Dec. 16, 2006: Truth is no excuse ...

Caveat: This is too lengthy, but I have tried to explore what happens to cause a good police officer to become so furious with the system as it is, that he blows up in court. He knows how the system kicks in to protect ... after an error ... goes into stall and obfuscate when ordinary citizens want redress ... but systems set up to help good people such as Legal Aid, are used and abused by criminals and their criminal organizations.

Update added later below.

Cop gets benched for telling the truth , by Leo Knight, December 14, 2006

leoknight.blogspot.com/2006/12/
cop-gets-benched-for-telling-truth.html

... Calgary Police Service Constable Shaun Horne ... suspended ....

Horne [had] called the decision by JP Kristine Robideaux a mockery and a joke, which of course it was. [see below ....]

Robideaux, as an aside, is a lawyer by profession and also doubles as a board member for the Legal Aid Society. [see below ....]

....tried to subpoena ... [JP Kristine Robideaux], but that was quashed by somebody higher up in the administration of the provincial courts. [No ability] to mount a mitigating defense ...

... Inspector Paul Manuel ... duty officer ... search warrant [....]

Apparently Constable Horne, while right in his assessment of the justice system, didn't have the friends in high places needed to ensure he paid no penalty for the transgression of telling the truth.
[....]

Comment:

the viable question is what drove a 26 year officer with a spotless record to snap? Clearly it would be the culmination of a failing system both in CPS [Calgary Police Service] and in the justice system as a whole. .... he has been punished based on political agenda.

[....] He proved himself to be honourable right to the bitter end when he didn't go on bended knee to take the pro-offered deal or the easy way out. He stood on principle at cost to himself.

... Manuel ... tried to shake his hand and wish him well in his retirement?! Good on Horne for turning his back ...

Comment:

I want to praise Const. Horne, for standing up to the Courts, for what he truly believes in.

[....] Offenders in this country enjoy all the rights and privileges our Charter of rights entails, but suffer no consequences for their actions. The victims of crime deserve the same rights, privileges and freedoms that are so often used by the predators that perpetrate crime. [....]

See related information on legal aid and who gets it, a perversion of the intent of legal aid money from taxpayers.


Update: an overview with the essential details -- "Insp. Paul Manuel, representing the police brass, sounds off like a paragon of virtue." and in high dudgeon about bringing "discredit on the reputation of the service" and the court. How did justices ever become such protected blossoms? Never hit reality in law school? The upshot for police? "No matter what injustice you see, keep your mouth shut," says Koenig.

Rick Bell: What happens when a city cop tells the truth about our justice system? Dec. 14, 2006, Calgary Sun.

calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/
Bell_Rick/2006/12/14/2788192-sun.html


When cop blows over "catch and release" justice

There are good police officers who want the system scrubbed. I suspect that, often, they don't rise to the top.

Outspoken officer remains defiant , Sarah Kennedy, Calgary Sun, Dec. 14, 06

calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006
/12/14/2788065-sun.html

[....] Horne was facing three counts of discreditable conduct after he swore at a suspect in a court proceeding last December and called justice of the peace Kristine Robidoux's decision to release a man, who has a record of 65 criminal convictions, a mockery and a joke. [swore - called him a piece of sh** after Brazill, not detained, smirked at Home who saw red--the revolving door in operation]

The suspect, Albert Walter Brazill ....
... released on conditions ... never showed up for his next court appearance.

After two days of testimony on Dec. 5 and 6, Insp. Blake McWilliam, who was presiding ... found Horne guilty of all three counts of discreditable conduct and suspended him without pay for 40 hours.

[....] "I'm still frustrated ... our whole justice system is catch and release," he said. "What I said I shouldn't have said but there was extenuating circumstances that brought it to that point ... I'd do it again in a heartbeat." [....]

Time to go for Chief under fire , By Leo Knight. (Prime Time Crime exclusive Oct. 13, 2004), posted by AngryGWN

angrygwn.blogspot.com/2005/04/
problems-at-calgary-police-service.html

In April I told you of the Staff Sergeant in the Calgary Police Service who had a number of civil suits filed against him by fellow cops who claim he defrauded them of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Calgary Chief, Jack Beaton had decided not to suspend the senior officer, Kirk McCallum, while internal investigations were continuing.

[....] After referring the CPS investigation to the RCMP, criminal charges of fraud have now been laid against McCallum and Beaton has finally acted.

.... other allegations ....

Last week a newly retired officer, Tim Goodwin, wrote a letter to the Solicitor General asking for an investigation into the “lack of responsibility and accountability” present in the Calgary Police Service.

