Edmonton Police Watch

EDMONTON JOURNAL

Original

An Edmonton police officer has denied charges that she misused a police database on two separate occasions.

At a disciplinary hearing Thursday morning, Const. Jennifer Hanon denied that she queried two different names on the Canadian Police Information Centre system in July and August of 2005 for personal reasons.

The database contains information about criminals, past crimes and stolen property. It contains personal information and can include unverified allegations against an individual. Access to the system is strictly regulated and it can only be used for official police investigations.

She faces two charges of insubordination.

The hearing has now been adjourned until March 13.

EDMONTON SUN

Original

A disciplinary hearing for a city cop in hot water for leaving two strip-club waitresses unsupervised in police headquarters is postponed while he battles stress-related medical problems.

Const. Sebastien Berube faces one count of insubordination and five counts of deceit stemming from Feb. 20, 2005, when he escorted female staff from the Crazy Horse Men’s Club, a city strip bar, to police headquarters at 9620 103A Ave.

Police union officials say the staff were not strippers.

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EDMONTON SUN

Original

Two city cops have been found guilty of insubordination for failing to lodge a drunk man in police cells.

Constables Andrea Thomas and Cory Kerr are set to receive their punishments Feb. 23, said Supt. Mark Logar.

Both the police service and the cops’ representatives are seeking reprimands.

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CANWEST

Original

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Police Service has been violating its own internal policy by dumping homeless people from the Whyte Avenue area in inner-city neighbourhoods, according to a copy of the policy obtained by The Edmonton Journal.

And legal experts say sections of the policy, which police insist gives them the legal right to relocate drunken street people, violates the Charter of Rights.

The internal policy provides direction to officers in their handling of so-called “adult public inebriates.”

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CBC NEWS
Original

Edmonton police Chief Mike Boyd is calling for an external investigation into allegations that officers picked up nine homeless people, and held them in a van against their will for two hours before dropping them off in the north end of the city.

Boyd said Friday afternoon he wants Edmonton’s police commission to get the RCMP to take over the criminal investigation into the allegations.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

Original

Two Edmonton police officers are facing insubordination charges for releasing an intoxicated and combative man from custody instead of putting him in a holding cell.

On May 28, 2005, Const. Cory Kerr and Const. Andrea Thomas reported to a downtown liquor store after staff called police. Store security claimed the man was drunk and scaring customers.

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CP

Original

EDMONTON — RCMP will be asked to take over a probe into allegations that Edmonton police rounded up homeless people in a van, held them for hours and then dropped them off far away from where they were picked up.

Police Chief Mike Boyd, who last week ordered an internal police probe into the allegations, said he is in a conflict of interest because his office is named in the complaint.

“I’ve decided to ask the police commission to have an outside body investigate all aspects of this case,” Boyd said yesterday.

Nine homeless people, many of whom are aboriginal, were allegedly picked up by police May 20, 2005, held against their will for two hours in overheated conditions, then dumped off in a northside neighbourhood.

EDMONTON JOURNAL

Original

EDMONTON – An Edmonton human rights body is calling for an independent criminal investigation into allegations that Edmonton police officers scooped homeless aboriginal people off Whyte Avenue and unlawfully confined them in a sweltering van before dumping them in a northside neighbourhood.

The body also wants the Edmonton Police Commission to review a policy that police say allows them to pick up people they believe are drunk and transport them to other parts of the city for release without charges.

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EDMONTON SUN

Original

The mother of a teen zapped with a Taser by a city cop in a strip-search cell when he was 15 says she’s “repulsed” by the cop’s acquittal on assault with a weapon charges.

“It’s a sickening abuse of authority and an abuse of power,” said the hopping mad 43-year-old mom Thursday.

“It’s time Chief (Mike) Boyd starts making these officers accountable for their actions.”

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CBC News

Original

An Edmonton police officer on trial for assault with a weapon for using a Taser on a 15-year-old suspect was found not guilty Wednesday.

Provincial court Judge Raymond Bradley said the case boiled down to credibility, and he believed Const. Todd Hudek’s version of events over the youth’s.

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