Edmonton Police Watch

A veteran Edmonton police detective facing charges for allegedly interfering with a drunk-driving case against a family member has been ordered to stand trial.

Calgary provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser committed Det. Wallace James MacNeil, 50, to go to trial on charges of attempting to obstruct justice and breach of trust.

This morning’s decision came following an earlier preliminary hearing. There is a ban on publication of the evidence heard at the hearing.

MacNeil was ordered to appear in Court of Queen’s Bench on March 20 to set a trial date.

Police earlier alleged that MacNeil, a detective working out of the southeast division, interfered with an impaired-driving case involving one of his family members.

The charges stem from a 2005 investigation begun when a police employee informed detectives in the professional-standards branch after noticing an irregularity in a file.

In a rare move, police brass suspended MacNeil, who has 26 years of experience with the force, without pay following the charges which were laid in August.

Police also charged MacNeil’s relative in the original impaired-driving case, but would not reveal the relative’s name nor specify the relationship to MacNeil.

A police official did note that police do not believe the relative was involved in the alleged tampering.

MacNeil will also likely face internal police disciplinary charges following the criminal case.

via edmontonsun.com – Edmonton News – Veteran cop to go on trial over alleged case tampering.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 5:14 am and is filed under News.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.