[karra]

Toronto Police

The 5,300 member Toronto Police Service is once again under siege from within.

Recently it was the Central Command Drug Squad, disbanded and its members accused of theft, extortion, perjury, obstruction of justice, assault and fraud. Criminal charges were laid against some, departmental charges against others. To the credit of the Chief, Julian Fantino, the RCMP were brought in to conduct the investigation.

Last week more allegations tore through 52 Division (encompasses the downtown area from Jarvis to Spadina and the Lake to the CNR tracks including the Yonge Street strip) as allegations of free sex (extortion and rape), protection rackets (extortion) and male escorts apparently with a connection to ex-constable Junger of 10 years previous.

In this instance it’s the actions of the 52 Division plainclothes office – an office staffed usually by first-class constables doing the circuit before or after writing their promotional exams plus a few going nowhere veterans and a supervisor or two. Their main duty is liquor control; in other words it is a faux exercise of ensuring liquor licence compliance as at the end of their 28 day reporting period the plainclothes chappies run amok amongst the bars, strip clubs and restaurants getting ‘lines’ i.e.: issuing summonses and/or arrests. The rest of the 26 days they wander quite aimlessly and unsupervised from bar to strip club to restaurant drinking and eating for free.

The main culprit at this point appears to be former Police Chief Bill McCormackÂ’s son, Detective Billy McCormack Jr. Seems Billyboy has been bad and brought enormous disrepute to a department already besieged with corruption allegations and overwhelmed with gang activity and a proliferation of shootings on a scale never witnessed in Canada before.

The recently elected Director of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Association, Rick McIntosh, has stepped down, as he has been associated with the corruption allegations. McIntosh succeeded Craig Bromell the former Director who while working in 51 Division (which abuts 52 at Jarvis Street) was one of a number of accused officers in the severe beating of a homeless man. While no criminal charges against these officers were laid, the civil suit against them was settled for an undisclosed amount.

Fantino, upon being presented with these recent allegations immediately disbanded the 52 Division plainclothes office. None of the members have been charged criminally or departmentally at this point. Billy McCormack has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the on-going investigation by the Toronto Police Internal Affairs.

See the problem?

[Robair]

[polemarch1]

power corrupts

[Pathos]

it does..i hate cops...think it's bad in toronto you should see it here..our top cop bevin was passed over for the toronto top cop job becuase he's too stupid...screwed up the bernardo inquiry..if it wasn't for the rape squad cops in toronto bevin would still be looking for the wrong car even though bernardo was helping the investigators...bevin still hasn't solved the ardeth wood stranger murder..he simply insn't capable of that or speaking french

[AdamNF]

How can you hate cops. Just becasue a few did some bad things. We need them, they serve and protect. 4 of my good friends are on the force, and my dad was on the force years ago.

[Pathos]

have they beaten anyone,obtained sexual favours,stolen,falsified evidence,convicted the innocent?can they only laff at people?...with family and friends on the job,why aren't you?

[polemarch1]

Hope this dosen't cause more shit for the good cops out there. I mean they have got to have one of the most thankless jobs out there.

[othello]

polemarch1 wrote:

Hope this dosen't cause more shit for the good cops out there. I mean they have got to have one of the most thankless jobs out there.

Agreed. We expect cops to deal with what are truly the dregs of our society. Drunk and disorderlies. Domestic abuse / violence. We ask them to do this for us day in and day out. Many are able to do so, while retaining their integrity. A few fall prey to the tempations in front of them. Let's not tar all of our forces with the same black brush.

[Pathos]

dummies

Cop's firing upheld

Silence gets cop charged

[Pathos]

dummies

Cop's firing upheld

Silence gets cop charged

[karra]

ONe of the biggest problems facing departments across the country is their ability/desire/control to investigate themselves.

So much for justice being seen to be done.

