Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Corruption in the Edmonton Police Service? Part Two
194 Plays3 years ago
A detective and 11-year veteran of the Edmonton Police Service has all but ended his policing career after alleging that there is corruption within the Edmonton Police Service that is protecting one of Edmonton's most well-known criminals. Detective Dan Behiels investigated Abdullah Shah for three years but no charges ended up being laid. After exhausting his options Behiels turned whistleblower on his fellow cops and turned over his entire investigation to CBC reporter Janice Johnston. In the second part of this two-part podcast Oumar Salifou of the Is This For Real podcast joins us as we dive into the details of Johnston's excellent reporting.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Series Overview
00:00:12
Speaker
Friends and enemies, welcome to the Progress Report. I am your host, Duncan Kinney. Recording today here in Amiskwichiwa Skygun, otherwise known as Edmonton, Alberta, here in Treaty 6 territory, on the banks of the Kasis-Kasau, or the North Saskatchewan River. Joining us today, again, for part two on this podcast series on
00:00:34
Speaker
corruption in the Edmonton Police Service is how we frame the first one, is an independent journalist and host of the Is This For Real podcast, Omar Salafu. Omar, welcome back. Thanks for having me, Duncan. So if you haven't yet, I would recommend listening to the first podcast.
Corruption Allegations and Investigation Details
00:00:51
Speaker
It's relatively tight, 45, 50 minutes that establishes the cast of characters, the stakes, how we got to the point where detective Dan Beahills
00:01:01
Speaker
was investigating Abdullah Shah for three years, nothing happened. And then he set his policing career on fire by leaking his entire investigation folder, his entire packet of files, 64 gigabytes worth of stuff to Janice Johnson. And all the while going on the record with Janice Johnson and in those things alleging
00:01:21
Speaker
you know, corruption within the EPS protecting Abdullah Shah. You know, nothing has been done since these articles have been released. And that's, I don't know, I do want to get into the into part four, because I think part four, the fourth article by Janice Johnson, I think is the wildest. But what jumps out at you, Omar, about just how little impact these stories seem to have had on Edmonton, considering what's being alleged?
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, I guess it's kind of strange, but in some ways I feel like it's a little bit par for the course. What really kind of gets at me is, like you said, there's a lot of allegations being made. It's quite a long feature. I believe it's like, yeah.
00:02:06
Speaker
Six six-part feature essentially with like more follow-up stories and yeah, it doesn't seem like outside of people kind of pointing at the judicial process or whatever other internal Disciplinary processes still have to take place outside of people pointing towards that as you know, somehow an answer to
00:02:27
Speaker
all these allegations and questions, there hasn't been much of a reaction. And when I say much of a reaction, I'm talking about local politicians. I'm talking about our new mayor, Amerjitsouhi. A lot of other people who are, you know, I'd say, you know, I hate to use this term, but it's applicable here, influencers or people with influence in this city and power.
00:02:52
Speaker
The police commission, other reporters really haven't even followed. It's absolutely wild to me that we can be talking about essentially the most well-known criminal in Edmonton and the EPS and what's being alleged here. And it's just like, oh, well, some people looked into it and they didn't find anything.
Police Badge Controversy and Alleged Relationships
00:03:15
Speaker
Okay, so let's let's let's get into it. Let's get into part four In Janice Johnson's series the headline here is how a stolen police badge raised concerns about Abdullah Shah and his connections with the Edmonton police and this is really the like heart of the like your quote-unquote corruption allegations and
00:03:36
Speaker
I'm just going to quote directly from the piece again, just like I did in the first. One particular relationship that raised concerns for Detective Dan Beheals was between Shaw, also known as Carmen Pévez, and now retired Superintendent Ed MacIsaac. Beheals formally raised those concerns twice with Edmonton Police Chief Dale McPhee, first in March 2019 and again in January 2021,
00:03:58
Speaker
after Beheals leaked information to CBC News about the investigation into Shaw. This is a direct quote from a report that Beheals wrote to McPhee. It is my belief that Superintendent McKyzak has participated in a protracted relationship with Shaw, which has either impeded or otherwise prevented thorough criminal investigations, where they otherwise have been warranted, said Beheals in a March 22, 2019 report to Chief McPhee.
00:04:24
Speaker
In an email to CBC News in August of this year, Micaisek vehemently denied all of Beahill's accusations, calling it, quote, a theme designed by a suspended, disgruntled employee.
