Wednesday 17 November 2010

Now you see it. Now you don't.



Thus it comes as a surprise that Ian Scott, director of the Special Investigations Unit, is siding with two families using civil litigation to challenge the unlawful deaths of family members killed by police officers.

Shorter Fantino: Oh yeah? Police ju-ju always trumps the Criminal Code and Charter rights.

Yes. That Fantino, currently in the Conservative Candidate Protection Program.

As well, read knitnut and dr dawg about the illegal police brutality directed at Stacy Bonds.

Finally: only a cop can ensure complaints against cops who do not follow proper procedure and are derelict in their legal duties, are processed in a fair and timely manner.

Doug Thompson was found dead in a city boarding house last September, and police officers gave his body to social services without checking his wallet or cell phone for ways to notify his next of kin. It took a week for his family to find out the 61-year-old had passed away of natural causes.

Andrew Thompson [an Ottawa police officer] filed a complaint, which resulted in internal discipline for the four officers. "We weren't satisfied with that given the seriousness of the negligence on their part," Thompson told the Standard- Freeholder earlier this year. "They've made a huge mistake."

The Ontario Civilian Police Association hearing will now review the charges laid against the four men. Thompson and his family also filed a $250,000 lawsuit against the police, city services and the coroner's office involved in the burial.

Merci to Toe for the news item about the SIU.

5 comments:

Beijing York said...

There is also that awful case in Montreal, the Vilanueva Inquest:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Shooting+unjustfied+expert+tells+Villanueva+inquest/3839768/story.html

Zoom said...

Good for Andrew Thompson. (And thank you for the link to my post.)

(and thanks to beijing york too for the montreal link.)

deBeauxOs said...

Yabbut the point I was making, using Andrew Thompson's family complaint as an example, is that civilians rarely get the same kind of treatment. For one thing, they may not know how to navigate the system.

All families should have their concerns addressed quickly and fairly. It only took 2 months for the Thompsons to get a hearing.

Clickable link
for the Villanueva inquest story.

Anonymous said...

The complaint was filed immediately, took 4 months for the Cornwall Police internal investigation conclude and the Chief to recommend the informal discipline. Then it went to OCOPS and it took them 7 months to charge the officers formally. The hearings for the officers are September and November of 2011. Exactly 2 years since the death for the hearing. I don't think that it was addressed quickly.

deBeauxOs said...

Thanks for the update, Anonymous.

WTF? If it takes someone who knows how the system works 2 years to get a hearing into the mis-handling of a family member's death, imagine how civilians get treated. Their complaints are likely delayed until the officers in question take their retirement.

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