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- Project leads to drop
in break-ins
Police optimistic trend will continue
Rod Nickel, The StarPhoenix,
April 26, 2005
A communication-driven police
strategy to douse crime hotspots has resulted in a 43 per cent
drop in break and enters within targeted areas.
Saskatoon Police Service launched
the Compstat pilot project in January in three police districts
centred around downtown, the north end and the northwest corner
of the city.
Through March 31, preliminary
police statistics record:
- One-hundred-fifty-nine fewer
break and enters in the first three months of the year, compared
with the same period last year, or 42.9 per cent fewer;
- Almost one-quarter, or 51,
fewer assaults;
- Twelve fewer armed robberies,
which is a drop of 63 per cent;
- More than one-quarter fewer
auto thefts -- that's 38 more vehicles not going for joyrides
or to the chop shop;
- About one-fifth, or 61, fewer
incidents of mischief or wilful damage.
"We are certainly optimistic
that the trend will continue," said Sgt. John Woodley, who
heads the break and enter unit of six investigators.
The pilot project focuses on
break and enters, armed robberies and disturbances.
During the same three-month
period, break-ins declined about 16 per cent across the rest
of the city.
Drug violations in the three
targeted districts, meanwhile, have risen by seven offences,
or almost 13 per cent, while arsons have tripled from three to
nine violations.
The numbers are preliminary
and subject to further verification because of an unrelated police
database crash.
Compstat stands for Computer
Statistics, but it's communication -- among police units, front-line
constables, even provincial courts -- that makes the difference,
said Sgt. Brian Shalovelo, co-ordinator of Compstat.
The program is up for review
in July, when the police service will decide whether to expand
Compstat citywide or abandon it.
"The whole program is
a different way of doing business," Shalovelo said.
Within the break-in reduction
trend, downtown has been a particular success story, Woodley
said. Business break-ins in the city centre had been a particular
problem until police caught one particularly prolific suspect,
he said.
Police have recently charged
break-in suspects as old as 40 and as young as 11.
In the case of solving and
preventing break and enters, Compstat works like this:
Woodley scans break-and-enter
reports as they come in, noting trend areas and common operating
methods. Community input is critical to gathering key information.
A few weeks ago, a Mayfair
resident informed police of several men ringing his doorbell,
then asking him a question that seemed made up on the spot. The
resident watched as the same man rang doorbells up and down his
block.
Over a couple of days, police
checked the suspects' ID and, during a surveillance operation,
caught suspects unloading goods into a home associated with the
suspects.
"People on patrols are
just waiting for this kind of information," Woodley said.
"Because cops love to
catch bad guys."
He cautions that statistics
can be deceiving. The release from prison of a few break-and-enter
artists, for example, could in the future lead to a spike in
break-ins.
Compstat has won over Mayor
Don Atchison, the police commission chair.
"It puts resources where
they're most needed. My inclination would be to carry forward
with it. The movement so far has been tremendous."
Formation of a street-crime
unit last year has also given police extra staffing power, Atchison
notes.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
Six people, two businesses
charged after police probe
Betty Ann Adam, The
StarPhoenix, Barb Pacholik, Saskatchewan News Network, Wednesday,
March 30, 2005
A former member of the Saskatoon
Police Service and a former employee of the RCMP are among six
people and two businesses charged in a long-running investigation
into access to restricted police databases.
The charges arose out of a
31/2-year joint investigation conducted by the RCMP, the Saskatoon
Police Service and the Regina Police Service.
Police will not identify those
charged until they have made their first court appearances on
May 2.
Three people and one company
will appear in Saskatoon provincial court, two people and one
company will appear in Regina provincial court and one person
will appear in Fort Qu'Appelle.
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Brian
Jones said the charges, which were laid under a law regarding
unauthorized use of a computer, allege police-controlled databanks
were illegally accessed.
The criminal investigation
is ongoing, said acting deputy chief Gary Broste, of the Saskatoon
police.
"There's a possibility
of other charges forthcoming. . . . There may be other persons
charged," Broste said.
One of those charged was an
active member of the Saskatoon police at the time of the alleged
offence, Broste said. That person is no longer employed by the
force.
Broste said the person was
not fired or did not ask to resign as a result of the investigation,
but he would not say if the accused has retired because he didn't
want to reveal the person's identity nor jeopardize the investigation.
The former RCMP employee was
not identified as a regular uniformed officer. Jones said the
employee could have been a uniformed officer or a civilian member,
such as a dispatcher or forensics expert, or a public-service
employee, such as a secretary.
The accused was asked to resign,
Jones said.
One other RCMP employee who
was being investigated was also asked to resign and two others
have been disciplined, Jones said. None of those three have been
charged, he said.
RCMP, which led the investigation,
would not draw a link to a long-running joint probe into the
unauthorized release of confidential information from government
departments and police agencies to private investigators. But
the Regina Leader-Post has learned the charges stem from that
investigation into two private detective firms.
On May 2, 2002, RCMP executed
search warrants at Robinson Investigations, located in Regina,
and Robinson Investigations Ltd., located in Saskatoon, and seized
thousands of documents stored in 83 bankers boxes. According
to court documents, the firms are separate entities and operate
independently. Both are headed by former veteran RCMP members.
The firms did not respond Tuesday to interview requests.
Jones said the length of the
investigation wasn't unusual. "We want to make sure that
we're doing it right. There was a large number of documents that
had to be reviewed. There were some questions raised in court
about documents. And as some of those other issues resolved itself,
that added to the length of time of the investigation,"
he said.
In the aftermath of the searches
at Robinson Investigations' offices, several law firms, who were
clients of the companies, claimed the seized documents were subject
to solicitor-client privilege. On July 4, 2002, a judge in Regina
ordered all the files be turned over to a court officials pending
a determination of the issue. Since then several applications
have been heard by the courts, and some documents have been released
over time to the RCMP.
Earlier this month, further
details emerged during an arbitration board hearing in Regina.
It was examining the resignation of an officer who was originally
one of four Regina officers under investigation as part of the
probe. They've since been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
During that hearing, it was
revealed RCMP had wiretaps of police conversations and used a
deceptive search warrant at Robinson's offices. Regina police
Chief Cal Johnston testified RCMP told him the search was being
done under "subterfuge" and the warrant didn't accurately
portray the nature of the investigation.
Several Regina police officers
and Robinson Investigations' employees are suing the RCMP, claiming
"malicious and negligent" conduct by the Mounties in
the investigation.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
