Calgary Police Service Chief Constable Jack Beaton has suffered yet another defeat in his attempt to stifle any and all criticism of his regime and all that is wrong with that department, with the ruling that the presiding officer in the disciplinary proceedings against Cst. Taufiq Shah lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter. And that, as a direct result, the five charges against Shah were ” a nullity.”
Beaton will no doubt be apoplectic about this. Right from the get-go he has displayed a ham-handedness in the way he has handled the criticisms levelled by a website, standfirm.biz and its successor, code200.com.
In the Fall of 2004 the website standfirm.biz first appeared and actually lasted only about a week in the public domain. It disappeared almost as suddenly as it had appeared. It was manifestly critical about senior management of the Calgary Police Service, but most especially about Chief Jack Beaton, calling him a “rotten apple” and saying management was corrupt.
About a month or so later, the site re-invented itself as Code200.com, which is the CPS code for Officer needs Help.
Code200 was a little toned down from Standfirm, but the intent was clear – Beaton was the single biggest problem within the service.
Well, as time and Beaton would demonstrate, despite thirty or so years of policing, he had not the typical skin like a rhino hide, but, more like that of an infant recently expelled from the womb. Beaton enlisted the services of a close and former associate, a retired cop earning his crust as a private investigator. And, for some reason, someone to this day who Beaton refuses to identify, instead cloaking his name in all formal documentation by a ridiculous pseudonym. And, to my knowledge, the Chief has never even claimed a reason to do so which makes any sense.
But I digress.
Beaton used a sledge hammer to kill the critical gnat in April of 2005. I won’t regurgitate all the details. (Click on Travesty of Justice plays out in Calgary to refresh your mind.)
On May 3rd, 2005, the officer who was apparently behind the the web site, put his hand up and said, “it was I.” And just to make sure there was no doubt, he did it on the CBC evening news and repeated it in the morning paper.
But Jack continued his witch hunt ( See The bath is getting crowded ) to try and ensure that anyone critical of his ham-fisted regime was hunted down and dealt with. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum. . . so to speak. The Calgary Police Service and the Police Commission were determined to have broken the law in the way they prosecuted Police Act complaints.
In a nutshell, the legislation says the police have three months from the time the complaint is received until a charge is levied against the officer. Should an extension be required, the police have to apply for an extension to the Police Commission.
In February 2003, Chief Beaton and the Calgary Police Commission decided the legislation didn’t really apply to them and they tried an end run around it when the Police Commission gave an arbitrary three month buffer to the CPS in all cases. Never mind that the statute used language containing the words “shall” and “must”, the supercilious Police Commission and the management of the Police Service decided a simple motion passed by the Commission would negate the legislation. Arrogance? Naivete? I don’t know and neither did the Presiding Officer, Supt. Logar of the Edmonton Police Service. But what he did know is that the abuse of process in the “investigation” of Cst. Shah resulted in the lack of jurisdiction for the presiding officer and the nullification of all charges against Cst. Shah.
But this is not simply the dismissal of charges based on a technicality. Quite the contrary. The process in and of itself has now called into question all of the Police Act investigations since February 2003.
Each and every internal investigation is now in jeopardy in Calgary. And so too are any concluded matters with “findings” against serving members. The damage Beaton has done with his ill-advised witch hunt is substantial. One hopes it wont be catastrophic.
Remind me, why is Beaton still in office?
Leo Knight
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Why don’t you ask me some questions i am not a shy man and never reckless with the truth
“Lafleur, Lou” lou.lafleur@fredericton.ca wrote:
From: “Lafleur, Lou” lou.lafleur@fredericton.ca
To: “‘motomaniac_02186@yahoo.com'” motomaniac_02186@yahoo.com,
“Lafleur, Lou” lou.lafleur@fredericton.ca
Subject: Fredericton Police Force
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:21:13 -0300
Dear Mr. Amos
My Name is Lou LaFleur and I am a Detective with the Fredericton Police
Major Crime Unit. I would like to talk to you regarding files that I am
investigating and that you are alleged to have involvement in.
Please call me at your earliest convenience and leave a message and a phone
number on my secure and confidential line if I am not in my office.
yours truly,
Cpl. Lou LaFleur
Fredericton Police Force
311 Queen St.
Fredericton, NB
506-460-2332
Once again Leo your bang on target, but lets not forget that 2 faced president of the Calgary Police Association, Al Koening who denied both Cst’s Shah and McCumber request for legal council, yet both having retained an excellent lawyer in Michael Bates have shown the CPS management to be the small minded petty little men that they are, and won their cases in overwhelming fashion.
Wait to the the citizens of Calgary finally clue in and realize that CPS’s lawyer admitted under oath that they, (CPS) spent over 100,000 dollars on their witch hunt of Cst. Shah.
Where is our Police Commission in all of this ?, strangly absent by their silence.
P.S Det.LaFleur there has to be a better way to make contact then a blog.
I ain’t a cop I am “Just Dave” which is more than I can say for you or ye with no name at all.
http://davidamos.blogspot.com/2006/05/wiretap-tapes-impeach-bush.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M9iF1-AeCo
http://actionlyme.org/FBI_WIRETAPE_TAPES.htm
FEDERAL EXPRES February 7, 2006
Senator Arlen Specter
United States Senate
Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Mr. Specter:
I have been asked to forward the enclosed tapes to you from a man
named, David Amos, a Canadian citizen, in connection with the matters
raised in the attached letter. Mr. Amos has represented to me that these are illegal
FBI wire tap tapes. I believe Mr. Amos has been in contact with you about this previously.
Very truly yours,
Barry A. Bachrach
Direct telephone: (508) 926-3403
Direct facsimile: (508) 929-3003
Email: bbachrach@bowditch.com
So “Dave” what has this got to do with the subject of Leos Blog? apparently nothing……..