00:04:36
Speaker
When asked about the allegations, Shah's lawyer suggested in an email to CBC News that Beahills had a quote, impairment vendetta, unquote, against MacIsaac and that the allegations about MacIsaac undermined Beahills credibility and raised questions about his fitness for duty. What follows is a direct quote from Abdullah Shah's lawyer. As far as my clients are aware, Ed MacIsaac has always acted with integrity and any suggestion that any of my clients have benefited from any corruption, quote, unquote,
00:05:02
Speaker
or other improper conduct by Mr. McIsaac or any other EPS officer is blatantly untrue. Okay, okay, so let's just stop for a second. Let's take a moment to just realize what we just read. This is Abdullah Shah's lawyer. This is the lawyer for one of the most notorious criminals in Edmonton, essentially defending the honor and integrity of a now retired superintendent, of a cop.
00:05:30
Speaker
Like, does that jump out at you? Like, I think it's weird because it's almost as if defending his integrity puts the integrity of B-Hills in question. And by doing that, you know, somehow makes for a better position for Shaw. But at the same time, it does, yeah, it strikes as very strange and very confusing.
00:06:11
Speaker
as to why
00:06:14
Speaker
relationship between the superintendent which you know if you're a superintendent you're you've been a police officer for you know more than a decade yeah you're wearing a white shirt you got like you know chevrons on your shoulders or whatever right yeah you're you're very senior police officer and then you have a detective who is being called a quote
00:06:35
Speaker
He you know a suspended disgruntled employee exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,
Internal Conflicts and Questionable Communications
00:06:40
Speaker
there you go. So It's it's it's kind of strange how how these allegations are being thrown in and and and makes you really wonder Where the truth lies so further down we get into the details of this protracted relationship between Sean McKyzak But this jumped out at me so much that I had to ask
00:07:00
Speaker
Chief McPhee about it and so every month there's an Edmonton Police Commission meeting You know last Thursday of every month anyone can as a member of the public can go and get five minutes I went as a member of the media There's a section of the agenda that's dedicated to media inquiries
00:07:15
Speaker
And I essentially just read this quote back to Chief McPhee and I said, hey, Chief McPhee, do you think that this is good for the reputation of the Edmonton Police Service, that Abdullah Shah's lawyer is defending the honor and integrity of your now retired former downtown superintendent? And how would you describe Chief McPhee's reaction, Omar? You were on that meeting as well.
00:07:41
Speaker
Yeah, of course, this was a zoom meeting and just to paint the picture, there is like kind of a U shaped desk with different, you know, police administrators or officers kind of sitting across from it and a camera as far as it could be from the actual desk.
00:07:57
Speaker
kind of pointing at this you know yeah Chief Dale McPhee and um yeah I guess from the tone of his voice I could clearly see that you know he wasn't very happy to have heard that question and I think was like uh maybe a little bit frustrated and angered by uh the uh uh I guess
00:08:17
Speaker
insinuation that is being made, at least insinuation by the question, but more pointedly by the quote that is from Abdullah Shah's lawyer. I think that is probably what
00:08:33
Speaker
What might strike him as not that great? Yeah, he was angry and he essentially launched into a furious denial that anything improper had ever happened. He essentially, quote, I mean, he has never given a quote to Janice Johnson or the media about this matter at all. And all he did
00:08:51
Speaker
In his answer to me, which again didn't answer the question at all Which is like is this good for the reputation of the EPS that this is happening? He essentially just launched chapter and verse like clearly rehearsed into like look a cert has looked into this look the CPS anti-corruption unit has looked into it and nobody has any found anything there's no nothing to see here blah blah blah blah blah and like he just kind of like went down all of the like groups that have looked into it and as opposed to like actually answering the question and
00:09:17
Speaker
Mm-hmm and also like doubled down on this whole idea of and I'm not sure if this was after you Asked him to ask the question again or before but in one of these moments I think doubled down on his own personal or maybe his own, you know, you know ability in this like representational position as someone who follows the law and you know respects the process of the law and
00:09:41
Speaker
which i think we can go into a long conversation about how a lot of that really is not only unnecessary but i think paints this picture that you know there's somehow people who are outside of the law as if you know his whole job and duty and all these thousands of employees job isn't to like you know violently enforce everyone being under this system but and unfortunately besides the point
00:10:04
Speaker
Unfortunately, we don't have a recording of the interaction, but I remember at the very end of it to McPhee was essentially intimating that like I had it out for cops and like, you know, yeah, that was interesting to, you know, that like everything I say into is, is always paints cops in a negative light. And it's like.
