Hamilton hall of fame crooked cop says "I was ill"

Dishevelled in an orange prison jumpsuit, former police inspector Rick Wills finally provides a plausible explanation for his spectacular fall from grace.

“I am suffering from a mental illness.”

He says it quietly. Hands spread apart on the metal table at which he sits, slouching. Eyes not meeting those of two Ontario Parole Board members.

“I have been diagnosed with depression,” he says. “I believe that I've had that malady for some time. I need treatment to get my head straight.”

The veteran cop who stole nearly $60,000 in drug money, then breached his house arrest by playing golf, says the end of his 35-year career was steeped in depression.

“I didn't feel very good about being a police officer. I didn't feel good about the police service. I did what I did because I felt I'd never accomplished anything in my career. Everything stayed the same ... With all the investigations, all the drug work, everything I put my family through ... And, even though it was morally wrong, I took the law into my own hands.

“I was ill. Right now, sitting here, I'm admitting that. I never did before.”

He couldn't admit it, he says.

“As all policemen know, you don't admit weakness.”

He is on medication and suffers from anxiety attacks.

“I was a hard-nosed police officer,” Wills says softly. “I was a tough guy.”

Well if the holy than tho' b.s didn't work grab a slice of mock humble pie, hell worked for Jim Baker, for some. Thank god the parole board members aren't named Dewey, Soakam and Howe. Now, as he pleads with the parole board to release him from jail so he can seek psychiatric help — “Sir, I'm willing to go back to house arrest or wear a bracelet or whatever ...” — it seems like this could be the first glimpse of what was really behind Wills' bizarre behaviour these past few years.

This guys got a set, or he's psychotic. That I won't do it again crap didn't work with my third grade English teacher after missing yet another assignment.

While the board members acknowledge that Wills, 57, needs mental health care, they're not willing to let him out for it. After deliberating less than an hour, they reject his bid for freedom. His self-written release plan, they say, does not set out adequate steps to deal with his psychiatric issues, even though Wills insists it is his top priority.

Beyond that, well — they just don't trust him. After all, the reason he is in the Central North Correctional Centre is because he flagrantly disregarded a judge's sentencing conditions.

“Despite your professional knowledge, you breached those conditions not once but twice and perhaps three times,” the board said.

In February, Wills pleaded guilty to stealing while in charge of the vice and drug unit. Between 1998 and 2006 he had a city accountant cut cheques on an account for seized drug money. Wills told the accountant the court had ordered money be returned to the accused. He then endorsed cheques to himself and deposited them in a bank account he shared with his wife, Doreen.

In exclusive interviews with me after his arrest, Wills made himself out to be Robin Hood,

claiming he anonymously donated the stolen money to charities that help drug victims. He said he did so because he was frustrated with a broken justice system. Yet there has never been one iota of evidence he gave the money to charity.

Then, when his high-priced lawyer John Rosen (Little John to his friends) won him a conditional sentence, Wills blew the whole sweet deal by playing golf. (Out with OJ, Tiger?) That earned him six months behind bars.

But even on Tuesday during the parole hearing that was automatically scheduled after he'd served one-third of his sentence, Wills stuck to his story that playing golf is a “necessity of life” that would lower his cholesterol level. (Now he can take up Pilates, because it will take a lot of time in the downward dog position to convince anyone he should be free)

Even if the board bought that, he was unable to explain why he played golf for nearly three hours when he was only allowed two hours each week for the necessities of life.

Or why his wife — who ought to have known he wasn't to play golf — played with him.(Ava Braun, idea of stand by your man)

When police came to arrest him for playing golf, they saw him trimming hedges, another breach of his house arrest.

Twice the board referenced a possible third breach, of which Wills was never convicted. Though it was never detailed at the hearing, at least one off-duty Hamilton officer is certain he saw Wills and Doreen attending a movie during his period of house arrest.(Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, perhaps?)

Doreen was not at the parole hearing.

Wills says he was attending the Salvation Army Church while on house arrest (which he was allowed to do) and found “it's provided a lot of comfort.” Prior to that, he hadn't been to church in 20 years.(Please stop sullying the name of a great organization with your presence)

While in segregation, where he has been put for his own protection because he is a former cop, Wills has been reading the Bible and a book on depression.(I think I need to borrow that book, now)

“It says depression is like an iceberg,” Wills said.

“One-third of it can be seen above the water, but two-thirds is below the surface.”(Barf, please give this guy a book on how to use Analogies, which reminds me of a top list sight I came across on the worst Analogies collected by high school teachers. One sticks out when I think of Mr. Wills,

His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

Two thirds has another significance for Wills. He will now remain in jail until he has served two-thirds of his sentence. That will be in October. Then he can go shopping for new underpants, like a free man.

Later,
Kenaz

Hamilton cop beating ‘coverup’ needs answers says judge

Lets step into our way back machine and travel back in time, not to some backwards country where cops without cause make bogus arrests or beat the crap out you. No we are staying here in democratic Hamilton and traveling just a little while ago.

Flashback, early the morning of Aug. 15, 2003, Mann and fellow officer Christian Beaulne responded to a call that a short white man wearing light-coloured sneakers was breaking into a John Street South jewellery store.
Around the same time, Dixon had gotten off a GO bus and began walking. The two officers ended up arresting Dixon at gunpoint in a parking lot along Hunter Street. He spent three days in jail and waited nine months before the Crown withdrew the charges.

Under cross-examination, Mann rejected Zbogar’s suggestion that he concocted his version of events to support the arrest. Dixon, a black man, claims the officers discriminated against him on the basis of race despite witness descriptions of the robbery suspect.

Superior Court Judge Kim Carpenter-Gunn ordered the police board, along with Mann and Detective Constable Jason Leek, who conducted a formal video interview the night of the arrest, to pay Dixon just under $80,000 to cover his legal bills. Beaulne, who died in 2009 of a medical condition, was exempted from the cost ruling.
Earlier this week, Carpenter-Gunn ruled the police board and the officers had committed false arrest, false imprisonment, negligent investigation and Charter rights of liberty and security of person, and called the officers inept, arrogant, closed-minded, lacking experience and suffering from tunnel vision.
She awarded Dixon $54,000 in damages, including prejudgment interest, which will be paid by Hamilton taxpayers as per Police Services Act rules.

Let's get back to this past year while the rancid taste in our mouths is still fresh, because history is repeating itself.

“Troubling ... inconsistencies ... inability or unwillingness ... strains credulity ... the spectre of a coverup.” So said Ontario Court Justice Paul Currie, in acquitting this week a Hamilton police officer charged with assault causing bodily harm to a refugee from Myanmar during a botched drug raid.

