Policing

Bloated Montreal police force helpless against Mafia

Topics: 
Organized crime, Policing, Quebec
Rating: 
3

Henry Aubin – January 18, 2012

City police Chief Marc Parent is seeking to reassure Montrealers. He said on Tuesday that a retired police detective had failed in his attempt to sell to the Mafia a top-secret list of undercover officers and other police informants. As it happens, the ex-detective died the next day.

So, end of story? Hardly. It's a relief to hear that no informants lost their lives. But the larger matter — the police's overall performance against organized crime — is not reassuring at all.

Toronto police corruption trial finally begins

Topics: 
Corruption, Policing
Rating: 
3

Peter Small – January 13, 2012

Eight years after they were charged and more than a decade after their alleged offences, five former drug squad officers are finally to be tried in Toronto’s biggest police corruption case.

John Schertzer, Steven Correia, Ned Maodus, Joseph Miched and Raymond Pollard — former members of the elite Team 3 of the Central Field Command drug squad — begin their trial before a jury Monday.

Securities sector easy prey for organized crime

Topics: 
Organized crime, White-collar crime, Policing, Regulatory oversight, Financial industry
Rating: 
3

Jim Bronskill – January 10, 2012

The piecemeal nature of current securities oversight in Canada could leave the sector vulnerable to organized crime, a new study warns. The disparate system of market securities and regulatory bodies in Canada also makes it difficult to determine the possible scope of illicit infiltration, says the draft study released under the Access to Information Act.

Still, it identifies several examples of Canadian securities fraud — from illegal market manipulation to so-called Ponzi schemes — and underscores the attractiveness of such activities to sophisticated criminals.

Italian Mobsters Get 1,000 Years Jail Time

Topics: 
Organized crime, Policing, Europe
Rating: 
2

November 22, 2011

A judge Saturday sentenced 110 members of the Italian mafia group ‘Ndrangheta to a total 1,000 years of jail time at the culmination of a yearlong trial before a Milan court.

Defendants jeered and booed both the judge and their attorneys as the sentences were handed down against members of the Calabria criminal group that has made inroads into northern Italy through drug trafficking and other criminal activity.

Calgary: a model modern police force

Topics: 
RCMP, Policing, Watchdogs
Rating: 
0

New complaints commissioner finds force progressive and accountable.

Gillian Steward – November 08, 2011

When Shirley Heafey moved from Ottawa to Calgary to stickhandle complaints from the public about the police, she expected the worst.

"Calgary was the only city in the country that I had not visited a lot... but I had heard all the stereotypical stuff about Calgary's redneck attitude so I was expecting a real challenge," says Heafey, who had been twice appointed chair and CEO of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP before taking on her new position.

Orangeville police budget $295,000 in the red

Topics: 
Policing
Rating: 
0

Chris Halliday – November 6, 2011

The Orangeville Police Service (OPS) is on pace to exceed its town-allotted budget by more than a quarter-million dollars at the end of the year.

As of Sept. 30, The Town of Orangeville’s police services operating budget was $295,555 in the red on the expenditure side, and it’s forecasted that number could be $262,000 by the end of 2011, according to town treasurer Bill McKennan.

Parody leads to officer’s demotion, pay cut

Topics: 
Policing
Rating: 
0

Dan Pelton – November 3, 2011

Having previously agreed to plead guilty to two counts of disreputable conduct under the Police Services Act, Orangeville Police Constable Stephen Fisher was demoted at a hearing Friday at the Tony Rose Memorial Sports Complex.

As a result, Cst. Fisher will spend the next year as a second class constable and face a pay cut of nearly $6,700. The decision by a hearing officer could be seen as confirming an allegation suspended OPS sergeant Curtis Rutt made in seeking a Section 25 Police Services Act inquiry into conditions in the police force.

UK police action against the Guardian: what the other papers said

Topics: 
Policing, Freedom of the press, UK
Rating: 
0

The Guardian – September 20, 2011

Scotland Yard's attempted use of Official Secrets Act to force disclosure were met by chorus of alarm over threat to press freedom.

"It is not often that this paper defends the Guardian, whose politically correct, bien-pensant views seem increasingly detached from both the real world and the concerns of ordinary Britons. But when police invoke the Official Secrets Act to try to force one of its reporters, Amelia Hill, to reveal her sources, everybody who cherishes the freedom of the press and the vital role of the fourth estate in a healthy democracy should be deeply alarmed."

UK police drop action against the Guardian

Topics: 
Policing, Freedom of the press, UK
Rating: 
2

Scotland Yard forced into abrupt climbdown over attempt to make Guardian reporters reveal phone-hacking sources

Owen Bowcott and Vikram Dodd – September 20, 2011

The Metropolitan police has dropped its attempt to order the Guardian to reveal confidential sources for stories relating to the phone-hacking scandal.

The Met had been hoping to force Guardian reporters to reveal confidential sources for articles disclosing that the murdered teenager Milly Dowler's phone was hacked on behalf of the News of the World. But after an intervention by the Crown Prosecution Service and widespread outrage, Scotland Yard was forced into an abrupt climbdown.

UK Hacking: Police use Official Secrets Act to demand Guardian reveals sources

Topics: 
Policing, Freedom of the press, UK
Rating: 
2

Unprecedented move sees Scotland Yard use the Official Secrets Act to demand the paper hands over information

David Leigh – September 16, 2011

The Metropolitan police are seeking a court order under the Official Secrets Act to make Guardian reporters disclose their confidential sources about the phone-hacking scandal.

In an unprecedented legal attack on journalists' sources, Scotland Yard officers claim the act, which has special powers usually aimed at espionage, could have been breached in July when reporters Amelia Hill and Nick Davies revealed the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone. They are demanding source information be handed over.

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