments like Albuquerque’s are serious about decreasing the violent, killing nature of their encounters with the HMI, they’re going to have to fully change and expand their cultural norms regarding police work to include a much wider view of what the service component of policing should encompass.
Twenty-first century police departments must commit themselves to making operational a key realization when it comes to policing the homeless: it’s they, the police, who have to change.
It’s also important to recognize that police are facing a problem that should have been addressed by the nation’s disgracefully underfinanced, undermanned and inhumane social-service network.
But that doesn’t let cops off the hook.
Los Angeles is a case in point. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was hated as much by black LA as any police department in the deepest heart of Dixie had ever been hated. It was only when the LAPD began viewing the city’s African-American community as comprised of constituents to be served, as opposed to a people to be oppressed, that the dynamic changed.
But while New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton (when he was Chief of the LAPD), and his successor, Chief Charlie Beck, were famously successful in institutionalizing policing breakthroughs in the black and brown areas of L.A., these exceptionally creative cops failed to apply the precepts of community policing to the homeless mentally ill on LA’s notorious skid row.
About 40 percent of LA’s homeless are mentally ill, and many are also serious substance abusers. Located for the most part in the city’s downtown civic core, they were a public embarrassment and annoyance to a municipal establishment anxious to gentrify the area. The 50-block area of prime real estate featured a large open-air drug market, long rows of small tents and discarded cardboard refrigerator or TV-box bedrooms, and human feces and urine on the sidewalks.
In 2002, Beck, then a captain, was put in charge of policing skid row. He instituted tight enforcement of all municipal laws, including the ticketing of the homeless for minor crimes that either landed them in a revolving-door jail situation or forced those who could to leave. The efforts would eventually lead to lower crime rates in the center of Los Angeles and to the slow but steady gentrification of a good chunk of skid row.
It would be foolish to argue that the city isn’t decidedly better off because of it.
But in the bigger-picture scheme of things, they had not been successful at all. What the Bratton-Beck clean-up strategy didn’t do was in any way help the impoverished,
59 mentally ill and chronically addicted, as a way of reducing the potential criminogenic behavior of them, or of the next generation of such afflicted people.
In effect, old- school tactics were applied to a problem that required new-school solutions. The courts apparently felt the same way.
In 2007 a Federal District judge declared that the LAPD’s policy of stopping and sometimes searching parolees on skid row without evidence of a crime was also unconstitutional.
The lesson here was that, despite police arguments that it wasn’t their responsibility to worry about the needs of the homeless, the HMI were just as much part of the community as the business people who were negatively impacted by their presence.
What’s required now is for the policing profession to accelerate the conversation on how the police can best assist the HMI as part of a long-term crime prevention strategy. The conversation can be led by innovators like Bratton and Beck and former San Diego police Chief William Lansdowne, and broadened through research and educational programs such as the Criminal Justice Policy and Management Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
The discussion should focus on expanding the community policing model and, in the process, the cultural and operational definition of policing in the 21st century. Included in the conversation should be the development of a wider, more expansive cultural and operational definition of “social-work” policing in the 21st century.
Cops, of course, are not social workers—but at the junction where the need for a psychiatric social workers skill-set meets short and long term pubic order and crime prevention necessities, police departments must broaden their cultural horizons and mission statement.
Whether they like it or not, they are on the front lines of some of this country’s most painful failures of social policy.
Joe Domanick is West Coast Editor of The Crime Report, and a veteran crime journalist and author, based in Los Angeles. His latest book, Blue: The Ruin and Redemption of the LAPD will be published by Simon & Schuster, in January, 2015. He welcomes comments from readers. http://www.thecrimereport.org/viewpoints/2014-04-how-warrior-policing-fails-the- homeless-mentally-ill
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Reform in Reverse: How Mayor Ed Murray Unraveled Two Years of Police Reform in Only Two Months
Dominic Holden April 16, 2014
The Seattle Police Officers' Guild is a club of retrograde good old boys that embodies the most toxic aspects of cop culture. Officially a labor union representing about 1,250 sworn officers—negotiating police contracts, shaping department policy—the guild's past leadership admits that the union, commonly known as SPOG, spends most of its time defending officers involved in misconduct investigations.
After a spate of misconduct cases arose in 2010, eventually resulting in the US Department of Justice finding that Seattle police have a pattern of using excessive force, editorials began appearing in the SPOG newspaper, the Guardian, attacking political leaders who supported reform, opposing the reform plan, and calling to overturn programs intended stop racial profiling. The city's Race and Social Justice Initiative is "an assault on traditional and constitutional American values," one Guardian piece declared. Efforts to combat racial profiling were "socialist policies" perpetrated by "the enemy" (with "the enemy" being city officials who wanted to work on the racial profiling issue). Another piece, published the same year a cop threatened to "beat the fucking Mexican piss out of" an innocent man, argued cops should be allowed to call citizens "bitch" and "n***a" (asterisks appeared in the original). SPOG compared the Justice Department's investigation to the federal government's bloody standoffs at Waco and Ruby Ridge. They said the city attorney charging an officer with assault after the officer kicked a teenager lying on the ground was "a calculated and evil move." They sued to block the police reform plan after it was approved by a judge. And they said that several assistant chiefs partnering with elected officials to implement early reforms were a sign that "the enemy" had found "new allies... at the very top of SPD."