On May 4, 2010, heavily armed members of the Hamilton tactical squad mistakenly burst into the apartment of Po La Hay as he was cooking dinner.

Hay, a 130-pound single father of three, sustained cuts and scrapes to his face, three fractured ribs and a fractured vertebra after police broke down his door, put a handgun to his forehead, handcuffed him and saw to it that “a foot was applied to his left side, his rib area,” according to one of the officers.

It was only afterward that police realized something had gone terribly wrong; They had assaulted an innocent man and invaded the wrong apartment. Moreover, none of the five officers in the kitchen with Hay could positively identify which one “applied” the foot.

“It’s a case about an excessive use of force,” Crown counsel Elliot Behar said during the trial.

That case is over, but now it is about something else. Getting this man and his dignity back and shutting a bunch of useless arrogant sons of b's up. Hamilton Police Chief Glenn De Caire stated after the judge’s comments this week that Hamilton police “are cognizant of both the ruling and the commentary” and “accepts and respects the decision of the court.” The service has already “assessed our practices and procedures for entries during search warrants” and has made changes in the wake of the raid last year.

If De Caire spent more time in training officers in procedural manners instead of taking media training he might have some actual answers. Does the chief not owe it to the citizens of Hamilton and his own department to investigate further the “spectre of a coverup?” Would it not be appropriate to appoint an outside investigator to look into the matter and respond officially for the benefit of both the police force and the community?

"This is a serious matter. Police are trained in observation and recollection, which is why their testimony is given more credence during trials." I love this quote from the Spec, short answer, in the real world this would be the case, but when offers stare directly at a judge and tell them with a straight face they couldn't id their own fellow cops. Pal, don't snow the snowman.

Hay is seeking at least $1.35 million in damages, while his son Say Blut, nephew Pa Nar Noo and daughter Ba Blut are also seeking a combined $1.2 million, according to the statement of claim, which includes allegations not yet proven in court. Hay’s son and nephew were in the apartment when police burst through the door May 4, 2010, and both list “soft tissue injuries” to the chest, neck and spine in the statement of claim.

More than 20 current and former Hamilton police officers are listed as defendants, including members of the tactical squad, Police Chief Glenn De Caire and Detective Constable Ryan Tocher, who was found not guilty of assault causing bodily harm in a criminal proceeding related to the botched raid last week. The Hamilton Police Services Board is also listed as a defendant.

Unfortunately the tax payers will be on the hook for any payout to Hay, and unless De Caire grows a pair and rights this leaky ship and gets rid of the racist, subordinated, stench from his office Hamilton will continue to look unattractive to it's long time residences and anyone wanting to make a new living here. It's time for the blue wall of coverup to be torn down and replaced with a transparent shield of good faith.

Later,
Kenaz

Tides of change hopefully will cleanse the stench off Hamilton Police Services

Hamilton's police services board has taken the unexpected and somewhat surprising step of choosing an external candidate, Toronto police Staff Superintendent Glenn De Caire, to replace retiring police chief Brian Mullan. Some critics are wondering why one of the force's two deputy chiefs weren't promoted, while others say a new face and leadership is a good thing.-from The Hamilton Spectator, November 20,2009

In my opinion there isn't even a debate here the best candidate should fulfill the position ireespective of their current location. I don't think members of the HPS are good enough for a role as chief. They've been shown examples from Mullan that the police can break the law as they see fit. This has resulted in criminals being freed because the police violated constitutional rights. This has also resulted in innocent people losing everything (Michael Dixon) because their constitutional rights were trampled upon by HPS. The HPS have never been unable to deal with street criminals... But as far back as I can remember, they've been absolutely useless in dealing with the criminals in their own police force. Here's to the future, Chief De Caire please do your best to promote justice which is an inherent right given to us by our Constitution, not by the parts your predecessor saw fit to uphold in order to further his own political agenda.

If I may make one suggestion, much in the media has been made of the efforts the Chief has established in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto in trying to curb the gang and drug activity. Hamilton's Bartonville and surrounding area is a 4.3km forgotten area of crack houses, hookers, sleazy junk shops that area politicians and police have ignored, leaving; the few decent property owners and small businesses owners who care about bring decency back to an area that once was the home of some of the fiercest community pride this city has known, to defend for themselves. Please Mr. De Caire take a walking tour of the area and speak to the deli owner's and the working stiff's like myself who are willing too work for minimum wage to keep a modest home over his head and not take the cowards way out and live off our tax dollars. We need more undercover and uniformed beat cops, camera's and more police backed community and business organizations like ones formed on Ottawa and Stinston Streets.

In other positive moves Bernie Morelli is stepping down as chair of the Police Services Board hard on the heels of the board hiring the new chief of police. It seems right to extend that clean slate all the way to the PSB. New chief. New chair. The air hanging over city government already smells sweeter, it isn't ginger and spice but it's sure better than sh**.

Morelli is a passionate police supporter, maybe too so. Many times accusations of conflict of interest have risen because of the "brotherly" relationship between Morelli and Chief Brian Mullan. The PSB is a civilian board that oversees the chief. It sets the budget and the policy. It can also call for internal investigations when there are allegations of police wrongdoing, of which there have been a few during Morelli's iron fisted reign.

The Community Coalition Against Racism, which accused the police of systemic racism, has said Morelli needs to go. Others, citing the fact Morelli's son is a Hamilton cop and his brother was at one time also on the service, have cried conflict of interest and said he needs to go.

Bringing in De Caire a complete outsider is a stroke of genius, I applaud the oracle keepers who showed some insight, while everyone else was counting on passing the torch to another member of the old guard. For better or worse -- it does wipe the slate clean. De Caire has no affiliation with Hamilton. No friends, no enemies. Hopefully the board will see with the same clarity and pass the torch to someone looking to speak up and not sit idle and be dictated to.

Later,
Kenaz

Dhinsa case a bitter pill to swallow

The group of good ol' boys that make up the Hamilton Police Service board once again showed how incompetent they are.

The "Thin Blue Line" that protects Kevin Dhinsa should be replaced with a "Wailing Wall" of outrage from everyone -- women and real men who care about them, taxpayers, politicians and other police officers, every citizen of Hamilton who expect a transparent police accountability system, and a fair justice system. Those who believe that an Orwellian society only exists in fiction can think again.

Dhinsa, a Hamilton police sergeant, has been suspended with pay since late 2005 in accordance to the Police Services Act. That legislation, which governs Ontario's sworn officers, says until an officer is found guilty and all appeals are exhausted, they can be suspended from performing their duties. But they shall continue -- for weeks and months, even years -- to collect their pay cheques. They continue to accumulate sick days. Get raises. Have benefits.

