http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=6d369e51-
03d9-4b99-83e0-81c0b2bf4dc1
Chief blasts his officers
'Discriminatory' e-mail against aboriginals adds to list of EPS scandals
Charles Rusnell
The Edmonton Journal
June 13, 2005
Edmonton's acting police chief has ordered yet another internal
investigation into the conduct of some officers, this time in relation to
an internal e-mail that made racist comments about aboriginals.
"An e-mail was recently brought to my attention where the author advanced
his theory on how aboriginals should be dealt with by police," acting chief
Daryl da Costa says in a special June 9 communique, obtained by The
Journal, that was sent to all Edmonton Police Service members.
"The e-mail was racist, discriminatory, disgusting and offensive and I have
had to direct yet another investigation into the actions of our members.
"Be advised that the EPS has zero tolerance for this type of conduct."
Da Costa underscores "zero tolerance" in his statement, which represents
the toughest public condemnation by an Edmonton police chief of misconduct
in recent memory and may signal a move toward increased discipline in a
police service plagued by scandal.
The e-mail, intended as a joke, contains 10 rules for how to treat an
aboriginal. It was distributed only among some officers in the downtown
division, where one officer was suspended with pay in March for allegedly
assaulting inner-city residents.
A clearly angry and frustrated da Costa says that while he is impressed
with the dedication and calibre of work of most members, "I am still faced
with having to deal with a very small minority that just doesn't seem to
get it. I am dismayed at how 'mindlessly' these members get themselves into
trouble."
Da Costa tells his officers that if they hold these racist views, "please
consider other career options as you are making all of us look bad." He
further warns that "anybody involved in this newest matter can expect to be
contacted by an Internal Affairs investigator in the very near future."
First-time offenders, he says, will receive an automatic official warning
on their record for three years. A second offence will immediately be
directed to a disciplinary hearing.
But internal affairs investigators may face a wall of silence when they
begin their inquiries.
The Journal has learned that several officers attending a meeting of the
Edmonton Police Association last week wore T-shirts emblazoned with a red
circle around a rat, crossed by a 45-degree angle line.
"It was the sign for 'no rats,' which means nobody is supposed to rat out
another member in an investigation," said one person who saw the T-shirt
and spoke with the officer who wore it at the meeting.
"This just shows the culture that exists within the Edmonton Police
Service."
Da Costa did not return a call to his cellphone Sunday, and police
association president Peter Ratcliff could not be reached for comment.
Police commission chair Brian Gibson was out of the city and also could not
be contacted.
The reputation of the Edmonton Police Service has been tarnished in recent
months by a series of high-profile scandals, one of which led to the firing
of then-chief Fred Rayner in February.
It will be months before all the internal disciplinary hearings into how
some officers conducted themselves in relation to the controversial
Overtime stakeout are completed. In that case, traffic officers targeted a
journalist and the police commission chairman in an attempt to catch them
driving while drunk after attending a Canadian Association of Journalists
function at the Overtime bar in downtown Edmonton.
Both men, sober by witness accounts, took cabs home.
The journalist, Sun columnist Kerry Diotte, is suing the service and 19 of
its officers for $1.75 million.
In another case, the RCMP is investigating allegations that several EPS
traffic officers inappropriately accepted gifts from a private photo-radar
company that the service attempted to award a $90-million contract without
any public
tender. The Mounties recently sought and received a six-month extension on
their investigation.
Meanwhile, internal affairs officers are investigating allegations that two
police officers pepper-sprayed and then stuffed a man into the trunk of
their cruiser after he caused trouble during a traffic stop.
The Crown had to abruptly drop charges of resisting arrest against the man
after the officers, during cross-examination, suddenly couldn't remember
how their prisoner was transported to jail. The police are also being sued
in that case.
"We have a tough summer ahead," da Costa says in closing his communique.
"I take my responsibility to protect the integrity of the organization and
its members seriously.
"I will not let the actions of a few individuals make our job collectively
harder than it has to be."
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© The Edmonton Journal 2005
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