Late last summer, SPOG leaders met with one of those assistant chiefs—Jim Pugel, who'd since become interim police chief—to press Pugel to renegotiate at least 19 cases in which officers had been found guilty of misconduct. SPOG wanted its officers cleared of wrongdoing, and it wanted to accomplish this by using a little-known procedure in which the union president and police chief simply sign a piece of paper that removes the misconduct from an officer's permanent file. Otherwise, the union threatened, it would litigate these aggrieved cases to one of the city's appellate bodies. Appealing to these bodies is costly; it basically amounts to going to court. To hear them out first, Pugel said SPOG could present its case in a mediation meeting with representatives of the SPD and the city attorney's office. That meeting in mid-September ran seven hours. The union was "unwilling to budge on any case," Pugel remembers. "I said, 'It's over— let's close the mediation. Ignore them for the time being and let the discipline stand.'"
Pugel was particularly unwilling to downgrade discipline—or exonerate officers—in cases where a cop had used excessive force, showed unprofessional rudeness, or
61 escalated a situation. After all, the Justice Department had recently dinged the SPD for escalating minor situations into violent clashes. But the union was relentless.
"They would continually ask in different meetings if they could revisit this case or that case," Pugel recalls. "It was brought up to me at least once every two or three weeks." He agreed to send six of the cases to the city attorney's office for a legal review last December, although that "was not an indication that I'm going to settle these." As City Attorney Pete Holmes puts it, "Pugel wanted to know which are our strongest cases and weakest cases, assuming we go to arbitration." (Full disclosure: Pugel was briefly my babysitter when I was too young to remember. It's a small town.)
Before the city attorney's office replied with a legal analysis, Mayor Mike McGinn, Pugel's boss at the time, left office, having been voted out in part because of his feckless oversight of the police department. McGinn's opponent, Ed Murray, ran on a platform of public safety and police reform, but he was always a little bit vague about how he would change the department.
Pugel had not been vague about reforming the department. As interim police chief, he signaled his pro-reform bona fides on his first day in office when he changed SPD's motto from "Preventing crime, enforcing laws, supporting public safety" to the radically progressive "Excellence, justice, humility, harm reduction."
Pugel led the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion project for Seattle, which is an internationally acclaimed program to direct nonviolent drug offenders into treatment instead of jail. A pilot project in Belltown was recently expanded to all of downtown. That put Pugel, with no exaggeration, at the vanguard of progressive policing to eradicate crime, reduce recidivism, and bring peace to neighborhoods without resorting to the heavy-handed tactics of yesteryear. "You can't just use force," Pugel says, describing the need for public-health-based responses to crime. "Sometimes, unfortunately, you have to use force, but that cannot be your first response. That is why successful and innovative police departments will always try to bring different solutions, because if you just rely on force and stop-and- frisk, then you are going to alienate everyone."
After Mayor Murray assumed office, it became clear very early on what his vision for reform looked like. In one of his first acts as mayor, he demoted Pugel, who was forced to leave his office at SPD headquarters and move into a basement office on Airport Way South, a location sources in the department have dubbed "Siberia." This was particularly odd considering that a December report by the federal court monitor singled out Pugel for his reform work: "Chief Jim Pugel merits recognition for open-mindedness and responsiveness to our inquiries and requests." That report also praised another leader, Assistant Chief Michael Sanford, for displaying "an admirable willingness to act with a sense of urgency and an ability to adroitly manage bureaucratic issues that could otherwise routinely thwart progress." Shortly after his demotion, SPD announced Pugel was "retiring"—even though Pugel had signaled his desire to run the department
62 permanently and, at 54 years old, wasn't of retirement age. Sources say Pugel was told to either take another demotion (to captain) or leave. Sanford also suddenly announced his "retirement" under similar circumstances.
"There's a core group of people in SPOG and SPMA"—the Seattle Police Management Association, the union that represents high-ranking officers—"who hate Sanford," said an SPD officer who spoke to The Stranger on the condition of anonymity. "And Sanford is the guy trying to change the department culture."
Who did Mayor Murray fill SPD's leadership vacuum with? Who did he put in charge? A retired officer named Harry Bailey, who immediately proved himself far more sympathetic to SPOG than his predecessor. Those six cases that Pugel sent to the city attorney's office? Bailey immediately agreed to overturn all of them, signing a short stack of contracts that said the cops' personnel files "will be updated to reflect the finding of a Training Referral with no discipline imposed." SPOG president Richard O'Neill signed in blue ink on February 11, and Chief Bailey signed in purple ink on Valentine's Day.
The city council was stunned that the police chief and union could reverse cases like this. And even Anne Levinson, independent auditor of the SPD's Office of Professional Accountability, which oversees internal misconduct investigations, said, "I was not aware of what appears to be a pattern of resolving cases without proceeding with the appellate process." It turns out this practice has existed for years. Levinson's research found that of the 605 officer discipline cases between 2011 and 2013, 128 resulted in a misconduct finding. The union appealed 37 of those cases. Only two of those cases were resolved by actually going before the city's discipline review board or labor commission. The rest were settled or are unresolved. By routinely expunging the misconduct from officers' records, the next case against the officer becomes the first—setting a precedent that officers can simply get misconduct findings removed.
Then the excuses began.
In a press conference on February 21, Mayor Murray told reporters that those six cases resulted from a "backlog of grievances" and the settlements "were already decided by the previous chief." SPOG president O'Neill regurgitated those talking points in an address to city council members the next week. O'Neill claimed, "The reason for the backlog of appeals and grievances, some dating back to 2011, was because, especially in an election year, no one wanted to make a decision."