00:10:19
Speaker
I am literally reading you a quote written by another reporter asking you, I mean, okay, to be fair, it's a loaded question, but it's not my job as a journalist to not ask you not loaded questions as a police chief. And so, yeah. Especially in an environment that has been historically incredibly generous and very charitable
00:10:40
Speaker
to almost anything that the police department has to say about themselves and it has gone out of their way and when i'm talking about journalists and reporters in this city specifically edmonton alberta yes um yeah has gone out of their way to positively portray basically everything that the police does and now that there are criticisms and now that there are
00:11:00
Speaker
You know, and not to say that there was never criticism, but I think predominantly it's been positive coverage. Yeah. I mean, the Copaganda machine is, you know, an incredibly well-developed, strong, you know, multi-headed Hydra. But I mean, that's not the purpose of this podcast is to do essentially media crit on Copaganda.
00:11:18
Speaker
But you definitely you definitely see it in in I mean Dale McPhee has got aggravated with me before when I have asked him pointed questions And so it this is this is the continuing theme But I do I do want to get into the details on the relationship between retired superintendent and Mikaisek and Shaw because they are like Janice Johnson's reporting is really good So so let's get back into it. So on March 8th 2019 during the project Fisk investigation Beahills discovered Shaw and Mikaisek had recently communicated with each other and
00:11:47
Speaker
Nine days earlier, detectives had seized a cell phone as part of an investigation into allegations of conspiracy to commit an indictable offense—aggravated assault—leveled against Shaw. Beahills wrote in his 2019 report to McPhee, The phone logs revealed that in mid-afternoon on February 26, 2019, Shaw called McKyzek and the two men spoke for just under two minutes.
00:12:06
Speaker
Five minutes later Shaw texted two images to Mckyzek. The photos were of a police badge that had been reported stolen in November 2018 along with the affected officer's police identification card. There's a bit more kind of context in this story but I'm going to jump ahead a bit. Beheals showed the text messages and phone log to another detective who then approached Mckyzek.
00:12:29
Speaker
A police report obtained by CBC News shows MacIsaac told the detective he did not act on the information about the stolen property because he no longer worked in the downtown division. I advised Mr. Shaw that I was no longer in charge of the downtown division and if he had any information to assist the Edmonton Police Service, there were numerous other ways to report and communicate and not to report through me," MacIsaac further explained to CBC News in a September email.
00:12:52
Speaker
Beheals wrote to McPhee in his March 2019 report that he found it troubling that the phone messages between Shaw and MacIsaac did not prompt an immediate investigation into the discovery of the stolen badge. The badge incident was not the first time Shaw had told police about found items. Between March 2017 and July 2018, Shaw reported other found items to MacIsaac, including a Transport Canada badge, explosives, and a duffel bag full of Edmonton Fire Department equipment.
00:13:20
Speaker
When asked for an explanation, McIsaac told CBC News, quote, I believe Mr. Shaw understood that certain piece of properties should be turned over to the Edmonton Police Service. Okay. So like, let's just take a minute here. A stolen badge is a big deal. Cops freak the fuck out about stolen. They freak the fuck out about like stolen, like jackets and like business cards and shit.
00:13:41
Speaker
Mm-hmm like I got I get all the emails like you know my email gets everything from the EPS and they sent out Like an alert about like I think a stolen jacket stolen bulletproof vest Yeah, like like they get they really aggravated and and justifiably so like if you're in possession of a stolen
00:14:00
Speaker
Police badge like you could do all sorts of like wild shit if you were if you had bad intentions, right? Yeah impersonating a police officer is unfortunately something that people I've done in Canada specifically in there's been multiple pretty heinous crimes that have taken place against against police officers, but also against citizens by people who yeah, I
00:14:22
Speaker
either collect, steal, fabricate, impersonate police, and then use that veil to commit acts of abuse. So it can be very serious and I understand why.
00:14:37
Speaker
not investigating or not trying to find this stuff might raise some red flags.
