Stop the presses! At long last, the grand mucky-muck pooh-bah of the RCMP, William Elliott has spoken:
"The RCMP will not be making further comment on this issue."
Such arrogance may never be seen again from an RCMP Commissioner, until, that is, they can Taser you for speaking out. (but I am willing to bet that they will indeed have more to say, lots more, when they are finally forced to tell the truth :-)
Cartoons from, and thanks to: Gaping Void & The Nonconformer, and the original Pooh-Bah from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado.
PS: wait a minute here! what is needed is something to corroborate Dick Bent's email, it won't likely be another email BUT it might just be Paul Pritchard, check this out: The Braidwood Chronicles: the Pritchard factor on Dawg's Blawg.
you may be a business man of some high degree, they may call you Doctor, they may call you Chief, but you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed, you're gonna have to serve somebody
in case you missed the story: Cops planned to Taser Dziekanski: RCMP memo / Inquiry adjourned until Sept. 22, complete with the text of the email, and, Federal government lawyer Helen Roberts' statement (aka, the Official Reply).
the only problem is that it may not be real enough shit ... they will all bail on Dick Bent - he's toast, he was "mistaken" or simply "wrong," and since what he says bears no resemblance to the rest of the lies they have been telling ... maybe it will wash ...
I am wondering why they let it out? (it was the RCMP who informed their Lawyer, Helen Roberts about the 'oversight') the obvious motivation is that they were afraid that it might leak out later so they tried to steal their own thunder so to speak, but why would they think it would necessarily leak out? unless they know or they guess that there is someone in the inside who is about to blow the whistle? maybe even more than one? man, if 50 of 'em did it we could put them back on the fifty dollar bill eh?
Just when you thought the reputation of our national police force couldn't sink any lower comes news of the existence of an internal RCMP e-mail that contradicts the sworn testimony of the four Mounties involved in the fatal confrontation with Mr. Dziekanski.
Gary Mason, Globe and Mail, Saturday June 20 2009.
who ARE these people?
where did they come from?
what country do they live in?
Richard C. (Dick) Bent is a prairie boy who moved to the big cities (see bio below), remember that it was Bent who tried to whack Mike Webster's pee-pee when Mike stepped out of line (in the RCMP's and in Bent's own estimation) but Mike Webster would not be cowed;
Al Macintyre, aka Alastair Donald Macintyre, I don't know about - a 35 year man according to the Braidwood transcripts, still looking for something more detailed, he was definitely on-side for the killing of Ian Bush, you can see him on one of the pictures holding up pictures of Paul Koester:
Wayne Rideout also don't know anything yet except what he looks like:
and another Little Bo Peep, Helen Roberts, a lawyer, a woman moved to tears by something, I wonder moved by what? because she was caught out? because she would rather be on the other side? who can say? from her statement below, we can see that she is resourceful and competent, at least the second time around she is, trying to make a plausible argument and more-or-less succeeding ... except of course that it is all bullshit lawyer's talk & bafflegab:
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Appendices:
1. Commission and public deserve an explanation, Gary Mason, Saturday June 20 2009.
2. 2008 Bio of Dick Bent, The Society for the Policing of Cyberspace (POLCYB).
3. Federal government lawyer Helen Roberts' statement, June 19, 2009.
4. Cops planned to Taser Dziekanski: RCMP memo, Neal Hall, June 19, 2009.
5. William Elliott's statement on the Braidwood inquiry, June 19, 2009.
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Note: This article is not in the regular Globe website for some reason, so I had to lift it from the Globe Plus site where they post pdfs (ugh!) of every page.
Commission and public deserve an explanation, Gary Mason, Saturday June 20 2009.
The death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski is threatening to engulf the RCMP in one of the biggest scandals in its history.
Just when you thought the reputation of our national police force couldn't sink any lower comes news of the existence of an internal RCMP e-mail that contradicts the sworn testimony of the four Mounties involved in the fatal confrontation with Mr. Dziekanski.
Federal government lawyer Helen Roberts, representing the RCMP, seemed unable to explain why the November, 2007, e-mail surfaced only now, as lawyers involved in the inquiry were set to begin their final submissions. Ms. Roberts cried as she apologized for the oversight.