[SwatTeam]

Pathos wrote:

it does..i hate cops...think it's bad in toronto you should see it here..our top cop bevin was passed over for the toronto top cop job becuase he's too stupid...screwed up the bernardo inquiry..if it wasn't for the rape squad cops in toronto bevin would still be looking for the wrong car even though bernardo was helping the investigators...bevin still hasn't solved the ardeth wood stranger murder..he simply insn't capable of that or speaking french

I'll speak from the other side of the fence. So you hate ALL "cops". That's pretty easy to say when you don't know ALL of them. Isn't that like someone saying they hate all blacks or whites because of what a few of them did?

When you get a couple a guys banging on your front door about to do a home invasion with guns (and believe me my friend, sometimes these guys pick the wrong house by accident), I guess you won't call 911 because of your hatred. No, I'm assuming you'll call 911 and be the happiest little boy in the world when they get there.

If there were absolutely no corrupt officers, well then we would live in a perfect world without any crime. Anyways, time for work.

[Pathos]

meh, if i thought dialling 911 would get the peelers here during a b&e or home invasion...probably would dial emergency..this is ottawa,you are in gta..things might be different there....here we laff at them..her they are useless and incompetent..bevin will reveal his new plan to deal with gangs on monday...will he try to reinvent the wheel...did he think the gangs would go away if he ignored them..kind of looks that way

[Pathos]

how stupid can they be
Sun, April 25, 2004
Injustice system
COPS WANT MORE FROM SHATTERED MAN, SAYS MARK BONOKOSKI
By MARK BONOKOSKI
NICK TRUSOLINO is unable to answer the knock at the door of his home in Peterborough, just as he was unable to answer it when two York Regional cops came calling to deliver a summons for failing to use a crosswalk. Nick Trusolino is too unsteady to walk on his own.

"He also can't remember the name of his cat of 13 years, let alone the accident," says his wife, Barbara.

"You're looking at a man who was a geography and history nut, but knows nothing today about World War II.

"In fact, he just remembered a few days ago who the fourth Beatle was . . . Paul McCartney."

Nick Trusolino, now 51, can't walk unassisted and can't remember much anymore, because he was struck down last October while trying to cross 16th Avenue in Markham -- hit by a Dodge Caravan, rushed to Sunnybrook hospital with serious head trauma, flat-lining twice, and then spending six weeks recovering from surgery which involved cutting a large hole in his skull so his bruised brain could expand and drain, and then having a small piece of his temporal lobe removed forever as a long-shot attempt to keep him alive.

CRUEL IRONY

And now he gets a hand-delivered summons to face a Highway Traffic Act charge that carries a $90 fine, plus the cruel irony of a $30 victim surcharge.

"What's to be gained?" asks his wife.

For the last year, since moving to be closer to his children attending Trent University, Nick Trusolino had been making the daily commute to York Region, where he worked as a mental-health counsellor -- selflessly racking up the kilometres -- and then coming home each night to be with his wife who, as Barbara Allyn, is a noted expert in adolescent problems, street kids, and family reunification.

"We've spent our entire lives helping communities," she says. "This (summons) really does add insult to injury.

"It serves no real purpose, not considering what my husband, and our family, have been through."

Nick Trusolino sits in a chair in his livingroom. The dining area has been cleared to make room for his bed. He can only stand if his wife helps him stand. He cannot climb the stairs. He has no balance. He travels in a wheelchair.

HE WON'T BE THERE

"I'm with him 24/7," says Barb. "I have to be."

Nick Trusolino is slated to appear in Newmarket court tomorrow. He will not be there.

Instead, he will have his legal counsel appear for him.

"It really is a tragic story," says Toronto lawyer John McLeish. "This family's life has been devastated.

"What I can't understand is why, five months after the fact, the Crown has suddenly decided to lay charges," he says.

"All things considered, it makes no sense."

The reason, perhaps, can be found at the bottom of the press release issued by York Regional Police when they went public with the charge against Nick Trusolino.

"This incident is an example of the risk pedestrians take when they do not follow the rules of the road," it reads.

In other words, Nick Trusolino is now the poster boy.

The day his summons was delivered was also the day 52 surgical staples were removed from his skull, put there to keep the "bone flap" in place after the swelling ebbed.

Det-Const. Tim Kuttschrutter was one of the two York Region officers who delivered that summons, as well as the traffic cop who investigated the accident.

