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More on the overtime stakeout
Kerry Diotte
Columnist offers
to settle with cops
By MAX MAUDIE, EDMONTON
SUN, Fri, August 26, 2005
Sun columnist Kerry Diotte
has offered to settle his $1.75-million lawsuit over a rogue
police operation that targeted him.
Diotte was one target of a
November 2004 police sting to catch him and then-city police
commission chairman Martin Ignasiak driving drunk after a journalists'
gathering at a downtown bar.
Yesterday, the formal offer
to settle was issued. Documents reveal that Diotte will settle
for vindication, money to cover his legal costs and a donation
to charity.
Diotte is suing the Edmonton
Police Service, the city of Edmonton, former police chief Fred
Rayner, and more than a dozen members of the EPS.
According to the offer, Diotte
wants $50,000. Of that, around $20,000 will cover his costs.
The rest is to be donated to a "registered charitable cause
of (Diotte's) choice."
On his lawyer's advice, Diotte
yesterday declined comment.
Diotte wants a retraction
and apology for statements made after the sting suggesting he
was drunk and was likely to drive.
The offer calls for apologies
for the improper access of EPS computer systems to get his personal
information and the improper monitoring of his activities.
The EPS must work to ensure
such improper access and monitoring doesn't happen again.
Finally, it must be acknowledged
Diotte "is free to report and comment on police activity
without fear of reprisal."
The apologies, retractions
and acknowledgement must be printed in both the Edmonton Sun
and Edmonton Journal.
Daniel Carroll, the defendants'
lawyer, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Meanwhile, this week former
chief Rayner filed his $1.5-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit
against the Edmonton Police Commission, the City of Edmonton,
former police commission chairman Martin Ignasiak and former
executive director John Acheson.
Rayner was fired Feb. 8, following
the Overtime debacle.
Bryan Sarabin, the lawyer
representing the city in the Rayner suit, yesterday said he'd
only received the paper- work on Wednesday and hadn't yet examined
it thoroughly.
"It's probably more than
a he said, she said. There's really quite a bit in there,"
said Sarabin.
Police commission chairman
Brian Gibson said he'd been out of town on business and hadn't
yet been brought up to speed on the matter.
Ignasiak and Acheson couldn't
be reached for comment.
- Cop tapes 'sickening'
New evidence shows police targeted me as payback for critical
columns
column by Kerry Diotte,
February 6, 2005
There's shocking new evidence
that Edmonton Police Service (EPS) officers carried out an unwarranted
drunk-driving sting as payback because I've been critical of
police in my columns.
Late yesterday I was given
the opportunity to hear a tape recording of police officers talking
on the night of a Nov. 18 drunk-driving sting at Overtime Broiler
& Taproom downtown. The sting targeted me and Police Commission
Chairman Martin Ignasiak.
The tape
reveals conversations between some of the seven participating
police officers on the night of the sting. Police recorded the
two-way radio transmission and a transcript of the conversations
are part of the EPS report into the sting. But the transcript
and full report have not been made public by police.
Many of the things that were
said on that tape were sickening. It suggests there's a real
need for an independent body to re-examine the finding of the
EPS internal probe. Police Chief Fred Rayner on Thursday released
just eight pages of report highlights.
The conversations on the tape
strongly suggest the unwarranted sting was conducted because
some police officers don't like what I write in my opinion columns.
It calls into question whether
police truly were on a routine drunk-driving operation as they've
long claimed.
It also calls into doubt whether
cops had a legitimate complainant who'd contacted them to suggest
I was a risk to drink and drive. Rayner insists they had a legitimate
complainant that evening but won't provide any more details.
It illustrates some police
officers on the sting feel extreme animosity toward me - bordering
on hatred. One person on the tape is heard accusing me of stealing
columns off the Internet. Another person is heard to joke that
any police officer who busted me for impaired driving would be
rewarded with drinks for life.
What is said on the tape also
shows that the police know where I live and have camped out in
front of my home.
The tape also suggests I'll
be specifically targeted in the future by police hoping to catch
me driving impaired.