That was not true. Pugel had not decided to settle the cases—he'd merely sent them to the city attorney for an opinion. The "backlog" itself was the result of Pugel deciding not to settle them. If the union had gone to arbitration, appealed to one of the appellate boards, or just dropped the cases, there wouldn't have been a backlog. Council Members Nick Licata and Bruce Harrell made this very point in a March 25 letter to the mayor's consultant on police reform. So, the union had created the "backlog," but Murray had gone along with the idea that it wasn't the union's fault, perhaps the
63 unwitting dupe in someone else's attempt to obfuscate, perhaps a willing agent of that attempt—either way, a bad move for the new mayor.
Bailey, by the way, is the former vice president of SPOG. Sources tell The Stranger that SPOG had pressed Murray to appoint Bailey as chief. (Murray denies this.)
What does Mayor Murray see in Bailey? A lot, apparently. When Joni Balter, a former Seattle Times columnist, asked Murray in a television interview in January who his "best- case scenario kind of candidate" for police chief is after interim chief Bailey steps aside, Murray said, "Well, um, I am looking for Chief Bailey, actually. You know, if I were to describe somebody, I would describe him." Those six cases Chief Bailey overturned at the union's behest were not the only instances of Bailey defending officers in questionable circumstances.
On the third Saturday night of January of this year, Seattle police officers were patrolling Belltown's crowded sidewalks when they saw two men fighting. One of them, a young African American man, had a gun. "As detectives moved in, the suspect took off running with the gun in his hand," the SPD Blotter reported the next day. As the suspect ran away from them, "the detectives gave chase and shot the suspect, striking him at least once in the buttocks."
Did the cops do the right thing? Was it appropriate to shoot that man in the butt? That's a very serious question, because determining whether force is justified or unjustified is at the heart of the five-year federal court order to reform the SPD. Showing that police use force judiciously is also critical to restoring public trust after a spate of controversial incidents involving officers punching, kicking, and shooting civilians. A federal court settlement now mandates that SPD investigate every serious use-of-force incident to determine if the action was justified. In this Belltown shooting, the officers may well have been justified. After all, a suspect brandishing a firearm in a crowd is dangerous. But then again, shooting a man when he's running away from you is practically shorthand for excessive force. So the SPD faced questions.
Interim chief Bailey stood alone on a podium on January 22 wearing a sharply pressed blue uniform, each collar decorated with four new brass stars. Fresh to the job, Bailey was now facing a skeptical press. "An overwhelming number of comments talk about him shot in the butt—in the back," said KIRO Radio's Brandi Kruse. "Can you address this again, for people who are concerned when they hear that officers shot at him while he was turned away from them?" How Bailey replied would be an important test. At this point, officials still hadn't investigated the shooting to determine if it was justified.
"I think, for me, it is not a concern," Bailey told reporters. "From the briefing that I got, when this officer arrived at the scene, that suspect was facing him. So if there is a message at all, it is he is an extremely lucky man right now that he was shot in the lower extremities as opposed to being dead."
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Regardless of the investigation's final results, that reply from Bailey—that the suspect is "extremely lucky" that he's not "dead"—alarmed lawyers and groups tracking police reform.
"To blame the person who was shot before there is any investigation seems ill-advised," says Jennifer Shaw, who is deputy director of the ACLU of Washington and sits on the police commission, which advises the city on reform. Others were concerned, too: The Public Defender Association sent a stern letter to Bailey warning that appearing to "prejudge" the shooting could undermine a fair investigation.
After all, it was excessive force that led to the settlement we're in, and Shaw's organization had spearheaded a formal request in 2010 asking the Justice Department to probe the SPD, a probe that ultimately led to the settlement. Earlier that year, now- infamous videos had emerged of Seattle police using heavy force against people of color. The most controversial case involved Officer Ian Birk, who chased down a Native American man named John T. Williams, who was shuffling across the street with a wood-carving knife—along with a piece of wood he was carving—and shot Williams at close range, killing him. The SPD's firearms board ruled the Williams shooting unjustified, and likewise, it may find that this January's shooting in Belltown was also unjustified—when it gets around to inquiring. As it turns out, the department still hasn't conducted a review to determine if the force was justified in this shooting, or in the three other officer-involved shootings since last November, SPD spokesman Andrew Garber confirms. He says the department is trying to reconcile its new policies for reviewing force with the longstanding review process for the firearms board.
"If any member of the SPD makes cavalier statements about force, particularly deadly force, that would suggest they do not have an appreciation for the problems we have had for years," says Bruce Harrell, chair of the city council's public safety committee. He's not condemning Bailey, he says, but still, the chief should not be "defaulting to one side or the other."
Bailey doubled down in a follow-up interview. He said officers "showed extraordinary restraint out there," and that the particular officer who fired on the suspect had been "looking down the barrel of a gun." Bailey did not explain how this could have been the case when the suspect was shot in the rear. Bailey also said he couldn't imagine how anyone would see the incident as anything other than an attempt on the officer's life. Was Bailey missing the point that critics were raising—that it was problematic for him, as chief, to prematurely declare the officer was justified? "I didn't miss the point of the question," he fired back. "Is it your opinion—whatever happens out there that the officer should disregard life and safety issues?"
Shaw counters that Bailey should have explained that "the matter is under investigation." Blaming victims and clearing officers has been a pattern "for years" at SPD, Shaw says, noting the Williams killing in particular.