Ontario police are the only law enforcement officers in Canada who must be suspended with pay. In all other jurisdictions, police acts give chiefs discretion to decide, case by case, whether to suspend with or without pay.

Dhinsa faced charges under the Police Services Act -- 24 counts of sexual harassment against 12 female co-workers. The charges were thrown out by a tribunal because charges were laid eight days after a six-month deadline had passed. Appeals failed, including one this week to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Dhinsa will get to to go back to work which could only poison the 'office' environment. How can anyone expect the same level of respect and trust between the Sergeant and those entrusted to his decision making that occurred before this fiasco?

Not the taxpayers are on the hook for $20,000 in police service legal costs as well as some of Dhinsa's costs. Definitely not the twelve women -- some of them Dhinsa's subordinates in the Hamilton police hierarchy and who risked colleagues' disbelief, criticism, even ostracism by complaining.

Neither the women nor Dhinsa had a chance to make their case, so it is not my stance to create a conspiracy theory about what should have or could have. My point is still the same as the one I made in my original post in 2007, one about perception. Someone quoted once "Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted" Perceptions are like jagged rocks in what is the murky waters that contain the life forces of Hamilton citizens.

The facts are, justice was denied to the women who courageously went on record with their complaints against Dhinsa. Many workplaces deal expiditiously with serious complaints, but police services have been notorious for their wall of silence. This affair sets Hamilton Police Service back by a significant measure.

Why were the police act charges filed eight days late? In a matter involving alleged serial harassment by a high-profile police officer, the expectation is that procedure would be scrupulously followed and required steps would be taken not just on time, but early.

The Hamilton Police Service and the Hamilton Police Services Board need to clear the air, be accountable for this failure of process, and put measures in place to ensure it doesn't happen again.

In Toronto, such measures have been suggested. The list of cops suspended with pay in recent years includes one convicted of murdering his girlfriend, another charged with sexually assaulting children, another accused of a bank robbery and one alleged to be a drug dealer. For Toronto Chief Bill Blair, it isn't about money. It's about public trust.

The act "affords a shield" for cops accused of serious offences, says Blair, who commands 6,000 officers and 2,500 civilian employees. At any given time, he has about 13 officers on paid suspension, each costing about $100,000 annually. While his service, he says, tries to be "open and transparent" about accused officers, the public assumes the chief has chosen to pay a suspended officer's salary. What Blair wants is discretion.

If an officer is accused of a serious crime unrelated to the performance of duty, he wants to suspend without pay. That decision, he says, could be reviewed by the police services board, the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services or by divisional court. If, however, an officer faces allegations related to their work, he can continue paying them. Officers need to be protected against false accusations and at risk of being charged with an offence. After all, cops use force and drive fast.

Blair took his concerns to the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and it unanimously voted for an amendment to the Police Services Act. A similar resolution was passed by the Ontario Association of Police Services Boards, whose president at the time was Bernie Morelli, chair of the Hamilton Police Services Board.

Blair made another bold move. Two years ago, he began ordering all his suspended officers to sign in at their regular station at 9 a.m. from Monday to Friday and to sign out again at 5 p.m. It didn't matter if that officer lived far away or if it was otherwise inconvenient. Hamilton Chief Brian Mullan says he may follow Blair's lead and require twice-a-day reporting. Currently he has suspended officers sign in once or twice weekly.

The women involved deserve a full explanation and a formal apology better than the one given by Bernie Morelli, he chair of the Hamilton Police Services Board has apologized to the community, but he is not admitting fault. Without a proper airing, the smell of rot will linger a long time.

Kenaz

Michael Dixon wronged by Hamilton Police Board

Update from a post from 21/10/06,

A man stepping off a bus and grabbed by two cops and thrown in jail for doing nothing wrong. If I hadn't read the bi-line that read "Hamilton", I would have easily thought the story was from Beirut or Kandahar.

The man in question is Michael Dixon. A break-in occurred during the Aug. 14, 2003, blackout. Hamilton police were looking for a Caucasian suspect. Dixon is black.

Dixon begged the officers who nabbed him to check with the driver of the bus he had just exited on his way home from work in Toronto. They wouldn't. He sat in jail for almost four days; for nine months he lived under strict bail conditions. Three times, an assistant Crown attorney demanded the two arresting officers interview Dixon's alibi witnesses. That never happened. All charges were eventually dropped.

Dixon tried to file a complaint but a staff sergeant refused to give him the forms. He pursued the complaint and a police internal affairs investigation exonerated the officers. He complained to the Ontario Civilian Commission for Police Services; Peel police were ordered to investigate and concluded serious misconduct had occurred. The OCCPS ordered Hamilton police to lay charges. The two constables pleaded guilty. Their sentence was three days' lost pay. That's less time than Dixon spent in jail.

Hamilton’s police board says two officers who pleaded guilty of misconduct in the wrongful arrest of a black man did not commit criminal obstruction of justice.

The Hamilton Police Services Board says an OPP investigation has concluded Constables Oliver Mann and Chris Beaulne did not criminally obstruct justice by making false statements to internal affairs investigators. As a result, the board has decided there is no evidence of misconduct in terms of false or misleading evidence in their arrest five years ago of Michael Dixon.

I'm dumbfounded, what constitutes obstruction of justice if this doesn't? Two cops who happened to be white who where desperate to find a quick resolve for a crime tried to pin it on the nearest man they thought looked suspicious. That happened to be a black man coming home from his work at the CNE. No matter how you cut it this smacks of racial profiling and racial bias. I'm not insinuating this a department wide problem but their is a few bad apples on the Hamilton Police force and you know what they say about bad apples.

Later, Kenaz

Mark Nimigan's anti swearing proposal is F@*#ED!

"AM 900CHML radio host Bill Kelly talks with Mark Nimigan" interview date 5/21/2008



Saying that using vile filthy language isn't fair to those who want to enjoy Hamilton's downtown, the vice-chair of the Hamilton Police Services Board is calling for officers to charge people who yell and swear in the core. Mark Nimigan says merchants around Gore Park have complained to him about the foul language. He believes it's so bad "little old ladies" sit on the park benches with their hands over their ears.

Police Chief Brian Mullan backed his collegue's statement in a seperate interview, saying that, police can get tough on profanity and can charge someone if they receive a complaint.