Meantime, former judge Thomas Braidwood, who is heading the inquiry, fumed. He was appalled by the omission and he should have been. The e-mail's existence, and the provocative and potentially explosive claim it contained, temporarily threw the inquiry into chaos.
So what to do?
It looks like the four officers will be called back to explain on the stand the discrepancy in their testimony, delaying a final commission report, possibly for months.
All four officers had testified that they had no plan as they headed towards the airport to respond to a call of a distressed male behaving violently. The officers said they had decided to taser Mr. Dziekanski only after deciding that the travel-weary, unarmed man posed a threat to their personal safety.
But in a Nov. 5, 2007, e-mail from Chief Superintendent Dick Bent, a senior member of the force, to his superior, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al Macintyre, a different picture emerges.
Chief Supt. Bent wrote that, in a conversation with Superintendent Wayne Rideout, the officer in charge of the investigation into Mr. Dziekanski's death, it was revealed that the four officers "had discussed the response en route and decided that if he [the distressed man] did not comply that they would go to CEW [conducted energy weapon]."
In other words, they had decided early on to use the taser.
Their actions were premeditated.
Lawyers representing the four officers said yesterday that Chief Supt. Bent got it wrong. The officers insist no such conversation occurred.
And we're supposed to believe them.
The same officers who told RMCP investigators immediately after the incident that they had tasered Mr. Dziekanski only twice, when video evidence would later show it was five times. Who said Mr. Dziekanski was putting up a fight when they decided to taser him successive times, when the video showed the poor man writhing in pain, fighting for his life after he was zapped the first time.
The same Mounties whose testimony provoked calls of a cover-up inside the force.
Supt. Rideout is also saying Chief Supt. Bent got it wrong.
And we're supposed to believe him.
The same Supt. Rideout who admitted on the stand that it was his decision not to correct wrong information the RCMP gave the public about the circumstances of Mr. Dziekanski's death because it might somehow compromise the "integrity of criminal investigation."
The same lead investigator who didn't think it might be a good idea to go back and re-interview the four officers after video surfaced that contradicted the almost-identical statements each offered to the RCMP about what happened. (Even though all four insisted they never talked among one another about what they might tell investigators.) Good lord.
Chief Supt. Bent is now saying he doesn't remember the conversation with Supt. Rideout. I guess not. And I guess we're supposed to just accept that. Pretend it never happened. Something that Chief Supt. Bent made up, I guess. What a disgrace. And you know, he'll get away with saying that too. He is a member in good standing of the old boys' club that runs the RCMP. He won't get thrown under the bus.
The contents of the memo aside, I'm dying to know why news of the e-mail didn't surface until yesterday. Helen Thomas, she of the tearful apology, couldn't say what happened. There was some explanation about it being on a CD-ROM that didn't get looked at. Such a key piece of information? Didn't alarms go off somewhere, maybe inside the RCMP, when the officers were saying one thing on the stand and an e-mail was floating around that said something entirely differently?
Why didn't someone step forward well before now and alert commission lawyers to the oversight?
Did someone think the e-mail could be kept secret? Did Ms. Thomas hand it over to commission counsel only because it was going to come out some other way?
What happened? Not only does the inquiry deserve an explanation but the public does too.
This is scary stuff.
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2008 Bio of Dick Bent, The Society for the Policing of Cyberspace (POLCYB).
Deputy Criminal Operations Officer -
Community, Contract and Aboriginal Policing Services
Royal Canadian Mounted Police “E” Division
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Born in Saskatchewan, Dick Bent joined the RCMP in 1974. After completing basic training he was transferred to Alberta where he served in a variety of roles for twenty years.
After working in general duties and traffic roles in a number of detachments throughout Alberta, he was transferred to Division Headquarters in Edmonton where he worked in the Complaints and Internal Investigation Section and then Major Crimes as a Team Leader.
In 1993 Dick was transferred in charge of a Sub/Division General Investigation Section responsible for all serious crime investigations in the Peace River region of Alberta.