What got the SPD into this federal settlement was not just a pattern of excessive force, but a pattern of downplaying that excessive force, circling the wagons to protect the
65 cops involved, and thereby sending a message that officers could commit acts of misconduct with impunity. That wagon-circling behavior "stopped in the past few years," says Anita Khandelwal, an attorney and supervisor of the Racial Disparity Project at the Public Defender Association. But she and others are concerned that Bailey's handling of the shooting—along with several other recent incidents—indicate that SPD's progress is reversing.
"Commenting on incidents while an investigation is still pending, and seeming to prejudge that investigation, is something we often saw in the 'old days,'" says Khandelwal. "It's dismaying to see a step backward, given that investigation of use of force is a central issue in the consent decree."
And that is just one in a litany of unusual acts from this new leadership. In the time since Murray took office, the culture has shifted inside the Seattle Police Department, according to interviews with members of the police commission, officials at city hall, lawyers, and several cops. First, Murray handed the department's reins to the archconservative police union. Then, the SPD quickly reversed verdicts against multiple officers who were previously found guilty of misconduct, canceled a contract with a UW researcher who was to monitor racial bias in drug enforcement, shed department leaders who promoted reform and kept the union at bay, blamed current mistakes on the reformers they said good-bye to, and then consistently got caught making statements that are difficult to square with the facts.
Murray and his backers disagree.
"I think that police reform is finally happening, because it was not happening before January 1," says Murray, referring to the day he took office. He says that critics simply want to take credit for reform themselves instead of giving credit to his administration. "I see a department taking its first baby steps out of a multiyear dysfunctional history." Asked about Chief Bailey prejudging the shooting, Murray responded, "I don't believe he was doing that."
Murray credits Bailey's appointment, the subsequent demotion of certain command staff, and promotion of SPOG's cronies as proof of progress at the SPD.
US Attorney Jenny Durkan even noted in a recent interview that, with Murray as mayor, "I am seeing a greater commitment to reform than I have previously." Former mayor McGinn had his share of slipups—including obstinately quibbling with some of the Justice Department's findings (for example, he doubted the Feds' argument that Seattle officers used excessive force in 20 percent of instances where force was used). Problems persisted with McGinn after the court order, such as failing to record in-car video, not collecting data on police stops, and inadequately staffing the sergeants who supervise street cops. McGinn squabbled with Durkan and City Attorney Holmes, who had been a police watchdog, and butted heads with council members (to be fair, Holmes and the council spoiled for these fights, too). But now, Durkan says, with Murray and other elected officials unified, "There is one message: Reform is here, it's going to happen."
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Durkan says it is "exciting" that a federal judge approved new policies for stopping suspects, bias-free policing, and using force. Meanwhile, a reform compliance bureau with five captains has been elevated, now run by an assistant chief.
"How people view the police department is critical," says Durkan. "If we make changes but the people don't trust them, they are not the right changes or the changes are not complete enough."
And the opposite of reform, on a basic level, would involve demoting or firing the cops doing all the good work while promoting the cops who oppose it. The opposite of reform would be police getting off the hook for misconduct, the chief protecting bad cops, and the political establishment protecting the chief. Lisa Daugaard, a public defender and deputy director of the Defender Association, flags many of the patterns that have emerged over the past several months as reasons to think that all may not be well in the quest for "reform."
Asked how we would know if reform were in trouble, Daugaard said: "Inaccurate or misleading public statements about what's occurring in the department." She added that other warning signs would be a sudden lack of critical commentary when the department misses deadlines, demoting or reassigning whistleblower cops identifying problems, reluctance to share information with civilian oversight bodies, and making statements that downplay the importance of discipline in transmitting values. "There are still many talented women and men of goodwill and good intentions in SPD doing their best to make things better," says Daugaard. But, she says, "many I speak with are demoralized by some of the recent changes, because leadership in this area to date has been penalized, not rewarded, while resistance has been rewarded, not penalized. They can read the writing on the wall."
Murray is clearly enamored with SPOG, and it's no secret that SPOG is enamored with Murray.
"All I can say is that it is a welcome change," SPOG president O'Neill wrote in a farewell address printed in the Guardian after Murray's election.
Ron Smith, who was sworn in as SPOG's new president on February 26, said in a recent interview that he believes Murray will be a better leader than McGinn was. Under Murray, "Chief Bailey has made more decisions in the first couple months he's been there than most who had been there in the past," Smith said. Those decisions include the demotions of Pugel and Sanford.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Sean Whitcomb, the forward-thinking head of the SPD's media division, has been effectively banished. You may recall SPD's infamously funny Twitter account—run by former Stranger writer Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, whom Whitcomb hired—or the SPD's effort to teach stoners the rules of the new pot-legalization law by posting them on bags of Doritos handed out at Hempfest. Some officers reportedly complained about Whitcomb's outreach efforts. Who was out to get Whitcomb? The
67 head of SPOG, several sources told The Stranger. They say that SPOG president Smith posted a comment on Facebook that suggested Whitcomb would receive retribution. Smith says the Facebook posting was "taken grossly out of context" and that an internal investigation found no wrongdoing. Today, Whitcomb sits at a desk at the city's emergency operations center, essentially put on ice.
Pugel embodied reform. Sanford embodied reform. Whitcomb embodied reform. And look what's happened to them. The Murray administration claims to support progress, but proves it will actually punish the officers behind it.
"People have been keeping their heads down and doing the bare minimum," said one officer when asked about the mood at SPD. "There is an atmosphere of fear."
The officer continued: "The way I see it, these are people who have a deep institutional knowledge of the organization, have been there a long time and earned their way to the top, and have been chipping away at deficiencies for three years... After a long struggle to make this a better organization, boom, they are all gone. You bring in new people who are less experienced, and you give them the same task, but you have erased that last few years of work. It probably sets us back a couple of years."
