Quorum National and International News clippings & press releases
Providing members with information on policing from across Canada & around the world
21 June 2013
Canadian Association of Police Boards 157 Gilmour Street, Suite 302 Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0N8 Tel: 613|235|2272 Fax: 613|235|2275 www.capb.ca
BRITISH COLUMBIA ...... 4 RCMP Taser-death perjury trial judge will allow other officers’ statements as evidence .. 4 A snapshot of New West crime today ...... 6 RCMP offering weapon amnesty ...... 8 VPD defends ticketing poor for jaywalking ...... 9 Police-homeless tensions on the rise in Abbotsford ...... 10 ALBERTA ...... 12 Lessons to be learned in Vancouver from Calgary police’s time in Twitter jail ...... 12 Teepee aims to bring aboriginal, police into same tent ...... 14 Solicitor General not grabbed by car seizure plan ...... 15 SASKATCHEWAN ...... 16 Regina police going with shorter, stronger statements as part of force’s rebranding ..... 16 No inquest ordered in death of man held in police custody ...... 17 MANITOBA ...... 19 Winnipeg Police Board meets for first time, seeks executive director ...... 19 New city police board starts up ...... 19 Province Announces Two Demerits For Drivers Using Electronic Hand-Held Devices .. 21 RCMP creates auto theft tip line ...... 22 ONTARIO ...... 23 Freeze police officers' wages, urges Ottawa board chair ...... 23 Former police chief named to national parole board ...... 25 Police board chair says Ontario’s police pay arbitration ‘out of control’ ...... 26 Police board asked to approve racial profiling policy Monday ...... 27 First Day for Kingston's New Top Cop...... 28 Ontario denies union's claim it suspended jail guard training ...... 29 Toronto’s auditor general delays independent review of police street checks ...... 30 Ottawa police chief says force doing too much ...... 31 London police loading up for $900,000 in service fee hikes ...... 34 Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair must speak up on video allegedly showing Rob Ford: Editorial ...... 36 QUEBEC ...... 37 Three Montreal police officers suspended amid RCMP probe ...... 38 Métro crime on the decline ...... 38 NEW BRUNSWICK ...... 42 Court of Appeal orders retrial for Saint John police officer ...... 43 Saint John needs sex-offender data, deputy mayor says ...... 44 NOVA SCOTIA ...... 45 Independent watchdog will probe if RCMP ignored woman’s calls before she tried to hire hitman to kill husband ...... 45 Police looking to auction off ‘weird and wonderful stuff’ ...... 47 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ...... 48 Police recognized for enforcement of designated parking bylaw ...... 48 NEWFOUNDLAND ...... 49 Province reaches deal with air search and rescue volunteers ...... 49 NATIONAL ...... 50 Pioneering report suggests homelessness costs Canada $7B, affects 200,000 people a year ...... 50
2 'Gladue' court for Native offenders could be in Ottawa next year ...... 52 C-42: Enhancing RCMP Accountability Act Receives Royal Assent ...... 54 Consequences for bad behaviour in the RCMP ...... 55 RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson ‘truly sorry’ for perceived slight against mentally ill . 56 OPEN FOR BUSINESS: THE CENTRE FOR FIRST NATIONS GOVERNANCE ...... 58 INTERNATIONAL NEWS ...... 59 Macon council seeks hike in police and firefighter pensions ...... 59 In Hot Pursuit of Numbers to Ward Off Crime ...... 61 Private force eyed to bolster police in Camden ...... 64 Five Pittsburgh police officers no longer screening recruits ...... 64 Chiefs oppose ABC police outsourcing ...... 65 Watchdog concurs with LAPD on Dorner findings ...... 67 Couple arrested by L.A. County sheriff's deputy win $550,000 award ...... 68 Seizure of more bulletproof vests worries police ...... 70 Crime In Kansas City: Statistics and Prevention ...... 71 Paying municipal workers for unused sick and vacation days can be costly ...... 72 Scranton police, fire unions seek pension increase ...... 74 Community groups join forces to reduce crime ...... 76 Council rejects tentative agreement with Police Officers Association ...... 77 Pittsburgh creates criteria for examiners evaluating police academy candidates ...... 79 Harrisburg police contract vote a key step toward resolving city debt ...... 80 Victoria Police to vet recruits for links with bikie gangs ...... 82 City to Settle Pension Suit for Workers Called to Arms ...... 83 State judge sides with lieutenants union in toll battle with Port Authority ...... 85 Stop Lying About Universal Background Checks ...... 86 ATF report: 190,000 firearms lost or stolen in 2012 ...... 90 Delving into crime data and finding flaws ...... 90 Bratton: ‘No Quick Fix’ for Oakland PD ...... 92 Recorded crime in Scotland has fallen to a 39-year low ...... 94
3 BRITISH COLUMBIA
RCMP Taser-death perjury trial judge will allow other officers’ statements as evidence
THE CANADIAN PRESS JUNE 20, 2013
VANCOUVER — The trial for an RCMP officer charged with perjury can examine the police statements of all four Mounties involved in Robert Dziekanski's death, a judge ruled Thursday.
The statements are a key piece of evidence for prosecutors as they allege the officers colluded to mislead homicide investigators, then lied at a public inquiry to cover up their collaboration.
The decision comes partway through the trial of Const. Bill Bentley, who is among four officers accused of lying at the public inquiry that examined what happened when Dziekanski was stunned with a Taser at Vancouver's airport.
The Crown asked the judge to allow them to compare Bentley's notes and his statement to a homicide investigator, provided in the hours after Dziekanski died on October 2007, with the statements of the other three officers.
The Crown alleges similar mistakes found in all four officers' notes and statements indicate they colluded to come up with a story to justify their actions and then lied on the stand to cover up their initial dishonesty.
The defence urged the judge not to admit the statements.
But Justice Mark McEwan ruled that the statements will be allowed, though he did not comment on whether there is any merit to the Crown's allegations of collusion.
"I am satisfied the statements of the other three officers are admissible for the limited purpose of comparisons with statements of the accused," McEwan said as he delivered a brief oral decision in B.C. Supreme Court.
Last week, McEwan raised concerns that allowing the allegations of collusion into Bentley's trial could be prejudicial to the other three officers, who are all scheduled to stand trial by juries later this year or early next year.
On Thursday, he reiterated those concerns, which he said should prompt "caution" when future juries are instructed.
4 Bentley was among four officers called to Vancouver's airport after 911 calls about a man throwing furniture in a secure area of the international terminal. Dziekanski, who spoke no English, had spent nearly 10 hours at the airport after arriving from Poland to live with his mother.
Within seconds of arriving, one of the officers stunned Dziekanski with a Taser. He died on the airport floor.
Bentley is accused of lying at the public inquiry when he was asked to explain discrepancies between the initial accounts in his notes and police interviews, and what can be seen on an amateur video of the confrontation.
For example, Bentley wrote in his police notes that Dziekanski grabbed a stapler and "came at (the officers) screaming" before he was stunned; he told a homicide investigator that two officers took Dziekanski to the ground. Both of those claims were contradicted by the video, which emerged about a month after Dziekanski's death.
The Crown has told the court that all four Mounties initially said two officers took Dziekanski to the ground, several suggested he moved toward the officers before he was stunned, and at least two said Dziekanski was "fighting through" the effects of the Taser.
Those similarities, prosecutors contend, shows there was collusion between the officers. The Crown plans to make the same allegations at the other officers' trials, the court has heard.
Bentley's defence has suggested the initial inaccuracies were honest mistakes that were the product of a rapidly unfolding event and the trauma of having been involved in an in-custody death.
The defence has noted several civilian witnesses at the airport made the same mistakes as the officers.
The trial heard the latest example Thursday, when Lance Rudek, who was a security guard at the airport, was asked to review a statement he provided to a homicide investigator in the early morning hours after Dziekanski died.
Rudek said in his statement that "two or three" officers "took a couple of seconds to get him on the ground," even though the video clearly shows Dziekanski falling, without being tackled, after the first Taser jolt.
"That's what I remember," Rudek testified Thursday.
None of the allegations against Bentley or the other officers have been tested in court.
Bentley, Const. Kwesi Millington, Const. Gerry Rundell, and former corporal Benjamin (Monty) Robinson, were each charged with perjury in May 2011.
5 They are standing trial separately, with the remaining trials scheduled for November of this year and February 2014.
A snapshot of New West crime today
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER By Grant Granger - New Westminster News Leader Published: June 20, 2013 5:00 PM Updated: June 21, 2013 9:57 AM When Paul Hyland first hit New Westminster’s streets as a constable in 1995 it wasn’t a pretty sight.
Drugs were openly dealt and consumed, and property crime was rampant to fuel the illicit trade.
Residents felt uncomfortable walking around their own Downtown.
Since then crime has dropped dramatically in the city, as it has throughout the Lower Mainland and the country, for that matter, as well.
“Intelligence-led policing is a large part of that,” said Hyland, now a NWPD staff sergeant.
Every Wednesday morning, said Hyland, the department’s unit heads gather to look over the latest statistics, over the long and shorter term, and local versus regional.
The emphasis has changed from the 1990s.
Back then, a lot of resources were put into reducing the street problems.
It was more about arrests and a raw cleaning up of crime that everyone could see.
Now there’s a more holistic approach to dealing with issues on the street with the department recently assigned an officer to be a liaison with Fraser Health, the city and the Lookout Society to assist those with substance abuse and mental health issues.
“There’s a much bigger issue there than just homelessness,” said Hyland.
Helping people who are homeless goes a long way to reducing policing and society costs in general, he said.
Drug dealing hasn’t disappeared, though.
Instead of being outside and overt, now it’s inside and covert. Dial-a-dope delivery service operations are what police are battling these days.
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“It’s less visible,” said Hyland. “We have to be more innovative in our techniques and weed out the info on who’s doing what and how to get ahold of them … There’s been a massive reduction in the amount of drug files but we are aware it’s out there.”
At those weekly meetings, the unit heads will look at where the spikes in crimes are and then develop a plan. Sometimes it’s even predictable based on who has been recently released from prison and are back prowling their favourite hunting grounds.
“A small number of offenders are responsible for a large amount of the crimes that take place,” said Hyland.
Car theft used to be big for those looking to fuel their habits, but that’s gone down significantly mainly because of manufacturer technology, said Hyland. The newer vehicles are equipped with theft prevention devices that have proven effective.
What still occurs a lot, he said, is theft from vehicles, although that too is dropping. While the numbers went down from 806 in 2011 to 730 in 2012, a decrease of 9.4 per cent, Hyland said drivers still leave valuables, such as GPS devices, in their cars out in the open and easily accessible.
“Those kind of items are just like magnets to thieves,” he said.
He pointed out improved forensics identification techniques have also produced “great results” in being able to nab thieves. But it’s not an activity police will be able to eliminate, said Hyland, because the vast majority of offenders are doing it to supply a drug habit and won’t stop because they might get caught. “Consequences don’t come into their thought process.”
What makes the city somewhat attractive to thieves is easy access to SkyTrain with its five stations in New Westminster. Ideally, said Hyland, that problem will be eliminated later this year when TransLink activates its fare gates that are currently being installed.
“New Westminster is a small geographic area so the offenders don’t necessarily live in New Westminster, they’re in transit through New Westminster,” said Hyland.
The city’s size comes into play in analyzing other statistics as well. Violent crime stats are hard to peg for trends because New West is such a small sample size. Although Hyland said the city doesn’t have the number of stabbings and shootings it once did, NWPD stats show assaults rose by 12.4 per cent from 2011 to 2012.
But since New Westminster isn’t as big as Vancouver or Surrey, it doesn’t take much to skew the numbers in a good or bad direction. For instance, in 2011 there was one homicide in New Westminster but in 2012 there were two, which is a ‘100 per cent increase.’
7
“All it takes is one individual in one night and they can bring the number of incidents up.”
Like the drug trade, another crime trend is conducted behind closed doors. While there was only a slight rise of 3.2 per cent in fraud cases between 2011 and 2012, New Westminster seniors seem to be vulnerable to con artists. The department frequently issues press releases about the latest creative telephone or Internet scam.
“If it doesn’t seem right or it seems too good to be true, it is too good to be true,” advises Hyland. “The older generation seems to be too trusting. [The fraudsters] will target thousands in the hopes they will get one that gives them what they want. The message is don’t ever give them money.”
Hyland said a frequent tactic is to tell the target they’ve won something but they’ll have to send some money to pay for the taxes to collect it. “That’s not recoverable,” said Hyland.
Overall, the crime trends of the days when Hyland was on the beat are different than those of today, and mostly the changes have been for the better.
“The issues in New Westminster have changed quite a bit,” said Hyland. “We’re happy there’s a downward trend and certainly we feel New Westminster is a safer community to live in.”
RCMP offering weapon amnesty
By Kristi Patton - Penticton Western News Published: June 19, 2013 2:00 PM Updated: June 19, 2013 2:10 PM Through the month of June, RCMP are offering assistance to South Okanagan residents wanting to safely dispose of unwanted, documented or undocumented firearms and weapons.
“We know there are guns, weapons and ammunition out there and people have had them over the years and don’t know what to do with them,” said Penticton RCMP Sgt. Rick Dellebuur. “What this amnesty does is it allows them an opportunity to dispose of these weapons and eliminate any risk unwanted firearms and weapons pose.”
Until June 30, residents can contact RCMP to have the weapons, that have not been used in a criminal offence, picked up to be disposed of without facing weapons-related Criminal Code charges. Dellebuur said throughout the years he has seen residents contact them to dispose of old rifles and pistols. Quite often, he said, people come into possession of the items when a relative has died and the family has hung onto the firearm.
8 “The family may have had it for years and doesn’t really know what to do with them. There is lots of red tape attached to owning firearms and this allows them to dispose of it in a safe manner,” said Dellebuur. “We also can assist them if someone is interested in purchasing the weapon with the necessary paperwork and forms in a timely fashion.”
The last gun amnesty was held in 2006. Dellebuur said at that time there were 3,200 guns returned to police detachments across the province. Included in that cache were 505 handguns, 96,500 rounds of ammunition, a rocket launcher and a machine gun. He said the amnesty reduces the chance that these unwanted weapons end up on the streets.
“All police departments have a common goal of keeping our communities safe,” said Insp. Brad Haugli, president of the British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police. “The BCACP is fully supportive of this gun amnesty program to do just that. Removing guns from homes will prevent them from falling into the hands of criminals and from accidentally hurting innocent people.”
Anyone who possesses registered or unregistered guns, ammunition and weapons, even imitation and pellet weapons, pepper spray and knives are being asked to phone the Penticton RCMP non-emergency line at 250-492-4300. The operator will ask information about the firearms and ammunition in your possession including make, model, serial number and calibre which usually is marked on the firearm itself. RCMP will come to your house to receive the weapon and residents are advised not to transport the weapons themselves to the police detachment for security reasons. Most of the firearms across the province will be destroyed, while a small number may be kept for training purposes.
VPD defends ticketing poor for jaywalking
By Jeremy Nuttall, 24 hours Vancouver Tuesday, June 18, 2013 6:39:02 PDT PM
Vancouverites won’t go to jail for jaywalking tickets and police aren’t issuing warrants if you refuse to pay.
Police do, however, set departmental goals for teams of officers to compete with each other on how many tickets they write, calls they attend or “street checks” performed, the Vancouver Police Board heard Tuesday.
Chief Jim Chu responded to criticism from the Pivot Legal Society and Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users on Tuesday. The two associations argued residents of the Downtown Eastside are unfairly ticketed.
The police board is expected to rule on the issue in July.
9 Earlier this month, Pivot found in a freedom-of-information request that a disproportionate number of tickets for the offences are concentrated in the DTES.
Chu said there are more officers in that community due to violence and other community concerns, and police can’t simply ignore safety concerns.
“Last week, we had a person that was driving going the 30 kilometre speed limit, she had to swerve to avoid somebody jaywalking. She ended up hitting a meter … on the sidewalk,” he said.
“If they can’t afford to pay the ticket, they don’t have to. There are alternate means.”
In the past five years, police have used a “performance measuring system” to enable supervisors to scrutinize the amount and type of work each team conducts.
“We will tell our officers where the high accident intersections are, where the high accident streets are. If they’re writing tickets there, then that’s a good thing.”
Mayor Gregor Robertson, chair of the police board, said city engineers are looking into steps beyond the reduced Hastings Street speed limit and pedestrian countdown timers already installed in the community.
“The next level of changes is more expensive, barriers and more dramatic engineering changes to the street,” he said.
Chu said other offences, such as street vending — where 95% of ticketed violations were in the DTES — were a result of business complaints.
Police-homeless tensions on the rise in Abbotsford DANIEL BITONTI VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail Published Tuesday, Jun. 18 2013, 9:40 PM EDT
The Abbotsford police are facing allegations from a community group that officers trashed a homeless camp in the city’s downtown, including blasting bear mace and pepper spray into tents, raising more concerns about how the city is dealing with its homeless population.
The alleged incident, brought forward at a city meeting last week, comes just days after the mayor publicly apologized to residents after city workers dumped chicken manure near another homeless camp.
“There have been allegations [against officials] for a number of years, but they’ve escalated over the last 60 to 90 days,” said Ward Draper, the executive
10 director of the 5 and 2 Ministries, a community outreach organization that works with Abbotsford’s homeless population.
Mr. Draper says that several people, who live in a downtown area known as Compassion Park, told him that in late May five tents were destroyed by police officers with at least three sprayed with either bear mace or pepper spray. He says he believes the information he received is reliable.
“They went back inside the tents and their eyes started watering. The effects of the mace was evident,” said Mr. Draper, who presented the allegations to the city’s Social Development Advisory Committee.
Mr. Draper added that some of the people affected by the alleged incident have dispersed to other areas of the city, while others remain in the park.
The Abbotsford police say they are investigating the matter.
“We certainly give a high level of credibility to the 5 and 2 Ministries,” said Constable Ian MacDonald, a spokesperson for the Abbotsford Police. “They’re front-line advocates and that’s part of the reason why we took the allegations seriously.”
The department has also requested that the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner begin an investigation into the allegations.
Constable MacDonald says there is still no official complainant and the police have no exact location or timeline of when the alleged incident took place.
“If people have information about these allegations, or a story to tell, we’re trying to reach out to them and make contact with us, and if need be have us go to the field and ask the questions,” he said.
Earlier in the month, Abbotsford city workers dumped chicken manure near another homeless camp, sparking outrage from homeless advocates. The city’s general manager took responsibility for the incident and Mayor Bruce Banman later issued an apology.
Mr. Banman says that incident and the latest one allegedly involving the police reflect the need for a larger discussion on the homelessness situation in Abbotsford.
“The cities cannot not be solely responsible for finding a solution to homelessness. It’s going to take all levels of government to find a solution,” Mr. Banman said. “The problems are as varied as the people themselves.”
Mr. Draper of the 5 and 2 Ministries says the city urgently needs to look at viable housing alternatives.
11 “What kind of housing options can we come up with? Can we come up with a community camp idea? Could we come up with container housing?” Mr. Draper said. “Things that could address some of the housing issues in our area.”
ALBERTA Lessons to be learned in Vancouver from Calgary police’s time in Twitter jail
Silencing cops during flood crisis shows the risks in leaving decisions in a crisis to a computer algorithm, says SFU expert
BY GILLIAN SHAW, VANCOUVER SUN JUNE 21, 2013
That’s the social media report card out of flooded Calgary following a Twitter lockdown that silenced the police department’s emergency tweets late Thursday until an outcry on the social media stream prompted the social media company to release the police from “Twitter jail” a few hours later.
“I’m surprised it got shut down,” said Simon Fraser University communication professor Peter Chow-White. “People have been thinking of Twitter as reliable, it seemed to be reliable during Hurricane Sandy, during the bombings in Boston — you didn’t hear stories about Twitter shutting anything down.
“Twitter has become really important for crisis communications.”
Twitter jail is a term used online for what happens when you tweet too often. According to Twitter rules, users are limited to 1,000 tweets (including retweets) per day, with smaller limits governing “semi-hourly intervals.”
“The tweet limit of 1,000 updates per day is further broken down into semi-hourly intervals,” Twitter says in its rules. “If you hit your account update/tweet limit, please try again in a few hours after the limit period has elapsed.”
Chow-White said the incident shows the risks in leaving decisions in a crisis to a computer algorithm.
“I wouldn’t say Twitter failed, I would say (Twitter’s) computer algorithm failed,” he said.
“When algorithms make decisions in a moment of crisis, those decisions have consequences,” he said. “Automated systems can have failures and this was obviously a failure of an automated system.”
12 In the Alberta flooding crisis, Calgary Police — tweeting as @CalgaryPolice — have been a go-to source, answering questions and sharing information with a constant Twitter stream. The account was locked when it reached a daily limit but quick-thinking constable Jeremy Shaw of the department’s Digital Communications Unit stepped in to post official information on his own account to keep the information flowing until Twitter lifted the tweet ban.
Chow-White said since emergency services in other crisis situations didn’t appear to suffer a similar problem, it could be that the Calgary Police account just wasn’t recognized for what it is.