In 1994, he was promoted to the rank of Inspector in Nova Scotia where he worked in planning the 1995 G7 Summit in Halifax, in the Staffing and Personnel Section, and finally as the Officer In Charge of the Federal Policing Branch for the Province of Nova Scotia.
In 1997, he was transferred to the RCMP National Headquarters in Ottawa where he gained exposure in a number of areas including the Finance, Commissioner’s Secretariat, Criminal Intelligence, and Community, Contract and Aboriginal Policing Directorates. He then worked for two years in Executive/Officer Development and Resourcing.
In 2002, Dick was promoted to the rank of Chief Superintendent and transferred to the position of the Deputy Criminal Operations Officer in British Columbia responsible for all Federal Policing in the province.
In 2005, Dick assumed his current role as the Deputy Criminal Operations Officer in British Columbia responsible for Community, Contract and Aboriginal Policing in the province.
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Federal government lawyer Helen Roberts' statement, June 19, 2009.
Statement presented by counsel for the Government of Canada, Helen Roberts, to Justice Braidwood, commissioner of the Braidwood Commission of Inquiry:
You are likely now aware, Mr. Commissioner, as counsel for the participants are already aware, that Counsel for Canada mistakenly overlooked providing documents earlier in response to a request from Commission counsel for documents relating to the RCMP media strategy. Jan Brongers and I learned about the omission on Monday, advised Commission counsel of this on Tuesday and provided those documents to Commission counsel on a CD-ROM on Wednesday.
On behalf of the Government of Canada, I would like to sincerely apologize to you, Mr. Commissioner, to Commission counsel, to counsel for the participants, and to the participants themselves for the inconvenience. Canada continues, as it has all along, to fully support the work of this Commission.
I would like to add that both the CBSA and the RCMP have been fully cooperative in providing documents to us for disclosure purposes. In this, they have been guided by counsel. Any concerns about document production properly lie with counsel.
Among the documents that had been overlooked is an RCMP e-mail that we anticipated would be of interest to the Commission. That was an e-mail from C/Supt. Bent to Asst. Commr. Macintyre. The e-mail was provided separately to Commission counsel and to counsel for all of the participants on Tuesday. We did not locate any other e-mails that contained similar information.
It is the third paragraph of the e-mail that is of interest. C/Supt. Bent wrote: "Finally, spoke to Wayne and he indicated that the members did not articulate that they saw the symptoms of excited delirium, but instead had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply that they would go to CEW."
Wayne is Supt. Rideout, who has already testified at this Inquiry. CEW is of course a conducted energy weapon or taser.
We have interviewed both C/Supt. Bent and Asst. Commr. Macintyre to find out their evidence about this e-mail. C/Supt. Bent has advised us as follows:
1. The e-mail was sent because Dep.Commr. Bass had asked whether the members had used the CEW because they believed Mr. Dziekanski was exhibiting signs of excited delirium. He understood the question was being asked because RCMP policy then suggested the use of CEWs to restrain persons exhibiting signs of excited delirium, so that restraint could be effected as quickly as possible and medical attention then sought.
2. He sent an e-mail to C/Supt. McGowan asking for a synopsis of the members' accounts, and "especially, why the CEW member went to taser right away".
3. He spoke to Supt. Rideout, who advised the members did not report observing signs of excited delirium.
4. His e-mail indicates that he understood Supt. Rideout to say that the members "had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply that they would go to CEW".
5. He has no recollection of the conversation with Supt. Rideout at this time.
6. Given the flurry of activity at the time, it is entirely possible that he misunderstood what he was told.
7. He has checked other e-mails sent and received around the time, and has no other e-mails that shed any light on this.
8. He has no notes of the conversation with Supt. Rideout.
9. He did not receive any other information suggesting the members had formulated a plan to use the CEW prior to arriving at the airport.
Asst. Commr. Macintyre has advised as follows:
1. The question originated with Dep. Commr. Bass. He passed on the question to C/Supt. McGowan and copied others, including C/Supt. Bent.