Meanwhile, in the midst of those demotions and "retirements," several problematic figures in the department got promotions. Joe Kessler, a vice president of the Seattle Police Management Association, which sued to block the reform plan along with SPOG, was elevated to assistant chief and now runs the powerful operations bureau, overseeing all the precincts. Mike Washburn, who opposed the selection of the court monitor, is now Bailey's chief of staff. And Nick Metz, who Pugel demoted last year, was restored to assistant chief. The SPD employees I interviewed were taken aback by these changes.
One particularly well-placed officer at SPD, who asked not to be named in this article for fear of retribution (a different officer than the one mentioned before), talked about it like this: "I don't think the mayor or his staff had any idea what they were doing when they canned the people they canned and promoted the people they promoted." Murray has insisted that cleaning house was necessary for reform, but when asked about the message the shakeup sent, the officer disagreed: "If the people who have been opposing the federal court monitor and reform are elevated, how hard should you work now? There is a risk in working hard to achieve reform. It sends a message that is, at best, confusing about whether they want reform to be successful. Why would you put the fox in charge of the henhouse? How do the hens feel when you put the fox in charge? Are the hens going to be open and willing to really go out there to take some risks? Any risk they take may piss off the folks who are in charge.
"I think a lot of us were quite stunned," the officer continued. "I don't know what they think they did. The mood was shock—complete shock—because everyone who was involved in reform was gone or buried. People just stopped talking. It was like, 'Whoa, what was that all about? What just happened here? What does this mean?'"
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Washburn, Bailey's chief of staff, resisted the police monitor last year, according to the Seattle Times, which reported that Washburn believed picking Merrick Bobb as the hard-nosed SPD monitor would undermine morale among the rank-and-file officers (i.e., SPOG members).
Meanwhile, Kessler is, according to department sources, an old-guard cop. "In public, he'll talk about all sorts of things that sound generally positive," said that well-placed officer in the SPD. "In private, he's the kind of guy who will come up, put his hand on your shoulder, and say, 'I'd be concerned about pushing that issue very far' or 'Be careful what you say.'" The officer explained that Kessler, who had been recruited to advise McGinn, refused to write a brief code of ethics. And the Seattle Times reported in 1999 that Kessler was the subject of an investigation, in which he allegedly called KOMO to say that one of their reporters, Liz Rocca, was gay. That threat was reportedly in retaliation for her reporting on a lawsuit against Kessler by other SPD officers. KOMO received an apology; Kessler was never punished. Now he's one of the most powerful figures at SPD and the chief's right-hand man. (The SPD did not respond by press time to a request for comment about Kessler.) Metz, according to a number of officers, is widely considered more interested in himself and his own relationships than the health of the SPD. After the monitor report noted there was "resistance" to reform in the SPD's upper command staff that compromised the settlement agreement, Metz was demoted to captain, only to be promoted again to assistant chief under the Murray administration. (The SPD didn't respond to a request for comment about Metz, either.)
Having seen progressive-minded cops subverted, officers who support reform say they are scared under this new SPOG-friendly regime.
"It isn't what happens today that everyone is paying attention to, it's what will happen eight months from now when the drama has died down," the well-placed officer said. "Folks are not worried about immediate retaliation. It's whether you're on the right side of the union. There is only one place in the city that all the discipline files of the department are kept, and it's the union office." Will they use those files to smear officers who resist this regime?
"Oh, fuck yeah," the officer said. "There's a ton of internal maneuvering to settle old scores."
When I asked Bailey about his personnel changes, he repeatedly declined to comment. I pointed out that many people—including officers—were concerned because he appeared to demote reform agents while promoting a good old boys' club.
"When I hear things like that, it just makes me angrier than anything," Bailey exploded. "It questions my reputation. I have worked hard to get rid of bigotry. Here it is, the lifetime achievement award from the NAACP," said Bailey, who is African American. He pointed out that he sat down with gay and lesbian people on Capitol Hill when he worked in the East Precinct. "I get angry about people who question [my staff's]
69 integrity. My life is personal," he said. "There is no way between here and hell that I would allow any injustice to happen."
As I left his office, Bailey apologized several times for losing his cool.
In office, Murray has shown he is willing to do SPOG plenty of favors. The seeds were probably planted as early as 2011, when SPOG was furious with then-mayor McGinn for cooperating with federal investigators and denouncing SPOG for being in "a state of denial about the nature and severity of this problem." "We the rank and file of SPOG are under siege from City Hall, led by Mayor Mike McGinn's frequent trashing of YOUR guild in public," Officer Ron Smith wrote at the time in the Guardian. He warned cops that McGinn was "trying to fundamentally transform the deep-rooted culture of our beloved police department" and said the problems won't end until voters "oust this mayor from office." Smith then asked for donations so SPOG could "seek out a candidate we can get behind and support all the way to the finish line."
During last year's election cycle, SPOG endorsed Murray and donated $15,000 to a pro- Murray PAC called People for a New Mayor.
Upon Murray's election, the Guardian gushed that the "sweeping changes" at the department "garnered immediate support from police officers," and soon it was declaring: "Welcome back, Chief Bailey."
In the third week of Murray's term, SPOG saw results. Bailey sent a memo to officers announcing that he "authorized the purchase of the next generation of Seattle Police patrol vehicles: the Ford Police Interceptor Utility." SPOG had pressed the city to buy these SUVs last year, but the McGinn administration frustrated SPOG by putting the order on hold to explore more fuel-efficient alternatives, including hybrids.