“Maybe Twitter isn’t aware the Calgary Police account is the Calgary Police because they’re outside the U.S.”
Chow-White gives high marks to the Calgary Police department’s use of Twitter during the crisis. A read of the Calgary Police Twitter stream indicates it is answering questions as well as broadcasting information to help people cope with the rising flood waters.
“It is fantastic they are engaging people,” he said. “I have seen police agencies use Twitter as a one-way medium.
“You have to stop seeing Twitter as a broadcast medium to put information out and see it as a way of engaging the community.”
That is a lesson the Vancouver police department learned when it faced its first real crisis after starting to use Twitter, Vancouver’s 2011 hockey riots. Since its early days on Twitter, the VPD — tweeting under the profile @VancouverPD — has broadened its engagement, answering questions and interacting with the online community as well as sharing news and information.
Sgt. Randy Fincham, spokesman for the VPD, said the department, along with the city’s emergency services, will be talking to the Calgary Police after the current crisis, to try to ensure Vancouver won’t be hit with a similar shutdown in the event of an emergency here.
“What happened in Calgary was a good case study for everybody involved,” said Fincham. “I don’t think anyone was aware a certain number of tweets would close down the system.
“This will turn into a good test case for all emergency systems in the city. If Twitter is going to be a means of communication with the public following a major event, what happened in Calgary will form a good lesson for everybody involved.”
Fincham said police and the city would not only be considering the Twitter incident but other social media communications channels.
“In this case we will first contact the Calgary Police to determine what it was that shut the system down,” he said. “If necessary we would approach other providers, not just Twitter, to see if there are similar concerns.”
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Fincham said Twitter has become an effective communications channel for the VPD.
“We find it is an effective way to get accurate, unfiltered information out to the public very quickly and it is also a way for the public to get unfiltered questions directed to the police very quickly,” he said.
Fincham said the Calgary Twitter incident demonstrates the importance of finding out the capabilities of a system.
“Sometimes you won’t find out those capabilities or restrictions until something has been pushed to the limit.”
Twitter did not respond requests for an interview Friday.
Teepee aims to bring aboriginal, police into same tent Many hope dedication of ceremonial structure will help repair hurt relationship CBC News Posted: Jun 19, 2013 10:39 PM MT Last Updated: Jun 19, 2013 11:20 PM MT Edmonton police dedicated a traditional teepee in the river valley Wednesday.
The ceremony was part of a new strategy designed to foster cultural awareness within the police service, and many aboriginal people are hopeful for change.
Many blame racism for their mistreatment in the past — but now hope to build a new relationship with the Edmonton Police Service.
Former EPS employee Kathleen Sawdo said Wednesday's ceremony was a desperately needed first step to repair the relationship between aboriginal Edmontonians and the city's police force.
Sawdo, who used to work as an administrator for the victim services unit, said the need for cultural awareness within the police force is obvious.
"I was told to be less aboriginal at work," said Sawdo.
Among the things that her colleagues said were "inappropriate": earrings, her habit of keeping sweetgrass at her desk, saying "thank you" in her native language and displaying pictures of her children.
Former EPS employee Kathleen Sawdo said the need for cultural awareness within the police force is obvious. She hopes the teepee dedication helps to prevent future aboriginal EPS employees from the stresses she experienced. (CBC)
14 "I had finally come to the place where you're supposed to be proud and you feel proud of who you are and where you come from," said Sawdo, "and that made me feel like I shouldn't be again and I felt like a dirty little Indian kid again."
Sawdo said she was promised that her unit would receive aboriginal-awareness training — but that police reneged on the promise.
"Their internal process obviously doesn't work. They can promise things and still get away with it — and that's not right."
Sawdo eventually quit her job, and later won a judgement against EPS through the Alberta Human Right's Commission.
She said she's hopeful the teepee dedication means real change is coming.
“I still have hope, but I’m skeptical.”
Police Chief Rod Knecht said the ceremony was more than just a symbol.
"There's always ways to do things better. I think, historically, we could have done things different — we could have done things better. We don't always understand."
But now, he says, that is beginning to change.
"This is a great first step," he said. "It's tangible, something we can see, something we can feel, and I think it will bring the community together — the Edmonton Police Service and the aboriginal community."
Solicitor General not grabbed by car seizure plan 12:01am Jeremy Lye Inews.com 6/17/2013
The push by the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police to seize vehicles of speeding drivers appears to have stalled with the province's Solicitor General saying the proposed legislation is a no-go.
Jonathon Denis says his department isn't considering the idea.
Denis says there's no evidence the proposal -- which allows for police to seize a vehicle caught speeding at fifty kilometres over the limit -- would curb the number of high speed drivers, adding he has no reason to think that plan would work.
"We have not seen any evidence that these additional powers police are seeking would have a measured impact on high-speed drivers," Denis says.
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On Monday, Edmonton police chief Rod Knecht told a news conference at EPS headquarters "... we're seeing too many people killed on the highways."
"It doesn't take much when you're going 160 to 170 kilometres an hour, and 200 kilometres an hour," Knecht said.
"We're getting more and more of those, especially this spring when the thaw eventually did happen."
"We just don't want to see people killed," Knecht said.
Under the chiefs' proposed legislation, any seizure of a speeder's vehicle would be up to the discretion of the police officer.
SASKATCHEWAN
Regina police going with shorter, stronger statements as part of force’s rebranding By Ross Romaniuk Metro Regina June 19, 2013
Less, they say, can often be more.
And Regina police have found some much shorter — and seemingly more effective — ways to make strong statements about their role in the community.
After using its most recent mission, vision and values statements for only two years, the force is effectively scrapping them in favour of words that get much more to the point.
“Sometimes the real chore is trying to find a simple and direct way to say what you mean and what you stand for,” Elizabeth Popowich, spokeswoman for the Regina Police Service, said on Wednesday.
“Surprisingly, that takes lots of effort.”
The police service is, for starters, doing away with a mouthful of a mission statement that uses a couple dozen words or so to explain what only three words can accomplish.
The new mission statement is, “Public service first.”
16 For the RPS’s vision, it’s using: “Working together to keep Regina safe.” And for the force’s values, it now has, “respectful”, “professional” and “service”.
Introduced on Wednesday at a meeting of the city’s board of police commissioners, the new statements are a way to make them much easier to remember — for the public, and for the RPS brass and officers themselves.
“It’s difficult to tell the public what you do, if you can’t recite for yourself the things that you value,” Popowich explained of what she described as “long, cumbersome” statements in an RPS strategic plan launched two years ago.
“It was hard for any member of the public to connect with it, and hard for our own members to just say, in very short declarative phrases, what we stand for.”
The change is a step in a wider RPS rebranding that began last year. That includes the force’s coat of arms as a new corporate logo, and changes to vehicle decals, uniform patches and business cards, among other things.
No inquest ordered in death of man held in police custody Estevan Mercury
June 19, 2013 There will be no inquest held in regards to the death of Bradley Stephen Stadey on Dec. 20, 2011 while in Estevan Police Service (EPS) custody.
That was the word coming from Saskatchewan’s Chief Coroner, Kent Stewart last week after he was contacted by The Mercury.
“The matter has been reviewed and it was determined that Mr. Stadey died of natural causes, a non-preventable severe coronery artery disease event and his incarceration in the Estevan Police Service cell had nothing to do with his death,” said Stewart.
Stadey had been placed in custody by members of the Estevan RCMP detachment on the night of Dec. 19 following a disturbance at a labour camp east of the city, in the RM of Estevan. The RCMP said the incident included a potential assault and the uttering of threats with alcohol being a contributing factor.
Stadey, 52, was placed in EPS cells by RCMP. This is a common practice in Estevan with the RCMP using the municipal policing cells for people they wish to detain for further processing the next day.
Stadey’s death was confirmed by 9 a.m. the following morning but the exact time of death was not determined, but rather placed at sometime between midnight and 9 a.m.
17 EPS protocol calls for continuous video surveillance of those being held in custody plus personal observational checks every 15 minutes by police cell monitors.
Stewart said the investigation revealed no problem with the police video monitor and that a visual check would have suggested that Stadey was asleep and that staff members would not be inclined to wake a sleeping subject.
“The autopsy doesn’t pinpoint exact time of death. It isn’t like in CSI,” said Stewart, citing a popular crime investigation television series. He said the removal of the subject and the need to transport him to Regina for autopsy procedures, would make the exact timing of death near impossible.
“To the observer (through a cell window), Mr. Stadey appeared to be sleeping in his cell and the checks were completed and even if he had been awakened, it’s very doubtful the event that caused his death could have been avoided,” Stewart said.
The coroner added that Stadey did have a pre-existing medical condition and the toxicology report indicated that he had been taking his prescribed medication(s) to treat it.
As with any incident involving serious injury or death in police custody, the matter was turned over to another policing body to conduct the investigation. In this case, the Regina Police Service’s Major Crimes Unit was assigned to the case with the lead investigator being Sgt. Caroline Houston. Protocol also requires the appointment of an independent observer to monitor the investigation and that job was assigned to Larry Peters, a former member of the Moose Jaw Police Service, now retired. The RCMP also assigned a liaison officer to provide updated reports on the investigation led by the Regina Police Service and the Chief Coroner’s office.
Stewart said the final report regarding Stadey’s death was issued May 7, but he had reached his decision not to order a public inquest just prior to that date based on the facts that were made known through the investigation.
Stadey’s family said they had been expecting a formal public inquest into the event since it occurred while he was in police custody. He was survived by two children, two sisters and one brother plus numerous aunts and uncles. He was predeceased by his father and mother in 1963 and 1998 respectively. Stadey had arrived in Estevan a few days prior to the event that led to his arrest and was employed on contract to a local construction company as a heavy equipment operator.
Stadey was born in Thunder Bay, Ont., and grew up there as well as in Upsala, Ont. before moving with his family to Port Moody, B.C.
When contacted by The Mercury, the Regina Police Service communications department said that since a public inquest was not ordered, any further details
18 other than those provided by the Chief Coroner would probably not be released through an interview with the investigating officer(s).
The last known incident in Estevan involving the death of a person in police custody was in 1906, according to EPS records.
MANITOBA
Winnipeg Police Board meets for first time, seeks executive director By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 06/21/2013 1:10 PM | Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Police Service is now being guided by a civilian-led police board. The first meeting of the Winnipeg Police Board was held today after all board members were sworn in.
Coun. Scott Fielding (St. James-Brooklands), who is the board’s first chairman, said it was a short agenda with the board only approving when it will meet the next three times, approving a budget for the rest of the year, and picking a sub- committee to search for an executive director.
"This is probably the shortest meeting we will have," said committee member Mary Jane Loustel, who is the chairwoman of Economic Development Winnipeg. Other members of the board are former provincial Liberal leader and lawyer Paul Edwards as vice-chairman; Coun. Thomas Steen (Elmwood-East Kildonan); David Keam, president of Best Sleep Centre; and Leslie Spillett, founder of the aboriginal organization Ka Ni Kanichihk. Winnipeg and 10 other municipalities in the province were ordered by the provincial government to set up civilian-led police boards in the wake of a public inquiry into police conduct in the investigation of the death of Crystal Taman. Taman was kiled in a car crash which involved an off-duty police officer. The board has the power to hire, fire and review police chiefs, recommend budgets, and approve policy and direction. New city police board starts up By: Kevin Rollason
Winnipeg Free Press
Posted: 1:00 AM | Eight years after Crystal Taman died when a truck driven by an off-duty city police officer rear-ended her at a red light, a civilian-led board has started overseeing the Winnipeg Police Service.
19
It was the death of Taman, a 40-year-old mother of three, on Feb. 25, 2005, and the subsequent botched police investigation that not only sparked a provincial inquiry but also caused the provincial government to amend the Police Services Act in 2009.
Members of the Winnipeg Police Board:Coun. Scott Fielding (St. James- Brooklands): He is chairman of the board as well as chairman of the civic committee of protection and community services, which formerly oversaw the police.Paul Edwards: He is a lawyer with Duboff Edwards Haight and Schachter and is a former leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party. He will also serve as vice- chairman of the board.Coun. Thomas Steen (Elmwood-East Kildonan): A member of the original Winnipeg Jets, he is the councillor responsible for youth and recreational opportunities.David Keam: He is president of Best Sleep Centre and a former member of the Winnipeg Police Advisory Board.Mary Jane Loustel: She is chairwoman of Economic Development Winnipeg, National Aboriginal Program Executive for IBM Canada, and board director and chairwoman of the Aboriginal Human Resources Council's finance committee.Leslie Spillett: She is one of two members appointed to the board by the provincial government. She is founder of the aboriginal organization Ka Ni Kanichihk.Vacant: The provincial government is still determining who will be its second appointee. Chief among the amendments was one forcing Winnipeg and 10 other municipalities to create civilian-led police boards.
On Friday, the Winnipeg Police Board -- four citizens and two city councillors -- took its first steps after the members were sworn in by Mayor Sam Katz. "We set the priorities for the Winnipeg police, and we hire, fire and evaluate the chief of police," board chairman Coun. Scott Fielding (St. James-Brooklands) said afterwards. "This is a new process going forward."
The new board also has the responsibility to recommend the police budget to city council. Police Chief Devon Clunis said he has no problem reporting to the new board instead of the civic protection and community services committee.
"I don't think there will be a significant difference," Clunis said. "All of us have the same goal -- to have the safest city we can."
The first and only items of business at the inaugural meeting were approving the next three meeting dates, giving approval to a $233,588 budget for the last six months of this year, and choosing a subcommittee to search for an executive director. The budget calls for a salary of $69,750 for the members from July to December.
"This is probably the shortest meeting we will have," board member Mary Jane Loustel said.
Afterwards, Loustel said she is looking forward to the board getting to work in the fall after summer training sessions.
20 "We've pulled together a great group of people... It is our responsibility to provide leadership for future generations," Loustel said.
Board member Dave Keam, president of Best Sleep Centre, said he's "looking forward to making a difference... It's a way for me to give back."
The final member of the board still has to be chosen by the province. The province originally appointed Louise Simbandumwe to the board, but the board was delayed when she said having Winnipeg police do background checks on nominees was a conflict of interest. The city has since decided the RCMP can do the security checks.
The members of the Winnipeg Police Board are: -- Coun. Scott Fielding (St. James-Brooklands), chairman of the board and chairman of the civic protection and community services committee, which formerly oversaw the police. -- Paul Edwards, a lawyer with Duboff Edwards Haight and Schachter and a former leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party. He will also serve as vice- chairman of the board. -- Coun. Thomas Steen (Elmwood-East Kildonan), a member of the original Winnipeg Jets and a city councillor responsible for youth and recreational opportunities. -- David Keam, president of Best Sleep Centre and former member of the Winnipeg Police Advisory Board. -- Mary Jane Loustel, chairwoman of Economic Development Winnipeg, national aboriginal program executive for IBM Canada and board director and chairwoman of the Aboriginal Human Resources Council's finance committee. -- Leslie Spillett, one of two members appointed to the board by the provincial government. She is founder of the aboriginal organization Ka Ni Kanichihk. The provincial government has yet to determine its second appointee.
June 21, 2013
Province Announces Two Demerits For Drivers Using Electronic Hand-Held Devices
Drivers caught using their hand-held electronic devices will soon be assessed demerits, Justice Minister Andrew Swan, minister responsible for Manitoba Public Insurance, announced today.
The regulation is now in place and will become effective Aug. 1. Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) will be working with the respective police services to continue to raise awareness of this important legislation.
21 "Everyone has the right to feel safe on the road," said Swan. "A distracted driver is a serious danger to public safety. Applying demerits for texting or using a cellphone while driving is one more tool to keep our roads safe."
Currently, eight other Canadian jurisdictions already apply demerits for associated convictions. Manitoba's cellphone law was first announced July 2010. Drivers caught using a hand-held device currently receive a $200 fine. Demerits will also impact a driver's position on MPI's driver safety rating (DSR). Demerits will trigger downward movement on the DSR scale and affect the insurance premiums payable on the driver's licence, in addition to premium discounts on registered vehicles.
"Statistics show that a texting driver is 23 times more likely to become involved in a collision than a non-texting driver," said Sgt. Rob Riffel, commander, Central Traffic Unit, Winnipeg Police Service. "Adding demerits, in addition to the fines that are already in place, sends a strong message that dangerous driving will not be tolerated."
It is legal for drivers to make telephone calls if the equipment is a hands-free device and used in a hands-free manner. The law also allows use of a hand-held cellphone to call the police, fire or ambulance service in an emergency.
Earlier this year, MPI launched its first-ever distracted driving campaign. According to the public auto insurer, about 160 road deaths in Manitoba have been linked to distracted driving since 2005, an average of 20 per year.
RCMP creates auto theft tip line
By Robin Dudgeon, Portage Daily Graphic Monday, June 17, 2013 3:55:46 CDT PM
The RCMP ‘D’ Division announced it has established an auto theft tip line, Monday, in hopes of solving auto thefts in rural areas.
Since January 2013, the RCMP "D" Division Auto Theft Unit has seen a significant rise in off-road vehicle thefts in RCMP jurisdiction, particularly in the Interlake area. Snowmobiles have been targeted this winter, but now that summer is here, ATVs have become the stolen item of choice.
This year to date, 23 ATVs have been stolen in the Interlake area that have yet to be recovered. These thefts represent thousands of dollars in loss. The RCMP believes the majority of these thefts are committed by the same group of people.
22 In an effort to solve these crimes, the RCMP Auto Theft Unit has established a dedicated TIP Line. The TIP Line is aimed to provide the public an avenue to provide tips relating to vehicle thefts, including off-road vehicles, heavy equipment and thefts from construction sites.
The public is encouraged to contact the TIP Line's toll-free number or email address with any information concerning these types of thefts in the rural area. Information can also be provided anonymously.
All information will be treated confidentially. The line is monitored solely by RCMP members of the Auto Theft Unit located at the RCMP "D" Division Headquarters in Winnipeg.
ONTARIO
Freeze police officers' wages, urges Ottawa board chair Province won't deal with police officers' contracts, says Ottawa MPP By Kate Porter, CBC News Posted: Jun 20, 2013 6:07 AM ET Last Updated: Jun 20, 2013 11:41 AM ET The Ontario government should freeze wages at local police departments just as it's tried to do with other public sector workers, according to the chairman of Ottawa's police services board.
Eli El-Chantiry told CBC News many Ontario cities are struggling with rising police costs and he sees only one move to limit the rise in costs.
"We are on the path that’s going to be, 'Enough, we can’t sustain our emergency costs anymore,'" said El-Chantiry.
"What can we do to get control over these increasing costs?" he asked. "Simple, have the province centrally negotiate with all the police services."
El-Chantiry, who has chaired the police services board since 2009, said salaries, which make up the lion’s share of the local police budget, are the biggest challenge.
1 in every 4 Ottawa police officers makes $100K-plus
23 After three years on the job, a first-class constable now makes $86,000 in base pay, El-Chantiry said, adding that officers deserve that pay if they work overtime on cases, do extra paid duty or don’t take vacation.
He said Ottawa police salaries regularly fall in line behind those of Toronto, Peel Region and York Region police, but ahead of those in Hamilton and London, regardless of a municipality’s own budget pressures.
CBC News analyzed the force’s salaries and found a quarter of its more than 1,300 sworn officers made more than $100,000 in 2012.
Ottawa’s last contract talks went to an arbitrator, who awarded consistent base salary increases of just under three per cent for 2011 and 2012.
The union and police services board have begun negotiating a new contract and El-Chantiry argues the board will again have little control.
These pressures come to a head next Monday when the police services board meets to look for efficiencies to close the $1.3-million budgetary gap, but he doesn’t see letting police officers go.
The service will look for other efficiencies in the short-term, such as having drivers visit new collision centres to report damage and allowing people to process criminal background checks online.
"We’re even trying to get a deal on gas," said El-Chantiry. "So we’re trying everything we can. But is that the big number in the budget? No."
Province avoids municipal budget issues Ontario’s labour minister said the province would not wade into a municipal issue.
"I leave that decision up to municipalities. They are accountable to their taxpayers," Ottawa MPP Yasir Naqvi said. "It comes down to each municipality determining what their needs are and what kind of services they need to provide and what the cost is going to be."
Naqvi added municipalities have the power to bring in wage freezes, if they so desire.
"I think it would be inappropriate for the provincial government to step in to bring some sort of a wage freeze on their part. We've always respected municipal autonomy," he said.
Both Naqvi and the union representing Ottawa police officers also said the majority of police and firefighter contracts are reached through bargaining and few need to go to arbitration.
Police union on wages The Ottawa Police Association agreed a province-wide wage freeze would be inappropriate.
24
"The responsibility of the police services board is to negotiate with the police service. That’s their job," said union president Matt Skof. "It’s legislated for them to bargain."
Skof argued police officers deserve what they are paid because their job description has changed significantly in the last 25 years and they now face intense public scrutiny.
"Do I believe the three per cent [salary increase] is justified? Of course."
Skof said attacking the arbitration system and police salaries is the easy avenue.