I could not stop laughing when I first read this story in the Spec. Having apparently resolved all of the city's outstanding crime issues, such as drug induced bums using Gore Park and Jackson Square as a squatters paradise, fist fights galore amongst the various gangs that use the core as their own fighting "octogon". The City of Hamilton and Hamilton Police think cracking down on the amount of F-Bombs dropped in the downtown core is getting at the issue. The closed circuit cameras, while they can catch criminal activity in the act, have an obvious deaf spot, they can't pick up what you're saying because they don't have microphones, and THAT would be an invasion of privacy, after all. So, here's the theory from head "dirty mouth" crime dog.

Mr. Nimigan claims that the "Broken Windows" theory (read Rudolph Guilliani's autobiography) is the basis for this idea. It goes something like this: If we clean up the language then people will be more willing to come downtown, if they come downtown, businesses will prosper, if businesses prosper, the city will be more competitive, as Hamilton becomes more competitive more investment will be made downtown. Which will mean increased tourism and overall prosperity. And we'll all live happily ever after.

That would be nice, but do we really believe that by cutting down on the F@*# and S*$#s that are heard repeatedly is going to stop the core from turning into a scene from "Escape from New York" after banking hours? All the talk about new building projects and towers being devised will mount to a hill of beans unless we have cops arresting the scourge for breaking existing disturbance laws which cover everything form being drunk and high in public, possession of illegal substances and weapons to more serious assault and harassment offenses.

Nimigan feels that his efforts are being trivialized, what can he expect when he suggests this type of law. There is no doubt Nimigan is right that excessive profanity can contribute to an unpleasant atmosphere for members of the public who have a reign over their animal tendencies and use the F bomb in a more private setting and not inappropriately in public. But the idea of using police resources to try to stop people from swearing is silly and futile, unless perhaps the policing involves a bar of soap.

Later,
Kenaz

Chief Brian Mullan lies again

The families of Lucas Deane, Paul Haggerty and the entire community deserve to read today's report on how police botched the surrender of accused double-murderer Corey Rogers. In case you don't remember Lucas, 18, and his 19-year-old friend Paul Haggerty were stabbed to death outside a Barton Street bar in the early hours of Feb. 17. Two other young men were wounded. Within hours Hamilton police arrested Corey Rogers -- who had been named CrimeStoppers Most Wanted the previous month.

Deputy Chief Ken Leendertse must have sprained his wrist patting himself on the back and congratulating his officers for their "good police work." What he didn't say was that exactly one week before the homicides, Corey Rogers called 911, identified himself and said he wanted to turn himself in. Instead of doing their damn job and sending cops over immediately to make the high-risk arrest, the call-taker told Rogers he'd phoned at a bad time and suggested he walk to police headquarters and turn himself in.

Rogers obviously never showed up. Rogers wasn't arrested until he fell into the arms of cops who finally traced the phone call and waited outside his home until he came home. Not exactly the stuff Sherlock Holmes mysteries are made of.

Hamilton police say they are serious about transparency and regaining the public's trust and doing the right thing, then why are they trying to hide the report? The report was delivered today by Niagara police who conducted an impartial review at the request of Mullen, after the debacle. Instead of answers, we only get more questions and that isn't what Lucas Deane's grieving grandparents deserve.

It took ten weeks to get the report, one that both Mullan and board chair Bernie Morelli promised that when the report was ready, they would share it with the public. Morelli further promised the families and public a full accounting of what happened and said his intention is to release the entire report.

Mullan said he called for the external investigation because according to interview with The Spectator "There's an obligation to give a total and accurate depiction to the community as to what happened because the community is concerned" and "we have an obligation to ensure the families know exactly what happened in great detail."

What is Mullan hiding from the public, we deserve the whole report and not and edited one that seems most likely since Morelli has already ran to his lawyers to talk about censoring the report. Enough is enough, the corruption in Hamilton has to end.

Later,
Kenaz

Re: 'Families enraged at police error' (Column, March 1)

I found this letter to the editor in Saturdays edition of the Spectator. It points out the many outrages mistakes the Hamilton Police have made recently. I've included links to my posts and others on the various subjects.

Let me see if I understand this.

A man police had identified as the most dangerous, most wanted man in the city for the month of January(Corey Rogers) allegedly calls 911 and offers himself to be picked up by police. He is told he should make his own way to the station. He never shows up and, less than two weeks later, is accused of murdering two teens. He's then picked up at his home by police, who pat themselves on the back, according to Deputy Chief Ken Leendertse,(backed up by Chief Mullan) for "good police work." No wonder the victim's grandfather accuses the police of murdering his grandson.

It's mind-boggling and unnerving.

What does it take to spur the police into action? Should the suspect on the phone have also provided a detailed description that he was wanted on charges for robbing and beating a man and leaving him a quadriplegic or for allegedly knocking a man unconscious in a bar fight?

This is the same police service that just recently bungled internal sexual harassment allegations against a senior officer, only to have the charges thrown out because they were filed eight days too late.

This is the same police service currently investigating another group of officers for allegedly drinking while on duty.

(*update of this story since this letter was posted)
***A Hamilton police detective, who was facing seven charges under the Police Services Act, has retired. The revelation came Friday, as a police hearing was to take place in regards to the allegations facing 30 year veteran Larry Larson.

Instead, a tribunal has dropped all seven charges including allegations of drinking on duty, ignoring a robbery call and lying to supervisors, since it no longer has jurisdiction over Larson.

Two other officers have pleaded guilty to lesser misconduct charges, and have had other chargs dropped, in connection with the same incident last April. Constable Jennifer Granatier has been fined three days pay for drinking on duty. Constable Charlene Moses, who pleaded guilty to going to the same home while on duty was fined two days pay.***

Is this supposed to inspire confidence in the delivery and competency of police services in Hamilton? Perhaps it's time for change. Perhaps police services board chair Bernie Morelli should either step down or start asking real questions of the police service under his charge. Hamilton residents expect a higher standard, not a police service apparently rife with incompetence and negligence.

Later,
Kenaz

Lack of evidence, lack of credibility

A couple of issues have arisen this week that I have to throw my two cents in about. Firstly, my support goes out to the three fired Managers within the City of Hamilton's Licencing Department. Licencing Director Tom Redmond, manager Susan McGrath and Co-ordinator Randy Charlton were fired last month in connection with the harassment of a taxi inspector by Councillor Bernie Morelli.

On Friday politicians voted not to reprimand Councillor Bernie Morelli, despite an independent investigator's finding that he indeed had harassed the taxi inspector and should recieve sensitivity training. The deceission was based on lack of evidence.

If the plump goose escaped the knife than its not right for these lambs to go to the slaughter either. They should be given their jobs back.