2. He received the e-mail from C/Supt. Bent.
3. He received no other information suggesting that the members discussed the response en route and had a plan.
4. He did not respond to C/Supt. Bent's e-mail.
Supt. Rideout was also interviewed and I understand Mr. Pringle will speak to Supt. Rideout's recollection.
As you are aware, the four members who attended the airport all testified that they did not formulate a plan prior to their encounter with Mr. Dziekanski. Indeed they were criticized for not formulating a plan. The only thing that was said was Cst. Bentley's question as to whether any of the officers was carrying a taser and Cst. Millington's response.
The IHIT file has been searched, and there is no evidence that the members formulated a plan to use the taser prior to the encounter with Mr. Dziekanski.
It is our conclusion from these interviews that C/Supt. Bent misunderstood information provided by Supt. Rideout.
However, if you wish to hear from C/Supt. Bent and/or Asst. Commr. Macintyre, we have asked them to stand by so as not to delay the Inquiry. They are available to attend the Inquiry to testify about the e-mail on 10 minutes' notice. They will however not be able to testify today about other matters without an opportunity to prepare and consult counsel.
Once Canada submitted an application for, and was granted, participant status, Canada provided RCMP documents to Commission counsel. It shared the Reports to Crown Counsel and the evidence generated by the IHIT investigation, including statements, photographs, videotapes, experts' reports and records seized from other agencies. It was my understanding — and this has been fortified by your comments during the Inquiry - that it is not part of your mandate to examine the IHIT investigation itself. For that reason, documents generated by the IHIT investigators during the course of the investigation, such as e-mails, task reports and notebook entries, were not shared — except in the case of Cst. Hoivik, where Commission counsel expressly requested his notes, and these were produced as they were relevant to his evidence about the seizure of exhibits and his sketch of the scene.
In addition to the evidence generated by the IHIT investigation, Commission counsel requested, and were provided with, the media advisories prepared by Sgt. Lemaitre and Cpl. Carr, the notes made by Cpl. Carr, and the notes and e-mails of Supt. Rideout. It was by oversight that they were not provided earlier with the other RCMP media strategy documents.
It is our understanding that we have now provided the Commission with all of the CBSA and RCMP documents that are relevant to your mandate. That being said, we welcome hearing from Commission counsel if you feel there are other kinds of documents that would be of assistance to you in preparing your report. Canada is now and has always been fully supportive of the Inquiry and will do its utmost to assist you.
Thank you.
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Cops planned to Taser Dziekanski: RCMP memo, Neal Hall, June 19, 2009.
Inquiry adjourned until Sept. 22
VANCOUVER — An e-mail found last week that sheds light on possible misconduct by senior RCMP officers has thrown the Braidwood inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski into disarray.
The e-mail, sent by RCMP Chief Supt. Dick Bent to RCMP deputy commissioner Al Macintyre, suggests for the first time that the four Mounties who responded to a call at the Vancouver International Airport planned to use a Taser against Dziekanski — contrary to what they testified during the inquiry.
Dziekanski, 40, died after being hit five times with a Taser by RCMP officers in October 2007.
The e-mail, dated Nov. 5, 2007, said: "Finally, spoke to Wayne (Rideout) and he indicated that the members did not articulate that they saw the symptoms of excited delirium, but instead had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply that they would go to CEW (conducted energy weapon).
"He has asked investigators for a synopsis and should have it by noon tomorrow."
Supt. Rideout is the former commanding officer in charge of investigating Dziekanski's death.
Lawyer Helen Roberts, who represents the RCMP, broke into tears as she told retired judge Thomas Braidwood, who is heading the inquiry, that her office received the e-mail in late April but never opened the CD for the document files until last week.
"I do say, it was by oversight that this occurred," she said. "Canada continues, as it has all along, to fully support the work of this commission."
Roberts said Bent was mistaken in his e-mail and that the officers did not formulate a plan to use the Taser as soon as possible.
"As a result of (our office's discovery) of this e-mail . . . the IHIT (Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) file has been searched and there is no evidence in the IHIT file that the members formulated a plan to use the Taser prior to the encounter with Mr. Dziekanski," Roberts said.