Two senior officers are facing
Police Act charges after the probe into the botched sting.
Seven cops, including two undercover
officers, conducted the sting during a meet-and-greet for journalists
and provincial election candidates sponsored by the Canadian
Association of Journalists.
Five other EPS employees -
four cops and a civilian - received official warnings for inappropriately
pulling up personal information on me and Ignasiak from police
information systems.
Rayner has decided the seven
cops who carried out the sting "will not face disciplinary
action" because they were just following orders.
Police admit they were targeting
me with seven cops that night after allegedly getting a tip I
was going to drive impaired.
They also targeted Ignasiak.
Both of us left the event that night in cabs.
The operation came to light
when a Sun reporter overheard police two-way radio transmissions
that night. Other reporters at the event learned there were two
undercover cops present. One of those cops told a female journalist
his real name.
The revelations on tape are
the most shocking recent news that comes amid a string of unanswered
questions about the sting and Rayner's response to it.
One has to wonder why Rayner
insisted at the Thursday news conference that Ignasiak was not
targeted by police. An EPS spokesman a day later admitted Ignasiak
had indeed been a sting target.
The chief told the news conference
I was the target of the attempted sting but it was not because
I've sometimes been critical of police in my columns.
"Diotte was the subject
of our attention, not because of who he is, but because of information
that was received relative to his behaviour or what his conduct
might be relative to drinking and driving," Rayner told
reporters Thursday.
How can he conclude that when
there's still a disciplinary hearing pending? Has that officer
who's under investigation told Rayner I wasn't targeted because
of who I am? And Rayner just takes it as gospel?
How can the chief say there
is no political agenda against me from cops when the police union
has now blacklisted the Sun, and some of its members won't talk
to us? Isn't that a huge warning bell that there are political
agendas at the EPS against journalists?
Why were the cops running my
name and Ignasiak's name in their computer system prior to the
sting?
Why do police now claim the
sting continued long after Ignasiak and I left the bar? Their
original news release said the operation ended when Ignasiak
left.
The full report along with
the tape must immediately be made public.
Citizens should be deeply shocked
and concerned. After all, if a group of police officers can target
an outspoken journalist with no criminal record, who else have
they targeted or will they target?
Lawyers association says
reporter, commission chairman targetted by police
Broadcast News, November
24, 2004
EDMONTON -- The association
for Edmonton criminal lawyers says the public should be concerned
about allegations that police targeted a reporter and the chairman
of the police commission.
Lawyer Tom Engel says the two
were targeted for political purposes because both have been critical
of the Edmonton police service.
Engel says people shouldn't
be afraid of being targeted for expressing their views.
The lawyers' association has
laid a formal complaint over the incident at a downtown bar where
a journalists' group was meeting.
Police say they were acting
on a tip that a drunken patron was planning to leave the bar
and drive.
But the journalist and commission
chairman both left in cabs.
The police chief is meeting
with the commission tonight to discuss the investigation into
the allegations.
Engel says it should be done
by an independent person or body.
Commission executive director
John Acheson says the allegations are very serious, and the commission
wants to find out what happened and why.
© Broadcast News
Furor grows over sting
on police critics
Police commission chairman a target
Charles Rusnell, The
Edmonton Journal, November 24, 2004
EDMONTON - Edmonton police
officers staking out a downtown bar during an attempted drunk-driving
sting operation last week specifically referred to the police
commission chairman and an Edmonton Sun columnist as targets,
The Journal has learned.
Sources familiar with the investigation
say Shane Holladay, an Edmonton Sun reporter, was listening to
a scanner tuned to police radio frequencies Thursday night when
he heard police officers refer by name to Sun columnist Kerry
Diotte and police commission chairman Martin Ignasiak.
At one point, police referred
on air to Diotte as Target 1 or T1 and Ignasiak as Target 2 or
T2, sources say.
Holladay took extensive notes,
but did not tape the transmissions. A Sun photographer, Perry
Mah, also listened to the scanner broadcast as officers discussed
Diotte and Ignasiak, sources say.