My second bone to pick is with the the Hamilton Police Service and their inability to get their act together when it comes to dealing with its own officers under the Police Services Act.

It is absolutely unacceptable that two recent police act cases have been lost on a timeline technicality. There is no excuse for not ensuring charges are laid within the allowed timeline or, if there is uncertainty, seeking the extensions permitted under the act.

Dropping the ball in this way, again, eats away at public confidence. This kind of sloppiness fuels public disrespect and cynicism. It also lends fuel to public perceptions that transgressions by police officers are not taken seriously enough and that police protect their own.

The most recent problem comes after 24 harassment-related charges against Sergeant Kevin Dhinsa were thrown out by a police tribunal because they were laid eight days late.

Twelve female Hamilton police employees potentially put their reputations and careers on the line by lodging complaints against Dhinsa. These women showed courage in complaining against one of their own. In return they where disrespected by Hamilton Police Association administrator Brad Boyce who showd lack of morals when he chose to characterize the Dhinsa decission as a "win". His guilt was not established. Neither was his innocence.

Unfortuately, the legal ring isn't the same as a boxing ring, these women do not get a rematch and a chance to rub the smug grin off their opponents face.

Chief Brian Mullan must get a firm handle on this problem because, as he has said before, the buck stops with him. If the people to whom Mullan delegates responsibilities too, don't clean up their acts than the good chief should be prepared to die by the sword of public trust.

Later,
Kenaz

Yet another dirty Hamilton cop

The reputation of the Hamilton Police department has taken yet another shattering blow. This time, a veteran cop is accused of ignoring a woman's domestic abuse complaint and telling her he was once her customer at an illegal massage parlour.

Constable Rick Mowers faces Police Act charges for neglect of duty and discreditable conduct related to a call at the woman's house, but nothing related to allegations he once paid her for sex.

Mowers' predicament began Dec. 6 last year. He and Constable Chuck Beasley responded in separate cruisers to a child custody dispute in Millgrove.

The mom says she was loading her sons, 2 and 8, into a taxi to escape an abusive household when her partner arrived and called police. She says both officers spoke to them for an hour. Then Beasley left and Mowers stayed behind.

The mom says she told Mowers, a cop for 16 years, that her partner choked her and kicked her in the head a week earlier. She told him she'd phoned police on the day of the beating for advice on escaping an abusive relationship. Mowers, she says, did not take notes, ask questions or investigate her allegations.

What he did say, according to the mom, is he'd once been her customer at a massage parlour called Chelsey's that used to operate behind the Piccadilly strip club on Barton Street East. Vice and drugs officers raided Chelsey's in December 2003 on sex related charges.

Here's where the story gets predictable. The complaint makes its way through the system until it gets to an internal Discipline Review Committee of superintendents and the service's lawyer. In June, that committee decides Mowers did act wrongly, but then goes on to identify his mistakes as "nonserious" rather than "serious," which are the terms used within the Police Act.

A serious act carries with it a hearing, a pay loss of three days or more and a black mark on an officer's record for five years. A nonserious act requires no hearing, costs less than three days pay and stays on the record two years.

Some redeption occurred when the decision and appealed to the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services. In October, OCCOPS ruled that "there is sufficient evidence to warrant a hearing into the conduct of Constable Richard Mowers."

A hearing is set for Jan. 16. Mowers continues to perform his regular duties in the meantime.

Mowers it seems is no virgin to controversy, this is Mowers' second time before a Police Act hearing. In the late '90s he was convicted of two counts of neglect of duty after a complaint that he did not arrest a man who breached a court ruling ordering him to stay away from his wife because of an assault charge.

He was also convicted of not conducting a proper investigation for not getting an interpreter for the couple.

I can't believe the arrogance of our police. This is the second time their committee has tried to sweep serious charges against one of their own under the carpet recently. The first was when Hamilton police cleared two officers after they arrested a black man for a break-in -- despite descriptions of a white suspect -- and never checked his alibi. OCCOPS ordered a hearing. The officers pleaded guilty to not checking the alibi.

I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record, but when will this city get rid of these filthy 'pigs'. Oh, and as note as the story in the Spectator points out, so far, no one is questioning that Mowers may be in the habit of paying women for sex at massage parlours. What?!

Later,
Kenaz

Hamilton Police black and blue in 2006

I'm guessing Hamilton Chief Brian Mullan's letter to Santa starts with a new suit. One to replace his tattered and hole riddled suit of armour that he currently wears. While he's at it I bet he's wishing some elves could sprinkle a little magic dust over his entire force and make the miriad of troubles disappear.

Well, unfortunately this isn't "Never, Never Land" and unless serious changes are made at the top, Mullan's reign as top cop won't end with "Happily Ever After".

2006, to say the least hasn't been a good year for morale and public trust for Hamilton Police. Corruption, bribery, drunkeness and racism are a few of the allegations that have been lobbied against the once solid "blue wall" of honour. The cracks are getting wider with each volley.

Let's look at the dishonour that faces Mullan and his team of damage control consultants.

* The Michael Dixon case. He is a black trade-show worker who was mistakenly arrested by officers allegedly chasing a white suspect. The officers were later disciplined for not properly following up on his alibi. Dixon has launched a human rights racial discrimination complaint and civil lawsuit.

* Police Service Board member Jane Mulkewich says she fears racial bias is a systemic problem in the service. Officers are outraged by her remark and are angry Mullan did not come to their defence.

* Eight officers are currently facing Police Act Charges on a variety of matters ranging from sexual harassment to drinking on duty and ignoring calls to attempting to extort money from the public.

* Another officer was recently criminally charged with bribery.

*Most recently a Hamilton police constable has been fined three days pay for failing to investigate a pizzeria manager's claim he had been assaulted by a patron.

What the Police are saying in their defense,

* Officers say their workload has become unmanageable thanks to a rising number of officers on sick leave, increases in calls for service and complicated and voluminous paperwork.

* Some officers are unhappy about a recent round of promotions, saying those who volunteer and take continuing education courses are rewarded more than people who have the skills to be good supervisors.

* Mullan's appearance at parade is being met with a money-where-your-mouth-is attitude from his officers.

Interesting note, all these problems come at a time when Police association members have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2005. It sounds like at lot of buck passing to me. In reality its more like a few bad apples are finally being culled from the barrell and creating a stink. The problem is, we don't know how far the rot has gone. Have these bad cops corrupted the new generation so badly, it has left Hamiltonian's questioning how safe they are?

Later,
Kenaz

He was only protecting his family

And what did he get for it? Called a thug, vigilante by his peers and denied justice by the ones sworn to serve and protect.

