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Another cloud over the RCMP

Editorial (Winnipeg Free Press) – If anyone thought that an inquiry into the bungled investigation of serial killer Robert Pickton might not be required, such thoughts were dispelled when the RCMP disputed some of the findings of a damning Vancouver Police Department report Friday. That the two forces still are at odds about who did what, or who did not do it, is simply a continuation of the turf war that prevented police from seeing Pickton as an obvious suspect years before his arrest. The RCMP plan to release their own report in the next weeks, but it is clear that the only way to get to the bottom of this unseemly he-said, she-said dispute is through a public inquiry.

The 405-page report, produced five years ago by Vancouver Deputy Chief Const. Doug LePard but kept secret until Pickton had been tried and had exhausted his appeals, paints a not pretty picture of Vancouver police competence, but most explosively its finger points directly at the RCMP, charging that the force’s elitist mentality created a turf Continued…

Categories: Broken Force.

RCMP trainer who stole ammo fined $1,000

(CBC News) – An RCMP firearms trainer who stole ammunition from his employer now has a criminal record for theft.

On Friday, former RCMP member Gary Faulconbridge pleaded guilty to stealing ammunition and non-lethal weapons from the Depot division gun range in Regina.

On Monday, a Regina judge rejected a defence request to grant Faulconbridge an absolute discharge and instead fined him. Continued…

Categories: Ex-Mounties, RCMP Employee Charged.

Proposed RCMP watchdog is more bark than bite: Kennedy

Ottawa (Canadian Press) – New legislation still doesn’t give the RCMP watchdog the bite it needs to fully investigate scandals like the Maher Arar affair, says the organization’s former chairman.

A long-awaited bill intended to modernize the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP gives the top Mountie and Public Safety minister too much room to meddle in sensitive probes, Paul Kennedy said in an interview.

Bill C-38, tabled in June, would give the complaints commissioner only limited access to the information he needs to see, said Kennedy, chairman of the body for four years ending last December. Continued…

Categories: RCMP Public Complaints Commission, RCMP Review and Complaints Commission.

Mounties arrogant, poor team players: criminologist

(ctvbc.ca) – The RCMP is facing criticism in the wake of a scathing Vancouver Police Department report detailing investigative missteps on the hunt for serial killer Robert Pickton.

A British Columbia criminologist and former London police officer said Mounties are trained to believe they are Canada’s top cops, while considering other provincial and municipal officers as below standard.

“There’s long been tensions between the RCMP and municipal police services,” said Rob Gordon of Simon Fraser University. “The RCMP know all, cannot be told anything, and they’re the ones alone who stand between chaos and civilized society.” Continued…

Categories: Broken Force.

What’s behind Victoria’s RCMP obsession?

Robert Stewart (Opinion, Special to the Vancouver Sun) – Hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear of some RCMP misadventure: resignations and disputes in the top ranks, serious recruitment problems, misdeeds at the detachment and operational levels, and routine castigations by federal and provincial commissions of inquiry.

This is not just a run of bad luck. The disastrous mismanagement and controversy has been going on for at least 10 years. About two years of turmoil, name-calling and bizarre events preceded the resignation of RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli in 2006, since replaced by unpopular civilian William Elliott.

My heart, in fact, goes out to the dutiful rank-and-file members who are subject to the basic flaws in that organization. Continued…

Categories: Broken Force.

‘Not one iota of truth’

Ben Gelinas (Postmedia News) – An emotional RCMP Commissioner yesterday vehemently denied reports the director-general of the national firearms program was removed due to Conservative political pressure, calling such claims “fiction.”

It was announced on Wednesday that a new director-general — RCMP Chief Superintendent Pierre Perron — had been named to replace Chief Superintendent Marty Cheliak, removed from the post earlier in the week.

Critics charged that Chief Supt. Cheliak was ousted because he was a vocal champion of the long-gun registry, which is supported by a number of police associations, such as the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, but unpopular with many Canadians. Continued…

Categories: Commissioner of the RCMP, Political/Government Interference or Involvement.

Pickton report raps police investigation

(CBC) - Vancouver police said they will launch an investigation into the leak of a highly critical internal report on the investigation of serial killer Robert Pickton after releasing a censored version of it Friday.

Police released a version of the final report — with confidential informants’ names blacked out — after the Vancouver Sun published details from a 2004 draft copy.

The internal report, which was completed by Vancouver police Deputy Chief Doug LePard by 2006, was supposed to come out in September after it was reviewed by the B.C. cabinet. Continued…

Categories: Failing to do Their Duties.

B.C. to launch public review into Pickton investigation: solicitor general

Wendy Stueck and Justine Hunter, Victoria and Vancouver, B.C. (Globe and Mail) – British Columbia will launch a public review into the botched police investigation of Robert Pickton, says acting B.C. solicitor general Rich Coleman.

The provincial cabinet is expected to meet Sept. 8 to decide what form that will take, but it will likely be either a public inquiry or a judicial review.

“We will do something with regard to Pickton that is open to the public,” Mr. Coleman told The Globe and Mail. “It has to be able to have people give input into the investigation. It has to be something that is not hidden away. It will be transparent.” Continued…

Categories: Failing to do Their Duties.

RCMP head denies notion PM turfed gun-registry boss

Ben Gelinas, Edmonton, AB (Edmonton Journal) – An emotional RCMP commissioner on Friday vehemently denied reports that the director general of the national firearms program was removed due to Conservative government political pressure, calling such claims “fiction.”

“Marty Cheliak has been removed as part of a normal staffing action by the RCMP. He was in the job on an acting basis. There is absolutely, positively nothing to the suggestion that there was any political role or interference with respect to this,” RCMP Commissioner William Elliott told reporters in Edmonton said after a Criminal Intelligence Service Canada news conference.

It was announced on Wednesday that a new director general — RCMP Chief Supt. Pierre Perron — had been named to replace Mr. Cheliak.

Critics charged that Mr. Cheliak was ousted because he was a vocal champion of the long-gun registry, which is supported by a number of police associations, such as the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, but unpopular with many Canadians, especially those living in rural areas.

The Conservative government is backing a private member’s bill that would scrap the registry. The bill is expected to be debated when Parliament returns in September.

“(Mr. Cheliak) is on leave. He’s going to French-language training, a requirement of the job. We have put in an excellent officer to replace him,” Mr. Elliott said.

“He will build on the work that Marty Cheliak did running the firearms program. . . . Marty did a great job. Pierre Perron will be at least as good. I am confident. Nothing has changed except a regular change in personnel.”

When asked about allegations that Mr. Cheliak was moved out because of pressure from the government, Mr. Elliott went on the defensive, calling the reports fiction.

“They are absolute and positive fiction. Fiction. There is not one iota of truth in that. The media and others just made this up. It’s not true. It’s not true. It’s not true.”

Categories: Commissioner of the RCMP, Political/Government Interference or Involvement.

Trainer who stole RCMP ammo pleads guilty

(CBC) – An RCMP firearms trainer has pleaded guilty in a Regina court to stealing from the force’s gun range.

Now Gary Faulconbridge, 63, is waiting to find out what sentence he will receive.

Faulconbridge had been with the RCMP for three decades, attaining the rank of staff sargeant.

After he retired, Faulconbridge — a competitive marksman with numerous national records to his credit — was hired on as a civilian instructor with Depot division in Regina.

Court heard Wednesday that his current legal trouble goes back to last December. Continued…

Categories: Ex-Mounties, RCMP Employee Charged.

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