Investigative Challenges and Systemic Issues
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I'm busy. There's other people that take care of that thing. It's like, I mean, I can see why B-Hills, there's raised alarm bells for B-Hills, right? And it's like, it gets even, this relationship, there's more details, so I'm gonna keep going. This is again quoting from the Janice Johnson reporting. When CBC News asked Micaizek about his relationship with Shaw, the retired officer said he was simply doing his job.
00:15:23
Speaker
Quote, While I was the superintendent in downtown division, my role was to engage with the community, foster professional relationships, and assist the community ethically and professionally, Micaiza wrote in a September email to CBC News. Like numerous other citizens in the community, I had a professional relationship with Shaw, and to suggest anything more is incorrect.
00:15:41
Speaker
But of course, this was not the first time that Ed Mikaisek and Abdullah Shah were in touch with each other. In November, 2017, Mikaisek authorized and supervised Project Domino, an undercover and wiretap operation into alleged drug activity by Shah and other persons of interest. The superintendent, in this case Ed Mikaisek, he approved staffing and the budget for this operation.
00:16:01
Speaker
The wiretap on Shaw's cell phone revealed on November 29, 2017 that Mckyzek phoned Shaw at 4.03 pm. The call lasted 25 seconds. The same day, Shaw called Mckyzek another eight times between 4.57 pm and 7.21 pm. Mckyzek called Shaw twice in that same period. All the calls lasted less than a minute. The final exchange was a phone call made by the police superintendent to Shaw that lasted almost seven minutes. Project Domino was suspended the next day.
00:16:31
Speaker
I'm just going to repeat that and underline it again. After repeated text messages, phone calls, or text messages and phone calls between a superintendent and one of the most well-known criminals in Edmonton, an investigation into this criminal was suspended the next day. Is that a strike you was strange?
00:16:50
Speaker
yeah it's uh again it fits in within these serious allegations if you believe what b hills is claiming that there is this you know long protracted relationship and that there are these you know these there are these crimes supposedly not being investigated because of these relationships supposedly
00:17:13
Speaker
Um, it's pretty damning and a wiretap. I don't know if they actually got to hear what was being said on these, you know, less than a minute long phone calls. Um, but yeah, it just raises a lot of different red flags and it makes it pushes to just like, um,
00:17:33
Speaker
It pushes me to just ask all these questions to get more answers because quite honestly it's hard to paint a very clear picture other than these obtuse allegations. I think another thing too that's interesting is
00:17:47
Speaker
yeah what investigations go through how far do they go through and and why um because it seems like sometimes things are being investigated for example if it's like a police misconduct case and it's going through a cert um or going through yeah like the other one went through the calgary police department um that investigated the misconduct the b hills claimed
00:18:11
Speaker
Would that have been an investigation that had a clear end to it that was already predetermined? Or if you choose to even start an investigation, do you have to start it with this open, clear mind? At this point, I'm just rambling and going through all these possibilities.
00:18:30
Speaker
But, so the relationship between Shah and Micaisek, it is explored even further within the article. They had the kind of relationship where if Abdullah Shah was being pulled over by a cop, he would call up Micaisek. Quote, from Janice Johnson's reporting again, Peehills also alleged Micaisek's relationship with Shah was noticed by other officers.
00:18:51
Speaker
Officers conducting vehicle stops on Shaw would often approach the driver's window to find Pravez on the phone with, or threatening to call, MacIsaac," Beheals wrote in his January 2021 report. An example of that kind of interaction was later noted in a May 2021 decision by the Law Enforcement Review Board, a quasi-judicial body which hears appeals about police decisions on complaints about the actions of police officers. It was looking into a complaint Shaw had lodged against a constable who pulled his vehicle over in February 2017.
00:19:21
Speaker
Quote, it is not disputed that Shaw telephoned and was speaking with Mikaizek on his cell phone during part of the incident. The LRB set a decision. So again, and I think it's important also to go back to what Mikaizek said. Yeah, direct. Just doing my professional. Yeah, just doing my professional duty and, you know, trying to foster professional relationships and assist the community ethically and professionally.
00:19:47
Speaker
So in your professional duties as a police officer, dealing with the community in a professional way, does when a community member get pulled over by another police officer, does that give them the right to call you? And supposedly, again, I guess like... Just imagine anyone else in that context. Imagine Omar Salafu getting pulled over by a cop.