I'm sorry but I call Don Shaxon a hero for what he did to a punk he found cowering in his Burlington basement. Alerted by the family cocker spaniel he found the teen, drunk to the gills, claiming he mistook the house on the quiet street as a party house that he tried to stumble to.

After punching and apprehending the 16-year-old he took for an intruder, Shaxon was accused by some bleeding heart teen advocates as going to far in defending his family and property. To make matters worse the police decided to not charge the kid. The only solace comes in the fact that the police did not charge him for the beating he gave the youth.

I applaud Mr. Shaxon for what he did, he did what every Canadian would have done, even those who said "oh he should have just called the cops". Sure and hope the punk doesn't kill you in the meantime.

The criminal code allows a person to use reasonable force to subdue a person illegally found on their property. The question was whether Mr. Shaxon crossed that line. The answer was obviously no, the kid was not seriously hurt, a bit bruised and a lot sore once he sobered up.

I have one thing to say to his critics, I hope you all feel so comfortable in your gated communities with your blinders on that you will never feel the sense of violation that this man felt and before you call someone a "thug" use your brain. These little scourge of society need to know who's boss and if the justice system allows room for people to act on their own accord then go for it.

Spectator link to the story

Later,
Kenaz

Hamilton police service plays lets make a deal

And instead of the new car! They wound up with the pig wagon.

Two years ago, the Hamilton Police Service purchased four used 2002 Ford Crown Victoria cruisers which had previously been part of the Brantford police fleet.

Hamilton's policy at the time was to rebuild patrol cars when they reached 150,000 kilometres on the odometer. The idea was to purchase used cruisers for a reasonable amount, introduce them into the patrol car fleet and then rebuild them when necessary. They quickly realized they got taken and before the egg on their face was even dry, Hamilton Police Service scrapped the used-car experiment for good.

At the time of purchase, the four cruisers had come off a two-year lease and each car had racked up between 95,000 to 110,000 kilometres. Brantford leases all 15 of its police cruisers in two-year intervals, and the Hamilton Police Service paid about $10,000 each for four of the cars once the leases expired. But the used-car project turned out to be a dismal failure.

Two of the four cars aren't even part of the Hamilton fleet any more and the other two are no longer used as patrol cars.

One of the two remaining cars travelled just 18,000 kilometres in its first two years and cost Hamilton police $11,600 in maintenance and repair costs over that time.

That's a whopping 64 cents per kilometre in maintenance costs, not including gas.

The other remaining Brantford castoff travelled almost 48,000 kilometres in its first two years and cost Hamilton $16,500 for maintenance and repairs. That works out to 34 cents per kilometre.

Police Services says it will now only buy new. Good idea! What now? I suggest somebody down at the Police services pick up a copy of the "Lemon Car Guide" before they go shopping again.

Later,
Kenaz

For whom the bell tolls

The bell tolls for you Acting Hamilton Police Chief Tom Marlor. Why? Because of his incredible lack of leadership.

This year hasn't been a great one for this cities cops. Accusations of corruption and abuse of power have caused enough doubt in many peoples minds as to second guess the ability of many of those who are paid to serve and protect. This could lead to serious problems in public relations and general trust between the public and officers.

The latest incident involves a man stepping off a bus and grabbed by two cops and thrown in jail for doing nothing wrong. If I hadn't read the bi-line that read "Hamilton", I would have easily thought the story was from Beirut or Kandahar.

The man in question is Michael Dixon. A break-in occurred during the Aug. 14, 2003, blackout. Hamilton police were looking for a Caucasian suspect. Dixon is black.

Dixon begged the officers who nabbed him to check with the driver of the bus he had just exited on his way home from work in Toronto. They wouldn't. He sat in jail for almost four days; for nine months he lived under strict bail conditions. Three times, an assistant Crown attorney demanded the two arresting officers interview Dixon's alibi witnesses. That never happened. All charges were eventually dropped.

Dixon tried to file a complaint but a staff sergeant refused to give him the forms. He pursued the complaint and a police internal affairs investigation exonerated the officers. He complained to the Ontario Civilian Commission for Police Services; Peel police were ordered to investigate and concluded serious misconduct had occurred. The OCCPS ordered Hamilton police to lay charges. The two constables pleaded guilty. Their sentence was three days' lost pay. That's less time than Dixon spent in jail.

Dixon is yet another victim of shoddy police work. Another honest citizen denied his basic rights which include the right to file a complaint. And yet another incident in which an internal investigation has draped the thin blue curtain around a case in an effort to cover up and silence a complaint that would clearly point to substandard police work, and possibly racism.

If the Hamilton Police where a sports team the coach would be fired and every member of the team would be forced to go back to basics. In this case, back to the classroom for more sensitivity training and hands on training in public diversity awareness.

Simply saying I'm sorry and dismissing the claims of race bias is not enough. It's another cop out, and leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouth. The tarnished brass face some serious ethical questions that include racial bias and shody investigating. I'm sorry, but this time the situation cannot be swept under the rug as Marlor is attempting to do.

Chief Brian Mullan must show his metal and address Dixon's complaints in a straightforward manner or risk being drowned in the flood of popular opinion that could sweep the city if he doesn't scrutinize the integrity of internal investigations and seriously consider that a police service should not investigate itself.

And he must ensure that all police officers -- whatever their rank -- are doing their jobs fully and properly. If he doesn't than he should be out of work.

Later,
Kenaz

Andre is a "giant" amongst men

Andre Fidanza,40, and Marco DiCioccio, 41 run a Wheelchair Service store on Main Street East, here in Hamilton. They help clients with physical disabilities. That's not the only thing that makes these guys heros.

At the end of a busy workday Tuesday when a man on a bicycle flashed by their window clutching a woman's purse, followed by a woman, screaming she had been robbed.

Police have been scouring central Hamilton for a purse-snatcher who attacked elderly women by riding up behind them, knocking them down and stealing their valuables. Eight women, mostly in their 70s and 80s, have been robbed since last Thursday. One woman was 90. One elderly woman's wrist was broken. Others ended up with scrapes and bruises. All were left emotionally shaken.

A drug addict had gone on a crack cocaine binge and was responsible. Lethargically, the cops waited until the second victim was assaulted to set up a task force to catch him.

On Tuesday afternoon, a bike-riding mugger robbed an 85-year-old woman in the morning, then snatched the purse from a middle-aged woman stepping off an HSR bus at Main Street East near Andre's Wheelchair Service at Ferguson Avenue.

The dinamic duo are men of action and decided to jump in their crime fighting van and went after him.

