Edmonton Police Watch

EDMONTON — An Edmonton police officer was suspended for a total of 120 hours without pay Monday after pleading guilty to four counts of neglect of duty.

Const. Adam Chambers acknowledged at a police disciplinary hearing that he failed to complete and submit reports over a two-year period, some involving Criminal Code investigations that were essentially lost to the justice system as a result.

Presiding officer Supt. Mark Logar called Chambers’s actions “more egregious than an unnecessary use of force.”

Logar said Chambers compromised not only the police department and its members, but violated the public’s trust.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the matter was first brought to the attention of the Professional Standards Branch in May 2008.

Chambers’s supervisor noticed several internal notices requesting completion of reports and noticed several incomplete documents in the officer’s briefcase.

A subsequent search of his briefcase and locker resulted in the discovery of nearly 300 police documents, including incomplete police reports, some dating as far back as August 2006.

Further investigation revealed that some of the documentation pertained to five Criminal Code investigations in which charges were laid but documents were not submitted.

The cases were property-related in nature, or concerning traffic violations.

Presenting officer Insp. Darren Eastcott said Chambers’s actions illustrated a systemic problem within the department concerning file management, especially among younger officers.

He recommended the officer be given a reprimand and suspended without pay for between 80 and 100 hours.

Staff Sgt. Bill Newton, who represented Chambers, argued a suspension of 40 hours without pay was appropriate punishment.

Newton noted that Chambers had accepted responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty, and said the officer was “thoroughly chastened and embarrassed by the mess he created.”

While Logar noted Chambers’s plea and discomfort as mitigating factors in imposing the penalty, he also noted a previous charge of discreditable conduct stemming from an incident in 2004 in which Chambers was found passed out drunk behind the wheel of his vehicle.

Logar said the penalty needed to reflect the serious nature of the offence, adding that the fallout could be “utterly devastating” to the reputation of the EPS by the public.

“The members at large,” said Logar, “need to know this is exceedingly serious.”

Another police disciplinary hearing will convene later this month to hear details of 38 charges against Const. Raynard Vogan, among them neglect of duty, deceit and insubordination.

Vogan made his first appearance in the matter on Monday. Many of the charges, which date back to 2002, involve evidence and/or documents about investigations that Vogan allegedly did not submit, did not complete or kept in his possession.

One of the charges alleges that Vogan seized six sets of nunchuks but kept them in his possession.

The matter was put over to March 31.

via Edmonton cop rapped for paperwork breaches.

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