Ben Gelinas Edmonton, Alberta (EdmontonJournal.com) – A Northwest Territories RCMP officer was suspended with pay Thursday after allegations of theft on the job.
An investigation led by the Alberta RCMP Major Crimes Unit began eight-12 months ago, after a complaint was made regarding the officer’s conduct, Northwest Territories RCMP spokesman Sgt. Wayne Norris said.
“At times, when there are serious allegations against members, we will ask outside agencies, outside jurisdictions to help us with the investigation,” Norris said.
Continued…
Categories: Mounties Breaking The Law, Mounties Investigating Mounties.
(Canwest News Service) – A review of the RCMP’s handling of a Greenpeace security breach on Parliament Hill recommends more Mounties on patrol and improved security in other unspecified areas.
The internal review of the protest does not blame the Mounties for the breach, which happened at daybreak Dec. 7.
Activists made it to the roofs of both the West Block and Centre Block during the climate change summit in Copenhagen.
The RCMP said Thursday it has improved security as a result of the incident.
Categories: Lack of Resources.
Chris Windeyer, Iqaluit, Nunavut (Nunatsiaq News) – Police investigating the November 2007 shooting death of RCMP Const. Douglas Scott in the northern town of Kimmirut, found no usable fingerprints at the crime scene, a jury in Iqaluit heard Friday.
Sgt. Ernie Dechant, a forensic investigator with the RCMP, testified he found no fingerprints belonging to the accused, Pingoatuk Kolola, 39, in the truck Kolola was driving the night of the shooting.
Dechant told court the dry air and dry skin common in the North often makes it hard to collect fingerprint samples, because prints evaporate too quickly.
Continued…
Categories: The Ultimate Sacrifice.
Iqaluit, Nunavut (Canadian Press) – The trial of a Nunavut man charged with first-degree murder of an RCMP officer has heard how people in the remote Arctic hamlet handled the situation without help from police.
The jury heard Wednesday that while local residents warned the town’s only other officer to stay behind locked doors, citizens checked to make sure that Const. Doug Scott wasn’t simply wounded.
Others blocked off the road leading up to where the suspected shooter, Ping Kolola, had barricaded himself.
One man entered the alleged gunman’s house to convince Kolola to release his eight-month-old son. And still others kept him on the phone, trying to talk him out of killing himself. Continued…
Categories: The Ultimate Sacrifice.
Alison Crawford (CBC News) – The Mounties say they immediately boosted their presence on Parliament Hill after 19 Greenpeace protesters climbed onto the roof of the West Block in December and unfurled banners calling for action on climate change.
“We have enhanced our presence, significantly enhanced since the event,” RCMP Staff Sgt Marc Richer said Thursday.
As to whether Public Works was to blame for the incident, he replied, “You know you don’t go around assigning blame.” Continued…
Categories: Failing to do Their Duties.
(CBC News) – The final few hours of Randy Trenholm’s life were a focal point at a coroner’s inquest into the Port Elgin man’s death on Wednesday.
Trenholm, 50, died in the lock-up of the Shediac RCMP detachment during the early morning hours of June 2, 2007. He had been in police custody after he was pulled over for impaired driving on June 1.
Earlier testimony at the coroner’s inquiry this week showed that Trenholm was behaving oddly, such as pacing in his cell and drinking a lot of water.
A jail guard noticed Trenholm was shaking at about 6 a.m. and called an ambulance. Continued…
Categories: Death While In Custody.
Eva Hoare (Halifax Chronicle Herald) – The face of policing in Nova Scotia’s largest municipality could be decided as early as next week after Halifax regional councillors receive a recommendation from police commissioners, The Chronicle Herald has learned.
Depending on the result, the 178 RCMP officers, who patrol outlying regions of the municipality and perform other policing duties, could be removed from duty and offered the chance to roll their jobs into the Halifax Regional Police fold.
Or it’s possible Mountie brass will offer to transfer all those not willing to become Halifax cops out of the region, sources said. About 20 to 30 civilians who work in Mountie ranks could also be affected, depending on council’s choice. Continued…
Categories: Political/Government Interference or Involvement.
Lorne Gunter (National Post) – I can’t for the life of me figure out why Conservative Senators would refuse, before prorogation, to endorse a report by the Senate national security committee on how to fix the RCMP. At the very least, they could have attached their own minority opinion.
Both the Mounties and their image are in bad need of a fix, which is something one would expect the Tories to get behind, particularly considering that much of the rot in our national police force occurred before their watch. It’s a good cause and they don’t have to take the blame for the underlying problem.
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Categories: Broken Force, Political/Government Interference or Involvement.
Editorial (Ottawa Citizen) – Liberal Senator Colin Kenny and his five colleagues in the Red Chamber likely expected the Conservative government to denounce them (as it has) for releasing a paper on the state of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, while Parliament is prorogued.
If the Conservatives don’t like it, that’s their problem. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to suspend Parliament might have been legal, but because he did so for partisan reasons — to shut down inconvenient questioning from pesky opposition MPs — the prorogation has rightly been perceived as illegitimate. Parliamentarians who have decided to stay put and continue working, even unofficially, deserve to be commended.
Continued…
Categories: Broken Force.
Adam McDowell (National Post) – A horrifying sight greeted Lloyd McDougall of Kimmirut, Nunavut, just before midnight on Nov. 5, 2007: Rookie Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Douglas Scott, slumped over the driver’s seat of his bloodied and broken-glass-ridden truck, a bullet wound through his head.
Const. Scott, just 20 years old and six months into the job as a Mountie, had responded alone to a domestic disturbance call in the remote, picturesque fly-in community formerly known as Lake Harbour, population roughly 425. Up Here magazine had called Kimmirut, on the rugged shore of Baffin Island, the “friendliest town in the North.”
Continued…
Categories: The Ultimate Sacrifice.
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