RCMP Watch

UPI
Royal Canadian Mounted Police informants broke the law a total of 11 times in 2005 and 2006 during undercover operations, the agency reports.
A 2002 Canadian law allows the RCMP to authorize breaches of the law without fear of prosecution with regular reports to parliament. There were seven incidents of law-breaking reported in 2004-2005 and six [...]

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Greg McArthur, Globe and Mail
Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day has ordered his staff to look into the case of an RCMP informant who concocted a phony crime to satisfy his police handlers and was admitted to the witness protection program, only to kill someone under his new identity.
“The minister’s looking into these reports and [...]

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Kathleen Harris, Sun Media
More than 95 detainees have died in RCMP custody in the last 10 years, most commonly from suicide, medical conditions, or an overdose of drugs or alcohol.
Records obtained by Sun Media through Access to Information show several deaths occurred after unruly suspects were subdued with taser guns or other restraints, though the [...]

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Carly Weeks, CanWest News Service
Opposition parties are calling on the Conservative government to answer “disturbing questions” raised this week over allegations of potential abuse of the Witness Protection Program by an RCMP agent, as well as concerns over its secrecy and lack of accountability.
“We don’t know if there’s systemic issues here, or if it’s isolated,” [...]

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Greg Mcarthur and Gary Dimmock, National Post, CanWest News Service
To the RCMP in Victoria, Richard Young was a trusted informant. In exchange for his inside information on an alleged heroin ring, information that turned out to be untrue, they paid off his debts, erased his past and gave him a new identity. And then he [...]

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Janice Tibbetts, CanWest News Service
The RCMP authorized undercover agents to break the law with immunity from criminal charges 11 times in 2005-06, during investigations into drug trafficking, counterfeiting, alleged corruption of public officials and tobacco smuggling, says a new federal report.
The Mounties are required annually to disclose their law-breaking activities under a five-year-old federal law [...]

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Matt Kieltyka, 24 hours
Advocates for civilian police oversight are taking a wait-and-see approach after the RCMP announced observers will be sitting in on internal investigations in B.C.Micheal Vonn, the policy director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said independent observers are a good step forward but only time will show whether the new program will [...]

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Maple Ridge NewsA Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows RCMP officer charged with assault last November pleaded guilty to offence in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court on Feb. 28.
Cst. Pat Hughson received an eight month conditional discharge in exchange for the plea.
He must keep the peace, attend counselling for alcohol abuse and perform 25 hours of community service.

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TheRecord.com
The Mounties might want to send one of their investigators to the RCMP office that approved the spending of almost $25,000 to prep former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli for parliamentary hearings. Taxpayers might wonder if the office should be sealed off as a crime scene.
The sad truth is that this unbelievable payment is just the latest [...]

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Betty Ann Adam, Saskatchewan News Network
A member of the RCMP was caught in the net of a Saskatoon police vice sting last Thursday, the RCMP has confirmed.
The man is charged with one count of communicating for the purpose of prostitution, said Alyson Edwards, spokeswoman for the Saskatoon Police Service. The man’s name will not be [...]

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