00:20:15
Speaker
saying hey other cop I've got this other cop on the phone like what what the yeah or threatening to call another police officer yeah I'm gonna call the superintendent of the downtown division if what you know like what's the what does this end what is the actual like quote that you give to a police officer in that context like yeah
00:20:40
Speaker
Again, yeah, the things aren't thinking right now. It just doesn't really add up when it comes to what's going on here with all these different allegations. And there is a history here of Abdullah Shah having inappropriate relationships with members of the Edmonton Police Service.
00:21:01
Speaker
There's a 2006 Edmonton Journal story with the headline, Officer Retires Before Facing Inquiry, that I think is worth bringing up. Staff Sergeant Alan Pitts retired in November 2006 before facing 23 separate counts of insubordination and a single count of deceit.
00:21:18
Speaker
These were police act charges that stemmed from Pitts accessing a police database, CPIC, nearly 250 times for non-police purposes. It's also alleged that Pitts shared this information with an unauthorized third party. And then later on in the story, there is an incident where Pitts, according to internal investigations investigators, went to a neighborhood in Eastwood at the behest of Abdullah Shah.
00:21:45
Speaker
So there are never any criminal code violations here. Uh, so because these were all police act charges and then he retired, uh, the matter was dropped and the relationship between a staff, Sergeant Pitts and Abdullah Shah, then known as some other name was never explored.
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's again very interesting and very difficult to wrap your head around because we don't even know what he looked for. We barely even have an idea of who this third party he'd share the information with. We do know that he had this relationship with L'Adulashah.
00:22:24
Speaker
And yeah, like you said, he got off on all the charges because he just decided to retire. So in the face of everything, all of these things are kind of, again, left up in the air. And maybe, or sorry, go ahead. And because Mikayczyk retired, he was not subject to any internal disciplinary investigation either.
00:22:42
Speaker
However, there were no findings of criminality or corruption against MacIsaac by the CPS anti the Calgary police services anti-corruption unit But I mean that that's simply one thing but the the EPS is own internal thing never investigated at MacIsaac because he retired
00:22:59
Speaker
But again, you know, just a regular normal everyday relationship between the former superintendent of the downtown division and Edmonton's most well-known criminal. If anything, I think it's also worth mentioning how invested should the public be in these happenings?
00:23:15
Speaker
Because theoretically, we're all paying for this. We pay over six figures for almost all of these employees to have these jobs where they interact with the public, oftentimes with people who are being charged with crimes. And yeah, it seems like there is a lot of allegations of misconduct going on.
00:23:39
Speaker
Again, we're sponsoring this. We're paying for this. And I think when all of this goes down, yeah, like you said, people retire, people leave. It doesn't seem like there's an investment, at least from a lot of the public to either critically challenge this, critically question it, try to get more transparency or more understanding of even what's going on.
00:24:00
Speaker
And yeah, if only for the financial burden, which it seems like these days, that's what a lot of people seemingly only care about. If only for that, then it seems like this should be looked at further.
00:24:15
Speaker
Again, I would encourage you to read this piece. We will link to it in the show notes. Read it with your own eyes and tell me what you think. Like literally DM me or put it on Twitter, at me on Facebook, send me an email. Like read part four, you know, the part that's about the, with the headline about the police, the bit about the police badge and the headline. I'll put it in the show notes. Tell me what you think and tell me what you think is happening between former superintendent Ed Mckyza and Abdullah Shah.
Criminal Influence and Historical Misconduct
00:24:41
Speaker
Part four is like the the strongest piece in my mind, but we're almost to the end of it Part five is a bit of a wrap-up piece You know it looks into the multiple civil lawsuits against against the Edmonton police service that were filed by associates of Abdullah Shah as well as the kind of fallout for detective Dan B Heels You know of course You know goes into detail around these Defamation lawsuits that were filed by Abdullah Shah
00:25:08
Speaker
Sorry, Abdul Esha Associates against EPS, I should be clear. I mean, it gives us a bit of a wrap up on what Shah is up to. He's still living in his riverbend home. He has recovered from the gunshot wound to his face. In August, Abdul Esha finished serving eight months of house arrest.