"The actual conversation is about efficiencies and finding how we can do it better, and I'm all for it," said Skof.
Former police chief named to national parole board By Pete Fisher, Northumberland Today Monday, June 17, 2013 9:29:40 EDT AM
COBOURG - A former Cobourg Police chair has been appointed to the Parole Board of Canada.
Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews announced on Friday 11 appointments and nine reappointments to the Parole Board of Canada.
Among them is former Cobourg Police Chief Paul Sweet, who will serve as a part-time member.
“As an independent administrative tribunal, the Parole Board of Canada makes conditional release, record suspension and clemency decisions that contribute to the protection of society. I congratulate these highly qualified, knowledgeable and experienced individuals on their new positions,” Toews stated in a press release.
Sweet worked in policing for more than 35 years, starting with the Toronto Police, but spending most of his career with the Cobourg Police Service. He retired in September 2012 as the chief of police.
Sweet and his wife Sherry moved a short time ago to a waterfront condo town near family members in Tecumseh.
"I am humbled and honoured to be given the opportunity to continue my service in the criminal justice system as a member of the Parole Board of Canada," Sweet said from his home in western Ontario.
25 Police board chair says Ontario’s police pay arbitration ‘out of control’
BY SHAAMINI YOGARETNAM, OTTAWA CITIZEN JUNE 20, 2013
OTTAWA — The Chair of Ottawa’s Police Services Board says arbitration with police unions needs provincial reform, on the same day that documents outlining the Ottawa Police Service’s fiscal crunch in 2014 were released to the public.
Coun. Eli El-Chantiry said cities across the province are continuing to face challenges as the cost of policing rises, but the real problem is the arbitration process.
“The issue here, right across the province, is arbitration is out of control,” he said.
El-Chantiry said the process doesn’t take into account the city’s ability to pay or the cost of living when awarding police unions higher pay raises than cities can afford.
Crime is declining across the country and in Ottawa, but the city’s police budget has doubled in the past decade, a fact El-Chantiry attributes to the 85 per cent of operating costs that goes toward salaries and benefits. in the absence of arbitration reform or central bargaining, the only alternative El- Chantiry sees to remedy rising police costs is to increase taxes, which is something he’s not keen to do.
With a two-per-cent tax-rate increase, leaving police to find $3.6 million in costs to cut, and bargaining with their police union expected to wrap up in 2014, El- Chantiry suggests that the costs can’t be trimmed that much.
Documents released Thursday suggest the force is confident that vacancies in civilian jobs, savings on fuel and storage and decreases in discretionary spending on printing and advertising as well as the professional services budget, will get them to that $3.6-million target.
But the report to be received at a police board meeting Monday expressly states that “negotiations with the Ottawa Police Association have begun and are expected to conclude in 2014. Any settlement above the amount the Board has budgeted would result in the need for further reductions in the 2014 budget.”
“We are trying to be proactive here. The taxpayers are fed up, too. We can’t just keep going to the taxpayer saying, ‘Give me more money’,” El-Chantiry said.
“We have to find a solution to this.”
26 Matt Skof, the president of the Ottawa police union, said the comments by El- Chantiry were inappropriate and taint bargaining.
“I hate politicizing our bargaining process,” he said. “It is so unfortunate that our PSB constantly makes public comments while we’re bargaining. It’s supposed to be done in good faith.
“All I can get from that is that they just don’t want to do their job. The Police Services Board’s job is to bargain with us,” Skof said. “All the contracts across the province, the vast majority of them are bargained.”
Arbitrators, when required, use other freely collectively bargained contracts as comparators.
“They’ve already set their budget, but they knew exactly what our salaries would have been or will be and they’re purposefully blaming the low-hanging fruit of our salaries,” Skof said. “There are so many ways to find efficiencies in policing.”
The province, for its part, says it will not intervene in municipal matters when the majority of municipalities can collectively bargain. Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi, who is also the province’s labour minister, said arbitration reforms, though voted down by other parties in the 2012 budget, are needed. The Ontario Liberals, he said, are committed to developing an arbitration system “that is fair for workers, fair for municipalities and fair for taxpayers.”
Police board asked to approve racial profiling policy Monday
BY SHAAMINI YOGARETNAM, OTTAWA CITIZEN JUNE 21, 2013
OTTAWA — The Police Services Board will be asked to approve a new racial profiling policy Monday, days before Ottawa police are set to collect race data information from all drivers pulled over during traffic stops as part of a settlement agreement with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Both the board’s policy and the data collection stem from Chad Aiken’s complaint against an Ottawa police officer in 2005. Aiken, then 18, claimed police pulled him over because he was black and driving a luxury car. He said he was racially profiled.
In a settlement agreement with the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2012, Ottawa police agreed to collect race data. That data collection will last for two years and is scheduled to begin Thursday. As part of the same settlement process, in 2011, police implemented a policy aimed at preventing racial profiling.
27 The Police Services Board, a civilian body that oversees the Ottawa Police Service, has created a board policy that will specifically “provide high-level direction to the Chief of Police about ‘what’ the Board expects the Chief to have in place for the OPS, but it would not provide direction on ‘how’ the policy requirements are to be implemented,” according to the agenda for Monday’s meeting.
The board policy will set out how the board expects the Chief to apply the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Ontario Human Rights Code and specified measures to make sure that OPS members do not racially profile.
“The Board believes strongly in the importance of taking the extra step of demonstrating its leadership in addressing racial profiling and ensuring human rights are respected by the Police Service and itself.”
The policy will require the Chief to conduct a review of all measures to address the elimination of bias in policing every two years. That review is to include a community consultation. The policy will also require the Chief to submit an annual report on the impact of the policy.
First Day for Kingston's New Top Cop. THIS IS THE FIRST DAY AT WORK FOR KINGSTON'S NEW TOP COP. - Newswatch CKWS 6/17/2013
THIS IS THE FIRST DAY AT WORK FOR KINGSTON'S NEW TOP COP.
CHIEF GILLES LAROCHELLE SPENT HIS FIRST DAY MEETING WITH STAFF MEMBERS AND FAMILIARISING HIMSELF WITH THE POLICE STATION AND PROCEDURES.
LAROCHELLE HELD VARIOUS POSITIONS WITH THE OTTAWA POLICE SERVICE OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS, INCLUDING DEPUTY CHIEF.
AS FOR HIS LOCAL PRIORITIES ?? THE NEW CHIEF SAYS HE WILL CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON COMMUNITY CONCERNS --
LIKE BREAK AND ENTERS, TRAFFIC AND DRUGS. AND HE WON'T BE MAKING ANY MAJOR CHANGES IN THE NEXT LITTLE WHILE.
LAROCHELLE SAYS ONE OF HIS GOALS IS TO HELP DEVELOP STAFF WITHIN THE KINGSTON POLICE FORCE.
HE ALSO HOPES HIS EXPERIENCE AS A SENIOR OFFICER IN A MAJOR CITY WILL HELP INTRODUCE A BETTER SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT PLAN.
28 GILLES LAROCHELLE, KINGSTON POLICE CHIEF "IT'S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THE OFFICERS, IT'S CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, IT'S STRETCH ASSIGNMENTS. IT'S DEVELOPING THE OFFICERS AS A WHOLE, SO THAT THEY'RE READY TO TAKE ON A LEADERSHIP ROLE IN THE FUTURE."
Ontario denies union's claim it suspended jail guard training 6:53 pm, June 21st, 2013
RANDY RICHMOND | QMI AGENCY
LONDON, Ont. — The province is denying it has suspended training for correctional officers this summer, a charge levelled this week by the union representing jail and detention centre workers.
“The ministry has not suspended the training of correctional officers,” Brent Ross, spokesman for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, said.
The ministry is dealing with another concern raised by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) that restraint chairs are not being used, he said.
“In January 2012, the ministry suspended use of restraint chairs pending a review of our policies,” Ross said by email Friday.
“Restraint chairs are now available in all of our facilities with 24-hour nursing and we expect the remainder of our facilities to have access to this tool later this year. The chair at EMDC (Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre) will be in operation starting this week now that staff have been trained for its use.”
OPSEU held a news conference Thursday to respond to Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin’s recent report, The Code, about excessive use of force on inmates in provincial correctional facilities.
That report talked about a code of silence among correctional officers and others that covered up allegations from inmates about being assaulted by staff.
Given that less than 1% of inmates admitted each year have had substantiated complaints, use of excessive force is not a systemic problem, OPSEU argues.
But overcrowding, poor training, understaffing and poor equipment in Ontario correctional facilities are systemic problems, the union says.
To illustrate that point, OPSEU chair of corrections Dan Sidsworth said Thursday the province had suspended training for the summer.
29 Sidsworth also pointed out the frustration of correctional officers over the fact restraint chairs for particularly disruptive inmates had been purchased, but were not in use.
Those chairs require intensive monitoring, including by health-care staff, that is more time-consuming and expensive than leaving inmates to fend for themselves in cells, he said.
Toronto’s auditor general delays independent review of police street checks Auditor general Jeff Griffiths delays audit as Toronto force conducts major review By: Patty Winsa News reporter, Jim Rankin Feature reporter, Toronto Star Published on Thu Jun 20 2013 Critics are slamming the city’s auditor general for his decision to delay an independent review of a controversial police practice called carding or street checks for at least another year. “It demonstrates their lack of commitment to this whole thing. That they somehow feel they shouldn’t have to do it,” said Margaret Parsons, director of the African Canadian Legal Clinic. “We want them to do this. It’s very important. It’s our kids who are being carded, are kids who are being stopped, our kids who are being documented in the system,” she said. The police board passed a motion last year asking the office of city auditor general Jeff Griffiths to conduct an independent review of carding after a Star series — using police data — showed that Toronto officers stop and document a disproportionately high number of black and brown young men. Their personal information, and that of their associates, is recorded in a massive police database. But Griffiths says there’s no point in doing the review now when police are in the midst of a major review of all of their procedures, including carding. “The objective of an audit is to make recommendations for improvement. That’s the intent,” says Griffiths. “They’re already in the process of making improvements. So any suggestions we come up with, they may already address.” In a report that will be before the police board Thursday, Griffiths said that he attended a meeting in May with the board’s street check subcommittee and Deputy Chief Peter Sloly and was advised that the force had been undertaking an internal review of street checks and would be implementing significant changes that would take effect July 1. “The planned changes, according to the Deputy Police Chief, would substantially alter and improve police policies and procedures, data collection and retention, officer training, and officer performance evaluation relating to street checks,” Griffiths said in the report. Street checks — typically non-criminal encounters where people are stopped, questioned and documented, and also known as 208s, field information reports or “cards” — count in climbing the ranks.
An ongoing Star analysis of Toronto police street check data shows that officers with high numbers climb higher at a steady pace. Low counts can delay scheduled promotions and cause problems at work. With improvements in
30 rank comes more pay. A new hire as a cadet makes $54,400 a year. A first-class constable — the highest of four constable ranks — earns a base salary of $86,300. In the case of one police division — 53 in central Toronto — a supervisor there expected officers to conduct at least three street checks per shift, according to an internal email made public earlier this year. “Officers who are being reclassified to the next classification must meet the standards above, or their reclassification may be deferred,” read part of the email, sent Feb. 28 by Insp. Joanna Beaven-Desjardin to other station supervisors. The Toronto force wouldn’t confirm that any changes to the street check procedures are being made. The service has been conducting a major review of all its policies and procedures, including street checks, since last year. A final report will go to Chief Bill Blair on Aug. 1. Police are expected to start issuing receipts for street checks next month, but in May, Sloly met with community activists and the board’s carding subcommittee and asked if they would support an extension so the force could carry out more public consultation. But the extension was firmly rebuffed by the group, which included members of the African Canadian Legal Clinic. “They’ve had sufficient time to consult with community members and there were deputations (at the police board) dating back to last year,” said Roger Love, a lawyer with the ACLC who attended the meeting. Love said the group made it clear that they would like police to issue a carbon- copy receipt which contains all the information that police record. The issue of receipts is also at the police board meeting Thursday. The board says it is intent on making the force more accountable for who they stop and why. Police chair Alok Mukherjee said in an email that “there should be no doubt about one thing, as far as the Board is concerned: there will be changes.” But the board’s subcommittee on carding has already said that due to the force’s operational requirements, eliminating street checks is unrealistic. The Star’s analysis showed that between 2008 and mid-2011, police stopped and questioned a higher proportion of black people than white people in each of the city’s 72 patrol zones. On average, blacks were 3.2 times more likely to be documented than whites. The auditor general said he would conduct a review after the new policies and procedures have been in place for 12 months.
Ottawa police chief says force doing too much Charles Bordeleau: police an expensive option for many social work functions By Kate Porter, CBC News Posted: Jun 21, 2013 5:45 AM ET The Ottawa Police Service has started looking at how to get back to its core roles of investigating and fighting crimes, while leaving other functions that have crept into police officers' jobs to experts in other fields.
31 “When a large percentage of your calls for service don't deal with criminal activity — they're all from a social perspective — that's a problem,” Chief Charles Bordeleau told CBC News.
“We've inherited that.”
Bordeleau said policing has become increasingly complex over the years, with a CBC News study showing it’s also become twice as expensive in the last decade.
Part of the extra costs has to do with court decisions and inquest recommendations that require extra investigative steps and paperwork.
But the police chief also said de-institutionalization of people with mental illness has led to officers spending an increasing amount of time doing what is essentially social work.
Police often not the best option for mental health support "A lot of the people with mental illness have come back to our communities and live in our communities. And I think that’s great,” said Bordeleau.
“But there are a lot of supports that are not there for them. A lot of the social service agencies are facing some critical budget cuts.”
Yet using police officers, paid through municipal property taxes, is often not the best nor the cheapest option, Bordeleau said.
For instance, he called it “frustrating” for police to escort people with mental illness to hospital, as required by the Mental Health Act, and wait hours in emergency wards until they’re taken over by the health care system.
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Police across the country are trying to figure out how to control escalating costs and avoid scenarios experienced in the United States and United Kingdom, where police services were forced to make deep cuts.
Ottawa’s police services board chair Eli El-Chantiry said he wants the province to centrally negotiate salaries with all police services.
Ottawa MPP and Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi said those decisions are best left to municipalities.
"We're at an important juncture in policing," said Bordeleau. "I think it's incumbent on us and the responsible thing for us to do, to properly assess what we are doing and how we’re doing it.”
Unprecedented review of OPS system
32 The Ottawa Police Service has just begun a review, unlike any it has ever undertaken, to rethink what police do, how often people deal with police and how they can make the whole system leaner.
"Our intent is not to say, ‘We're not doing this anymore’ and dump it,” Bordeleau said, adding his goal is to work with other groups and share resources to better address problems.
He pointed to how a Children’s Aid Society worker is now embedded with the police youth section.
Bordeleau also highlighted a police partnership with the Ottawa Hospital that tries to reduce repeat calls to police from people who find themselves in crisis frequently.
In other cases, Bordeleau questioned whether police should be involved at all, such as when they tranquilize large animals or spend hours guarding sites in cars.
"Guarding a crime scene at 2 (a.m.) and paying them what we pay them, is that the best use of our resources?” said Bordeleau.
Union would fight ‘outsourcing’ That idea would not sit well with the union representing Ottawa police officers, which is generally supportive of moves to streamline police work.
“One of the biggest issues I have is looking at a profit-driven organization guarding a crime scene. I have a huge issue with that,” said Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association.
Matt Skof of the Ottawa Police Association says he doesn't want profit-driven officers guarding crime scenes. (CBC) “Our members are accountable. We stand up to that scrutiny. We are held to a high level because of the Police Services Act.”
Skof said he expects police to experiment in the coming years.
He says a lot of changes needed, such as streamlining of judicial paperwork, are in the control of upper levels of government and he’s not convinced they will want to take back the responsibilities or costs.
Provincial committee studying change A group called the Future of Policing Advisory Commitee has begun meeting at the Ontario level to look at some of the more systemic issues driving police costs and whether legislation or policies need to change.
Already, it has led to some data entry roles at the OPP being transferred to civilian staff said Madeleine Meilleur, the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
33 “When municipalities come to me and ask me about the costs of police and what I can do, they want to continue to have the same service. They love their officers,” said Meilleur, who will eventually receive recommendations from the committee.
“I don’t know what will be the result but I’m glad to see that we are trying to work together to curtail the costs of policing in Ontario while keeping good police services.”
London police loading up for $900,000 in service fee hikes By Jennifer O'Brien, Kelly Pedro, The London Free Press Thursday, June 20, 2013 10:22:32 EDT PM
Told to sharpen their budget pencils and do better, London police are loading up for nearly $900,000 in service fee hikes some say smack of nickel and diming the public.
The move — after a tight-fisted city council this year sent the police budget wish- list back for an almost-unheard-of redo — could raise the costs for more than two dozen services. Included are the criminal checks volunteers must pass, and the collision reports insurance companies need.
One city councillor, not fully in the loop on the fee hikes, said going after the money that way sets off alarms for him.
“I really do have concerns about us (council) trying to force (police) to reduce their budget and then they reduce it, but they go and nail it on these individuals who really may not be able to afford it,” said Coun. Harold Usher.
Raising service fees — the police services board approved the move Thursday — might be understandable if police are merely charging what those services cost, said Usher.
“I don’t have all the details, but certainly I have concerns about it being passed on to the individuals and how much more (it’ll cost).”
Police are looking for an extra $867,000, to offset $636,000 taken out of their requested budget increase after council sent it back for chopping.
Coun. Denise Brown, the city’s representative on the police board, defended the move to hike fees.
“When the police budget is reduced, they have to look at everything they do and a lot of things they were doing — the costs are not even covered,” she said.
34 “(Police) have to look at what they are doing and they can’t keep doing stuff for free.”
At least half a dozen other council members, including Mayor Joe Fontana, couldn’t be reached for comment.
One outspoken national police critic, former Toronto mayor John Sewell, says he isn’t surprised the force is going to the fee-hike well.
“I think this is a normal thing that organizations normally do, particularly the police. The police are generally used to getting all the money they ever wanted and now that they’ve found that there’s a budget crunch — and this is true across the country, and not just here in Ontario — they’re starting to do things like saying, ‘we’re going to charge you for this and that,” said Sewell.
In February, when a tax freeze was still council’s objective, city councillors shot down Chief Brad Duncan’s budget request.
He’d wanted 3.6% ($3.2 million) more for the police budget, but instead got 2.9%, with $528,000 of that one-time funding.
In the end, the police got $636,000 less than wanted and police board chair Michael Deeb said the force has been left to navigate that loss.
“Certainly times are tough and the budgetary constraints are there . . . We’ve got to focus on adequate public safety. We’ve got to focus on delivering what we’ve been delivering and what we’re good at delivering for the citizens of this city,” he said.
“We have to adjust,” he said, calling the reduced budget increase a “cut.”
Exactly which service fees will be hiked, isn’t clear yet.
The police board voted to look at which fees could be increased to bring them in line with what other forces charge.
Taxpayers will find out how much more they’ll pay fore such services in about six to eight weeks.
The move comes after police realized they weren’t charging enough to recover administrative costs for those services, said Duncan.
“In these times, when you’re looking at budget dollars, it’s important to make sure that any revenue streams be recognized and these are revenue streams that are recognized by other services, as well,” he said.
Sewell said any hikes should be kept to reasonable limits.
“The real question is, are they raising them above the reasonable amount?”
35 Deeb said the force is under pressure to continue costly services that bring in no revenue.
“We need to have a sustainable replacement for what individuals feel is not sustainable,” he said.
“Cutting budgets and cutting these types of programs? That’s not an answer. There are many, many people who rely on us.”
The board also plans to collect public feedback about which services they want police to continue, including high school resource officers that cost the force more than $600,000 a year and a school safety program that costs another $725,000.
Duncan said he considers all those services core services, but wants to hear from the public.
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair must speak up on video allegedly showing Rob Ford: Editorial Opinion / Editorials
Toronto Star Published on Fri Jun 21 2013
Silence isn’t good enough — not on the subject of potential wrong-doing by municipal public officials. Yet silence is all that Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair is willing to provide. Silence on whether police have obtained copies of a video allegedly showing Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. Silence on whether raids targeting a gang of gun-smuggling drug dealers has revealed connections to the mayor’s office. Silence on whether there’s an investigation into the conduct of people in that office. It’s telling that Blair has steadfastly refused to exonerate Ford by saying flat out that police have found no incriminating video, and no ties between the mayor’s office and drug dealers. But neither will the chief confirm any such link. It has to be one or the other. At least Blair isn’t lying. But he is committing an injustice, either to the mayor or to residents of this city who are entitled to know of potential wrong-doing by elected officials serving in their name. If police have not obtained copies of the controversial video in raids on the Dixon Rd. tower complex where the footage was reportedly made, then Blair should say so instead of leaving a cloud to linger unfairly over Ford. If no connections have been unearthed between the mayor’s office and drug dealers, it’s an outright injustice not to say so.