"It is our conclusion from these interviews that Chief Supt. Bent must have misunderstood information provided to him by Supt. Rideout."
The lawyers for the four RCMP officers said their clients deny they formulated a plan to Taser Dziekanski.
RCMP Commissioner William Elliott echoed Robert's statement that the e-mail was not released to the inquiry due to an "oversight." "Unfortunately in an exercise of this magnitude, such an oversight can occur," Elliott said in a news release Friday. He said the RCMP will "continue to co-operate fully with the inquiry."
Braidwood decided the e-mail will require new testimony, so he adjourned the inquiry until Sept. 22.
"I find the delay in disclosing this material to the commission to be appalling," he said.
Commission counsel Art Vertlieb said the late disclosure of the e-mail as evidence had resulted in a "complete disruption of the process."
"It's a stunning turn of events," Don Rosenbloom, the lawyer representing the government of Poland at the inquiry, told reporters after the commissioner ordered the adjournment.
"The documents that have just come to our attention include a critical e-mail from very high up in the RCMP chain of command, disclosing that the officers decided in a premeditated way, 'en route' to the scene, to use the Taser if Mr. Dziekanski did not comply."
Rosenbloom said the 11th-hour disclosure "is totally inconsistent with testimony given under oath." He added the e-mail goes to the heart of the issue of police fabrication. During the hearing, he said, "We were alleging they (the four Mounties involved in the airport incident) were fabricating their story."
The inquiry was supposed to have ended its public hearings on Friday.
Dziekanski, who did not speak English, had been travelling for more than 24 hours when he died. He had been in the airport for more than nine hours, looking for his mother.
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This is the transcript, in its entirety, of the e-mail that was read out at the Braidwood inquiry June 19, and which led to an adjournment until September.
E-mail sent Nov. 5, 2007
From: Dick (Richard) Bent — 'Media Strategy — Release of the YVR Video'
To: Al Macintyre
Al, spoke with Wayne Rideout today about our strategy for the release of the video. He had a couple of concerns.
First, he didn't think we should be providing any explanation for what was transpiring but instead just say the inquest will take evidence under oath, etc. I went through the rationale and said we need to have an explanation otherwise our detractors will put their own spin.
Second, as we're going to have someone speak to this, he suggest that it should be someone other than (RCMP spokesman Cpl.) Dale Carr otherwise we may lose the perception of independence. He would rather have someone separate from IHIT (Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) do this. We both think a use of force expert would be ideal. Gregg Gillis has not been involved in this investigation so is independent. I suggest we have Gregg do the narrative of what is happening.
Finally, spoke to Wayne and he indicated that the members did not articulate that they saw the symptoms of excited delirium, but instead had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply that they go to CEW (Conducted Energy Weapon commonly known as Taser). He had asked investigators for a synopsis and should have it by noon tomorrow.
(Signed) Dick
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William Elliott's statement on the Braidwood inquiry, June 19, 2009.
B.C. - RCMP Commissioner makes statement about Braidwood Inquiry
The Commissioner of the RCMP, William Elliott, wishes to make the following statement regarding today's events at the Braidwood Inquiry:
- From the outset, the RCMP has cooperated fully and participated fully in the Inquiry.
- We have produced thousands of documents to our legal counsel for their review and for them to transmit all relevant material to the Commission.
- Commissioner Braidwood was informed that a specific document was not provided and he himself accepted the Government of Canada's sincere apologies for this oversight.
- This was simply an oversight. Unfortunately in an exercise of this magnitude, such an oversight can occur.
- It was the RCMP, working with our legal counsel, who brought this oversight and this document to the attention of the Commission.
- The Commission indicates that it will thoroughly look into the matter, including into the relevance, if any, of the specific document, about which there are significant questions.
- The RCMP is as disappointed as all of the parties involved in this inquiry that there will be a delay in the completion of the Inquiry as a result of this unfortunate development.
- We will continue to cooperate fully with the Inquiry. The RCMP wants all of the facts surrounding this tragic event to be known so that we can learn as much as possible and make any further required changes to the RCMP's policies and practices.
The RCMP will not be making further comment on this issue.
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Down.