In the January 16 memo, Bailey also decreed officers must begin wearing traditional eight-point police hats whenever possible. "I believe the combination of a sharp uniform—which includes the 8-point hat—with the new patrol vehicles will project a professional image to the public," he wrote.
The same week, Bailey also canceled a contract with a University of Washington researcher who was slated to study the racial impacts of marijuana enforcement. Many old-guard cops never liked UW sociologist Katherine Beckett, whose peer-reviewed research over the past decade revealed that Seattle had among the highest levels in the country of racial disproportionality for drug busts. Beckett's study was going to monitor how citations for smoking pot in public were issued—along with pot DUIs and other arrests—now that voters had legalized marijuana. The ordinance creating that citation specifically said that the practice of issuing those tickets needed to be "closely monitored for its race and social justice impacts" by a consultant. Pugel says he drafted a contract with Beckett, in particular, "because she was very candid in the years that she looked at our arrests in Belltown for our buy busts, she is trusted, and she has credibility as an outside university professor who has worked in this area before."
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Picking an independent researcher to work for the city, Beckett says, "signaled a refreshing willingness to identify and address practices that have a disproportionate impact on Seattle's communities of color."
But Bailey pulled the plug, deciding the SPD would conduct the research in-house and let an outsider review it later.
Beckett worries that move "signals a shift away from this commitment to transparency and public accountability... Even if SPD were able to conceive and conduct this research in-house, community confidence in any findings is likely to be higher if the analysis is done by an independent researcher with a track record of publishing in this area."
The most controversial misconduct case in Murray's nascent term involved me, weirdly enough. It was based on a complaint I filed against Officer John Marion, who'd come to the aid of a King County deputy who threatened to arrest me last summer after I took his photo. Officer Marion threatened several times to come "bother" me at work. In January, the King County Sheriff's Office fired the deputy for lying about the incident and abusing his authority, and interim SPD chief Pugel issued a one-day suspension to Officer Marion for being rude. That seemed like a light penalty, but at least Marion was found guilty of misconduct, which would go into his permanent file.
Within days, Bailey was appointed chief, and SPOG was pressing to have Marion's misconduct case overturned. Bailey, without consulting the city attorney's office, as is standard practice, agreed to settle the case. That settlement reduced Marion's penalty from a one-day suspension to a training referral. In doing so, Bailey also removed any record of misconduct from Marion's personnel file.
Strangely enough, Bailey claimed to the Seattle Times and to me that he had not overturned the misconduct finding—that the misconduct verdict would stand. He even sent a letter on February 20 to the city council and mayor that said "I concur with the disposition" of misconduct. But as Council President Tim Burgess put it in a stern e-mail to Bailey, "By changing the disposition to a training referral you have, in effect, reversed the sustained misconduct from the officer's record." Given that Bailey had reopened numerous cases and reversed earlier findings, Burgess added that Bailey's action could "cause great harm to the credibility of the Police Department's ability to properly receive and investigate citizen complaints of police misconduct."
But Bailey stuck to his guns, and Murray stood by him. In a 5 p.m. press conference on a Friday, Murray claimed, "The information [from Bailey] is consistent and doesn't contradict itself." I pointed out that Bailey claimed he didn't overturn the misconduct finding when he actually did. Murray stood firm: "You know, so this is a great legal argument. We ought to be in a Jesuit seminary and splitting hairs."
What? "The discipline of [Officer Marion] will be rescinded," reads the settlement that Bailey signed on Valentine's Day. The Stranger obtained a copy of that settlement, which said explicitly that Marion's "personnel file and OPA records will be updated to
71 reflect the finding of a Training Referral with no discipline imposed." Bailey signed that document on the same day, just as he signed the documents reversing those other six misconduct cases, which makes any claims that he didn't realize he was expunging the misconduct from Marion's record difficult to believe.
The following Monday morning—after a weekend of bad media on the incident— Murray announced yet another hasty press conference. Again, Bailey stood alone on the podium. "Overturning the finding of misconduct was a mistake and sent the wrong signal to our officers and the public," he said. Saying he had only meant to lighten the penalty, not remove the finding of misconduct, Bailey announced, "I am reinstating the misconduct finding." He said the entire mishap was an innocent mistake.
But still, misrepresentations continued. Bailey said his intent in giving Officer Marion training was to "pursue an education-based discipline." That discipline was sending Marion to address his precinct at roll calls to explain what he'd done wrong (threatening to harass me at work). Bailey insisted it was "my decision," and "that having the officer go out and talk to his fellow officers" about what he did wrong was better than giving Marion a day off work. Murray also said that Marion "will have an opportunity to be retrained." Murray said in a statement, "Chief Bailey felt that mandating a training and education day for the officer in question would be a more constructive use of time."
There are two problems here: Bailey didn't assign Officer Marion more training—nor did Murray. Marion had already addressed the roll calls of his own volition, well before this chief was appointed, even before this mayor took office. A March 7 letter from Lieutenant Steven Strand to the chief says, "Following the incident on July 30, 2013, Officer Marion immediately volunteered to do presentations for fellow officers... during the months of December, January, and February." Strand even added, "The training that was created and delivered had not been any part of the discipline process." Nor is there any evidence that Marion actually received corrective training, which was the implication of the mayor's and chief's statements. Instead, he taught others about his mistake.