36 Blair’s excuse, that any comment could put his drug gang investigation at risk — even, apparently, a statement putting an innocent mayor in the clear — is frankly ridiculous. If, on the other hand, a Ford video has been obtained by police, then it’s equally unfair to withhold it from the public. Torontonians have a right to know when elected officials, paid with their tax dollars and entrusted with civic leadership, have evidently gone astray. When people in authority possess such information and refuse to disclose it to the public, one way to explain it is through two ugly words: Cover up. Blair claims his silence is necessary, indeed required by law, and therefore doing otherwise would place “an important prosecution in jeopardy.” But, as the Star’s Liam Casey reports, three respected criminal lawyers contacted by this newspaper all say Blair could release the controversial video without breaking any law. Information obtained through wiretaps is sacrosanct, but not some piece of footage allegedly showing Ford sucking on a glass pipe. Yes, some lawyers may disagree — learned squabbling is, after all, in the nature of the profession. But it’s fair to say that strong legal arguments exist allowing for release of the video should Blair want to go that route. Therefore, if police do have the video, it’s the chief’s choice not to reveal it. And if officers don’t possess the footage, it’s Blair’s choice not to absolve Ford of suspicion. Either way, the chief’s continued silence is wrong. He has repeatedly assured the public that all relevant information from the investigation will eventually emerge in “a right way,” in court. But that’s not necessarily true. A video showing Ford smoking Lord-knows-what, and allegedly making homophobic and racist comments, may be of no use in criminal court and may not factor in anyone’s defence or prosecution. But it would have immense value in the court of public opinion — the proper forum in which to judge a politician’s conduct and fitness for office. What is an election, after all, but the voice of public opinion? Yet there is no guarantee that people will have the full story on this scandal, even when they go to the polls next year. The chief says he’s saying nothing in order to avoid damaging his case. But damage is being done, nonetheless, to this city’s reputation and ultimately that of the Toronto Police Service. When those wielding public power, like Blair, appear to go out of their way to prevent revelations injurious to others in power, like Ford, the public can’t help but suspect motives beyond the people’s interest. That perception, however unfair, can be caustic to a police service. Blair needs to clear the air. If there’s no video of Ford allegedly smoking crack, then he should do the right thing and say so. If police do have such a video in their possession, fairness demands that Blair release it and let all Toronto draw its own conclusions
QUEBEC
37 Three Montreal police officers suspended amid RCMP probe
The Canadian Press Published Monday, June 17, 2013 10:54PM EDT MONTREAL -- Three Montreal police officers have been suspended amid an RCMP investigation into misbehaviour on the force. A spokesman for the city force says the suspensions are an internal disciplinary matter for the moment, but they stem from a Mountie investigation that is ongoing. It's another bit of grim news for the city on a day when 14 criminal charges were laid against Montreal's interim mayor Michael Applebaum, who replaced a predecessor felled by scandal. Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere isn't naming the suspended officers because he says no charges have been laid in the ongoing case. He says the RCMP originally began investigating for "interfering with the justice system," without offering other details. He is not denying a report that the investigation had to do with a contract to a private security firm. Montreal La Presse reported that the investigation is related to a contract handed to the now-defunct BCIA firm for surveillance at police headquarters. That contract was handed out by the force's former administration. Ex-chief Yvan Delorme, who unexpectedly resigned in 2010, has said there might have been "administrative errors" in the awarding of the contract but that they were committed in good faith. BCIA is now bankrupt, after having been embroiled in several scandals at the provincial level. A provincial Liberal cabinet minister, Tony Tomassi, had to resign after allegations surfaced that he had been using a credit card supplied to him by the company. He faces fraud and breach of trust charges in the case. Delorme was also forced to defend himself recently against an allegation by former Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay. The ex-mayor testified at a corruption inquiry that the police chief showed no interest in investigating an extortion attempt by a high-ranking local political operative. Delorme disputed the mayor's characterization of their conversations.
Métro crime on the decline
Police report due this fall could provide station-by-station breakdown
BY ANDY RIGA, GAZETTE TRANSPORTATION REPORTER JUNE 19, 2013 MONTREAL — Métro crime has steadily decreased since Montreal police started patrolling the subway network six years ago this week, with the number of criminal infractions dropping by 14 per cent in 2012.
To highlight the improvements, the police department is working on a statistical analysis of the past six years to be made public this fall.
38 That report may include, for the first time, a limited amount of information about the number and types of crimes being committed at particular métro stations.
This would be a shift in policy for Montreal police, who for the past three years have fought an attempt by The Gazette to get station-by-station subway crime statistics.
On June 18, 2007, a dedicated métro squad, now numbering 134 police officers, was put in place, supplementing the Société de transport de Montréal’s 50 security guards.
Before that, officers from local police stations were sometimes present in the métro network, Inspector Roger Bélair, who took over as head of the métro squad in April, said in an interview Wednesday.
“What changed in 2007 was we started having a constant presence,” he said. “Now we have officers dedicated to patrolling the métro – they’re in the stations, on the platforms.”
By increasing police visibility, “we’re making it harder for people to commit crimes.”
In 2012, there was a dramatic drop in the number of thefts and robberies (theft with violence or threat of violence) reported in the métro system, recently released police statistics show.
Bélair credited a concerted effort to prevent the pilfering of electronic devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Transit users were given tips on preventing such crimes and encouraged to report incidents so police could better target stations favoured by electronics thieves.
39
There were increases in some crimes in 2012.
One of the biggest jumps (95 per cent) was in a category labelled “other Criminal Code infractions.”
Bélair said that’s mainly due to an increase in the number of people found to be in the métro when they were legally forbidden to be there.
That includes cases where the person is awaiting trial for a métro-related crime, or whose probation conditions stipulate he or she cannot be in the subway network, Bélair said.
Mischief incidents increased by 20 per cent. This includes infractions involving graffiti and malicious damage to STM property.
40
There was also a nine-per-cent jump in infractions of the STM’s passenger- behaviour bylaw, including not paying fares, smoking and loitering.
Contrary to popular belief, métro crime is not more prevalent late at night and in deserted stations, police statistics show.
Crimes against persons are most common between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., coinciding with the end of the school day and the beginning of rush hour, according to 2008 statistics. Crimes against property are also most common in the afternoon, with one out of four offences committed between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Bélair said criminals tend to prefer busy stations.
“People are afraid to be alone on the métro, but there are fewer crimes when there are fewer people around,” he said. Criminals “use the crowd, they’ll use the large number of people to help them commit the offence. They’re ready when the doors open to leave quickly within the crowd.”
The police force refused a 2010 Gazette access-to-information request for station-by-station métro statistics.
The case is before the Access to Information Commission, which acts as an administrative tribunal.
41 At a hearing before access commissioner Christiane Constant this month, The Gazette argued the public would benefit from the statistics because they could warn métro users about potential dangers and allow them to take preventive measures.
The police force argued transit users might “panic” unnecessarily if told the number and type of crimes that occur in individual métro stations.
Police also suggested that divulging the data would tell criminals where police are concentrating efforts, leading criminals to move elsewhere in the network.
Bélair said the force also does not want to give the public a false picture of the situation in particular stations.
“If you take a portrait of a station now and in three months, the problems will probably have changed, they will have moved,” he said.
“We don’t want to stigmatize a station because it has more ridership, because a particular crime is concentrated there,” he added.
Even if crime is high at a particular station, “if you look at it compared to the number of users there, the crime rate may actually be low,” Bélair said.
Some cities that do disclose station crime information get around that pitfall by putting the data in context.
In London, England, for example, a website lists crimes per 100,000 passengers for every subway and train station, allowing passengers to better compare results.
Bélair said Montreal police have no plan to follow suit.
However, he said, the force is considering “the possibility of releasing some information by station,” when it makes public a report this fall about métro crime.
“We’re asking ourselves, is there a way to release a few figures to show people that we had some stations where there was a crime problem, we addressed them with police interventions that led to arrests and a drop in criminality afterward,” he said.
Bélair said the figures could include, for example, the number of crimes against the person that occurred in one or more particular stations in 2008 vs. 2012.
NEW BRUNSWICK
42 Court of Appeal orders retrial for Saint John police officer Const. Chris Messer will have a new trial in front of a judge and jury CBC News Posted: Jun 21, 2013 8:33 AM AT
The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has struck down the conviction of a Saint John police officer found guilty last year of assault and making threats.
The province’s top court called the trial judge's decision against Christopher Robert Messer last August "unreliable" and ordered a retrial on the charge of assault.
The constable was sentenced to three months in jail for harassment and assault against two people he suspected of breaking into at his home.
He was released a week after his conviction, pending his appeal.
The Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday the trial judge at the Court of Queen's Bench did not clearly outline the reasons for the verdict and offered "much editorial commentary"... setting out different versions of events from testimonies at trial.
"What we do not know is why the trial judge, applying proper credibility findings, arrived at this particular conclusion. As the attorney general points out, the reasons for decision are unreliable and do not lend themselves to meaningful appellate scrutiny. For this reason, the proper course is to set aside the conviction and order a new trial," the Court of Appeal's decision said.
Messer will be retried in front of a judge and jury.
The original charges stem from complaints by two people Messer suspected of being involved in the break-in at his home on Westfield Road.
In the trial, the court heard Messer sent a work email, asking his fellow officers to find out what they could through sources.
Later that day, Messer was alerted by colleagues that they had pulled over a vehicle matching that description in the parking lot of Canadian Tire. One of the complainants, Brett McAdam, was inside and Messer went to the scene.
McAdam testified that after being asked to sit in Messer's cruiser, the officer drove it around the back of the store where he yelled accusations, threatened to blow McAdam's head off, cut it off with a butcher knife, and send "lowlife scum" to his home.
Two weeks after that, the second complainant, Randy King, who was wanted on an arrest warrant, was stopped by police.
43 King told the court in 2012 that Messer punched him in the head up to 10 times and then put his boot on King's throat.
Saint John needs sex-offender data, deputy mayor says Rinehart wants to make sure area isn't 'over-taxed' CBC News Posted: Jun 21, 2013 11:34 AM AT Last Updated: Jun 21, 2013 5:11 PM AT
Shelley Rinehart says the city needs aggregate data about offenders living in the community. Saint John's deputy mayor wants detailed information about sex offenders who are released into the city.
Shelley Rinehart is putting a motion to council Monday requesting data about the type and severity of the offences, the sentences given and psychiatric opinions about the likelihood the individual will re-offend.
“There certainly is concern,” she said Friday.
Her motion comes amid controversy over the release of Roger Roberge in Saint John, who served 12 years for sexual assault and forcible confinement. Saint John Police Force warned in April that he was “a high risk to reoffend sexually and violently against females and other vulnerable persons.”
Around the same time, serial offender John O’Brien, dubbed the Motorcycle Rapist, was released in Saint John. O'Brien committed his offences in Halifax, N.S.
A third sex offender was released Friday. Morgan Earl Smith was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2002 for sexually assaulting two girls at knifepoint.
Smith completed his entire sentence and could have been free from any conditions. He voluntarily agreed to 30 conditions before he was released, including staying away from children. He could be sent back to jail if he violates them.
"I’m not asking for personal information here, I’m looking for aggregate data,” Rinehart said.
Protect community, rehab offenders She called her motion a “fact finding” one with two goals:
Ask the government ministers responsible to provide data on how releases are done, how many have happened and how offenders are distributed across Canada.
44 Meet with senior city and law enforcement officials in the Saint John area to understand how those decisions are made and what measures are in place to protect the community. "I want to ensure we do everything we can to get the proper restrictions in place when individuals do come into our community,” she told Information Morning Saint John Friday.
She said citizens tell her they want to be certain their community is protected from offenders, while at the same time ensuring those who have served their time can be rehabilitated.
“Information is power. We need to understand not who we’re dealing with, but what we’re dealing with,” she said.
Rinehart said the information might already be available, but she “wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth” from law enforcement agencies. “I think it’s important for us to have dialogue with the officials so they do understand that at least in my opinion right now, our community is particularly sensitive to this type of issue.”
She wants to be sure no particular area is “over-taxed.”
“It’s not a case of don’t send them here, but let’s be respectful and equitable about how we distribute — it’s not just about sex offenders, it’s any type of offender. How do we participate and do our part to help those people rehabilitate, but at the same time protect our citizens?” she asked.
Rinehart has not spoken to law-enforcement agencies about the motion, but intends to.
NOVA SCOTIA
Independent watchdog will probe if RCMP ignored woman’s calls before she tried to hire hitman to kill husband
Michael MacDonald, Canadian Press | 13/02/06 4:53 PM ET HALIFAX — The independent watchdog that handles complaints against the RCMP will review how the Mounties in Nova Scotia handled a woman’s calls for help before she tried to hire a hit man to kill her allegedly abusive husband.
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry said Wednesday he called for the review from the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP because the public has raised questions about how Nicole Ryan’s case was handled.
45 “What’s at issue for me is the perception in the public, and if there’s a feeling of doubt or questions then we want to put that to rest,” Landry said, adding that his office received three complaints from the public.
“I don’t want to minimize the (problem of) violence against women in our society. … We know that there have been far too many people abused that do not come forward. We need them to feel safe and that they will be fully supported.”
Policing expert Paul McKenna said Landry — a former RCMP officer — made a prudent decision to ask for the commission’s help, but he said the agency has faced criticism over the years for failing to take a more aggressive approach to its investigations.
While the commission is an independent body, many of its investigators are former police officers, said McKenna, a lecturer with the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
As well, McKenna said the commission has been hobbled by legislation that constrains it from digging deeply into police files and databases.
“There’s a bit of risk involved with this,” he said in an interview.
“What we need in these oversight bodies is more true civilians, people who aren’t former cops.”
Ryan, a teacher from western Nova Scotia, was arrested in 2008 when she tried to hire an undercover Mountie to kill Michael Ryan, who she accused in court of threatening to kill her and her daughter.
Nicole Ryan was acquitted of counselling to commit murder in 2010. The trial judge said the woman was under duress and not receiving help from police. That ruling was later upheld by Nova Scotia’s appeal court.
Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the duress defence was improperly applied at trial, but eight of the nine justices ordered a stay of proceedings, saying it would be unfair to subject the accused to a new trial.
The high court also said the RCMP did not adequately respond to Nicole Ryan’s numerous calls for help. But the Mounties have denied that.
Last Friday, the commander of the RCMP in Nova Scotia said an internal review concluded officers had acted appropriately when responding to Nicole Ryan’s complaints.
Assistant commissioner Alphonse MacNeil said there are 25 instances when the names of either Nicole Ryan or Michael Ryan appear in police files. But he said there was only one time — in November 2007 — when Nicole Ryan complained about being threatened.
46 Michael Ryan was later accused of threatening to burn down Nicole Ryan’s home near Clare, N.S. He was charged with uttering threats, but the charge was later dropped by the Crown.
MacNeil said many of the calls to police dealt with civil matters, including the couple’s ongoing disputes over property ownership. He said that whenever Nicole Ryan called for help, the RCMP responded, even though there were times when there was little officers could do.
Michael Ryan said he wasn’t surprised by the findings of the RCMP’s internal review, and he welcomed the review by the complaints commission.
“I’m 100 per cent confident that the commission is going to reiterate what the RCMP have already disclosed to the public: there’s nothing there to indicate that Nicole Ryan complained about domestic violence,” he said Wednesday.
“There was no evidence that I ever abused her.”
Michael Ryan has said he was never given the opportunity to refute his wife’s claims in court.
“All the evidence was just her testimony.”
Nicole Ryan’s lawyer has said he has no doubt she was telling the truth and that the trial judge made a finding on evidence. The Crown says Michael Ryan was not called to testify because it was felt his evidence wasn’t necessary to refute Nicole Ryan’s duress defence.
Police looking to auction off ‘weird and wonderful stuff’ Cape Breton Post Published on June 19, 2013 Erin Pottie
SYDNEY — One person’s loss is another’s gain at an upcoming auction that will sell items in Cape Breton Regional Police storage.
The municipal police service is hosting a public auction Sunday, beginning with registration at 11 a.m. at the Grand Lake Road fire hall. The auction will follow at 1 p.m. “You name it, we have all lots of weird and wonderful stuff,” said Const. Paul Ratchford, a long-standing member of the police service. Ratchford described the items as “anything that is no longer needed for court purposes.” Items up for auction include several bicycles that were recovered by police and never claimed by their owners, baby booster seats, a 70-cc dirt bike, televisions, household items such as pots and pans, car tires and rims, and power tools, including a table saw.
47 Ratchford said about 50 of the bicycles featured in the auction are in good working condition, while a few others need repair or maintenance. Ratchford said police recover dozens of bicycles left unattended at places such as parks, sidewalks and schools each year. For some reason not all owners come forward looking for them. Anyone attending the auction who is looking for a bike that might belong to them, is asked to bring proof of ownership to have their bike returned. “If somebody has an item they believe is theirs, we will put it through the auction,” said Ratchford. “At the end of the auction they can come see us and say ‘That’s mine.’” Ratchford said anyone who can provide a receipt or proof beyond a reasonable doubt that they are the bike’s owner will be able to reclaim it. As part of the auction, police have also picked up some consignment items such as a lot of 100 novelty belt buckles, a “Sopranos” deluxe box set and a collection of 5,000 baseball cards. There is also a vinyl collection, a cover for a full-size, short-box truck, and a collection of novelty signs with phrases such as “man cave” and “mom’s kitchen.” Ratchford said it costs nothing to register for the auction and money raised will go toward the Cape Breton Youth Centre Society, which supports a variety of youth centres on the island.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Police recognized for enforcement of designated parking bylaw Published on June 19, 2013 SUMMERSIDE – The P.E.I. Council for People with Disabilities has recognized the Summerside police department for its work in enforcing the designated parking bylaw. Couns. Tina Mundy and Cory Thomas and Police Chief David Poirier attended the recent Atlantic Crime Prevention Conference in Charlottetown where the award was presented. “They made a point of saying that Summerside was a leader in the enforcement of the parking bylaw,” said Mundy, chairman of the city’s police committee. “They encouraged other municipalities on Prince Edward Island to take Summerside’s lead.” Rev. Andrew Richardson was one of the presenters at the conference and he spoke about Summerside and the birth of the Summerside Community Safety Advisory Committee. “There was tremendous interest from the delegates and Summerside received numerous accolades from the group on its progressive initiative,” Mundy said. “Many people sat around afterwards and discussed how they could get something like this started in their community.”
Police statistics for the month of May. Traffic offences -129 Provincial statuses (provincial health act, child welfare, trespass etc.) -149
48 Municipal bylaws -31 Other federal statuses (Firearms Act) - 2 Other Criminal Code (disturbing the peace, resisting a police officer, obstruction of justice) - 30 Drug enforcement - 9 Crimes against person – 35 Crimes against property – 103 Common police activity (suspicious persons, false alarms, assists to the general public) 134.
NEWFOUNDLAND Province reaches deal with air search and rescue volunteers CBC News Posted: Jun 19, 2013 9:29 AM NT Last Updated: Jun 19, 2013 9:28 AM NT The provincial government has signed a deal with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) following more than a decade without one.
The volunteer group has more than 100 members and nine aircraft in Newfoundland and Labrador.
"With this agreement, now we can be tasked by the local police forces in Newfoundland and Labrador, so we can assist with provincial searches. If we have a missing hunter or missing person … we have a team ready, willing and able," said Brian Bishop, provincial president of CASARA.
The government was criticized for not having an agreement in place when Burton Winters went missing. Without a deal, CASARA volunteers couldn't formally assist in the search for the Makkovik teenager.
But Justice Minister Darin King says the new deal isn't a result of the controversy surrounding Winters' death.
"You know, anytime you can improve search and rescue services in the province, that would have been the motivation for me. The other issues that may have occurred in the province would have been side issues, and no doubt would have spurred things on, but no one incident really forced this forward," said King.
The new deal covers workers compensation, lost income and other expenses incurred by CASARA volunteers during searches.
49 NATIONAL Pioneering report suggests homelessness costs Canada $7B, affects 200,000 people a year
BY STEPHANIE LEVITZ, THE CANADIAN PRESS JUNE 19, 2013 11:07 AM
OTTAWA - Homelessness in Canada affects about 200,000 people every year and comes with a $7 billion price tag, the first-ever national report on the issue has found.
The results paint a picture of a disaster in communities across the country, said Tim Richter, one of the report's authors and the president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.
"In a natural disaster, the loss of housing or life happens because of a fire or flood or something like that," he said.
"In the unnatural disaster of homelessness, the same things are happening, but it's happening because of poverty, disability, addiction, mental illness and trauma."
But whereas natural disasters are met with emergency response plans to get people back to their normal lives, the response to homelessness is stuck in crisis mode, Richter said.
"It's time for Canadians to shift gears from managing homelessness to ending it," he said.
On any given night, at least 30,000 people are in homeless or domestic violence shelters, sleeping outside or temporarily housed in places like prisons or hospitals, the study found.
As many as 50,000 more could be considered the "hidden homeless," temporarily staying with friends or family because they have nowhere else to go, the State of Homelessness in Canada: 2013 report concludes.
The study, a join effort by the Canadian Homelessness Research Network and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, marks the first time researchers have looked at the issue on a national level.