He claims, however, that Nick Trusolino is not being singled out, and that "every" pedestrian involved in similar incidents is being charged.

"Do you know how many pedestrian fatalities we've already had this year?" he asks. "To this point, five."

As for the almost six-month delay in laying the charge, well, that was because of Trusolino's injuries. "We decided to give him time to recover," says Kuttschrutter. "No other reason than that."

[karra]

The police don't like being looked at period. They particularly don't like being investigated either as a service in its entirity or as individual members. One day they will wake up to the reality, but in the meantime here's a small token of their stupidity. . . .

Quote:

The cops stonewall
By Kerry Diotte -- For the Edmonton Sun
It should not be so difficult to get basic information from the Edmonton Police Service - but lately it is.

For three days last week I attempted to find out what code of ethics sworn members of the police service must follow.

I wanted to see this code of ethics in light of some allegations of corrupt practices made against three EPS officers.

Police got the go-ahead from a city council committee to sign a 20-year, $90-million pact with a U.S. company to supply Edmonton with photo-radar and red-light camera technology without letting other companies compete for the contract.

Later that long-term pact was reversed when several things came to light, including the fact the police commission had not approved the proposal.

Now a probe of the three officers' conduct is underway after an anonymous letter-writer made allegations the trio received generous perks, including free travel, from the very company they recommended for the contract - Affiliated Computer Services of Dallas.

At first I was told by police spokesman Wes Bellmore that EPS sworn members follow the same ethics code as any civic employee - city policy No. A1100A.

The city clerk, however, said that policy for civic workers expired long ago and was replaced by policy No. A1101C. However, he was of the belief that cops have their own more rigid set of ethics guidelines.

When I got back to Bellmore with that piece of information he said he would do more checking.

A full day later he left a voice message saying he could not release an EPS policy on ethics. "I have forwarded your request to the chief's office which is standard for information regarding policy and protocol," said Bellmore. "I'll wait to hear from them, then I'll get in touch with you."

That day came and went with no word. There was still no word from police media relations or the chief's office by day's end on Friday.

Luckily, an official with the civilian body overseeing the EPS was more co-operative.

The Edmonton Police Commission official provided me with a thick manual titled, Edmonton Police Service Policy and Procedure.

The key bit of that document describes various categories of misconduct including "corrupt practice."

One form of corrupt practice, says the manual, is "directly or indirectly soliciting or receiving a payment, gift, pass, subscription, testimonial or favour without the consent of the chief of police."

The penalty for a corrupt practice ranges from a "reprimand" to "dismissal from the police service."

That is a pretty clear policy. So what's the big secret?

Why should police brass or their media relations unit be so tight-lipped about a policy the public has a right to know?

I have my theories. Police brass and their paid mouthpieces do not like it when the media cover stories that allege any kind of breach of conduct.

But a course in Public Relations 101 will tell you that the more you stonewall a journalist from getting simple information, the more suspicious they and the public become.

Nobody has suggested that these three officers are guilty of anything.

But the officers and public deserve a full accounting of the facts in this case.

When police refuse to release their ethics policy, it can tend to make the public suspicious of how thorough or impartial a probe of these allegations will be.

There are already some possible problems on that front, not the least of which is having internal affairs officers probing members of a higher rank.

It would also help if internal affairs officers reported directly to the civilian police commission rather than to the acting chief of police.

Many citizens could be forgiven for wondering how seriously police were treating these allegations from the get-go.

After all, as soon as the police commission revealed news of the investigation, EPS acting chief Mike Bradshaw was quick to downplay the allegations.

"We are confident that there's absolutely nothing to it. There's no truth to it," Bradshaw said on April 9.

Be that as it may, at least the public might be more reassured now that it has been announced that an RCMP inspector will assist in the internal affairs probe.

The only way for police to deal with allegations of misconduct is quickly and candidly.

They should be up front with the media and public in the process.

If that is done, it is much easier to get on with their main task, namely, providing good policing for the city.

That is something the EPS is very good at when they are not preoccupied trying to stonewall journalists and the public.

Completely avoidable.