Seriously, Fidanza echoed many Hamilton citizens when he was aquoted as saying "He is tired of the drug addicts and crime swirling around his store. This was just the right thing to do, he said. Even more so because so many of the victims are vulnerable seniors.

The mugger pedalled west on Main against the traffic. The wheelchair guys did some quick thinking and guessed the crook might double back. They headed up Ferguson then drove several blocks toward downtown on Hunter Street.

"Sure enough, he pulls right in front of us on the corner of Catharine and Hunter," Fidanza said. "He tried to elude me, but I was right on his rear end. He was terrified."

In desperation, the robber threw the purse away and tried to escape by making a wild dash across opposite lanes under the rail bridge at Catharine and Hunter. He succeeded in jumping one curb, but not a second. The mugger went one way and his bike went another.

As DiCioccio went to gather up the woman's purse, Fidanza followed the thief on foot.

"I told him, 'C'mon, buddy, just lie down. ... I can do this all day,'" he said. "I wasn't even breaking a sweat, but this guy couldn't even breathe."

The robber gave up, and his pursuers, with help from several other passersby, held him until police arrived.

Kenneth Lloyd, 43, of no fixed address, has been charged with one count of robbery and breach of probation.

Acting Detective Sergeant Dave Brady praised the citizens. "We're grateful for their assistance, but at the same time we have to cautiously warn the public that we don't want to see anyone hurt unnecessarily."

This isn't much, these guys should be given awards from their city and praised for their actions.

Story from the Hamilton Spectator

Later,
Kenaz

Brown Bess Escapes the Fire

A rare British musket that was only weeks away from being turned into molten iron will become a centrepiece exhibit at a famous Hamilton museum. The musket, turned over to the museum on Sunday, is in extremely good condition and has several intriguing initials carved into it. The public will get its first look at the historic weapon June 3 when the museum celebrates its 25th anniversary of the re-enactment of the Battle of Stoney Creek.

Known as a Brown Bess India Pattern, the musket was manufactured for British troops in the 1760s and issued to the soldiers who fought the Americans in the War of 1812. The owner had turned in the Brown Bess, along with several other weapons of potential historical significance, during last month's police amnesty. All 1,254 guns collected by police were headed for a steel foundry blast furnace at the end of the month.

Hamilton's newspaper sent photos to historians, museum curators -- including the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa -- pleaded with Hamilton police not to destroy the weapon. Contacted by police last week, the owner agreed to donate it to a local museum because of its possible link to the Battle of Stoney Creek. The owner decided it would be best placed with Battlefield House museum. The owner said he bought the musket from an antique gun dealer 30 years ago.

Police will now give local curators a list of all weapons turned in to check for potential historical treasures. Three or four other muzzleloading weapons handed over by the Brown Bess owner may also escape the smelter.

Battlefield House museum, a national historic site, commemorates the June 6, 1813, Battle of Stoney Creek when British forces attacked and repelled invading American troops.

Later,
Kenaz

Hamilton Police Have No Respect For History

The Canadian War Museum is appealing to Hamilton police not to destroy a rare, vintage musket likely used in local battles during the War of 1812. Photos of two guns where then emailed to the Ottawa museum late yesterday afternoon. Thirty seconds later, the museum phoned back.

"You just ruined my day," said special projects director Daniel Glenney. "How do I get that Brown Bess?"

Glenney said the British India Pattern musket was manufactured between 1797 and 1805 and used in Canada by the regular British troops in the War of 1812. It was then used by the Canadian militia in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Even more interesting is that a soldier's name (WBY Shelburne) is carved into the stock, which should help historians trace the weapon.

Nicknamed Brown Bess for its dark colour, the flintlock was issued to soldiers in Sir Isaac Brock's 49th Regiment of Foot, the King's Regiment and the 41st Regiment of Foot at the turn of the 19th century.

"They would have been carrying those right out of the armouries from England," Glenney said.

The Brown Bess, now locked up with 1,253 other firearms turned in during a month-long police gun amnesty, "could have been used at Queenston Heights, Lundy's Lane and Chippewa," he explained.

"It would have been used by the garrison troops at Burlington Heights all through the war or the Battle of Stoney Creek."

So few remain because the British sold most of the muskets as surplus to the Mexican army, where they were used at the Battle of the Alamo.

Hamilton police have several other weapons that museums would like to have, he said, including a rare Johnson rifle and German MG-34 machine gun from the Second World War, a Remington Rolling Block and a Martini Henry rifle from the 1800s.

And there are suggestions that a weapon owned by a Hamilton man killed with General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn is on the destruction list.

All are due to be melted in a Dofasco blast furnace at the end of April.

"It would be a shame just to melt them down without consideration," Glenney added.

Police subtly softened their stance yesterday, after maintaining all through the amnesty that all weapons would be destroyed regardless of historic value.

The whole point of the gun amnesty is community safety, said Deputy Chief Ken Leendertse. Owners who turned in guns did so knowing they were entering into a contract with police.

"They signed a form that acknowledged they turned it over to the police service for destruction.

"Citizens had an opportunity to turn these weapons over to museums before they turned them over to us."

Nevertheless, police now say they will be flexible if an owner who turned in a gun wants to renegotiate the contract. One owner, who handed over more than 60 firearms, recently asked police to return one with significance to the family.

That will only happen if the owner produces proper papers for it, Leendertse noted. He also left the door open for special entreaties from museums, saying they would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Police have also agreed to check a rumour that a .50- calibre cap-and-ball flintlock belonging to Lieutenant William Winer Cooke was turned in and is slated to be destroyed. If true, the weapon would be of extreme historical importance, given that Cooke, who grew up in Hamilton, died next to Custer in 1876.

He was the author of the famous "last message" to Frederick Benteen that read: "Benteen. Come On. Big village. Be quick. Bring packs. WW Cooke. P.S. Bring Packs."

Police say people must not lose focus on why Hamiltonians want to get rid of guns.

"The people of Hamilton have an intolerance for gun violence," Leendertse said. "If we save one life, that's worth more than any history."

Wouldn't giving the guns to a museum serve both issues of preserving history and getting these guns off the street? Or is the Hamilton Police department hard up for another photo op so they can gloat over doing their jobs.

Later,
Kenaz

SIU probes death of police prisoner

Hamilton Spectator, February 14,2006

The provincial police watchdog is investigating the death of a 40-year-old man from serious head injuries after his arrest for public intoxication. He was arrested by a Hamilton police officer at the liquor store on Dundurn Street at about 5:10 p.m. on Feb. 10 and taken to police headquarters on King William Street. He was lodged in a cell at about 6 p.m. According to a Special Investigations Unit press release, officers on a "routine check" of the cells could not wake the man at about 11:20 p.m.He was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and then transferred to Hamilton General with serious head injuries. The man died Sunday. The results of a post-mortem examination conducted yesterday are not being released.