50 Several municipalities do count the number of homeless in their communities, but to get national numbers, the study's authors drew on new research on the number of people in the shelter system and added in estimates of those who are often overlooked in regular counts, such as women in domestic violence shelters.
The provinces and the federal government are increasing their involvement in the search for solutions to homelessness, said Stephen Gaetz, the lead author of the report and the director of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network.
That is driving the need for better information, he said.
"Those decisions on how to respond to homelessness need to be based on evidence, what we know that works, not just on ideas we pull out of the air," he said.
"We have to move forward with solid evidence on how to do this. We've got some of that evidence but now it's time to scale it up across the country and get everybody pulling in the right direction."
The report made recommendations to improve the situation.
It said communities need to develop and implement plans to end homelessness, supported by all levels of government and that those governments need to increase the supply of affordable housing.
Another recommendation called for a housing-first approach to ending homelessness.
Some communities are already following these approaches and are making significant progress, the report said.
Among recent successful efforts is the At Home/Chez Soi pilot program in five cities, backed by $110 million in federal funding from the Mental Health Commission.
It tries to get the homeless into subsidized housing first, before then supplying them with services designed to address the underlying problems that put them on the street in the first place.
The last time a price tag was placed on dealing with homeless was in 2007, when the Sheldon Chumir Foundation estimated that the emergency response to homelessness cost between $4.5 and $6 billion annually, including shelters, social services, health care and corrections.
The latest report raises that to just over $7 billion, based on the new count of the homeless and new research into the costs of housing them that came from the At Home/Chez Soi program.
What's happened is that a system designed for emergencies has become a long- term response, akin to keeping refugees in camps for decades, Gaetz said.
51
"When we start warehousing people, it can lead to a sense of complacency: 'well, it isn't the best situation to be sleeping with 50 other strangers in a room but it's a best we can do','' he said.
"The reality is it isn't the best we can do at all."
The report calls for more research into the issue, suggesting the federal government should consider co-ordinating a national homeless count.
'Gladue' court for Native offenders could be in Ottawa next year
BY ANDREW SEYMOUR, OTTAWA CITIZEN JUNE 18, 2013
OTTAWA — A specialized court that would improve sentencing reports for Aboriginal offenders could be up and running in Ottawa by early next year, according to the head of the city’s defence lawyers association.
Plans to create a Gladue court are still in the “study and planning stage” as a committee of judges, prosecutors and lawyers work through issues related to funding and who would provide the services for the court, said James Foord, president of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa and a member of the committee.
The court is named after the Gladue decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, which required judges to consider the unique life circumstances of Aboriginal offenders before sentencing them.
The next step is to choose four people who are capable of writing the specialized sentencing reports for the Ottawa region, said Foord. The four Aboriginal report writers will be selected and trained by Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, who provide report writers to the three Gladue courts in that city.
In the past three months, two Ottawa judges have raised concerns about sentencing reports for Aboriginal offenders prepared by the local probation office. The reports lacked details about the Aboriginal offenders’ cultural backgrounds — including the effect of discrimination, residential schools and colonialism — and failed to offer reasonable alternatives for sentencing, the judges complained.
One of the judges, Ontario Superior Court Justice Timothy Ray, handed out copies of a report prepared for Toronto’s Gladue court and suggested that the lawyer for a convicted rapist and Cree man contact the Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto to have a report prepared.
52 A spokesman for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services said probation officers are trained to write sentencing reports with Gladue content, but can’t write “proper” Gladue reports in their entirety.
Foord said that will no longer be an issue once local Gladue report writers are available.
“Right now there is no authorized, trained, accepted, designated Gladue report writer in Ottawa as they have in Toronto,” said Foord. “Any attempt to get standardized criteria and a more formal way of looking at it benefits everyone.”
Ottawa’s Gladue court is expected to be modelled on Toronto’s Gladue courts, said Foord. They accept guilty pleas, sentence offenders and handle bail hearings. Its workers also prepare Gladue reports for other sentencing judges.
Jonathan Rudin, program director for Aboriginal Legal Services in Toronto, said the work that Gladue courts accomplish is not being done as a “favour” for Aboriginal people.
“What Gladue says is that the court and the Canadian justice system has not done a good job with the sentencing of Aboriginal people. The default position has too often been to look at jail,” he said.
Aboriginal people are vastly overrepresented in Canadian jails and prison, Rudin said.
Currently, about a quarter of all inmates in Canada are Aboriginal, Rudin said. Those ratios are even higher for women and youth. Aboriginal people make up only four per cent of Canada’s total population.
Ontario’s Associate Chief Justice and former East Region Senior Judge Lise Maisonneuve, who spearheaded the campaign to create an Aboriginal court, said it was time Ottawa had a Gladue court.
“The Supreme Court of Canada is telling us that we need it,” said Maisonneuve. “We serve a large Aboriginal community in Ottawa and I think it is a court we need to put together to meet the requirements of the Supreme Court of Canada.”
Ottawa has the second largest Inuit population in Canada, outside of Nunavut.
Rudin said the stories of Canada’s Inuit haven’t been told.
“I think that is a population whose stories and whose realities, most people just don’t know them. Without understanding those issues, it’s hard to sentence them properly,” he said.
A second, more recent, Supreme Court decision directing the courts to “get serious” about recognizing Aboriginal circumstances was another incentive, Maisonneuve said.
53 Gladue Court
— Gladue courts are named after the 1999 Supreme Court decision that required courts to consider an Aboriginal person’s unique circumstances before sentencing them. The Gladue decision requires judges to consider the effects of discrimination, residential schools and colonialism and consider other reasonable alternatives to jail, where native populations are vastly overrepresented.
— Gladue courts can handle guilty pleas, sentencings and bail hearings.
— There are currently five Gladue courts in Ontario; three in Toronto and one each in London and Sarnia
— Gladue report writers currently spend about 20 to 30 hours preparing each report.
C-42: Enhancing RCMP Accountability Act Receives Royal Assent
OTTAWA, June 19, 2013 — The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, today announced that Bill C-42: Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act, received Royal Assent.
"Our Government has followed through on its commitment to give the RCMP the tools it needs to enhance public confidence and increase accountability to its members and to Canadians," said Minister Toews. "The legislation enacted today will enable the RCMP to continue its ongoing transformation, and will help the RCMP remain a strong and accountable national police force now, and in the future."
The Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act is designed to enhance accountability and transparency by:
Creating a new Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC) to replace the existing Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) and providing it with enhanced powers. Establishing a statutory framework for handling investigations of serious incidents involving RCMP members, which will improve the transparency and accountability of these investigations. Modernizing the RCMP's discipline, grievance and human resource management processes, with a view to preventing, addressing and correcting performance and conduct issues in a timely and fair manner. This includes enabling the Commissioner to establish a specific process for the investigation and resolution of harassment when a member of the Force is a respondent. "The RCMP is pleased that the Enhancing RCMP Accountability Act has received assent. This legislation will further help us to enhance our accountability to Canadians and to RCMP employees," said Commissioner Paulson. "We are
54 taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to the implementation of this significant organizational change. Legislation is an enabler of change; real cultural transformation comes from within; through action, leadership and engagement of all employees."
"The RCMP has committed to making the Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act a cornerstone of its efforts to reinforce a culture that promotes accountability and transparency. This legislation will significantly strengthen policies and processes the RCMP has already put in place to help ensure a safe, healthy and respectful workplace for it employees," said Minister Toews.
Enactment of the Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act is another important milestone on the path to modernizing the RCMP and making it more responsive to the needs and expectations of Canadians, stakeholders and RCMP members themselves.
It will also support the implementation of Respectful Workplace Programs across Canada, as outlined in Gender and Respect: The RCMP Action Plan. Changes to the RCMP's human resource management regime resulting from the legislation will be reviewed three years after those sections come into force to determine if they are having the desired results.
The legislation builds on the accountability mechanisms included in the 2012– 2032 Police Services Agreements signed by Contract Provinces and Territories, and further strengthens the RCMP's relationship with its contract partners.
Consequences for bad behaviour in the RCMP
BY OTTAWA CITIZEN, OTTAWA CITIZEN JUNE 21, 2013
This is the 21st century — not the Stone Age — and we should not even be discussing the kind of sexual harassment that has blighted Canada’s national police force. That kind of behaviour should long have been eliminated, but here we are, talking about harassment in, of all places, the RCMP.
The Senate doesn’t get much positive recognition these day, but Canadians should welcome the recommendations from the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence on the cancer that appears to be eating at our national force. Two reports, including one from the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, have found that there is no systemic harassment in the RCMP and that is good to know. But there is enough of a problem that nearly 300 women have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging harassment in the force. Indeed, the lewd comments allegedly made by fellow officers in some of the affidavits filed by the women make disgusting reading.
55
The problem is the culture that allows some men to engage in such offensive behaviour and get away with it. As senate committee chair Daniel Lang says, there are no “consequences” in the RCMP for bad behaviour, and that has to change. Sexual harassment cannot be excused as mere boorish behaviour or just “boys being boys.” It is demeaning and harmful, and should be treated as a serious offence. Among other things, the senate committee wants the RCMP to amend its code of conduct to explicitly define and prohibit harassment — and not diminish its impact by treating it as merely discreditable conduct. The punishment should also be defined and be severe. The report also wants victims to be supported by supervisors and senior brass, and not isolated and made to feel as if they’ve done something wrong when they make complaints — as Lang contends is what happens now. As well, the committee wants the government to appoint an ombudsman for the RCMP to operate independently of senior brass, keep a careful eye on what’s going on, and when necessary, offer an avenue for aggrieved policemen and women to complain.
The senate report will be handed to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, and he should not let it sit and gather dust. Sexual harassment is plain wrong — there are no ifs and buts about it — and the government should show it really cares by acting swiftly on the recommendations.
RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson ‘truly sorry’ for perceived slight against mentally ill
Douglas Quan, Postmedia News | 13/06/18 12:50 AM ET The RCMP commissioner says he is “truly sorry” for making a sound and gesture during a town hall earlier this year that some have interpreted as a slight against people suffering from mental-health issues.
A six-minute audio clip of Bob Paulson’s remarks — delivered to K Division members in Alberta in April — was recently posted on an RCMP watchdog website.
In the clip, Paulson tells members that if they get sick or injured on the job, the force will do everything it can to help them so they can return to work.
“I want people to hear it from me that if you get hurt on the job, and that includes (Paulson makes a whistling sound) we’re going to look after you,” he says.
“But there’s an onus on you, though, to come back to work because that’s the objective. The objective is not get a regimental number and then cha-ching, cha- ching, we’re looking after you for the rest of your life into your grave. No, no.”
The website that posted the audio clip, re-sergeance.net, suggested that as Paulson whistled, he also twirled his finger by the side of his head.
56 In an internal video message sent to all members on June 7, Paulson acknowledged that he “made a sound and gesture that some have interpreted to mean that I was making light of psychological-related issues.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Paulson said. “I know full-well the impact that work-related stress can have on an individual and their family.
“I want to apologize to anyone who was in that audience — or who has since listened to that recording — and was offended. I’m truly sorry.”
RCMP spokesman Cpl. David Falls said Monday Paulson’s apology “extends to all Canadians.”
Paulson went on to say that post-traumatic stress disorder and other work- related injuries must be taken seriously and that the force is working to strengthen its support to affected employees so they can return to work. “It’s in no one’s interest to have members on protracted medical leave,” he said.
“Similarly we cannot have members using our generous medical leave provisions for reasons other than getting better and getting back to work.”
We cannot have members using our generous medical leave provisions for reasons other than getting better and getting back to work Paulson recently got flak for public remarks he made before the Senate Committee on National Defence and Security, which has been studying harassment issues within the force.
The commissioner said on June 3 that while there are legitimate harassment complaints within the force, he couldn’t keep on defending “outlandish” allegations, noting that the most vocal critics are “not always the most meritorious of claimants.”
In a surprising move, Paulson called out by name three individuals who have recently gone public with allegations against the force, including B.C. Cpl. Roland Beaulieu, who has been on stress leave for two years due to conflicts with management.
Paulson pointed out that while Beaulieu has been off work he has had no problems helping out an upstart union effort in B.C. The commissioner also noted that Beaulieu had sent him an email in which he asked for money in order to leave the force.
In an interview last week, Liberal Sen. Grant Mitchell said Paulson should apologize for those remarks, too.
“Great leadership doesn’t single out subordinates” in a public forum, Mitchell said
57
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: THE CENTRE FOR FIRST NATIONS GOVERNANCE New Centre focuses on Governing Traditional Lands, First Nation Lawmaking and Organizing for Self-Governance
Vancouver, June 20, 2013 Last year the Government of Canada cut its funding for the now defunct National Centre for First Nations Governance (NCFNG). Staff rallied to continue offering quality governance services and today we are proud to announce the opening of an independent, self-funded social enterprise.
The new Centre for First Nations Governance (CFNG) places a strong focus on effective self-governance, offering nation rebuilding workshops and community forums to help First Nations improve their day-to-day operations while they work to re-assume control of their economic, cultural and political future.
CFNG provides services in three critical areas: Visioning and planning for self-governance Governing traditional lands First Nations lawmaking and policy development To address a continuing demand for services, facilitators delivered workshops and forums while working to launch CFNG.
The new centre is positioned to become the best service of it kind because it is built upon the work of its predecessor, the National Centre for First Nations Governance (NCFNG).
NCFNG was established in 2005 as an independent not-for-profit organization with annual funding from the Government of Canada. The Centre operated with 34 staff in six offices across Canada.
In 2006, NCFNG commissioned leading academics and lawyers renowned for their work in Aboriginal law and governance to prepare a body of research that could support the governance work required by First Nations.
The Centre used this research, along with extensive feedback from First Nations citizens and leadership, to build the foundation for a series of nation rebuilding workshops for delivery in communities. In it s six years of operation the Centre delivered well over 200 workshops to citizens and leaders.
By directly engaging and partnering with First Nations citizens, youth, elders and leadership in the community, NCFNG was able to identify the issues and solutions necessary to create services that resonated with and motivated
58 participants to take action on the governance challenges that mattered to them and their communities.
At the end of April 2012, the federal government notified the NCFNG that funding would not be available in 2013. NCFNG let go of its staff and closed its doors. The announcement of the closure precipitated considerable feedback from clients, academic partners and even government officials encouraging the Centre to find a way to continue its popular work.
Inspired by this support, former staff and a host of volunteers rallied to create a new non-profit enterprise that is self-funded, truly independent and dedicated to effective self-governance. We chose to give the new centre a modest name change. Today we are called the Centre for First Nations Governance.
For more information, contact Len Hartley toll free: 1 866 922 2052 email: [email protected]
WORTH VISITING: WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED
The Centre for First Nations Governance | fngovernance.org
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Macon council seeks hike in police and firefighter pensions Published: June 18, 2013 The Macon Telegraph By JIM GAINES — [email protected]
In a surprise move, the Macon City Council voted Tuesday to see whether retired police and firefighter pensions can be raised by $100 per month.
All the resolution asks is for the Macon Fire & Police Employees Retirement System to ask its actuary, Chuck Carr, whether the fund can financially handle the expense, said Councilman Charles Jones, initial co-sponsor of the legislation with Councilman Ed DeFore.
“If we’re able to do it, we ought to want to do it,” Jones said. “And if they say we can do it, we ought to do it.”
59 The resolution was defeated before in the council’s Employee Development & Compensation Committee, of which Jones is the chairman. But he moved Tuesday night to disagree with the committee’s decision and take it up for a final vote.
“I see this as a serious opportunity to help where we can,” Jones said.
Reconsidering the idea was approved 11-3, opposed by Councilwomen Lauren Benedict, Beverly K. Olson and Nancy White. Councilman Rick Hutto was absent. A measure to ask the fire and police pension board to consider the idea passed by an identical vote.
Benedict, chairwoman of the pension board that covers all the city’s general employees -- everyone except police and firefighters -- praised Jones’ handling of the committee debate on the matter, but said she still thinks it’s inappropriate to propose a raise for one fund but not the other.
Though $100 per month doesn’t sound like much, when multiplied by the number of people in the plan, it becomes a huge expense, with any shortfall coming out of the city’s general fund, Benedict said.
The $170 million investment fund has about 1,300 members, with about 400 of them currently drawing benefits, according to city documents. That indicates the increase would cost close to $500,000 per year.
The police and fire pension system is a Social Security replacement, not a supplement like the general employees’ plan.
DeFore and Jones are running for seats on the consolidated Macon-Bibb County Commission. But both men say the proposal isn’t a bid for political favor; rather, it’s a continuation of what they’ve done for years.
The pension plan’s minimum benefits, received by officers’ widows and some of the oldest former officers, are still low, said Macon police Lt. Danny Thigpin, president of the Fraternal Order of Police.
“Some of them out there, they don’t draw but $500 a month, you know,” Thigpin said last month.
City Hall security
The council voted 11-3 to ask the task force that’s working on merging Macon and Bibb County governments to plan for better security at City Hall, the seat of the new government. The resolution, sponsored by Councilmen Frank Tompkins and Virgil Watkins, was opposed by Councilman Henry Ficklin, Councilwoman Elaine Lucas and Council President James Timley. Ficklin said for his part that he voted against it because he didn’t want to burden the task force with an even heavier agenda.
60 The resolution asks for a new security plan when the consolidated government takes over in January 2014. In earlier discussion, council members worried about the building’s current vulnerability, with Watkins saying the “panic button” in the council office didn’t work and White saying there’s no coordinated plan to evacuate the building.
Having the city prepare at least an evacuation plan before the new government starts was accepted as a friendly amendment from White.
Police review boards
An ordinance from Gibson and Watkins to set the number of Macon officers on the police department’s internal review boards, which include advisory, disciplinary or shooting review boards, passed council 14-0.
In March, Gibson successfully proposed an ordinance to put civilians on the boards, which can review police-involved shootings and accusations of police misconduct. But that didn’t limit the number of Macon officers who could be assigned to the boards.
That’s led to boards with two civilians and two officers from other Middle Georgia police agencies, but packed with up to seven Macon police, said Gibson, who is retired Macon police captain. That can intimidate people testifying against Macon officers, he said.
The new ordinance will limit the boards to six members: two civilians, two from other regional police agencies and two Macon officers.
In Hot Pursuit of Numbers to Ward Off Crime By SOMINI SENGUPTA
The New York Times JUNE 19, 2013, 10:48 PM
At the Seattle Police Department, the morning roll call begins with Google Maps and computer algorithms.
A supervising sergeant pulls up a map of a precinct that is dotted with red boxes marking the beats that the officers should focus on. The map is the product of software that crunches crime data and tries to predict where crimes are most likely to occur over the next few hours. Patrol this parking lot today after 8 p.m., the algorithm might suggest, or keep an eye on that stretch of road for car break- ins.
“It gives the officers more direction,” Sgt. Bryan Clenna, of the city’s West Precinct, said, “instead of driving around like drone bees.”
61 Predictive policing programs like this one, used for now only for property crimes, are a harbinger of how, for better or worse, police officers across the country are relying on the data analytics business. Seattle is at the center of this experiment.
The city’s license-plate readers record the movement of vehicles, information that is then stored in a vast database to be tapped later in criminal investigations. Its red-light cameras record traffic violations and issue tickets, though unlike many other municipalities, Seattle requires a police officer to vet each citation. The police department uses Twitter, that rushing stream of data, as its crime blotter, letting residents report possible crimes in their neighborhoods.
And, starting in July, the Seattle police will use a similar software program to predict where gun violence is likely to occur.
The department even procured an unmanned drone equipped with a video camera to take aerial shots, but the plan was halted after residents raised concerns about privacy.
“Where technology has caught up is to allow police to ask questions about what’s happening in their jurisdictions and to be able to understand temporal patterns, spatial patterns,” said Joel M. Caplan, assistant professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University in New Jersey, who has developed a crime forecasting program with his colleagues and is testing it at a half-dozen police agencies.
Critics say that surveillance technologies carry risks to civil liberties and that predictive policing, in particular, can additionally perpetuate a self-fulfilling cycle of bias. That is to say, an area with historically high rates of crime gets greater police attention, which results in more arrests, which in turn the algorithm uses to deem that neighborhood an area where crime is more likely to occur.
“It comes with inherent biases and prejudices that can be worse than the help it offers,” said Jason M. Schultz, who studies the privacy implications of new technologies at the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. “It kind of reinforces its own data by redirecting resources to those areas.”
Because predictive policing is still in its infancy, there is little independent evidence to suggest whether data mining in law enforcement is really effective.
But for companies that make the analytics tools, it is already a large and fast- growing market.
For instance, I.B.M., which has spent billions of dollars in the last year acquiring analytics start-ups, offers a software package of its own for predictive policing. Its social media analytics tool can be used by police agencies to vet Facebook and Twitter chatter. And its Coplink software allows one investigating police agency to mine another’s crime data to track down a wanted person: police officials in Mesa, Ariz., said they used this technology to find a man suspected of murder who was picked up for jaywalking hundreds of miles away.