Examples of protection cited:

Goodwin referred to ... Staff Sergeant ... Carl Desantis ... with booze on his breath while operating a police car. According to Goodwin, the investigators at the scene contacted the duty inspector who in turn contacted a Deputy Chief Constable who directed no action be taken.

The backlash .... Deputy Chief Rick Hanson ... saying he had never received such a call from a Duty Inspector and consequently had never issued a “make it go away” order.

[....] Taufiq Shah ... complaint of racism and harassment .... named ... Kirk McCallum. [....]

... alleges [Darwin] Pearce ... engaged in a weapons drawn “show down” ...

One of the officers ... a junior constable ... found guilty and suspended. But hey, what about Pearce or his boss, Kirk McCallum?

Why good guys blow up at the system

Stench from apparent police cover-up won't go away , Leo Knight, June 28, 2006

leoknight.blogspot.com/2006/06/
stench-from-apparent-police-cover-up.html

[....] The piece written by staffer Suzanne Wilton, details a memo written by then Inspector, now Deputy Chief Jim Hornby of the Calgary Police Service to then Deputy Chief Rick Hanson.

[....] “As per our conversation, I have a situation where I believe an officer’s notebook has been modified improperly that may bring the Service into disrepute. This surrounds an application for a search warrant and the grounds required to obtain it.” [....]

The memo, a “smoking gun” that clearly demonstrates the Calgary Police knew they screwed up badly, was written by Hornby in December of 2000, three months after the events and still the management of the police department are dodging and obfuscating refusing to admit they were wrong.

Cst. Ian Vernon .... Vernon, Hornby and Vernon’s supervisor, Sgt. Carl DeSantis, who counseled Vernon in how to put together his first ITO [Information to Obtain]

Comments on this , July 3, 2006

leoknight.blogspot.com/2006/06/
stench-from-apparent-police-cover-up.ht
ml#comment-115197965288400547

[....] where a Deputy Chief stuck a knife in your back 2 miles deep, in order to protect his good buddy Carl Desantis? [....]

Carl Desantis has his fingerprints all over this. He was Ian Vernon's sergeant at the time. I don't think that Ian even wrote the whole ITO. [....]

Its known throughout CPS that Jim Hornby 'protects' Carl. ... over 5 years ... stalling and stalling and stalling ..... 'moneying-em-to-death.' Remember the drunk-driving allegations involving Carl in 2004 that just seemed to fade away? [Why? Was he protected?....]

... only chance Ian has of saving his career is to roll on his old boss and tell everyone what really happened with that ITO.

Search: Al Koenig , Kirk McCallum's little Ponzi scam

It's not for anybody to re-tool either to retrofit to an agenda, self preservation or otherwise. Isn't there a clear obligation to release this information to the defence [....]

... the process is designed to put up as many walls as is possible draining the will and economics of the complainant .... time and taxpayer money

Legal aid system is flawed , by Leo Knight. Published in the North Shore News, June 2, 2004

www.primetimecrime.com/columns
/Columns%202004/20040602.htm

Fixing Legal Aid and why it was / is necessary in other provinces.

LAST week Manitoba Justice Minister Gordon Mackintosh ... legal aid ....
... amendments to the Legal Aid Act .... section 12(3) makes members of a criminal organization ineligible. [....]

... Tory justice critic Gerald Hawranik.... it has been proven that the Hells Angels are a well-known criminal organization that are making millions of dollars on things like prostitution and the drug trade. ... ensure legal aid funding is available for those that it was intended to assist, not criminal organizations.

... a special investigation into the assets of the bikers. [....]

... merely maintaining membership in such a criminal organization was enough to deny legal aid.

... the test for legal aid eligibility was a simple declaration of assets and last year's T-4. [scope for business fronts, lying, etc. ....]

The system devoid of common sense says to step right up and get the taxpayer to pay for your defence on conspiracy to import millions of dollars of cocaine Mr. Biker, for apparently you cannot afford your own defence.

[....] millionaire accused Ripudaman Singh Malik. [.... Legal aid had been paying for two members of his family as part of his defense team, as I recall. ]

The problem with all of this is that when the gangsters are sucking up millions in taxpayer-funded legal aid, the people who really need it can't get it. ... Legal Aid Manitoba announced it had to scale back its services for divorces, guardianship and child support, services typically used by single mothers trying to fight a custody battle against a wealthier ex-spouse.

[....] ... Kaneez Fatima and Mohammad Arsal Khan .... murder of their daughter....

... seven defence lawyers and an extraordinary series of tactics and manipulations. .... cost?

... Christie Blatchford tried to find out. She couldn't. ... privacy [....]