Edmonton Police false arrest for a made-up crime followed by an indeterminate delay to get property returned

Man wants phone back after videotaping arrest

CBC News

Posted: Aug 17, 2012 9:24 AM MT

Last Updated: Aug 17, 2012 12:29 PM MT

Man who recorded arrest wants his phone back from police4:57

An Edmonton man wants police to return an iPhone that he says was seized by an officer while he was videotaping an arrest.

Corey Maygard, 25, captured the video last Friday because he thought police were using excessive force to detain a man near the Salvation Army in downtown Edmonton.

“They had the one guy somewhat hog-tied behind his back,” Maygard said. “And they were dragging him.”

Maygard says one of the officers approached and told him to stop recording. He refused.

“He at that point turned me around, read me my rights,” Maygard said. “Took my phone. Turned the video off and arrested me for obstruction of justice.”

Maygard was taken to downtown police headquarters where he spent the night in cells. The charge was withdrawn in court on Monday.

“There is nothing that prevents an individual from videoing an event that’s taking place in public,” his lawyer Danny Lynn said.

The court ordered police to return all of Maygard’s belongings, including his iPhone. However, the phone hasn’t yet been found.

Police say the information isn’t yet in their property and exhibit system. This can take time as there is a large amount of property that needs to be processed each day.

They say they are doing their best to track it down as soon as possible.

Officer facing disciplinary hearing denies allegation of indecent exposure

By Mariam Ibrahim, Edmonton Journal July 27, 2012

EDMONTON – An Edmonton police officer faces an internal disciplinary hearing for discreditable conduct, for allegedly showing his erect penis to a woman he’d arrested.

Const. Jared Ruecker will make his first appearance before a disciplinary hearing officer on Thursday morning.

Edmonton Police Association president Tony Simioni said Ruecker “strongly and unequivocally” denies the allegation.

The woman’s lawyer has filed a court document asking that the charge that was laid against her that night be stayed, in part because of the alleged interactions with the police officer.

According to a document filed with Edmonton Provincial Court, the woman was accused of kicking out the window of an Edmonton bar in the winter of 2011, after being thrown out by the owner and two employees. The document says Ruecker and another officer arrested the woman at her apartment after the incident, and took her to the police station. The document says the woman was waiting for her paperwork when Ruecker, who was eating at the counter, told her, “I think I’m going to sit here and stare at you for an hour.”

Ruecker is then alleged to have driven the woman home, and to have held her hand during the drive. The document says Ruecker then walked with the woman to her apartment, and followed her inside her suite without being invited.

“The Applicant had provocative pictures of herself on her refrigerator. Const. Ruecker stated, ‘Is that you? Wow!,” the document says.

The document alleges the woman then sat down on the sofa, and that the officer “then proceeded to undo his pants and pull out his penis, which was erect.”

The document says Ruecker saw that the woman was “shocked,” and zipped up his pants. He told the woman to make sure she attended court and then left, the document says.

The allegations contained in the document have not been proven.

Edmonton Police Service spokeswoman Patrycia Thenu confirmed that an officer is being investigated for an incident “along the lines of indecent exposure,” but she would not confirm any other details of the allegation. She said the officer is still assigned to regular patrol duties.

Ruecker graduated as a recruit in 2008. He won the ‘highest physical fitness’ award for his class.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Commentary

Note the “he won the ‘highest physical fitness’ award for his class” remark; a phrase which has been removed from later edited versions of the same original article. The overemphasis on the machismo culture further reinforces the alpha male stereotype (leading to disciplinary issues down the road for the alpha male; perhaps too much self-confidence is not such a good thing after all). Perhaps advanced education and intelligence would lead to more favourable long-term outcomes (not to mention higher member diversity reflecting today’s society), as opposed to simply picking the most outgoing, social, and self-confident candidates in the pool. An intelligent person can gain confidence through training and field experience; however, a relatively unsophisticated and stereotypical person cannot escape the inevitable demise in the public eye. Today’s knowledge based society puts a premium on higher education and critical thinking skills, so perhaps it’s time that EPS take note of this basic tenet of progress and modernity. After all, knowledge is the key to real success.

City officer charged with obstruction of justice after off-duty traffic stop

By Mariam Ibrahim, edmontonjournal.com June 27, 2012

EDMONTON – An Edmonton police officer has been charged with obstruction of justice and suspended without pay after a traffic stop late last year, police say.

Const. Adam Kube, a patrol officer with three years’ experience with the police service, was off-duty when he allegedly arrived at a traffic stop, where a third person had been pulled over, on Oct. 22, 2011.

Kube allegedly gave officers a cancelled insurance card, which resulted in a subsequent police investigation into his actions. It’s not clear what relationship, if any, Kube and the person who was pulled over share.

After reviewing the case and consulting with the Crown, Chief Rod Knecht made the decision to charge Kube and suspend him without pay, police spokeswoman Noreen Remtulla said. The officer was charged and suspended Tuesday.

Remtulla said while a suspension without pay is a serious sanction, “any suspension is definitely taken very seriously by the Edmonton Police Service.”

The decision to suspend an officer ultimately rests with the police chief, she added.

“Every file is different. So the chief reviews every file and makes a decision based on the investigation.”

Tony Simioni, president of the Edmonton Police Association, said the union is against suspending officers without pay except for the “rarest of circumstances.”

“We’re fundamentally opposed to suspension without pay because this is an allegation only. It has not been proven.”

The officer is entitled to a hearing in front of the Edmonton Police Commission within 30 days, Simioni said.