62 Microsoft teamed up with the New York Police Department to develop one of the most ambitious crime analytics tools in the world. Known as the Domain Awareness System, it can analyze video from the more than 3,000 police surveillance cameras across the city and comb through a variety of other databases, from license-plate readers to sensors that can pick up heightened radiation levels to arrest records. In announcing the program last August, the police said it could, for instance, find a car associated with a possible crime or lawbreaker and analyze where that car had been seen over the last several weeks.
Law enforcement agencies, especially gang units, mine social networks like Facebook and Twitter to gather intelligence on criminal networks. The Department of Homeland Security uses an analytics tool that combs through Twitter for key words that might signal trouble. The list includes “pipe bomb,” “plume” and “listeria.”
Seattle’s predictive policing program grew out of an earlier experiment in data analytics. It began with a software program that culled 911 calls from the previous week, identified crime “hot spots” and assigned officers to patrol each one for at least 15 minutes every hour. Not all 911 calls turn out to be about criminal activity, though, and the department cut back on the practice of these so- called directed patrols. Earlier this year, Seattle bought a new software package, known as PredPol, short for predictive policing, and developed by academics at the University of California, Los Angeles. It initially deployed the software in two precincts, and in May announced its expansion citywide.
Acting Lt. Bryan Grenon said it was too early to know whether it was working. In any case, property crimes have plummeted in Seattle in the last year, by as much as 19 percent.
PredPol, according to P. Jeffrey Brantingham, a U.C.L.A. anthropologist who helped develop it, does not rely just on the previous day or previous week’s incidents. It looks at both short-term and long-term patterns in property crimes, he said, and uses a proprietary algorithm to weigh their relative importance and forecast risk in the next few hours. It has been used by 11 other police agencies, including those in Los Angeles and Santa Cruz. It has not been independently tested.
Sometimes, his algorithm has a pretty good idea of where someone might cause trouble, but not necessarily what kind.
In late May, Sergeant Clenna recalled, the PredPol map divined danger in a tiny patch of downtown that is dotted with liquor stores and loiterers. Sure enough, there was a robbery right there, though not one that a computer program could have predicted: a thief walked into a Chinese restaurant and made off with a live crab.
63 Private force eyed to bolster police in Camden Updated 8:35 am, Friday, June 21, 2013
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — The new Camden County Police Department is looking to strengthen its presence in the city of Camden's business districts by hiring "public safety ambassadors."
County freeholders approved a contract Thursday with the security firm AlliedBarton to provide the private force.
Police Chief Scott Thomson said the ambassadors would help with community policing but be unarmed and have no arrest powers. They would wear fluorescent vests to be easily identifiable.
He said a similar program in Philadelphia has proven successful.
County officials say up to 100 ambassadors would be hired under the plan, but won't hit the streets until the state provides needed funding.
They would handle routine police chores like verifying alarms.
County spokesman Dan Keashen told the Courier-Post (http://on.cpsj.com/15qpQg5 ) the use of ambassadors for such jobs would allow police to focus on neighborhoods.
The ambassadors would be in constant contact with police officers, Thomson said.
"These guys are also trained as far as assisting with information," the chief said. "They're not just there as a deterrence. They're also there to engage the business owners and the citizens."
The county police force is expected to reach its goal of about 400 sworn officers in about six months. Hit hard by budget cuts, Camden's municipal police department had about 270 officers.
"This is part of our overarching strategy to hit a tipping point where people feel safe," Thomson said.
Five Pittsburgh police officers no longer screening recruits June 22, 2013 12:15 am
By Liz Navratil and Jonathan D. Silver / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
64 Pittsburgh officials Friday barred five police officers -- including a commander and a sergeant -- from screening potential recruits based on eligibility requirements established in a new policy. Two more officers stepped down for reasons that are unclear. The move comes one week after city council members and citizens groups raised concerns about the appropriateness of officers with tainted or questionable records interviewing potential candidates for the police academy. Both acting Pittsburgh police Chief Regina McDonald and Public Safety Director Michael Huss declined to release the full list of officers who were either removed or stepped down from their positions as full-time or alternate members of the 10 panels set to begin hearing exams next week. Mr. Huss confirmed that among those no longer serving as evaluators were:
• Zone 2 Cmdr. Eric Holmes, who is under internal scrutiny over holding a second full-time job while he worked as a sergeant. • Lt. Charles Rodriguez, whose promotion was controversial because of a domestic violence charge by his daughter that eventually was dropped. • Sgt. Carol Ehlinger, who has been the subject of two use-of-force allegations by fellow officers claiming she choked them and in which the city paid more than $500,000, most of it in legal fees. • Officer David Sisak, who is facing a second civil trial in connection with a high- profile case in which he and his partners are accused of beating Jordan Miles in Homewood. He was not prosecuted criminally.
The police bureau worked with the Office of Municipal Investigations and city Law Department to determine whether the 56 people it originally selected were still eligible to hear exams under a new policy finalized Wednesday. The one-page document prohibits officers from hearing the exams if they have criminal charges pending, are the subject of an OMI investigation that could result in criminal charges, have been disciplined by the bureau within the past 10 years, have been arrested for domestic violence or named as a defendant in a protection-from-abuse order in the past 10 years or have been found liable in a civil suit that has gone to trial within the last decade. Chief McDonald said officers originally selected as alternates for the panels will fill in for full-time examiners who have been removed or left. A final grouping of panelists -- which must be vetted to ensure diversity in age, rank and experience of its members -- should be complete on Monday, the same day potential examiners report for training, the chief said. Elizabeth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizen Police Review Board, previously raised concerns that even the hint of impropriety could call into question the integrity of the exam process. She learned of the reshuffling from a reporter Friday afternoon. "I think that's good," she said. "I think it keeps everybody in a more comfortable position, and there's less likely to be criticism of their choices at the end of the day."
Chiefs oppose ABC police outsourcing Jun. 21, 2013 @ 08:09 PM
65 Ray Gronberg
DURHAM — Police Chief Jose Lopez and another local lawman have weighed in against a potential move by the county ABC Board to outsource the job of inspecting bars, restaurants and stores that sell alcohol.
Lopez and N.C. Central University Police Chief Tim Bellamy spoke during the public comment period of an ABC Board meeting earlier this week.
Both said the board’s two-person, in-house police unit is doing valuable work, particularly when it comes to working with local groups to prevent alcohol-law violations.
“What they do on a daily basis is something we really could not reproduce without an extremely larger budget,” Lopez told ABC Board members. “Hopefully, I’m here wasting my time because you already realize you need them and are going to keep them.”
Bellamy, formerly chief of Greensboro’s police department, said he’d opposed a similar outsourcing of ABC law enforcement in that city.
“It was a bad move,” Bellamy said, arguing that ABC law is a specialized field that general-purpose law enforcement agencies aren’t well-suited for.
The comments from the two chiefs followed a Herald-Sun report that a board subcommittee had asked the Durham County Sheriff’s Office to take over the work of ABC police unit.
Board Chairwoman Kim Shaw said that the panel had been asked by County Commissioners to consider outsourcing.
County officials disputed that, saying the idea came from the ABC Board. But they admitted to urging the board to increase its profit-sharing with local governments, a request that could put pressure on the board’s budget.
The fiscal 2013-14 budget that commissioners are scheduled to approve Monday night assumes a $500,000 increase in ABC contributions to the county. ABC Board in recent years has been channeling about $1 million to the county.
The extra money is helping County Commissioners balance their budget while also raising by $2.4 million their annual subsidy of the Durham Public Schools.
County Manager Mike Ruffin told commissioners the ABC Board had been reluctant to support the increase in profit-sharing.
But he recommended putting it into the budget anyway, saying that ABC General Manager Emily Page had signaled to him she was “comfortable” with the move.
66 Page, a former ABC Board chairwoman, is a lame duck as general manager. The board last month announced that she’d resigned pending the hiring by the board of a replacement. The search for a new general manager is now under way.
Officials in the sheriff’s office are pondering the takeover request. Chief Deputy Don Ladd has said its research will likely be complete by the end of the year.
Law enforcement costs the ABC Board about $227,000 a year. The board by law has to devote part of its $27.8 million annual budget to policing, to include regular inspections of establishments that hold a license to sell beer, wine or liquor. The state leaves it up to local boards to choose between employing their own police or outsourcing.
Most outsource. Durham County is among the 15 of the state’s 165 ABC boards that have in-house police.
In-house units are more common in larger communities, with the ABC boards of Wake, Mecklenburg, Forsyth and Cumberland counties and the city of Asheville all having them.
Durham’s ABC Board, like its counterparts around the state, operates a chain of state-owned liquor stores. A state agency, the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, monitors its work and issues alcohol-sales permits. The state also has its own alcohol cops, N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement, to watch for violations.
Watchdog concurs with LAPD on Dorner findings
By Joel Rubin Los Angeles Times June 21, 2013
The city's independent watchdog over the Los Angeles Police Department said Friday that he found no major problems with the department's report on Christopher Dorner and concurred with the report's conclusion that police officials were right to fire Dorner.
Dorner was fired from the LAPD in 2009 for fabricating a story in which he accused his partner of kicking a handcuffed, mentally-ill man. In February of this year, police say, Dorner went on a killing rampage to avenge what he saw as his wrongful firing. Dorner killed four people, including two police officers, and wounded three others as he evaded capture for more than a week during an intense manhunt.
Dorner was found in the mountains near Big Bear and chased by police into a cabin in the woods, where he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
67 While on the run, Dorner posted an online manifesto in which he sought to explain his rampage. In it, he described the LAPD as an agency rife with racism and corruption, and claimed the killings were "a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name.”
As the manhunt for Dorner dragged on, police Chief Charlie Beck ordered an internal review of Dorner's firing. Beck made the move as critics from within the department and outside its ranks latched on to Dorner's allegations, saying that although they condemned the killings, Dorner's dark description of the agency rang true.
That swell of harsh criticism, Beck and others feared, threatened to undo years of work by police and city officials to rehabilitate the department's reputation after decades marked by abuses and scandal.
On Friday, the department released the findings of that review.
[Link to the police department's internal review here: http://www.lapdpolicecom.lacity.org/062513/BPC_13-0226.pdf]
Dorner, the review concluded, had made up the story about his partner kicking the man to further his own "personal agenda" and was rightfully fired.
In turn, Alex Bustamante, the L.A. Police Commission's inspector general, examined the department's review of the Dorner case. In a report also released Friday, Bustamante said he "ultimately concurs with the Department's conclusions" and found no evidence to bolster Dorner's claims.
[Link to the inspector general's report here: http://www.lapdpolicecom.lacity.org/062513/BPC_13-0227.pdf]
Bustamante's report did point out some inconsistencies in the voluminous case file on the firing but said none of them would have affected the decision to kick Dorner off the force.
Couple arrested by L.A. County sheriff's deputy win $550,000 award Tatiana Lopez and Miguel Amarillas were taken into custody in 2009 by a sheriff's deputy whom they accused of planting drugs in their car and falsifying an arrest report.
By Richard Winton and Jack Leonard, Los Angeles Times
June 18, 2013, 8:15 p.m.
68 A couple who alleged that they were falsely arrested and framed for drug possession were awarded $550,000 on Tuesday in a legal settlement involving a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who has been charged with perjury.
The county Board of Supervisors approved the settlement for Tatiana Lopez and Miguel Amarillas at the recommendation of the county's attorneys, who cited the "risks and uncertainties" of fighting the couple's civil rights lawsuit at trial. The couple accused Deputy Francisco Enriquez, a member of a narcotics task force, of lying and planting drugs after he alleged that he had driven Lopez to a sheriff's station and discovered several bags of methamphetamines in the patrol car after she was taken out.
Lopez said Tuesday that she was relieved the county had finally approved the settlement, saying the ordeal had taken a psychological toll on her. She said she has had trouble sleeping since the Oct. 7, 2009, incident and now views law enforcement with suspicion. "It's hard to trust again," she said. "There's no amount of money that can make up for the damage that was done." Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said his department is in the process of firing Enriquez, who joined the agency in 2001. Enriquez, 37, has pleaded not guilty to one count of perjury in a probable cause declaration and one count of filing a false report. In addition to the settlement award, the county has spent more than $322,000 to fight the lawsuit, including $288,000 on lawyers' fees, according to county records. Lopez was a student at Cerritos College and had no criminal record when she was arrested in Downey. Amarillas, who said he once associated with a gang, had twice been incarcerated, the first time for robbery in 2000 and the second for assault in 2007, according to prison records. He worked checking cables on oil rigs for a company in Long Beach. Enriquez wrote in his report that he noticed that Lopez was speaking rapidly and sweating, even though the night was cool. He suspected that she and Amarillas were on drugs, and the couple were taken to the sheriff's station in separate patrol cars. After he dropped Lopez off, Enriquez wrote, he and other deputies searched the couple's home, where he found another bag with drugs in a bedroom dresser. The bag, he wrote, contained the same distinctive insignia as the bags found in the patrol car.
Enriquez said he gave Lopez and Amarillas a chance to provide a urine sample for a drug test, but they refused.
The couple, however, said they were never asked to take a urine test and that they had not used drugs and did not possess any. Lopez accused the deputies of trying to pressure her into saying the drugs belonged to her fiance and said a deputy threatened to have her son removed from her home.
The district attorney's office initially declined to file charges, concluding that there was not enough evidence. But prosecutors later charged her with possession for
69 sale of a controlled substance after deputies wrote new reports that provided more details about the night of the arrest.
Those reports were written after Lopez and her attorney met with a sheriff's lieutenant to discuss a complaint she had filed alleging that the deputies falsely arrested her and her fiance, according to her attorney, Thomas E. Beck, who accused sheriff's officials of pursuing the case in retaliation for her complaint. The district attorney's office dropped the charges against Lopez after Beck produced sheriff's radio communications that showed that a different deputy had driven Lopez to the station. The Sheriff's Department told The Times in 2010 that a preliminary review of Lopez's claims had found no dishonesty by the deputies but that the department would investigate the allegations. That subsequent investigation led to criminal charges against Enriquez.
Lopez, a caregiver, said the settlement would help pay the legal bill she still owes from her criminal case. She said the arrest and criminal charge still follow her in background checks conducted by prospective employers, and she believes that some have passed her over for jobs after seeing her criminal record.
Lopez said she could have held out for more money but felt worn down from fighting the county's attorneys. The lawsuit, she said, was an attempt to clear her name and show other victims of law enforcement misconduct that they can stand up for themselves. "I didn't do this for the money," she said. "I hope that with my story, it will encourage other people to speak up.
Seizure of more bulletproof vests worries police By KIMMO MATTHEWS Sunday Observer reporter [email protected] Sunday, June 23, 2013
Among the series of worrying discoveries which have been made by the Jamaica Constabulary Force in recent months, is that criminals have found better ways of acquiring bulletproof vests to protect themselves in shoot-outs with law enforcers. Police intelligence in recent months also indicate that criminals have been improving their monitoring of police movements and have taken other steps, apart from acquiring more bulletproof vests, to protect themselves.
Five police personnel were reportedly killed and close to 40 shot and injured during these deadly attacks, the police said. In a series of raids across the island over several months, police have recovered over 20 bulletproof vests from members of the criminal underworld. This, according to senior investigators, is also an indicator that criminals are preparing themselves to confront lawmen in longer, more intense gunbattles in defence of their illicit livelihood.
70 As a result of the find, some police personnel are calling on the authorities to put legislation in place to ensure stricter scrutiny of organisations which import firearms and ballistic vests into the island. "The seizure of protective vests is nothing new but it is increasingly becoming an issue of concern," Delroy Hewitt, the senior superintendent in charge of the rough St Andrew South police division, told the Jamaica Observer. "There needs to be stricter measures to ensure that tighter security is made of organisations which import these items," Hewitt said. Hewitt made the comment while disclosing that two ballistic vests were seized in his division during the past year. He however said that legal importers of ballistic vests was not the only channel through which criminal elements get their hands on the vital protective wear. Anthony Castelle, who heads the often volatile St Catherine North division, has shared similar concern, while disclosing that at least three ballistic vests were seized by the police in his area since the start of the year. The senior police officer also raised concern over a number of binoculars seized from the criminal networks, an indication that members of the criminal underworld have intensified their monitoring of police movements in an effort to evade lawmen and keep their illegal enterprises afloat. He has warned that despite these discoveries, the police would not back down. "The police will continue the fight against criminals, but the question as to how these items are getting into the hands of criminal is always a concern," Castelle said. In the Kingston East division, similar sentiments were expressed. "Information that criminals continue to improve their operations will always be an issue of concern, but the police will not relent," said Deputy Superintendent in charge of operations at the Kingston Eastern division, Hornet Williams. The Kingston West police have also made similar recoveries. Last February, a rifle and several rounds of ammunition were found in a cellar in the Kingston 12 area by the police. Reports are that the police were carrying out an operation on 24th Street when a M14 Winchester rifle with eight 7.62mm cartridges was found in the cellar. Other cases, like the recent four-hour operation by the police at locations in Gutters, Old Harbour, Hellshire and Caribbean Estates in St Catherine, which led to the arrest of a businessman and the seizure of over 500 rounds of ammunition and five bulletproof vests, also add credence to the claim made by police. The businessman was arrested after 331 twelve-gauge cartridges and 206, nine- mm rounds were seized.
Crime In Kansas City: Statistics and Prevention Published by www.kctribune.com June 23rd, 2013
Every major metropolitan city in America experiences some amount of crime. Fortunately for residents of Kansas City, Missouri, the city’s downtown and midtown areas have below average violent crime rates compared to other
71 downtown areas in major cities. In fact, according to a study by the University of Missouri-Kansas City and The Kansas City Star, Kansas City’s downtown area has seen the largest decrease in crime of any other neighborhoods in the city in the past 10 years. While crime in these areas may continue to fall, it does still exist and residents in all areas of the city are urged to properly protect themselves while they are out in the city and at home. Starting on the home front is the best place to establish security techniques for the entire family. Refer to a home security website for home safety tips and then think about how you can use them in other settings. Some safety tips you learn at home can even be used in the city or out on the streets of Kansas City. For instance, responding to a burglar or how to handle suspicious strangers approaching you (or your home) can be applied in both settings. There are many online resources where you can find effective self-defense tools, so read up and get informed on crime prevention. Because even if Kansas City’s crime rate is dropping, it still does exist.
Paying municipal workers for unused sick and vacation days can be costly
By Maria Papadopoulos Enterprise Staff Writer Posted Jun 23, 2013 @ 06:00 AM
BROCKTON — In Abington, a town accountant got $24,000. In Raynham, a sewer superintendent got $30,000 and in East Bridgewater, a police chief received more than $73,000.
Generous sick and vacation buy-backs have long been allowed for area municipal employees – but they are a benefit that one expert calls “relics of an earlier era that is long gone.”
“Cities and towns can no longer afford these kinds of extravagant benefits,” said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
Widmer said generous buy-backs can deplete municipal budgets that are already cash-strapped.
“Cities and towns are having to find every imaginable way to brings these expenses in line,” Widmer said.
But some town employees are still cashing in, using buy-backs to take home more taxpayer-funded earnings.
According to town records, East Bridgewater Police Chief John Cowan, 56, didn’t take one sick or vacation day in seven fiscal years – from fiscal 2005 to 2011 – opting to receive cash payments for the time instead.
72
For the calendar years 2008 to 2011, Cowan received a total of $73,712 in payments for unused sick and vacation days, town records show.
Town records also show Cowan was paid for 90 unused vacation days and 60 unused sick days for fiscal 2005 through 2007. The amount of those pay-outs could not be determined Wednesday, since the town’s payroll software only goes back to 2008, town records show.
When asked why he hasn’t taken a vacation or sick day in seven fiscal years, Cowan said he took the option of getting paid for that time instead.
“I understand that people have questions. I don’t think people are going to question that I’m not here,” Cowan said. “In 30 years, I haven’t taken a sick day. I always show up for work.”
“I’m just here all the time,” Cowan said. “I work and I have an option of either taking the vacation time or getting paid for it and I put in for it. You know, I am here.”
Widmer, of the the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, called Cowan’s buy- backs “a whopping amount” for one employee.
From fiscal 2005 to 2011, Cowan cashed out a total of 210 unused vacation days and 140 unused sick days, town records show.
His former contract, which ran from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2011, allowed Cowan to receive payments for 30 vacation days and 20 sick days annually that were unused, town records show.
Employees in other local communities have cashed in unused sick and vacation time. In February, Brockton’s former mayoral chief of staff Kenneth Thompson received $18,894 in unused sick, vacation and personal days accumulated over three years as part of a separation agreement with the city. In December 2011, Abington Town Accountant Anthony Sulmonte received nearly $24,000 in unused sick and vacation time as part of a separation agreement with the town after more than a decade on the job. In 2006, Raynham renegotiated the contract of Sewer Superintendent Frank Cabral Jr.’s contract that allowed him to cash in $30,200 of unused sick time. Brockton Councilor-at-large Thomas Brophy said contracts often require the city to pay its employees for unused sick and vacation time. “Most city employees are union members and most of it is contractual,” Brophy said. But “it’s not unusual, even for non-contractual situations,” Brophy said. “It’s up to the mayor and the City Council (to approve buy-backs). There is precedence for it.” Cowan said his current contract, which he renegotiated with town officials last year, did away with the provision that allowed him to receive sick and vacation time buy-backs annually.