Council Member Licata, who had extracted the letter from SPD, drilled down further. He said in a rejoinder on March 21: "The additional information you have provided raises additional concerns about the accuracy of information provided to the Council and public... Consistently, the tense used indicated the training was something that was going to happen in the future," but the trainings "had already occurred and were the result of Officer Marion volunteering to do them." Licata said that does "not at all align with statements made that the training was a form of discipline."
"I also have concerns about the impact of allowing an officer to effectively choose his or her own punishment," Licata said.
Murray ended up apologizing, but not for the misrepresentations. "Chief Bailey and I have had extensive discussions about this case. We both agree: This was a mistake," Murray said in a statement. "The decision to change the discipline was the call of the Chief. But I stood with the Chief and publicly supported that decision. And I am Mayor:
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The buck stops with me." He admitted, "To many, our actions look like the opposite of reform." But then he double-crossed himself to say, "But it cannot be overstated: Chief Bailey misled no one." Uh-huh.
City Attorney Holmes says Bailey was simply gullible: "I think he trusted people who were not worthy of his trust." If true, however, this undermines the idea that Murray picked an interim police chief with strong bureaucratic chops and great judgment.
Regardless of the reason, the flip-flop by Murray and Bailey on Officer Marion's discipline—and what appears to be a persistent pattern of misrepresentation—sends a broader message. When Officer Marion and the police union first wanted this misconduct finding reversed, they got it. Yet when, in response, the public, politicians, and media kicked up a fuss, the officer got in trouble again. But those six other cases? All of those officers got their misconduct permanently expunged from their records.
A special consultant to the mayor on police issues, Bernard Melekian, issued a report approving the reversals of those misconduct findings. Melekian is the former police chief of Pasadena, a former employee of the Justice Department, and the current president of a high-end law-enforcement consulting firm called the Paratus Group. Between last fall and March 31, the city paid Melekian $100,000, according to the mayor's office. (Melekian pays his costs of commuting from California, he says, so "I am not getting rich off the City of Seattle.") In his report on those six cases, Melekian indicated that reversing those misconduct findings was what Pugel had intended, and that the "handling of these cases was delayed unnecessarily by previous department leadership." But Pugel never intended to reverse those cases, and, bizarrely, Melekian never talked to Pugel. "All we had to do was talk, and I could have explained it to him," Pugel said recently. When I asked Melekian if he ever contacted Pugel, he admitted, "I did not." Why on earth does a consultant getting paid a king's ransom to figure out what went wrong with misconduct cases never talk to the one person who had the authority to make decisions with regard to those misconduct cases?
And another question: Is the reason that reversing those cases was so easy simply that those cases didn't involve a reporter at a newspaper? Whatever the reason, it's a backward precedent. It suggests that political winds and subjective whims trump actual rules for misconduct. It sends a message that cops can abuse average citizens with impunity, while the chief—and the entire political establishment—will circle the wagons to protect the cops. That's unfair to the majority of cops who are good and perform brave, upstanding work. It's unfair to citizens. It leads victims to believe their complaints won't get a fair shake, and it leads the public to believe that, in the mayor's own words, we have "the opposite of reform." Yet this is how SPOG appears to want the SPD to run—and this is how Murray is running it.
If you were hoping the US Justice Department would come in to kick some ass—to whip Murray and Bailey into shape—don't count on it. US Attorney Durkan and Mayor Murray are said to be longtime allies, with rumors of political aspirations in the Beltway (hers in the next president's cabinet, and his in Congress). Durkan was the first US
73 attorney to serve openly as a lesbian, and Murray is Seattle's first gay mayor, which is wonderful by all accounts, but many political watchers say they share an interest in boosting each other's careers. (Durkan, for her part, said that the conventional wisdom is wrong. "Whomever you are talking to falls in the 'ain't knowing' club," she said in an e-mail.)
Two weeks before the recent election, Durkan went beyond the federal attorney's typical scope by jumping into a campaign spat. McGinn had said he was responsible for creating the Community Police Commission, a key part of the settlement, and that the Feds had resisted it. Murray had cried foul. Then, out of left field, Durkan sent a letter to commissioners that said, in essence, McGinn shouldn't be taking credit. It said the Feds all along had wanted formal community engagement and a "Community Monitoring Board," but city officials essentially just put the tinsel on that tree.
Which flew in the face of what Durkan said at an August 2012 press conference, when she said McGinn "crafted this very important" commission. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez went further at that press conference, saying, "A signature component of this agreement—which was your idea, mayor, and imitation is a form of flattery, I expect to see this elsewhere in the county—is the creation of the Community Police Commission, which is a critical innovation."
Durkan also took the odd step of issuing a formal statement on January 29, 2014, to applaud Bailey's appointment and the changes to department leadership. "We have met with Interim Chief Harry Bailey and believe he is strongly committed to constitutional and effective policing," she said. Durkan also praised Murray's "steady work and strong leadership"—less than a month into his term—as well as "structural changes to ensure compliance and reform efforts are unified and come from the top." I couldn't find any record of Durkan issuing a statement when Pugel was appointed or when Pugel cleared the decks on the command staff.
While Murray was dealing with the cop-misconduct fallout, Durkan was back again with another well-timed missive. In a letter sent on March 27, she criticized the SPD's progress prior to December 31 (the day before Murray took office). She blasted McGinn, and perhaps rightly so, for having exaggerated the costs of reform by including good but ancillary projects (such as the city's Race and Social Justice Initiative and the "20/20" plan to reform SPD culture). "They dug us in a deep hole, from which we have had to climb out over the last two months," wrote Durkan, who noted that Murray "inherited those problems."
