Archive for September, 2007EDMONTON JOURNAL EDMONTON – The appeal board that deals with complaints against police is being expanded to help clear up a large backlog in cases. Barbara Newton, secretary of the Law Enforcement Review Board, said today that the addition of four more members, all lawyers, will hopefully clear up the backlog of 85 to 90 cases in about 18 months. Most of the cases are in the Edmonton area. Some of the cases languishing before the board go back to 2005, she said.
EDMONTON SUN There’s a new sheriff in town to watch over the cops. A long-awaited agency to investigate serious allegations against police will soon be up and running after its new civilian director, Crown prosecutor Clifton Purvis, takes on the job in October, Sun Media has learned. The new body comes amid rising concern over a longstanding practice of police investigating themselves. “It’s all about maintaining transparency, accountability and public trust,” Andy Weiler, a spokesman for the solicitor general’s department, said of the agency.
EDMONTON JOURNAL EDMONTON – A city police officer has been charged with unlawful exercise of authority for arresting and strip searching the son of lawyer Tom Engel after evidence of the alleged crime — a marijuana cigarette — was thrown away. Chief Mike Boyd ordered the charge against Sgt. Bill Allen following an internal investigation into a complaint brought by Matt Engel. The chief found there was insufficient evidence to charge three other officers involved in the incident.
EDMONTON SUN A preliminary hearing has begun for an American company accused of offering bribes to high-ranking Edmonton police officers in an alleged photo radar scandal. Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), a Dallas-based photo radar firm, is charged with being a party to a breach of trust and providing a commission or a reward to an employee of the government. The hearing, to determine whether there is enough evidence to warrant a trial, is slated for nine days and the Crown is expected to call 14 witnesses. There is a ban on publication of the evidence heard.
EDMONTON JOURNAL EDMONTON – The Dallas-based company at the centre of Edmonton’s photo radar scandal is in court today to determine whether the charges against the company will proceed to trial. ACS Public Sector Solutions faces a handful of charges including breach of trust and offering benefits to two Edmonton police officers. The court is expected to hear from 14 witnesses over a period of nine days, but the proceedings are subject to a publication ban.
EDMONTON JOURNAL EDMONTON – A judge has cleared a suspended police staff sergeant of charges while sending a suspended sergeant to trial on a count of breach of trust related to a controversial city photo radar contract worth up to $90 million. In a written decision after a preliminary inquiry into charges against both men, provincial court Judge Elizabeth Johnson said the Crown presented no evidence that Staff Sgt. Kerry David Nisbet, former head of the police traffic section, “attempted to interfere with or manipulate” tests on photo radar equipment. Nisbet was facing a count of breach of trust for allegedly wrongfully interfering with or attempting to interfere with the testing of the equipment, owned by a private company called ACS Public Sector Solutions.
EDMONTON SUN The criminal case of two high-ranking Edmonton cops accused in an alleged photo radar scandal has come down to a single charge against one of the officers. A judge today tossed the remaining charge left against Staff Sgt. Kerry Nisbet, 51, and one of the two charges still faced by Det. Thomas Bell, 49. The decision, by provincial court Judge Elizabeth Johnson, ends the preliminary inquiry for the two men and results in Bell being ordered to stand trial on the last charge in Court of Queen’s Bench. Family members of Nisbet’s began crying in court following the decision and there were many hugs and handshakes between family and supporting police officers.
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