73 Under his current contract, which runs through June 30, 2015, Cowan will get payment for all accrued vacation leave “upon retirement or death.” Cowan receives 10 vacation days and 20 sick days annually with his current contract. He may accumulate up to a maximum of 225 sick days, his new contract states. Cowan said this year, he has already used nine of his 10 vacation days. He said he negotiated a salary of $150,000, up from $87,420 in fiscal 2010, with the town last year when the sick and vacation time buy-back provision was removed from his contract. “Now I don’t get sick time buy-back, I don’t get any of the extra payments,” Cowan said. “There’s just one line. It simplified the contract.”
Scranton police, fire unions seek pension increase BY JIM LOCKWOOD Scranton Times-Tribune Published: June 20, 2013 Scranton's police and fire unions want the state Commonwealth Court to reconsider its rejection in 2010 of an increase in maximum pension benefits, from 50 percent of salary to 70 percent, that the unions had won in prior arbitration cases.
At the time of that ruling, such an increase in pension benefits would have approximately doubled the city's annual mandatory minimum contributions to the police and fire pension systems.
A motion by International Association of Fire Fighters Local 60 and Fraternal Order of Police E.B. Jermyn Lodge 2 stems from the state Supreme Court's landmark arbitration ruling in favor of the unions in October 2011. One facet involved a possible restoration of the increase in pension benefits that Commonwealth Court had struck down in October 2010.
In allowing the union to appeal the pension matter, the Supreme Court in February 2012 sent it back to Commonwealth Court to be reconsidered.
The unions on June 5 filed a motion in Commonwealth Court to have it set a schedule for updated legal briefs to be submitted from both sides and a date for arguments to be heard.
The case is a lingering remnant of the epic legal war between the city and unions pitting conflicting state laws, Act 47, the Distressed Municipalities Act of 1987, against Act 111, Pennsylvania's arbitration law of 1968. The unions won that war when the Supreme Court ruled in October 2011 that the city's Act 47 recovery
74 plan limitations did not trump Act 111 arbitration awards outside of the recovery plan.
The unresolved pension facet of the case centers on a third statute, Act 205, the 1951 Municipal Pension Act.
Unions' attorney Thomas Jennings said, "The issue is whether or not it (the arbitration awards' pension increases) passes muster with Act 205."
Act 205 holds that in a class 2A city, of which Scranton is the only one in the state, "the total allowance from the (pension) systems shall not exceed 50 percent of the salary currently paid to a patrolman or fireman of the highest pay grade," according to the Commonwealth Court ruling.
The two arbitration awards underlying the case, including one from 2008 for the fire union and one from 2009 for the police union, involved wage increases, health benefits and other items.
It also allowed for pensions as follows:
- For 20 years of service, a pension of 60 percent of average year salary;
- 21 years, 62 percent;
- 22 years, 64 percent;
- 23 years, 66 percent;
- 24 years, 68 percent; and
- 25 years, 70 percent.
The calculation of average year salary included longevity, overtime and other pay incentives.
The city appealed these awards. On Oct. 29, 2010, Commonwealth Court affirmed large wage increases and caps on employee health insurance contributions, but struck down pension-benefit provisions on the following grounds: they were illegal; there had been no cost estimate of their impact as required by Act 205; and actuarial data related to the pension awards had not been provided by the chief administrative officer of the pension plan.
The key questions in the unresolved pension case are whether the Commonwealth Court improperly vacated the pension provisions of the arbitration awards and whether the pension benefits conferred by the awards are lawful and should be confirmed, the unions' motion states.
Regarding a pension above 50 percent, Mr. Judge noted that the city in the early 1990s provided a 60 percent pension option as a retirement incentive, and the 10 percent difference was funded from the city budget and not the pension systems.
75 The annual budget continues to include a 10 percent pension retirement line item, he said.
"We don't think it was a violation of Act 205," Mr. Judge said of the arbitration award's pension provision. He added that the unresolved pension issue has affected the timing of some retirements. "We've had guys wait to see what will happen and it's a determination on when they will retire. I'm glad to see it's finally getting taking care of."
Community groups join forces to reduce crime By Lucy Donoghue June 20, 2013, 1 p.m. NVI.COM GUNNEDAH police officers and local Aboriginal leaders are joining forces in the fight to reduce crime and fear within the community through the formation of a new committee.
A sub-branch of the Police and Aboriginal Consultative Committee (PACC) is being formed as part of NSW Police Force’s Aboriginal Strategic Direction, which runs from 2012-2017.
The Gunnedah group will include police officers and members of the local Aboriginal community and will work towards improving communication and understanding between police and Aboriginal people, reducing involvement and improve the safety of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system, and diverting Aboriginal people from harm.
An initial meeting was held at the Red Chief Local Aboriginal Land Council office on Tuesday to discuss the formation of the committee. Similar meetings were also held in Quirindi, Tamworth and Walcha.
Gunnedah Duty Officer Paul Johnson and Oxley LAC Aboriginal Liaison Officer Harry Cudmore spoke with several key community members about the formation and purpose of the committee.
“Our aim is to make the community feel safer by working with local Aboriginal leaders who can hopefully help us pass on information to the rest of the community,” Inspector Johnson said.
“We also want to get feedback from within the community so we can then work on issues specific to Gunnedah,” he said.
The committee will focus on crime issues, anti-social behaviour and juvenile related issues.
Inspector Johnson said education and increasing the flow of information between local groups is crucial.
76 “Ideally we’ll use education as a preventative measure in reducing crime.
“We also want to increase knowledge of police procedures so the Aboriginal community knows what to expect when dealing with police.”
Oxley LAC Aboriginal Liaison Officer Harry Cudmore said “it’s a long road but we need to do it together”.
“Reducing crime within Aboriginal communities has been difficult in the past because there are a lot of issues but we need to work together to make it work,” he said.
“The new Aboriginal Strategic Direction is allowing us to work through the issues and get a better outcome.”
See your ad here The committee hopes to bring together representatives from local groups including Red Chief Local Aboriginal Land Council, Min Min Aboriginal Corporation, Gunida Gunyah, Winanga-Li, Oxley LAC and Gunnedah PCYC.
The group will meet each quarter to discuss relevant local issues and will work on strategies to overcome the problems.
The first PACC meeting will take place in Gunnedah on August 14.
Council rejects tentative agreement with Police Officers Association
Published: Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Shelby Township Source Newspapers By SEAN DELANEY
A proposed collective bargaining agreement with the Sterling Heights Police Officers Association/Michigan Association of Police was unanimously rejected June 4 by the Sterling Heights City Council.
"We've only had to do this once before in the last few years that I can remember," said Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko. "We get real excited about making progress on a contract, and then something happens where you realize you need a 'do over' - that there's some tweaking that needs to be done - and we need to go back and take care of that. I think it's in the best interests of our residents to go back and look at this contract over again."
If approved, the tentative agreement would have:
77 * Frozen police officer wages at the July 2010 wage scale for the two years of the collective bargaining agreement and pay new full-time officers 10 percent less until they reach the top step of the wage scale after five years of service
* Increased deductibles and co-pays for health insurance
* Reduced longevity pay by 33 1/3 percent from the former benefit level
* Eliminated the old system of retiree health care for new hires and replaced it with an annual allotment of $1,250 to be paid into a retiree health savings account for the retiree to purchase health care coverage in retirement.
"The new proposed agreement is in keeping with Gov. (Rick) Snyder's Economic Vitality Incentive Program for those police departments not eligible to receive Social Security," said Sterling Heights Police Detective Robert Kovalcik. "We believe that there are significant benefits for both sides in this tentative agreement."
According to city officials, the key sticking point regarding approval of the proposed agreement was a provision that would have increased the annual pension multiplier from 2 percent to 3 percent.
"In terms of real dollars, if a police officer is making $100,000 when they retire and their final average compensation is $100,000, a 2 percent multiplier would result in a $50,000 pension and a 3 percent multiplier would result in a $75,000 pension," said Mayor Pro Tem Michael Taylor. "So we're talking about $25,000 a year, for every year that these new hires are in retirement. It's a significant cost."
At the June 4 meeting, City Manager Mark Vanderpool said the provision was offered due to the proposed elimination of traditional retiree healthcare coverage.
"The (Public Act 312) arbitration award states that if the new police officers no longer receive retiree healthcare, then they receive a 3 percent pension multiplier," Vanderpool said.
But officials say the increase would cause the tentative agreement to cost the city more than the prior agreement.
"The studies have been completed by the actuaries and reviewed by city administration," Vanderpool said. "Based upon the studies, the new collective bargaining agreement will result in a new increase in cost to the city from the proposed increase in the pension multiplier from 2 percent to 3 percent over the savings to be realized from the elimination of retiree medical benefits for new police officers."
Mayor Richard Notte also cautioned that approving a tentative agreement with a 3 percent pension multiplier could set a costly precedent.
78 "If we agreed to a 3 percent multiplier for the police department, the firefighters would do the same on their next contract," Notte said. "Over the years, that would be an astronomical expense on the city."
Despite the council's reluctance to approve a new collective bargaining agreement at the June 4 meeting, city officials say they remain committed to working with the Sterling Heights Police Officers Association/Michigan Association of Police to reach an agreement both sides can live with.
"I honestly think this is what they call a bump on the road," said Councilman Joseph Romano. "I think it will be worked out."
Pittsburgh creates criteria for examiners evaluating police academy candidates June 19, 2013 11:23 pm By Liz Navratil and Jonathan D. Silver / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh officials Wednesday released a new policy barring some police officers with controversial backgrounds from evaluating potential recruits -- five days after council members and citizen groups raised concerns. But while one councilwoman called the policy a "good start," the one-page document received mixed reviews, and its impact was uncertain on the group of officers slated to begin evaluating academy candidates next week. The policy governing how officers should be allowed to participate on oral boards panels -- which question those seeking to become police officers -- is the first of its kind. It was drafted in response to concerns first reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which publicly revealed that among the 56 full-time panelists and alternates selected to hear oral exams were a commander currently under internal investigation, an officer accused in the Jordan Miles civil suit, a sergeant whose allegations of excessive force on other officers were settled in court and others with controversial pasts. Acting police Chief Regina McDonald said through spokeswoman Diane Richard that the bureau is "now reviewing the list of officers who volunteered to serve on the Oral Boards and will remove any officer who does not meet the standards. This process is not expected to be completed until [Thursday] afternoon." Under the new policy, officers serving on the board must have at least seven years of experience working in the Pittsburgh police bureau and must not: l Currently be the subject of an inquiry by the city Office of Municipal Investigations "for conduct that may result in criminal charges." l Have criminal charges pending in the court system. l Be under monitoring by the police bureau, something public safety director Michael Huss said happens when an officer's supervisor spots a troubling pattern of behavior in him or her. l Have been disciplined as a result of a serious, sustained OMI investigation in the past 10 years. l Have been arrested for domestic violence or had a permanent protection- from-abuse order filed against him or her within the past 10 years. l Have been subject to internal bureau discipline within the past 10 years.
79 l Have been the subject of a lawsuit "which resulted in a jury conviction against an officer" within the past 10 years. Mr. Huss said, "This policy is put together so that we make sure that the folks interviewing people have the utmost character." Others, however, found it lacking. Elizabeth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizen Police Review Board, said, "Isn't this full of ambiguities? It looks to me like it was very hastily put together." Ms. Pittinger said she was confused by language that prohibited an officer from serving if he had been "convicted" in a lawsuit, when people are generally found liable in civil suits and convicted only in criminal cases. Mr. Huss declined to clarify that matter Wednesday night. She said she thought it strange that an officer who was arrested for domestic violence within the past 10 years but cleared of the charges would be prohibited from hearing the exams and also wondered why some people under internal investigation could serve if the bureau did not think the inquiries would result in criminal charges. "That's a bit of a limitation there that I'm not real comfortable with," she said. "I think if there's an open investigation there for any kind of questionable conduct that person should not be considered at this point." City Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, chairwoman of the public safety committee, called the policy a "good start" after being provided with a copy by a reporter. Ms. Kail-Smith has had several discussions with Mr. Huss about the situation. She said she is interested in seeing how the policy is applied to the current list of oral board panelists. Ms. Kail-Smith said she was disappointed that the police bureau was reactive rather than proactive in this situation. She also was critical of Chief McDonald. "I'm thankful that [Mr. Huss] responded, but I think it's unfortunate that it came to the point where the director had to make a decision," Ms. Kail-Smith said. "I feel this is something that the acting chief should have been able to address ... My concern from the very beginning was her lack of judgment." The chief did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday night. Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle expressed disappointment that the policy did not contain provisions for ensuring diversity on the panel. He also said it fell short by not fostering civilian participation. Mr. Lavelle noted that while the policy mandates that officers have clearance from their commanding officer and be free from various blemishes on their records, it does not call for additional vetting by any agency outside the police bureau.
Harrisburg police contract vote a key step toward resolving city debt Print By Emily Previti | [email protected] Pennlive.com June 19, 2013 at 1:45 PM, updated June 19, 2013 at 3:14 PM
80 HARRISBURG – Police are voting Wednesday on whether to accept a contract offer expected to contribute to an estimated $4 million annual savings among three City Hall unions.
The contract vote is a key step in progress toward resolving Harrisburg’s debt – estimated between $345 million and $370 million for the municipal entity alone – and bringing operating costs and revenues in line.
Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge 12 President Jason Brinker, a detective on the Harrisburg force, confirmed the vote is happening, but won’t provide more details until its conclusion Wednesday evening.
Police and firefighter contracts don’t expire until 2016. The prior six-year agreements were, however, renegotiated midway in 2009 – three years before their expiration and just before former Mayor Stephen Reed left office – to provide increased pay and benefits.
Harrisburg firefighter's union International Association of Firefighters Local 428 officials did not immediately return calls Wednesday afternoon seeking information on when that bargaining unit expects members to vote on contractual changes.
Union concessions are one of many components involved in the city’s debt resolution negotiations. Other parts include the long-term lease of city parking garages and sale of the incinerator – a monument to Harrisburg’s fiscal crisis given the ill-fated upgrade projects blamed for much of the debt – to the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority.
LCSWMA, whose board meets Friday in Lancaster, have kept going with plans to buy the facility despite mixed reviews from credit ratings agencies – Standard & Poor’s didn’t see a problem with the deal, but Moody’s predicted a downgrade if it comes to pass – and local concerns.
Retired Air Force Gen. Maj. William Lynch, who as city receiver oversees those negotiations as with Harrisburg’s Act 47 process in general, declined last week to comment on the anticipated Labor Day final sale date quote recently in local media reports about LCSWMA’s pending acquisition of the incinerator.
Lynch and his team said April 24 that they expect those transactions to close in a couple months - a deadline mere days away.
While those sales and possible bond deal renegotiations remain unresolved, city residents have been paying double the typical 1 percent earned income tax rate and now face increased fees for city recreation programs and other services.
81 Victoria Police to vet recruits for links with bikie gangs BY:CHIP LE GRAND From: The Australian June 19, 2013 12:00AM Herald Sun PROSPECTIVE recruits who apply to join Victoria Police will have their activities and associations monitored by a specialist intelligence unit tasked with exposing links between cops and criminal groups including outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Assistant Commissioner Emmett Dunne, the head of the force's internal affairs department, said he had created a stand alone intelligence division under his command tasked with vetting recruits and scrutinising the company kept by serving police.
Mr Dunne, who led an anti-corruption taskforce which discovered late last year a leak of voluminous files from the police Law Enforcement Assistance Program and Interpose data banks - which contain the organisation's principal intelligence and case management information - to members of motorcycle gangs, said his spy squad of analysts would cross reference their work with intelligence holdings on major crime groups.
"I have got a division within my command which is focused purely on intelligence,'' Mr Dunne told The Australian.
"The likelihood of an association being discovered through the normal course of business is relatively high.''
The specialist unit, which is housed within Mr Dunne's Professional Standards Command, is part of a broader push introduced by Victoria Police this year to protect itself from recruits who are either knowingly or unknowingly compromised by associations with criminals.
Where recruits were previously asked to declare any improper associations once they had been sworn in as members, they are now vetted before they are admitted to basic training.
The vetting of recruits was previously carried out locally but uniform officers stationed closest to their home address. The checks are now carried out by centrally by the intelligence analysts under Mr Dunne's control. Police who are later discovered to have maintained an improper association they failed to declare can be dismissed from the force.
Mr Dunne said joining Victoria Police involved an unavoidable loss of privacy and personal freedom. In addition to declaring associations, recruits are governed by policies on gifts and benefits, drug and alcohol testing and secondary employment.
"We are overtly saying to applicants you want to join us, that is great, that is fantastic, but your life is going to change,'' he said. "You are going to move away
82 from an environment where you have been able to do what you want to do and free wheel and go through life unencumbered.''
Mr Dunne said recruits who refused to nominate associations had their applications cancelled on the spot.
"Some of these may be inadvertent associations,'' he said. ``They might not be aware of the background of the person or the risks. It is not cut and dried. But if they should have known or did know and they continued with the relationship, they will be dealt with.'
City to Settle Pension Suit for Workers Called to Arms By BENJAMIN WEISER Published: June 17, 2013 New York Times
New York City has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit that accused it of improperly withholding some pension benefits from police officers who were called to active military service after Sept. 11, 2001, newly filed court papers show.
The settlement would reach broadly across the city’s work force, covering current and former police officers as well as firefighters, teachers and other city employees who were summoned to active duty during those years.
The agreement, which was filed on Monday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, was reached after months of settlement negotiations between the city and the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, which represented three officers who filed the original complaints. The case was later broadened to seek class-action status.
“We view this case to be among the more important cases that we have brought,” Mr. Bharara said, “because it vindicates a principle, and that is that people who give to their country in the most impressive way that one can — through military service — are treated according to the rule of law.”
The settlement would require the city to change the way it calculates the earnings on which such pensions are based, which could increase future benefits for current employees and could result in the payment of back benefits to retirees.
The lawsuit contended that the city, in calculating the pension benefits, had violated federal law by failing to account for the increased earnings officers would have received had they not been called to active duty, including overtime, night- shift differentials and pay for worked vacations.
An assistant corporation counsel for the city, Keri Reid McNally, said Monday that the city had “initially disagreed with the United States’ interpretation of the
83 statute at issue; however, we believe this resolution is fair and in the best interests of the city, N.Y.P.D., and Police Pension Fund as well as the proposed class members who served our country.”
The proposed settlement must still be approved by the judge assigned to the suit, Richard J. Sullivan.
The number of city employees who could be affected by the settlement and the amount of money they could receive was not immediately clear. As of December 2012, there were just over 1,500 members of the police force who had been called to active military service since Sept. 11, 2001; of those, 287 had retired, according to a court filing by Mr. Bharara’s office that cited the city’s data.
A city document dated in 2006 indicated then that several hundred fire, correctional, sanitation and social services employees had been called to military duty.
“The Police Department has far and away the highest number of military veterans and reservists among its ranks as compared to the other city agencies,” the city lawyer, Ms. McNally, said.
The original plaintiffs, all retired, had each been called to active duty while serving in the department, documents show. They included David Goodman, a detective assigned to the counterterrorism division who was a member of the Army Reserves, and Michael Doherty, a detective, and Robert D. Black, a sergeant, who were both Coast Guard reservists.
Mr. Goodman, 51, said Monday he was pleased that the city had agreed to the deal. “I think it’s certainly overdue,” he said, “and it’ll be good to see them correct this and make it right.”
Mr. Goodman joined the Police Department in 1992 and held the position of detective from 1999 until he retired in 2009, the lawsuit says. He was called to active duty on different occasions, serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan and elsewhere. In Jordan, he helped train Iraqi counterterrorism forces, the lawsuit says.
The settlement would not only help the men and women who had been affected in the past, Mr. Goodman said, but also “more importantly, it’ll fix it going forward, so reservists and guardsmen who get mobilized in the future won’t have to face the same issue.”
He added that the settlement “saves everybody a lot of unnecessary litigation to get to the exact same result.”
84 State judge sides with lieutenants union in toll battle with Port Authority Retired Port Authority police lieutenants had been able to cross PA bridges and tunnels free of charge, until PA deprived them of the privilege; but a state judge said any change to the union's contract must be collectively bargained
BY BARBARA ROSS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2013, 6:13 PM
A judge has sided with an arbitrator who had blocked the Port Authority from depriving retired Port Authority police lieutenants of a contractual privilege that allowed them to cross Port Authority tunnels and bridges, such as the George Washington Bridge, without having to pay a toll. Any change to the contract must be collectively bagained, the arbitrator and judge held.
Retired Port Authority Police lieutenants will be able to cross the PA’s bridges and tunnels for free, and park at PA-run airports without charge, following a decision in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Justice Anil Singh upheld the ruling of an arbitrator, who had determined in December that the Port Authority could not summarily deprive the retirees of those privileges. The arbitrator had held the privileges could only be rescinded if the authority and the Port Authority Police Lieutenants Benevolent Association collectively bargained to do so as part of contract talks.