City police staked out the
Overtime Broiler and Taproom in downtown Edmonton for several
hours Thursday during an informal provincial election function
sponsored by the Edmonton chapter of the Canadian Association
of Journalists, of which Diotte is president.
Both Diotte and Ignasiak believe
they may have been targeted by police because they have been
vocal critics of the city police in relation to several issues.
Ignasiak is also spearheading
a campaign to make the police service more transparent and accountable.
Ignasiak and Diotte have said
the sting operation may have been an attempt to mute their criticism
of the police through intimidation.
It's not known if Holladay
spoke directly to Diotte, but the columnist was told by someone
from The Sun that police were waiting to bust him for drunk driving.
Diotte, however, did not believe
what he had been told. He thought his colleagues were playing
an elaborate joke on him. Still, he took a taxi home from the
bar.
Ignasiak was not told of the
attempted sting, but he also left the bar by taxi.
He only learned of the police
operation when he was contacted by The Sun on Friday.
Other reporters at the function,
however, were certain police were involved in some sort of operation.
CFCW radio reporter Connie
Thiessen said journalists at the event were made aware of the
police sting by Sun reporters and it took them no time to identify
two men seated nearby as police officers.
Both Sands and Thiessen said
one of the men made a cellphone call the moment Ignasiak prepared
to leave.
Thiessen and CBC TV producer
Mary Jane Weber approached the two men and engaged them in friendly
conversation.
One man gave them his name,
which The Journal has confirmed is that of an Edmonton police
officer.
After Ignasiak learned of the
attempted sting, he demanded a meeting with Edmonton Police Chief
Fred Rayner and Mayor Stephen Mandel. The three men met Saturday
morning.
After Ignasiak told Rayner
what he had been told by several reporters about the sting operation,
Rayner offered to conduct an investigation.
Both Ignasiak and Rayner agreed
not to comment publicly until after a report on the investigation
was presented
to the police commission today
at 5 p.m.
But with neither Rayner's nor
Ignasiak's knowledge, the police media relations office issued
a press release at 12:43 a.m. Sunday.
In it, they admitted there
were two police officers in the bar, but they went further, stating
that the officers were conducting a drunk-driving investigation
after receiving a complaint that a drunken patron was going to
leave the bar and drive.
The press release also stated
that "during the course of their investigation, officers
noted a second intoxicated man whom they recognized as a high-profile
member of the community."
Both Diotte and Ignasiak said
some people have already assumed the unnamed drunks referred
to in the press release were them.
Both strongly deny being intoxicated,
an opinion shared by several reporters, including Journal reporters,
who were at the event and talked to both men.
The press release noted that
after the high-profile community member took a taxi from the
bar, the investigation ended.
Ignasiak has accused the police
of issuing the press release in an attempt to "spin"
the story.
He noted there were many others
in the bar that night who clearly had more to drink than he had
and he questioned why the plainclothes officers apparently paid
no attention to them.
The investigation into the
alleged sting operation is being conducted by Edmonton Insp.
Rick Bohaychuk. He has asked several witnesses to provide statements
and copies of any tapes or notes they may have of police broadcasts
from that evening.
But the Criminal Trial Lawyers
Association has objected to Edmonton police investigating their
own officers.
The lawyers question the objectivity
of the investigation and they fear the findings will be kept
secret.
It's not yet been decided whether
the report will be made public.
The association has filed a
complaint under the provincial Police Act with the police in
an attempt to ensure the police service provides full disclosure
of the findings of the investigation.
"We're trying to ensure
everything is transparent; that a proper investigation is done
and if it isn't, then we have a remedy by going to the Law Enforcement
Review Board," association spokesman Tom Engel said Tuesday.
"Without initiating a
Police Act complaint, things can be done behind closed doors
and we don't get to participate in it," Engel said.
"This is a very serious
public issue and so we want to be a party to it."
crusnell@thejournal.canwest.com
© The Edmonton Journal 2004
Probe needed to clear
the air
By KERRY DIOTTE, CITY
HALL BUREAU, November 24, 2004
It is good the EPS has launched
an investigation into an apparent sting operation carried out
Thursday night. The person carrying out the internal investigation,
EPS Insp. Rick Bohachyk, has some serious allegations to probe.
