YET ANOTHER TOOTHLESS RCMP WATCHDOG

*** Lack of political will. Simple as that. MS ***


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100822/national/rcmp_toothless_dog


OTTAWA - New legislation still doesn't give the RCMP watchdog the bite it needs to fully investigate scandals like the Maher Arar affair, says the organization's former chairman.

A long-awaited bill intended to modernize the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP gives the top Mountie and Public Safety minister too much room to meddle in sensitive probes, Paul Kennedy said in an interview.

Bill C-38, tabled in June, would give the complaints commissioner only limited access to the information he needs to see, said Kennedy, chairman of the body for four years ending last December.

"With the current legislation, you wouldn't get through the door. The door is barred," he said.

"Now, you get through to the extent that the commissioner wants to let you through."

The current watchdog is widely seen as wanting because it does not have complete access to RCMP files and lacks the power to review or audit the force's programs and policies.

Kennedy, who also served five years as chief counsel for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, says the proposed model falls short of the powers held by watchdogs over CSIS and the Communications Security Establishment, the electronic eavesdropping agency.

"Although it's an improvement, I don't think it goes far enough."

The bill would see the watchdog renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Review and Complaints Commission, reflecting its new and somewhat broader responsibilities.

Still, Kennedy doesn't believe the legislation would allow the RCMP watchdog to delve deeply into a matter such as the Arar case involving highly classified files.

It took a full-blown federal inquiry led by Justice Dennis O'Connor to explore the role Canadian officials played in opening the door to Arar being brutalized in a grave-like Syrian cell after he was falsely accused of ties to terrorism.

O'Connor found the RCMP passed inaccurate and unfair information to the United States that likely led to Arar's arrest, deportation and ultimate torture.

Among the changes O'Connor called for more than three years ago was an overhaul of the RCMP complaints commission that would give it new powers to keep an eye on the Mounties' intelligence activities.

The bill tabled by the Conservatives would give the commission greater access to RCMP information and beef up its investigative arsenal, including the power to compel witnesses, evidence and materials.

It would also empower the body to do policy reviews, carry out probes with other review bodies and provide reports to provinces and territories where the force does front-line policing.

But Kennedy argues the legislation is so riddled with loopholes it doesn't meet O'Connor's standard.

The law would allow the public safety minister to "make regulations" concerning the watchdog's access to "privileged information" such as classified intelligence or material about clandestine operations.

Following such a refusal by the top Mountie, the minister may appoint a former judge to review the material and make recommendations to help settle the dispute — something Kennedy calls a "bizarre apparatus."

All of this could create real obstacles for the complaints commission, he said.

In the Arar file, for example, the commission would have trouble obtaining material in RCMP files from Syrian and American sources, Kennedy said. "You'd have a devil of a time getting to even see that."

The new law also lacks time limits for the RCMP to respond to the commission's interim reports. That's problematic because, in one case, Kennedy waited over 800 days for the Mounties to reply, delaying his final report.

"That is just an intolerable situation, that someone can frustrate the process so easily," he said.

Critics of the Harper government maintain Kennedy wasn't renewed as commission chairman because he was too tough on the force, taking a hard line on issues including what he considered excessive use of Taser stun guns.

The commission, now led by Ian McPhail, is studying the bill and plans to provide detailed comments to the Public Safety Department and the Commons public safety committee in coming weeks.

Kennedy says the bill's problems are fixable. "I think it can be done through some judicious surgery at committee."

He hopes MPs pass a stronger version of the legislation, because it'll likely be another generation before they get a chance to revisit RCMP oversight.

"You're not going to see this for another 20 years."

WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE RACISM?

*** And in the face of this, Muslim agents protect everyone else just the same because of their Islam even against the accusations of traitor from their community. This is the kinda thanks we get. I guess some really do think they can fight this fight without us. Let me know how that works out for everyone. MS ***



FROM: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5373958/West-Yorkshire-Police-accused-of-racism.html



West Yorkshire Police has launched an inquiry into its disciplinary procedures after a series of accusations from the leaders of local branches of the Police Federation and the Black Police Association.

Terrorism experts warned last night that the infighting could damage the force's vital role in combating Islamist extremism.

The claims of racism, set out in a dossier leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, could impact on West Yorkshire's ability to recruit black and Asian officers, thus affecting its ability to track and infiltrate al-Qaeda-linked terror cells.

Most of the cases in the dossier centre on the force's Professional Standards Department (PSD), which investigates other officers within the force.

They include examples of ethnic officers being treated more harshly than white officers facing identical disciplinary allegations.

In one case, a Muslim officer who was fasting during Ramadan was allegedly asked to fetch a "bacon buttie" for a senior officer.

In another case, an ethnic minority officer claims he was called a "terrorist" by a senior officer because he was carrying a rucksack.

The dossier also includes allegations of evidence being fabricated against black and Asian officers, claims of bullying and suggestions that the PSD deploys "oppressive interviewing tactics" when questioning ethnic minority officers about alleged misdemeanours.

Anita Patel of the West Yorkshire Black Police Association and Peter Scott, secretary of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, have written to Deputy Chief Constable David Crompton asking him to launch an investigation into whether ethnic officers are being "disproportionately subjected to disciplinary procedures".

The letter said: "Many of our black and minority officers and staff believe the PSD has a real lack of community and cultural understanding and tend to stereotype officers and staff and their families from ethnic backgrounds.

"It is clear from speaking one-to-one with individuals that the message being delivered into their communities is one of distrust and the police being an institutionally racist organisation."

The letter warns that the situation could lead to "civil unrest" in ethnic minority communities.

It adds: "These cases are not isolated and we are aware of other black and minority ethnic staff and officers within the organisation that are being investigated disproportionately."

Three of the July 7 bombers lived in West Yorkshire, and the local force now runs one of three regional Counter-Terrorism Units, working alongside MI5 to gather intelligence on Muslim terror groups and other extremists.

West Yorkshire is the second major force to be tarnished by a row with its own minority officers.

Infighting within the Metropolitan Police last year led to Britain's most senior Muslim officer, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, leaving the force with a £300,000 pay-out in return for dropping a race and age discrimination claim he brought against Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.

Last October the Met branch of the Black Police Association called on ethnic minority applicants to boycott the force because of what it described as a "hostile and racist" environment.

Concerns from West Yorkshire's officers appear to have wider backing than the London campaign, which did not enjoy official support from the local Police Federation branch.

Professor Paul Rogers, a terrorism expert from Bradford University, said: "West Yorkshire is hugely significant in counter-terrorism terms.

"It is one of the key forces outside London, particularly in terms of its ethnic mix and also because of the units which are based there."

Garry Hindle, head of security and counter-terrorism at the Royal United Services Institute, said: "If there is a climate of racism in West Yorkshire Police that is going to be a problem because it will hold back their ability from a counter-terrorism perspective.

"It may damage the way the force can recruit and retain people from ethnic minorities."

Mr Crompton, West Yorkshire deputy chief constable, said: "The concerns that were brought to my attention have caused me to review each of the cases that feature in the correspondence. I have also commissioned a wider analysis of disciplinary outcomes.

"I am satisfied, at this stage, that the force is acting entirely appropriately in each of the investigations. Nevertheless, the wider review is still in progress and involves the staff associations. The findings of this review will be reported to the police authority who monitor discipline and litigation."

He added: "It is disappointing to learn that correspondence between a staff association and the force has been leaked in this way."