00:25:25
Speaker
He remains on probation after pleading guilty in December, 2020 to asking remand center inmates to assault a former employee of his. He remains on probation. And there was a great little detail pulled out by Johnston and it is worth kind of, you know, you kind of touched on it here. Like, why should people care about this? Like what's the broader public implication of this? And we brought it up a bit in the first episode, which is that like 10% of all like homicides in Edmonton
00:25:54
Speaker
In like a three-year period like between 2016 and 2019 happened in properties that were owned or were connected to Abdullah Shah And You you you read the the other parts about you know the victims of Shah And during a March 2019 bail hearing crown prosecutor James Stewart told the judge that Shah has lived a quote on
00:26:18
Speaker
a life of pervasive criminality and committed committing coordinated violent offenses in this community. That's a crime prosecutor saying that on the record in a bail hearing.
00:26:30
Speaker
And it's worth reminding ourselves kind of what the stakes are in this story. And the fact that still, again, Shaw is still doing Shaw things, presumably. You know, the implications for deck to deck to vehicles are still kind of being worked out. You know, the story says he still stands by his decision to leak all of the investigative documents to CBC. He is
00:26:54
Speaker
You know, he's been suspended with pay for leaking these investigation details to CBC. It's worth mentioning that Constable Ben Todd
00:27:04
Speaker
was not suspended with pay after he kicked a hole in that kid's head. Yeah, I don't know how the procedure works. I feel like they might need to look at their policies a little bit. That might be a good idea. Yeah. But I don't know. Yeah. And Chief McPhee has still not said anything specifically about these allegations that were raised in Janice Johnson's reporting, aside from saying, look, CPS and Acer looked into it and nothing, nothing. And they found nothing. So again, like,
00:27:30
Speaker
You know, I think you look around, you read these five stories. We've talked about it for like an hour and a half now. You know, what did, what did we learn? What do you, what do you take away from this, this series of really top notch investigative journalism based on some painstaking police work over years that was done by Beahills, right? Yeah, I don't know. I feel like if anything, one of the things I think of the most is that
00:27:59
Speaker
independent actors within a largely, let's just say problematic system can only do so much. And in his attempts to investigate Shaw, it seems like Beahills was trying to act independently and follow some kind of
00:28:25
Speaker
I guess maybe this might be a stretch but moral code whether or not you know you want to call the law that or whatever charges he levied against Shaw but um yeah it seems like the larger apparatus or the larger system of the Edmonton Police and um what they have to offer um
00:28:47
Speaker
yeah wasn't necessarily ready or you know you could go a step further and say that yeah things were nefariously done allegedly to prevent these investigations from leading to charges which might have stuck in court and might have seen actual justice or punishment levy towards Shaw.
00:29:10
Speaker
So yeah, I feel like if anything, it just goes to show that like, yeah, if you're trying to, you know, quote unquote, do the right thing within this apparatus or within, you know, other systems similar to this, I feel like it can be futile.
00:29:27
Speaker
I feel like after reading all these stories, recording these two podcasts, sitting with these stories, thinking about them for weeks, I am going crazy. When this story came out, no one cared. I hung on every story, but I guess I was the only one. Serious allegations of corruption at the highest levels of EPS were met with essentially a no comment and an, oh yeah, we looked into that and we found nothing.
00:29:52
Speaker
And then meanwhile, three years of investigation into Shaw has turned up no charges directly from those investigations and Shaw's doing what Shaw does. This is wild to me. In some ways also, it's interesting to see how the communications, or sorry, it's interesting to see how the police communicates with the public in almost a patronizing way, that everything is tightly controlled and the messaging is done through their official channels and
00:30:18
Speaker
you have a right to know this and you don't have a right to know that. And, but in reality, all of this, like you said, like 10% of people died or were murdered in this guy's properties. He has long extensive career that spans. Of criminality. Of criminality, essentially. So, but then to also receive the same like type messaging and like very defensive or yeah, even silence oftentimes from the police.
00:30:45
Speaker
I think is yeah, it's it contradicts I think the kind of values that the public deserves from this institution that you know We pay an exorbitant amount of money towards And yeah, this is this is what I keep coming back to is is was this incompetence or was this corruption?