“We will certainly be presenting arguments against the continued suspension without pay.”

The decision to send Kube to an internal police disciplinary hearing will depend on the outcome of the court process, Remtulla said.

Kube is scheduled to make his first appearance July 30 in provincial court.

mibrahim@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/mariam_di

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Commentary

In this one law enforcement applicant lackey forum thread (http://forums.blueline.ca/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=15782&start=1710) one forum member who is also a real-life EPS officer speaking in an official recruiting capacity claims that: “Like I said, we hire the best of the best, our recruiters…ensure that happens!…Let the strong applications come in!”; and on this page (http://forums.blueline.ca/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=15782&start=1650) the same officer states that: “Our standards are very high and we will not budge on them. We will start classes with less numbers to allow for quality training for quality people.”

Lackey applicants respond to such comments from officer quasi-recruiting forum members with such sycophancy as: “That’s actually extremely encouraging and makes me want to push even harder than I already have been with my training” and “This is great news for applicants! I’m also glad to see that EPS is very serious about hiring only the best.”

Cst. Adam Kube – @CstKube was active on Twitter since 27 of Sep, 2010 – http://twtrland.com/profile/CstKube – and had approximately 1300 followers and about 800 tweets, until very recently (see above article). This article is revealing because Cst. Kube used to be the junior officer poster child of recruiting, actively tweeting and working in sync with the recruitment effort; that is until everything went oh so terribly wrong, and the Twitter account suddenly vanished. It seems that disciplinary issues (generally related to sexual deviance, integrity/ethics, and substance abuse – alcohol) are linked to the demographics that recruiting targets. Many university students and candidates with strong post-secondary education are rejected in favour of successful candidates with no degrees whatsoever or who even dropped out of community college, but who have “life experience” because sociability/outgoingness (e.g., the partying alpha male prototype) are favoured over intelligence/sensibility.

Edmonton police officer slapped with suspension after looking at opposing lawyer’s notes

By Michael Gregory, edmontonjournal.com July 10, 2012

EDMONTON – A seasoned Edmonton police officer with prior disciplinary punishments on his record has been handed a 50- hour suspension after looking at an opposing legal counsel’s notes during a Law Enforcement Review Board hearing.

Const. Elvin Toy was one of the subjects testifying at an LERB hearing in December 2009.

For 20 to 30 seconds, Toy stood near lawyer Tom Engel’s desk, “looking down at those materials,” Supt. Mark Logar said in making his decision Monday. Engel was acting on behalf of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association.

Toy and officers in downtown C-2 division squad were being questioned for wearing controversial ‘no rats’ T-shirts to a baseball game in June 2005. The shirts featured the number 440 on the sleeve, police code for “rat,” inside a red circle with a line through it. Toy told the board it related to a complaint by a former member of the C-2 squad.

In his decision, Logar said Toy had attended court on “many occasions” and was familiar with what was appropriate.

“He knows that it is not proper or permissible to look at lawyers’ notes even if they are left for all to see.”

Logar said there was no evidence to suggest Toy was planning to look Engel’s notes, but he did act out of line.

Toy “should have known that this was not proper even before he engaged in the misconduct, and certainly had enough time very quickly afterward to stop himself and walk away,” he said.

Toy is a long-serving member of the Edmonton police force and has worked in the economic crimes unit for the past five years.

He has been before the LERB for other incidents related to his conduct as an officer.

In 2006, Toy and another officer received 30-hour unpaid suspensions and were reprimanded for deceit and neglect of duty. The officers failed to take notes or check two individual’s identities after they were called to a drug complaint, instead reporting the suspects had left before they arrived at the scene.

In March of that year, Toy was cleared of four complaints of assaulting street people, and received an official warning for insubordination on an unrelated issue that same month over an inappropriate email.

He will now serve his suspension in blocks of no less than 10 hours at a time over successive pay periods.

mgregory@edmontonjournal.com

twitter.com/mikedgregory

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

City police constable charged in crash

By Journal Staff, edmontonjournal.com April 18, 2012

EDMONTON – A five-year member of the Edmonton Police Service has been charged after a police vehicle hit a pole by an intersection in north Edmonton.

The marked patrol car was responding to a high-priority call on July 29 when it crashed near 167th Avenue and 91st Street at about 8:15 p.m. The car’s lights and sirens were on, police spokeswoman Clair Seyler said.

Two police officers were in the front of the car when it crashed. An 18-year-old man, who was a ride-along passenger because he was interested in becoming a police officer, was in the back seat, Seyler said.

All three passengers suffered minor injuries in the crash, described by Chief Rod Knecht as mainly bumps and bruises.

The incident was investigated by the collision investigation unit, as occurs when a police vehicle in involved in a crash.

After reviewing the investigation and consulting the Crown, Knecht decided to lay charges in the case.

Const. Mark Rosenow, 27, is charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Rosenow, whose first court appearance is scheduled for May 18, remains an active patrol officer and is still driving a police car, Knecht told reporters.

The chief said he hopes the charge will help send a message about safe driving to other officers.

“As recently as yesterday I put out a message to everybody (expressing) my concern about driving. We want to reduce the number of accidents caused by others as well as ourselves.”

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

EPSWATCH – Edmonton Police Service Watch (EPSW) – Introduction

EPSWATCH – Edmonton Police Service Watch (EPSW) is a personal blog maintained for educational and research purposes with the aim being to track Edmonton Police Service officer newspaper articles focusing on sociological deviance. Other media sources and third party critical analysis commentary will be included as appropriate. News articles will be tracked starting from 2012.