Edmonton Police Watch

(Copyright The Ottawa Citizen 2004)

Civilian oversight of police actions has been a topic of debate in Ottawa over the last few years. But it’s also been a hot topic in Edmonton. This is a shortened editorial from the Edmonton Journal.

The Edmonton Police Commission last week proposed a new procedure for investigating allegations of police misconduct. It’s a welcome initiative, given the need to replace the current system in which police are allowed to police themselves.

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(Copyright Edmonton Journal 2004)

The Edmonton Police Commission last week proposed a new procedure for investigating allegations of police misconduct. It’s a welcome initiative, given the need to replace the current system in which police are allowed to police themselves.

Commission chairman Martin Ignasiak suggests that the power to investigate complaints about police conduct could be handed over to police commissions — the local civilian-oversight committees established in larger centres.

The commission is already responsible for complaints against a police chief, so why not expand that role to include the rank and file?

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(Copyright Calgary Herald 2004)

Alberta will have a civilian watchdog to investigate allegations of police misconduct by the end of the year, Solicitor General Heather Forsyth said Tuesday.

The move is in response to a recommendation by a government panel almost two years ago, but it also comes amid increasing calls for an independent investigative body in the wake of an alleged coverup involving members of the Edmonton Police Service.

“We feel it’s time to move on this,” Forsyth said, adding the scandal in Edmonton is not related.

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(Copyright Edmonton Journal 2004)

Re: “Disgraceful CBC report smeared police force, chief,” Letters, Feb. 8.

The CBC has provided a valuable service to all Edmontonians by reporting about an investigation into police misconduct that was seemingly quashed.

If police officers misused their authority and power to abuse these women, then I want to know, and every citizen of Edmonton should want to know, the truth. The only way to know for sure whether these allegations are true is by an independent review.

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(Copyright Edmonton Journal 2004)

EDMONTON - The Edmonton Police Commission is making an unprecedented bid to assume the job of investigating all complaints against city police.

It has asked Alberta Solicitor General Heather Forsyth for the legislative authority to abolish the internal affairs section of the police service and replace it with its own investigative team, police commission chairman Martin Ignasiak said Monday.

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(Copyright Edmonton Journal 2004)

Appoint the blue-ribbon panel. Book the room. Hire the lawyers.

The public deserves a full, complete and open inquiry into last week’s scandal.

And no, I’m not talking about the extremely dubious, 20-year-old allegations of misconduct by the Edmonton Police Service and its current chief, Bob Wasylyshen.

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(Copyright Edmonton Journal 2004)

Legislation says police must investigate police, gov’t spokesman says

EDMONTON - The Edmonton Police Commission is pressing for an independent investigation into 20-year-old allegations Chief Bob Wasylyshen and other officers engaged in misconduct involving prostitutes.

But chairman Martin Ignasiak says the commission is hamstrung by provincial legislation that doesn’t allow for an external probe.

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(Copyright Edmonton Journal 2004)

Police Chief Bob Wasylyshen is on the right path in asking independent legal counsel to review documents related to a 20-year- old internal police investigation, and to recommend how they should now be handled under the Police Act. In the end, though, that advice ought to lead to a full independent inquiry.

Understandably, Wasylyshen is frustrated and distressed that “bizarre” allegations of police misconduct have surfaced this week, decades after he thought they had been ruled groundless and laid to rest.

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