The chief allegation is that
Edmonton Police Commission chairman Martin Ignasiak and I were
for some reason targeted that night by police in a highly unusual
drunk-driving sting operation.
That night I was hosting a
meet-and-greet mixer for provincial election candidates, their
supporters and for journalists at Overtime Broiler & Taproom
downtown.
It was presented by the Canadian
Association of Journalists (CAJ). I'm president of the local
chapter and a director of the national board.
While at the event I wound
up talking on a cellphone to a Sun police reporter who was in
our newsroom.
He told me he was hearing EPS
officers chatting on a police scanner about both me and Ignasiak,
who was at the mixer.
The reporter said I should
know it appeared police were aiming to catch both me and Ignasiak
driving home after drinking.
I was certain this reporter
was pulling my leg. I figured he was playing a prank on me because
I'd written a couple of recent columns, parts of which raised
questions about how forthcoming police were in providing details
about a fatal pursuit.
In that column, I said a young
driver who fled police should receive the brunt of people's anger,
but cops still should provide the public further details about
how the chase was handled.
That night at Overtime I told
our police reporter something along the lines of, "Yeah,
right. I don't believe you. It doesn't matter, I'm taking a cab
home anyway."
I took a cab sometime between
9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. If I have a couple of beers, I cab it.
Drinking and driving is wrong.
That was the germination of
what has become a very important news story.
Ignasiak huddled this weekend
with Mayor Stephen Mandel - who was also at the CAJ event - and
Police Chief Fred Rayner in hopes of getting a full accounting
of police actions.
Police admitted in a news release
they sent cops to the bar after receiving information that "a
drunken patron was going to leave a downtown restaurant in his
car."
In the same release they noticed
"a second intoxicated man whom they recognized as a high-profile
member of the community."
Police say they saw both of
us leave in cabs and then, "the officers concluded their
investigation."
Rayner has promised he will
give the police commission an interim report today on the incident.
It's no secret why this probe
is so important.
There are many questions that
have to be answered. Among them: Why would police send two undercover
cops into a bar for something like this?
What gave them legal grounds
to target Ignasiak and I for such a sting?
Why does it appear that no
other drinkers in the bar were of interest to police who ended
their operation when I departed and when Ignasiak left later?
An operating partner at Overtime
is on the record as saying he certainly didn't notice anyone
who was drunk and intent on driving his car home. And he didn't
call in police.
So who made the complaint and
why?
Was it a civilian or a police
officer?
I know one thing for certain
and witnesses there will agree. I was not drunk. I was not even
acting intoxicated, so why would police be interested in me that
evening?
The most pertinent allegation
police have to sort out immediately is that Ignasiak and I have
somehow been singled out because we've been outspoken about some
facets of police operations.
Let me set the record straight
on my views about police.
I have written numerous opinion
columns over the years that both praised and condemned EPS actions.
That is my right in a free society. Free speech is a democratic
right tens of thousands of Canadians fought and died for.
There should be no repercussions
from the state or from police in Canada for expressing a legitimate,
honestly held opinion.
I have friends who are police
officers with both the EPS and the RCMP.
We agree on some police issues
and we agree to disagree on others.
I have frequently written that
I believe the vast majority of officers on the EPS are honest,
hard-working, well-intentioned people doing a hell of a tough
job.
I still firmly believe that.
Those officers know when I
write opinions that question certain police procedures or investigations,
I'm doing so because I want the EPS to live up to the high expectations
of citizens.
Just like the majority of EPS
officers, I want a well-funded, professional, efficient, accountable
police department that is fully equipped to fight crime in the
city.
I want them to be able to bust
the scumbags out there and put them behind bars so we can all
live in a safer community.
And that is why a thorough
probe of this incident is absolutely vital.
As a journalist I share the
same goals as the majority of devoted EPS members.
Let's get some answers on this
sting and let's get them quickly so the dark cloud can be lifted
from the EPS.
(Kerry's column appears Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. E-mail: kdiotte@edmsun.com)
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