It's hard not to take a cynical view of Durkan's actions: When Murray gets into a mess, the US attorney bails him out with conspicuously well-timed praise for his choices (even when the choices are awful appointments, like Bailey) and criticism of his predecessor (even if those criticisms are old budget estimates, which are no longer timely). Sometimes Durkan's politicking just doesn't make sense. Earlier in this article, I mentioned Durkan citing new SPD policies as evidence that reform is afoot—new rules for making stops, handling bias, and using force—but all of those were approved by the court in December 2013, when McGinn was still overseeing SPD. To be fair to McGinn
74 here, in addition to resisting the encroachment of SPOG, his administration was quite effective at reducing drug activity without heavy-handed busts, ending a racially disparate trespass policy, and defending discipline for certain misconduct.
When Durkan's letter did criticize Murray's misconduct brouhaha, she bizarrely cast zero shade. She just said the "controversy... validates the wisdom" of the settlement agreement and called for a "holistic, systemic review of the accountability system."
In other words, when there is misconduct, the union protects bad cops, the chief protects the union, the mayor and his consultant protect the chief, and the US attorney protects the mayor. The rot goes all the way to the top.
There are two ways to get SPD back on track: hiring a new chief and writing a new contract with SPOG. The mayor's office says it will identify three nominees for police chief in May, which means they're at least a month behind schedule. But a new chief could have unprecedented latitude to clear out the cobwebs. A January law passed by the Seattle City Council allows a new chief to recruit a command staff from outside Seattle, potentially wiping the decks of SPOG's cronies.
"If they appoint a new police chief who is willing to drive a hard bargain alongside the council and mayor, things will be different," says David Perez, a constitutional law attorney who was on a citizens advisory committee for the chief search. But that is not what matters most for reform.
What matters most to Perez is a new contract with SPOG. The current employment contract expires at the end of 2014. Murray's HR department will negotiate it, and Perez says this is the chance to implement several key reforms. On the other hand, he says, "If we get a contract similar to the current contract, reform will remain elusive." (SPOG, for its part, says it "has not, nor will not push an agenda at odds with reform," though it does intend to bargain diligently in upcoming contract negotiations.)
Interviews with Perez, discipline auditor Anne Levinson, the consultant Melekian, and other SPD watchers suggest we should pursue the following changes:
Shrink the entire misconduct system so officers have only one avenue to appeal misconduct verdicts. Right now, cops have three ways to challenge cases, and they enjoy more process rights than the criminals they arrest.
2. Move final decisions on appeals out of the chief's hands, ideally to a civilian, and perhaps out of SPD entirely.
3. Eliminate training referral as a punishment, says auditor Levinson. "Despite statements to the contrary," she wrote in a report this month, "training has been and remains an option that the chief can require in addition to discipline."
4. Make the accountability process fair to the complainant by letting them appeal decisions, too. Right now, before the chief ever issues discipline, officers (joined by a
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SPOG representative) can make their case to the chief in a Loudermill hearing to rebut the complaint. But the person who complains never gets to rebut the officer.
5. Open all these hearings to the public and publish the final dispositions of the cases for public review. 6. Consult the city attorney's office on all misconduct settlements, and require the lawyers to issue a memo about their rationale for settling the case.
7. State explicitly that SPOG is not required to defend officers who engage in indefensible conduct.
8. Don't retroactively make up for raises following delays during contract negotiations. One of the problems with the contracts is that they often expire while negotiations with the city are at loggerheads. But when the parties do sign a contract, cops get back-pay. "Build in a provision that prohibits retroactive pay raises so that there is a real cost to SPOG if a contract isn't negotiated on time," Perez says. "Every day they're operating under an old contract represents an irreversible hit to their wallets rather than a deferred benefit." That gives the city leverage to push SPOG into a new contract sooner.
9. Act on recommendations from the Community Police Commission, which will issue a comprehensive proposal this spring for changes within the SPD. Much of it is expected to implicate the SPOG contract. SPOG will likely fight these changes.
But city hall must be willing to go to war with SPOG in contract negotiations and be willing to appoint a chief who refuses to capitulate to SPOG's agenda. Right now, that's not happening. Right now, the city says things are better than ever. Right now, Mayor Murray insists he's not in SPOG's pocket, that reform stalled only under his predecessor, that he is an agent for change, and that misunderstandings were a result of "semantics." Right now, Mayor Murray insists the best-case scenario for a new chief is someone exactly like Bailey. That's insane.
The Seattle City Council, which must confirm the mayor's nominee, refuses to be outwardly critical of Bailey, either. "I think he has been a good interim chief and made some bold decisions," says Council Member Harrell, who leads the city council's public safety committee. And despite Bailey having been caught making dubious statements, Harrell says, "I have confidence in Harry Bailey's leadership, and he has been 100 percent forthcoming with me."
Council President Burgess refused to speak on the record about the issue. What do these folks have in common? They all enthusiastically endorsed Murray. In this city, political egos bruise like pears, and criticizing the SPD amounts to admitting they may have been wrong. The nice politics of Seattle have trumped honest criticism of city hall's handling of the police. And that doesn't bode well for Seattle.
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As things stand, SPOG is getting everything it wants and the citizens are getting a snow job. recommended https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/policeoversight/conversations/messages/1 0480;_ylc=X3oDMTJyMG5kcW5rBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE0NDE0MzE yBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA1OTQxOARtc2dJZAMxMDQ4MARzZWMDZnRyB HNsawNycGx5BHN0aW1lAzEzOTc2NjY5ODY- ?act=reply&messageNum=10480
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