“It will take a new collective bargaining agreement ... to end all free passes for LBA’s members, past and present,” Singh wrote.
The LBA brought the matter to arbitration after Port Authority brass in December 2010 stripped hundreds of retirees from multiple unions of their contractual rights to avoid paying for tolls and parking at Port Authority crossings and airports. The authority’s action was projected to save $1.5 million a year.
When the arbitrator ruled late last year that the privileges could not be taken away from the LBA’s 100 retirees, the Port Authority appealed to state court. The authority on Monday had no comment on the decision.
PA spokesman Steve Coleman said eight unions took the matter to arbitration and that an arbitrator sided against the Port Authority in all eight cases. The bi- state agency appealed seven of the eight cases to state court, and has already lost in two of those cases — Monday’s ruling as well as one involving the appeal by the Port Authority’s electrical workers union. The other five appeals are pending.
85 Port Authority lawyers in the LBA case argued that the arbitrator had exceeded his powers by restoring the freebies to all retired lieutenants instead of just those covered by a 2003-2010 contract with the union. However, Singh said the arbitrator acted properly in taking that action, and in including in his ruling that the PA will have to reimburse retired lieutenants who have paid tolls and parking fees since 2010.
Stop Lying About Universal Background Checks June 20, 2013 07:23:53 am
By Benjamin Hayes The Crime Report
It defies logic that in a country like the United States, a firearm can be purchased with no record of the transaction, and no review of whether the purchaser is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.
In other words, a totally anonymous transaction; no questions asked.
What this means is that convicted rapists, murderers, known terrorists, and any other individuals not legally entitled to possess a firearm don’t have to sneak into an alley to get a gun.
They don’t have to hide their faces. They can go to a public park, answer an ad in the paper or on the Internet or, worse, go to an openly advertised venue for gun sales such as a gun show or flea market—where in most states, sales of firearms from person to person are entirely un-regulated.
Could it be any easier for criminals and terrorists to arm themselves? Why are our elected officials failing to vote for some reasonable regulation?
More interestingly, since legislation to require universal background checks is so desperately needed, what do politicians use as their rationale for not voting to close this unconscionable gap in federal law?
History—and recent Supreme Court rulings—supports the notion that the Second Amendment “right to bear arms” is not unlimited, and that firearms can be governed by reasonable regulations, such as background checks.
The 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA) was carefully crafted to regulate access to (but not ban outright) “gangster-type” weapons such as machine guns, short- barreled shotguns, which at the time were disproportionately being used to create terrible carnage and mass murder, by requiring that they be registered.
That regulatory process has expanded, since 1998, to include the requirement of background checks on all purchasers who obtain firearms from federally licensed
86 dealers. The dealers use, free of charge, the National Instant Check System (NICS) to conduct the checks.
The system is fast and easy to use, and it falls within the Supreme Court’s guidelines that such checks are reasonable and not unnecessarily intrusive.
Every law-abiding federally licensed seller of firearms in the U.S. is compelled by law to conduct these background checks on prospective firearms purchasers. Yet, despite being a “reasonable” requirement, it took almost 13 years to get it enacted.
Are background checks becoming a “slippery slope” toward outlawing guns?
Of course not. And now we know from the Supreme Court’s rulings that the Second Amendment ensures that won’t happen anyway.
Nevertheless, law-abiding, licensed sellers of firearms are painfully aware of a second tier of firearms sales that is entirely unregulated. They must watch as an inundation of unregulated firearms sales continues to allow entirely anonymous transfers of firearms.
Where in the modern world is there a similar illogical separation of rules for the acquisition of lethal weapons?
The explanation for this state of affairs is simple. Major lobbying groups purporting to represent the firearms industry and/or gun owners have blocked any further progress.
And to strengthen their hand, they have spread the handy (and false) rationales that many lawmakers have employed to vote against what polls indicate are the wishes of a majority of Americans who don’t want criminals to be able to openly buy guns—and who favor universal background checks as a means to stop them.
We hear our elected officials spouting some of these exaggerations, if not outright lies—and one has to wonder if they know what they are saying.
Is it possible that they don’t realize that they have been misled? That would be an optimistic way of looking at it.
In many cases, however, the likely answer is that they are all too aware that what they are saying doesn’t hold any water.
Here are some examples:
“The National Instant Check System is broken, and so it should not be expanded”
The truth is that NICS works phenomenally well. It’s a proven system that provides a response on a background check generally within 30 seconds, and has already processed more than 17 million transactions since 1998 for federally licensed firearms retailers. More importantly for public safety: Since 1998, more
87 than one million persons who are federally prohibited from possessing firearms have been denied!
Some critics claim the system is broken because it has yet to have full access to every single U. S. mental health record. That is silly. There are 12 categories of federal prohibitions for firearms possession, certain mental health conditions being one of them. The NICS system currently does an excellent job of reviewing a tremendous number of state and federal criminal histories and most other records used to make determinations.
Admittedly, access to mental health records is a complex issue, multiplied by 50 states, and there is a lot of room for improvement in the system.
But it should also be pointed out that mental health denials have accounted for approximately 1% of all denials since 1998. Convicted felons alone account for more than half of the denials. This “broken” system has more than one million times denied a firearm to prohibited purchasers.
That seems to prove that it works, doesn’t it?
“The proposed Universal Check system will create a National Firearms Registry”
Entirely false. When NICS was developed, a standard protocol to destroy the records of approved transfers of firearms within a few hours was included. The system does not retain any records of these approved transfers and is not a national registry of any kind.
“The proposed Universal Background Check system will favor gun show sales, while retail dealers will have to wait”
Entirely false. But a clever twisting of facts. The NICS system would not differentiate between licensed retailers, whether at a gun show or at their established place of business. NICS currently handles significant increases in firearms sales volume on weekends, and that is when most gun shows take place.
The recently proposed legislation did include a provision to expedite transfers at gun shows if the background check was not completed in two days, rather than the current three. That would have no impact on the speed in which the checks are conducted for any licensed dealer, regardless of their location.
“Retail dealers simply don’t want it”
That not only defies logic, but also goes against what a lot of dealers say in private. The requirement to go through a licensed dealer for a background check would bring in an enormous influx of customers to retail dealers. Dealers would undoubtedly charge a fee for the checks, which would increase revenue.
The money made on the transactions would be dwarfed by money that purchasers would likely spend on holsters, cleaning kits, ammunition,
88 accessories and other merchandise. In fact, universal background checks would bring significant economic benefits to licensed firearms dealers.
“Having to go to a federally licensed firearms dealer places an undue hardship on lawful firearms purchasers”
Really? Is it a chore to go to the hardware store for a hammer, or to the grocery store for food? There may be some places in this country where the nearest firearms retailer is far away; but for the most part, this simply isn’t the case. Does it make sense to ignore public safety in favor of a very few folks who live 100 miles from town?
“Criminals steal guns, they don’t buy them”
Or more correctly, perhaps, they have been denied the ability to buy them more than a million times under the NICS system. Sure, criminals steal guns. But they do also try to buy or trade for them. Not very successfully where there is a background check; but very easily where there isn’t one, such as at gun shows and flea markets where they can obtain weapons from complete strangers with no paperwork.
“Only honest people who follow the law will be affected”
Only people who follow the law register their cars and get driver’s licenses too. Also affected by Universal Background Checks, and adversely, will be those who claim to conduct ostensibly legal, anonymous sales of firearms to complete strangers.
Universal Checks are not going to end violent crime, but they will make transfers of firearms to prohibited persons easier for law enforcement personnel to detect, deter, and punish.
Dispelling these myths underlines the point that there is no good reason for blocking efforts to ensure the legality of a firearm transfer.
And our inability to curb illegal transfers hurts us beyond our borders. Many countries not only find the current ease of access to firearms in the U.S. bizarre; they also find it irritating that firearms made in the U.S. reach their shores and contribute to their violent crime.
Recent statistics have shown that since 2000, the rate of firearms-related homicides has decreased. It might be difficult to prove, but one has to wonder if the background checks that have been required since approximately the same time have played a role.
Benjamin Hayes recently retired as Special Agent, Chief, Law Enforcement Support Branch, National Tracing Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). He welcomes comments from readers.
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ATF report: 190,000 firearms lost or stolen in 2012 Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY 6:11 p.m. EDT June 17, 2013
WASHINGTON — Slightly more than 190,000 firearms were reported lost or stolen across the country last year, according to a new report by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
The audit, ordered by the Obama administration in the aftermath of the December Connecticut school massacre, is the first such public accounting by the ATF.
The overwhelming majority —183,660 — were stolen guns. That number is up from 145,300 firearms reported stolen in 2010, according to a separate 2012 review by the Bureau of Justice Statics' National Crime Victims Survey.
However, the Bureau of Justice Statistics' survey found that firearm thefts, like overall thefts, have been declining for much of the past decade.
In its report, the ATF warned that its findings "likely reveal only a fraction of the problem'' because "many lost and stolen firearms go entirely unreported.''
"Individuals (who) steal firearms are more likely to commit violent crimes with stolen guns, transfer stolen firearms to others who commit crimes and create an unregulated secondary market for firearms,'' the ATF report stated.
Delving into crime data and finding flaws By IRE Conference Blog | 06.20.2013
By Zachary Matson and Meredith Turk
When it comes to FBI crime statistics, "I can't think of a number that means more to a community and is less scrutinized," said Ben Poston of the Los Angeles Times. Each city and state might have different ways to track crime, and digging deeper into how they do it and the results they tout can be ripe for investigative stories.
While the FBI’s crime reporting is not a required program, many people rely on these stats to track crime in their community, and police rely on them to identify better policing practices. Since it is not a required system, states and localities will interpret reporting requirements differently and often pushed the bounds of what is seemly.
“It’s a voluntary system, and they can openly flaunt it," Poston said.
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While reporting for the Dallas Morning News, Steve Thompson examined claims by the police department and city officials that crime was declining, but discovered that crimes were actually being misreported. Aggravated assaults were being recoded simple assaults even though incident narratives plainly stated that weapons were involved. When crimes are misclassified, it can create an illusion of reduced crime.
It's next to impossible to accurately compare crime statistics between cities and states. Poston recommends never doing this. Crime numbers, reported by the FBI, which is dictated by the Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook (UCR), is filled with incomparable data.
Ben Poston of the LA Times and Steve Thompson of the Dallas Morning News shared specific examples of when they used their own crime analysis to expose misclassification of crime data.
When crimes are misclassified, it can create an illusion of reduced crime. A few key points about misclassification: Robbery, burglary, aggravated assault are ripe for misclassification Aggravated assaults make up the biggest area of crime in cities, so this is an important part to analyze. What documents you should have: UCR handbook Quarterly crime data from police station A copy of DA's Case Management Database Incident reports with narratives Tips to begin investigating crime : To start take a week sample of assault- simple and aggravated. Update your data every quarter and you can create your own data and see trends that may be missed. Send your data to the state or federal UCR program and they gave comments about whether it was mislabeled. Connect with your UCR state representative. Other state's representatives might be helpful, too. There is often a front end report (hard copy police report, database file of the report) and a back end report(frozen report sent to the FBI), and you can check for reclassification, which could change the numbers. FBI audits are very minimal, and often not comprehensive. State's rarely audit. Departments rarely do as well. In Poston's recommendation, what to do better next time: Go straight to the source Request a copy of your police dept's automated reporting You should be able to ask for the fields on the face sheet of the report Your key fields are the police incident report number, suspect/victim, FBI crome code, weapon codes, time/date/placem and a short narrative that describes the elements of the offense.
91 When you just request the face sheet, they don't need to redact as much. Just exclude victim name. Can you search databases for text filters: "entry", "force", "blunt" to help find crimes The narrative might have some interesting insight into how the crime is coded. A cop calls the supervisor and might be called to change the coding.
Bratton: ‘No Quick Fix’ for Oakland PD June 20, 2013 06:46:36 am By Joe Domanick The Crime Report
Last month, the Bratton Group released a report on its “findings and recommendations” for reforming the Oakland Police Department’s structure, tactics and deployment to make it more effective in preventing and reducing crime. Oakland PD Chief Howard Jordan had resigned a day earlier. The report was commissioned at a time when Oakland was among the most violent U.S. cities.
The Bratton Group is headed by William Bratton, who served from 2002 to 2009 as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the country’s third largest local law enforcement agency. Prior to heading the LAPD, Bratton held successive posts as head of New York City’s Transit Police, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department, and Commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD).
He’s considered one of the leaders of 21st-century new thinking about modern law enforcement, including the use of COMPSTAT, “broken windows” and other community-oriented policing strategies now in wide use around the U.S. In a chat with Joe Domanick, West Coast Bureau chief of The Crime Report, Bratton discussed the structural reforms needed in Oakland, and why change in police strategies is often so difficult to achieve.
THE CRIME REPORT: Your recommendations on how to fix an ailing Oakland Police Department seem to be based on the concepts and tactics that you pioneered in your previous positions. Have police departments like Oakland not gotten the message?
WILLIAM BRATTON: What has been going on in Oakland [mirrors] what American policing looked like in the 1980s and the 1990s. In some respects Oakland is still policing the way that New York was in the early 1990s, and LA was as recently as 2002.
TCR: For example?
WB: They all had remarkably similar dysfunctional [centralized] organizational structures. Oakland has a monolithic focus, including centralized [units]
92 responsible for all homicides, all shooting victims—there are several thousand— and for all police-involved shootings.
TCR: One of the astounding facts in your report was that the Oakland PD, with only 613 officers, had just one part-time investigator tasked with investigating 10,000 burglaries a year.
WB: One investigator dealing with 10,000 burglaries, [means that] nothing is going to be dealt with. Oakland has been an inwardly focused department, and [tactically] its focus was really measuring its success on response to a crime, after that crime had already occurred, rather than trying to find ways to prevent it in the first place. That’s why community policing is so important; it bases policing on the prevention of crime.
TCR: What other problems did you find with the Oakland PD’s organizational structure?
WB: When I [became commissioner of] the NYPD in 1994, most of its specialized units, like those in LA, and [now] in Oakland, were working five days a week, Monday to Friday. But criminals work goes on seven days a week, 24 hours a day. In Oakland robberies reported Friday afternoon or night [aren’t] investigated until Tuesday morning, because on Monday the work load is being distributed.
TCR: You mentioned a problem with 911 calls. What are you doing about that?
WB: [We suggested] putting in call screening that we think can prioritize calls and reduce the 911 workload by up to 40 percent. Oakland is one of the few police departments in America that continues trying to answer every 911 call by sending a police officer. It is crazy that with so few officers they still try to answer every call. A lot of calls don’t need a police officer on a doorstep taking a report.
TCR: Oakland, like Los Angeles, has a serious gang problem, what are you recommending to deal with it?
WB: We’re developing a structure that would be much more focused on reducing crime and focusing on the worst-of-the-worst [criminals.] Within Oakland’s gangs, there are probably ten percent doing the bulk of serious crime. LA has 40,000 gang members, and this year there’ll be about 150 gang-related murders. That means that 39,850 of those gang members are not committing murders. And so the department’s focus on the most violent [of them] is paying dividends. Up until this point [the Oakland PD] has not shown the ability to identify and focus on that group. They are now beginning to do that.
TCR: Can you talk about resistance to reform within the Oakland P.D.? California Governor Jerry Brown was mayor there for eight years – a smart guy who wanted to do something about crime -- but didn’t make a dent in it.
WB: Jerry Brown approached me in 2007 to understand that same thing: why [reform efforts] weren’t working. I recommended some guys in my own consulting company. Their report sat on a shelf until we came back this year. We are now
93 effectively implementing what Jerry Brown had commissioned in his last year as mayor.
TCR: The Oakland PD sounds as difficult to change as the LAPD.
WB: It is easily as problematic as the LAPD in 2002—even more so, because Oakland has fewer police officers per capita than LA. An additional complexity is that LA and New York were significantly more advanced in their policing skills and capabilities than Oakland. The consent decree, which has been in effect for 10 years, compounds the problem.
TCR: How so?
WB: The number of officers that have to be committed to a consent decree – administering it as well as the training required – is a phenomenal drain on a small department’s resources. And when it loses 25 percent of its officers, the impact is even [stronger], because many people are needed to train officers in [the consent decrees mandates.]
When your best crime and homicide investigators [are busy dealing with the consent decree] that is definitely having an impact on your crime situation. There needs to a delicate balance between being effective in fighting crime, while learning to be effective at policing constitutionally [by implementing consent decrees guidelines.] Otherwise, the public’s respect for the police diminishes if they are not keeping families safe.
TCR: What about reforms in training?
WB: My project partner Bob Wasserman is working to totally change training for new officers. When I was LAPD chief, about 40 percent of the department was hired during my tenure. All they understood about policing were the changes we’d brought about. Plus all the 100 commanders were either promoted or assigned by me, so they adhered to the new way of doing things. Oakland has that same opportunity, because they will be hiring hundreds of cops over the next few years and will be totally revamping their training.
TCR: So what’s next for Oakland PD?
WB: There’s potential to fix Oakland’s problems —basically by doing what we are recommending. There’s no-hold up at this point. But the consent decree is not going away. There is no quick fix. All these changes are going to take time to have impact.
Recorded crime in Scotland has fallen to a 39-year low 18 June 2013 BBC News
94 There has been a further fall in the number of crimes in Scotland, according to the latest figures.
The Scottish government statistics show, in the year to the end of March, there was a 13% drop in recorded crime.
Non-sexual violent crimes fell by 21%. But there was a 5% rise in the number of sex offences - although changes in the way they are categorised may have affected the figures.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said it was evidence of a "safer" Scotland.
He added: "It is particularly encouraging to see violent crime dropping by 21% last year and crimes of handling an offensive weapon down by 60% since 2006- 07.
"However, make no mistake, there will be no let-up in our efforts backed by record numbers of police officers - over 1,000 extra since 2007 - who are keeping communities safe and clearing up crimes more efficiently than ever before."
In 2012-13, a total of 273,053 crimes were recorded by police across Scotland, a drop of more than 41,000 (13%) compared with 2011-12.
2012/13 Scottish crime figures Recorded crime down 13% Non-sexual violence down 21% Sexual offences up 5% Dishonesty crimes down 12% Vandalism down 21% Other Crimes down 8% Handling offensive weapons down 29% Clear-up rate up at 51% Source: Scottish government stats
Incidents of violent crime, including murder, culpable homicide, attempted murder and serious assault totalled 7,530 - a 21% drop on last year's figure.
Crimes of handling an offensive weapon were at a 27-year-low.
However, the number of sexual offences recorded by officers rose 5% to 7,693.
Officials said the new Sexual Offences Act meant sex crimes were now categorised in a different way so comparisons over time should be "treated with caution".
The figures also show a slight rise in the number of offences, which include driving and minor alcohol offences, of less than 1%.
The clear up rate for crimes across Scotland last year was 51% - its highest level since 1976.
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'Traumatic crimes' Mr MacAskill said: "We are continuing to work tirelessly to reduce knife crime and violence in Scotland, and believe education and prevention are key to tackling the root causes of violence.
"While today's overall statistics are encouraging, it is concerning to see that the number of sexual offences recorded by police have increased by 5%.
Crime figures by police force Central - 14,056 - down 14% Dumfries & Galloway - 5,350 - down 11% Grampian - 25,866 - down 12% Fife - 15,230 - down 15% Lothian & Borders - 48,789 - down 13% Northern Constabulary - 11,355 - down 16% Strathclyde - 133,601 - down 14% Tayside - 17,806 - down 6% Source: Scottish government stats
"This may be down to increased reporting but the public should be assured that the Scottish government, police and prosecutors take the investigation and prosecution of these traumatic crimes extremely seriously and are taking action to address them."
The figures are the last set for Scotland's former eight police forces. From 1 April 2013 they were merged to form the new Police Scotland single force.
Across all eight of the former forces, crime rates were down.
In Strathclyde there were 133,601 crimes recorded in 2012-13 - a fall of 14% compared with the previous year. Northern Constabulary saw a fall of 16%.
Dep Ch Con Rose Fitzpatrick, from Police Scotland, said: "Scotland is a very safe place.
"The statistics that are published today demonstrate that it is a great place in which to live and work and that policing in Scotland is very effective.
"This gives Police Scotland a very strong platform on which to build."
'Very concerning' The Scottish Conservatives raised concerns about the rise in the number of rapes and other sex crimes.
John Lamont MSP said: "It is extremely worrying that the numbers of rapes and attempted rapes have increased significantly.
96 "While this may be partly due to a greater number of victims willing to come forward, it is clearly very concerning that instances of rape are at an all-time high."
The Tories also pointed to the overall rise in offences for the second year in a row.
Mr Lamont added: "Last year, the SNP attempted to hide the overall rise in crime by quietly leaving out the number of offences committed.
"Kenny MacAskill can spin the figures anyway he likes, but the statistics do not lie.
"Until we know the full extent of the problem, we can't effectively tackle crime in Scotland."
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