00:31:04
Speaker
And so, you know, there's a truism out there that says, you know, never attribute to malice what you can attribute to just, just laziness or incompetence. Right. And, you know, I, I'm inclined to just say, Hey, look, they looked into this guy for three years. They rated his properties. They rated his house. They did this, that, and the other thing. And then nothing poof zero charges. And
00:31:27
Speaker
And at the very very least it is a massive waste of resources and whether the case was blown up because of Some type of error or bungling or some Huge fuck up on the side of the EPS or whether it because it was it was people within the EPS protecting Shaw I mean we just don't know And so
00:31:55
Speaker
Again, we're left with more questions than we have answers. The reporting by Janice Johnson was excellent. And I'm glad that it is out there. And I'm glad that we were getting a chance to talk about it and discuss it. But it's so unsatisfying that these blockbuster stories come out and just no one gives a shit.
00:32:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And in some ways, I feel like it's also because they don't necessarily have to. Because if they aren't directly impacted by like violence on the street or the like, yeah, the ramifications of drug use and predatory, you know, situations.
00:32:45
Speaker
And then, yeah, if they also are, you know, feel largely comfortable and protected by police, then, yeah, there's no real reason, I think, for a lot of people to challenge it. The problem becomes that the reality is that there is obviously a reason.
00:33:04
Speaker
it's that this is happening in their community, at their doorstep, you know, in their so-called city, you know? So I feel like just that simple fact is enough to, you know, require people to actually care about it. The only person who has faced any consequences for this is Detective Dan B. Heels, who has been suspended with pay and is currently under investigation for police act charges, presumably.
00:33:29
Speaker
That, again, speaks to a culture within the Edmonton Police where you can look into one of Edmonton's almost well-known criminals for three years. You raid his home, you raid his properties. In concert with the CRA, like the Canada Revenue Agency was involved. They trumpeted that involvement when they were doing these raids.
00:33:55
Speaker
And then to get nothing is so incredible to me.
Accountability and Consequences
00:34:00
Speaker
And I don't have a neat way to tie this up into a bow. Just like, was it incompetence? Was it corruption? I don't know. But the fact that, again, the only person who's faced any consequences for this is an 11-year detective, 11-year veteran of the police force who was a detective.
00:34:18
Speaker
He's that he's the one who's been suspended without pay as opposed to whoever it was that blew up the case Like what happened was there no case you looked into him for three years. You rated nothing
00:34:28
Speaker
That's that's the story we're left with. Yeah. And so, you know, it is unsatisfying, but I am very grateful for Janice to Janice Johnson for doing these stories. And, you know, I think it's worth taking just a minute at the end of this podcast, because I still think we have a bit of time to talk about where we are at on some other police brutality cases, as well as on the old defund the police file.
00:34:59
Speaker
So I'll run through these really fast and feel free to jump in Abdul so Dylan I weed was a EPS officer. He was charged with assault last month He this was the cop who took part in the vicious beatdown of Kyle Parkhurst. This was all caught on camera This was the
00:35:16
Speaker
There was some guy who was, I think he was doing meth. He was on a bit of a bender and he had stolen a car or a truck and he had been chased into a, like a residential parking lot. And he had run away from the cops and they had boxed him in in this parking lot and the cops got him out of the truck, pistol whipped him, tased him, elbow smashed him to the head, kicked him multiple times while he was on the ground and finally ran him into the car while he had his hands behind his back handcuffed.
00:35:42
Speaker
And this is all caught on camera because not only did the building have security tapes, but like people are just out on their balconies. It's like the summertime people are like, you know, just want to flag that there's the curious case of Constable Joe Spear.
00:35:58
Speaker
This is an EPS officer who's done a lot of forward-facing media work. He has appeared in the media a lot. He is a boat cop. He's a part of the Marine unit. He was charged with attempting to obstruct justice and commissioning a false affidavit. And the reason why I'm flagging this one is because these charges came out of EPS. This investigation did not go through ASERT, which is very strange. Something like this would typically go through ASERT, but for whatever reason, it has not.
00:36:25
Speaker
And, I mean, one possible explanation is that, I mean, if you do it internally, it's not going to take three years. Like if you're going to, if you're going to go through Acer, it's going to take three years. Whereas if you do it internally, you can, you can actually put some resources on and get it done faster. And then finally we have, we have the case of Constable Benton.
00:36:46
Speaker
uh and this is the officer who uh kicked a indigenous teenager in the head so hard that uh he now has a tennis ball sized hole in his skull he needs surgery to fix it like to have like a metal plate to protect his like brain and uh we discovered that constable bentad was a an sro a school resource officer and he was
00:37:08
Speaker
working with teenagers as recently as 2020. And that's kind of the roundup of the lake. That's like the police brutality roundup for EPS. And then finally, zeros for cops.
