[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Ped

Not to denigrate police officers as a whole, but I think there are definitely issues in the culture, especially when it comes to discipline

All you really need to do is look at the Arkinstall incident and fallout to see how totally ####ty of an organization the CPS is and the majority of police officers in it.

More or less, Arkinstall, a member of the Hells Angels, was pulled over for an illegal uturn. The cop, Derrick, sees he's Hells Angels and takes the opportunity to arrest him without cause. He calls over his buddy Kaminski and they rough the guy up. This happened in 2008.

The cops don't submit a use-of-force report. But they charge him with a uttering threats, assault of a police officer and the like.

Arkinstall trial happens in 2011. Derrick and Kaminski give evidence, contradicted by video evidence, to the point that the judge actually says the cops aren't credible. Which should be a massive huge flag to anyone who cares about any sort of justice of any resemblance. Arkinstall is acquitted.

Arkinstall's lawyer submits a compliant to CPS. CPS review the complaint and (surprise) they find no reason for an investigation. Blue Shield is glowing.

ASIRT gets involved in 2015 with the complaints against police officers but this thing has dragged on for years. And other issues, like obtaining the video, further delay the process.

ASIRT finally recommends that charges be placed against Kaminski and Derrick years after the incident. Perjury and assault charges. By the end they are dismissed in 2018.

In 2018, the LERB does an inquiry into the mess. More or less finds that there was no effort by the CPS to do any type of real review and that, as a result, there's no way to really tell if disciplinary action should have occurred. CPS spokespeople twist the story, instead of cops get off because CPS didn't investigate and gather evidence, they say that cops were innocence because there was no evidence.

A proper investigation may or may not have resulted in disciplinary
proceedings for any police officers, but we conclude without hesitation that CPS’s failure to properly and fully investigate the Arkinstall matter fell far short of what the public has every right to expect in such a case

The video, which was played at the trial on Tuesday, shows Derrick forcefully shoving Arkinstall into the back of the van and then slamming a cage door on his legs two or three times.

In 2007, the Calgary Police Service implemented a use-of-force policy that was in effect at the time, but neither Derrick nor Kaminski submitted a use-of-force report in relation to the traffic stop.

Provincial Court Judge Terry Semenuk rejected the evidence of Derrick and Kaminski, who had testified at the trial. He found the officers were not credible.

Semenuk wrote that Kaminski wavered in his evidence under cross-examination and hadn't take proper notes. The judge also wrote that video taken by bystanders — which was played at Derrick's trial on Tuesday — contradicted the officer's testimony.

The board found that the CPS didn’t conduct careful investigation of serious concerns the court expressed in two officers’ use of excessive force, used a poorly-constructed “administrative review” process that wasn’t founded on sound legislation, and that key steps and decisions were poorly documented or not documented at all.

[

These are the board’s key inquiry findings:
 In early 2011, CPS learned of the court’s finding that two
officers’ testimony was not credible, and expressed concern
that they may have used excessive force.
 CPS did not diligently investigate the court’s serious concerns,
which were clearly stated. Instead, early on, CPS decided
without any apparent evidentiary basis that the only issue was
that the officers had taken poor notes about the incident and
did not prepare for trial.
 CPS used an informal, ill-defined “administrative review”
process that is not legislatively based. The review was not
organized, with no one clearly in charge, and it was poorly
documented.
 Key review steps and decisions were not documented and
others were poorly documented

But a couple bad apples right? Nope while all of this was going on and Kaminski still had charges against him the police union vote him in as president. That's right, a cop who a judge called not credible, who was facing perjury and assault charges, was voted in as president by a large margin.