(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
Sept. 9, 1998)
Police
squads in chaos
By Leo Knight
A
year ago in this space, the first few months of Vancouver's
newly appointed chief constable, Bruce Chambers, was examined
with a cautious, yet relatively charitable eye.
He
was an unknown and unproven entity, parachuted in from the
barely-thriving metropolis of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The
police board in Vancouver hired Chambers from a short list of
candidates that included several serving Vancouver officers and
the current chief constable in Calgary, Christine Silverberg.
The
local candidates were so busy jockeying for position, they lost
sight of the main goal: to demonstrate an attitude that put the
department and the city first and their egos somewhat further
down the list.
The
ensuing soap opera reduced the short list to only Chambers and
Silverberg. With a substantial amount of baggage dogging
Silverberg's steps, not to mention her four bodyguards, Chambers
was left as the only reasonably suitable candidate. The board
was advised at the time to re-open the competition instead of
selecting the default candidate. Unfortunately, they didn't
listen.
In
the ensuing year since Chambers was appointed to the top job, he
has demonstrated some questionable management ability.
For
starters, he marched at the head of the Gay Pride parade, then
neglected to show up for the annual dinner honoring the officers
who had retired in the past year. Major faux pas.
He
set about re-organizing the entire operations of the police
department, some six times larger than the one he'd come from.
All with virtually no input from the men and women who had the
knowledge and experience to assist him.
He
pushed his plans on the department by saying, "if you're
not on the bus, you'll get run over by it." Not exactly
from Team Building 101.
In
February, he tried to show his toughness by arbitrarily
suspending three officers before they had been found guilty of
any sort of misconduct, tossing due process out the window along
with what remained of the support of the rank and file.
More
recently, Chambers -- who has taken to calling himself
"Chief of Police," American terminology despite the
fact the Police Act specifically designates the title as
"Chief Constable" -- has pushed so hard to accomplish
his re-structuring of the department, he has needlessly cost the
city's taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So
desperate is the current cash crunch, courtesy of Chambers, that
all police overtime has been severely curtailed.
In
a confidential memo obtained by the North Shore News, all
district commanders and duty officers are given their marching
orders.
The
memo reads:
"Effective
immediately and until further notice:
"1)
ALL Discretionary Overtime (projects) is hereby cancelled.
"2)
ALL necessary overtime to meet personnel minimums must be
authorized by the District management or the Duty Officer.
"3)
ALL Extended tours of Duty" (eg. the result of a serious
crime investigation) must be approved by the Duty Officer in the
absence of the District management.
"4)
ALL overtime incurred by members must be reported and explained
to District management by the members NCO."
The
memo is signed by Terry Blythe, "Deputy Chief of Police,
Commanding Operations Division." Blythe used to be Deputy
Chief Constable. I should note the above is written verbatim,
including emphasis, from the memo.
What
this is saying is very concerning. Clearly the overtime budget
of the department is virtually used up and the fiscal year is
not even half over.
Why
is this? Has crime skyrocketed of late? Well, not if you believe
the chief's statistical data claiming the crime rates in most
categories are falling. (Something disputed by many street
cops.)
Chambers
was so intent on his June 2 target date for the implementation
of his re-organization, he ordered all aspects to be in place,
come what may.
Well,
the result has been chaos.
This
summer alone has resulted in over 100 shifts of "call
outs" at double time to fill vacant positions for
sergeants. This item alone has cost over $100,000.
Essentially,
there are approximately 25 vacant sergeant positions and there
are simply not enough substantive sergeants on the road,
supervising, to allow any re-scheduling to cover the vacancies.
This
has been going on for months. Why Chambers has left these
positions vacant is anyone's guess considering they had a
promotional competition just last year that generated a
sufficient list of qualified candidates.
Wasted
money doesn't stop there. The brand new police building on
Cambie had to be renovated to accommodate re-assigned squads,
like traffic, from 312 Main St. Then there's the generous
severance packages for all those senior officers Chambers
decided the city could do without.
The
re-organization has, in itself, been a joke. There are now what
are being referred to as "ghost squads" in the
department. These are paper lists of officers assigned to a
specific squad, when, in fact, the whole lot are on extended
leave or otherwise not available for work. Yet they are shown on
operational strength.
The
department was severely fractured by the political infighting of
the deputy chiefs vying for the top job when former chief, the
late and sorely missed, Ray Canuel, announced his retirement.
Morale was at a low ebb not seen since the days of the Marshall
enquiry.
I
scarcely thought it possible, but it is even lower now. Guys
come to work and have to wait sometimes as long as two or three
hours just to get a patrol car so they can go out and try to do
their job.
Why?
There's
little money available in the fleet budget. Not because the
money wasn't originally allocated, but, according to my sources,
because a portion has been diverted to cover the cost overruns
of the re-organization. The timepiece of choice among veteran
officers has become a calendar not a watch -- easier to count
the days to pension and a reprieve from the nuthouse.
In
the interim, it is the taxpaying citizens who have to pay the
freight in more ways than simple dollars and cents. Service has
inevitably suffered in spite of the best efforts of the cops on
the street. Now with the overtime ban, it will undoubtedly
suffer even more.
It's hard to believe this guy was the best available at the time.
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