00:37:23
Speaker
You know, budget deliberations for the city start soon. They've already started in Calgary where the police chief down there has, you know, it really pains him. He had to think really long and hard about it, but he did have to ask for a few million dollars in order to hire more cops. And I've gotten some scuttlebutt that the body cameras, despite the city, despite EBS bad-mouthing body cameras,
00:37:51
Speaker
years ago, they did a pilot that body cameras are, are going to be a capital budget ask. And this, that's the next budget cycle. Don't have any, uh, Intel on what we're going to see for their asked increase, but it's worth remembering that the committee, the task force that was struck after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police recommended freezing this, the police budget for five years and that by freezing the police budget for five years, you would free up $260 million to spend on other things that are not cops that would keep us safe.
Debate on Police Funding and Reforms
00:38:20
Speaker
That's a lot of money. And that's just freezing an increase. Like that's, that's not even actively defunding the police. So yeah, it's interesting to see how it's framed, you know, and like where people are placed within the discourse, you know, cause it's like you ask for a freeze and you see the result of that, which is like, I think pretty miraculous. And I feel like people still feel like you're pushing the envelope a lot where it's like, damn, not even asking for what we were actually asking for, just asking for,
00:38:50
Speaker
less money to just be pumped and pumped and pumped and pumped into this institution. Stop giving them whatever they ask for, capital-wise, every year, and then stop giving them an extra 3% every year or whatever. When Ivison was mayor, he had essentially negotiated in locked-in increases for EPS, so they didn't even have to talk about it. They didn't even have to think about it when they were doing budget. It was just like, oh yeah, you get this percentage every year locked in. We don't even think about it.
00:39:16
Speaker
Then again, it also shows the special relationship that the police holds with various other institutions well with their funders, right? Like the city the city ultimately again, it's when we're at whenever we're talking about defunding the police It is always key to remember that the biggest line item in any city's budget is always going to be police and that downward pressure On that budget helps literally everyone else if you're a worker who works for the city if you're a property owner like
00:39:44
Speaker
This is why your property taxes go up is because the police ask for and get whatever usually whatever the hell they want and so as we enter these budget deliberations, I would encourage you to reach out to your counselor and And ask how they feel about the very entirely too reasonable proposal of freezing the police budget for the next five years
00:40:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, worth, worth your time, worth your
Conclusion and Audience Engagement
00:40:08
Speaker
effort. And yeah, I'm very, very curious to see what's going to happen with this upcoming budget. And I think that's the end of our pod. How can people follow along with your work? What are you working on right these days? Plug your pluggables.
00:40:22
Speaker
Yeah, I'm working on the next season of Is This For Real, the podcast I'm working on. So if you want to check that out, you can visit our website at isthisforreal.ca or find us on Twitter. It's the same name, but with a CA at the end of it. And yeah, that's basically it. I sometimes write for the progress report, doing different things for other publications, but that's the kind of main thing I'm working on.
00:40:49
Speaker
Yes, I'm eagerly awaiting season two of is this for real and And folks I'm gonna I'm gonna let you on a little secret if you want to get in Before I start asking you for money even more it is it is fundraising season
00:41:04
Speaker
Essentially, between now and Christmas, we do have to raise a bunch of money in order to be a viable operation. So if you like this podcast, if you like listening to it, if you learn something, it's very easy. There's a link in the show notes, or you can go to theprogressreport.ca slash patrons.
00:41:20
Speaker
put in your credit card, $5, $10, $15 a month, whatever you can afford, we really appreciate it. We are going to be asking for money a lot over the next six weeks, so if you just want to just tune out that part of every podcast and just feel good about yourself, just donate now and you just skip over this, just hit the little plus 15, plus 30 on your podcast thing and you're good to go.
00:41:40
Speaker
If you have any notes, thoughts, or comments, things you think I need to hear, I'm very easy to reach. I am on Twitter at Duncan Kinney, and you can reach me by email at DuncanK at ProgressAlberta.ca. Thanks to Jim Story for editing this podcast. Thanks to Cosmic FamU Communist for our amazing theme. Thank you for listening, and goodbye.