(Feb 15, 2006)The Hamilton Spectator

Ontario's Special Investigations Unit says it is still trying to piece together how and why a Hamilton man died after being taken into police custody late last week.

Darin Fournier, 40, of Hamilton, was arrested for public intoxication at the liquor store on Dundurn Street South on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Fournier spent about five and a half hours that evening in a police station holding cell. He was sent to hospital with serious head injuries after officers were unable to wake him during a routine check around 11:20 p.m. Fournier died Sunday evening in Hamilton General Hospital.

The SIU said he "succumbed to injuries," but would not reveal their nature.

"Considering that the cause of death is very pertinent to what we are investigating, we are not releasing the post- mortem examination results at this time," SIU spokesperson Rose Bliss said yesterday.

Bliss said investigators don't yet have clear answers if Fournier already had head injuries before being taken into custody.

Darin Fournier was laid to rest in his New Brunswick hometown on February 17. The Ontario Special Investigations Unit, which probes cases of civilians suffering serious injury, sexual assault or death in incidents involving police, is still looking into Fournier's death and have not offered any resolution to date.

April 9.2006
Update:Hamilton police have been cleared in the death of a homeless man who died from a head injury received in police custody.

An autopsy concluded Fournier died from blunt trauma to the head, suffered during a fall. While Fournier had fallen in the LCBO parking lot, the SIU determined he died from a head injury suffered in a later fall in a Central Station holding cell during a scuffle with police.

The SIU concluded the skirmish was initiated by Fournier and that police did not intentionally cause his fall. According to the SIU, two officers arrested Fournier Feb. 9 after receiving a complaint from LCBO staff about his behaviour outside the store around 5:15 p.m.

Unable to find an empty spot at a detox centre, the officers brought Fournier to the downtown station. After Fournier refused to get out of the cruiser, two officers pulled him out and dragged him by his arms into the station where he put up another struggle, lost his balance and fell, hitting the back of his head on the floor.

Video surveillance showed Fournier moving around in his cell at around 7:35 p.m. before going back to sleep. Police were unable to rouse Fournier at 11:30 p.m. and called paramedics. He died after spending three days in a coma in hospital.

SIU director James Cornish noted, "The outward signs of his injury were slow to manifest themselves.

"What signs there may have been were masked by his level of intoxication."

Cornish determined officers did not act irresponsibly.

"The force that the police used in that interaction was not unreasonable and certainly was not used with the intention of causing him to fall, let alone to cause him any injury."

I don't where Cornish gets off delivering this most unwise and uneducated deduction. I can remember playing recreational hockey as a kid and once being checked into the boards causing me to bump my head. Completely, minor. The point being, my mother watched me like a hawk for the next day, making sure I didn't sleep for any length of time! Any idiot knows that you don't let a person who has had two sugnificant blows to the head sleep, intoxicated or not.

This is yet another cry out to the city to better educate and train their officers and for the SIU to cross the "thin blue line" and admit their mistakes.

Alcoholic waist to society or not this man didn't deserve to die and his wife and children don't deserve the lies the Hamilton Police department have offered them.

Later,
Kenaz

Convicted sex offender only gets 2 years less a day

Hagersville's Zach Wobbes is going to prison for rape. But the judge in the case says his parents also bear some responsibility for the crime.

Zach Wobbes grew up in "a poison environment." The convicted sex offender is going to jail for two years less a day for gang raping an 18-year-old girl. That's his punishment.

His parents' punishment is shame and a very public tongue-lashing by a Superior Court Justice. Looking over Zach's bowed head as he wept in the prisoner's box, Justice David Marshall locked his eyes on Andy and Sheila Wobbes as they sat in the first row of the packed courtroom. He has no authority over the couple even though Sheila supplied a bunch of Zach's underage friends from Hagersville High School with booze and beer and Jell-O shots. Even though she was home while the same boys watched pornography. And even though she was in the house when Zach and two friends, 15 and 16, first kissed, groped and shaved the drunk girl and then violated her with bottles while she was unconscious. Five or six other boys watched.

Even though one partygoer, disgusted by the rape, told her she should check on what was happening in her son's room. She didn't. No, Sheila was never charged.

But Marshall was not about to let her, or her husband, off that easily. Moments before handing down his much-anticipated sentence yesterday, the judge took the highly unusual step of addressing the parents.

"Your home was a poison environment that was not a proper or decent place for a teenage boy to grow up," he said.

Andy, a tall, athletic man dressed all in black, gulped loudly, clasped his hands in his lap and looked toward the ceiling. Sheila, wearing a white shirt and black pants, removed her glasses and wiped at the tears that streamed down her cheeks. They have failed as parents. more

Zach rehearsed tears for the court: cellmate

The most dramatic moment in the Zach Wobbes sexual assault court case might not be what it seemed. The moment came Tuesday, at the very end of a long day at the sex offender's sentencing hearing. Zach was given an opportunity to address the court.

He rose, asked the judge's permission to face the father of the young woman he helped to gang rape with beer bottles, then wept as he told the story of his first night at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre.

He spoke of his cellmate, a big, bald man facing murder charges. Of the inmate ordering him to perform oral sex before going to bed. Of Zach's refusal.

"I think now I know the tiniest, tiniest bit of what she felt," Zach said.

It appeared to be the first time Zach had shown any empathy. Any remorse. A significant turning point that Justice David Marshall cited yesterday as a reason for handing down a sentence of two years less a day to Zach rather than the three or four years the Crown sought.

The problem is, Zach's cellmate says it's a lie. more

HAGERSVILLE IN PAIN

Tight community overcome with sadness, disgust over party rape and the mom's role in providing alcohol. This small community was left wondering yesterday.

Wondering how the grotesque rape of a teenage girl could have happened. Wondering why the prosecution didn't charge the mother of Zach Wobbes for providing teenage boys with alcohol before the rape.

There's no answer to that question. Officials will only say that she wasn't charged. But residents still wonder.

"She should be punished for letting all this happen," said longtime resident Frank Dillon.

He remembers hearing stories right after the incident in June 2004. But people just stopped talking about it after a week or two.

One Hagersville man's voice trembled and his jaw tightened when asked about Zach Wobbes.

"I have a 15-year-old daughter," said Tom, who refused to give his last name. "It could have happened to her."

As a father, Tom would do anything to protect his teenaged daughter, which is the reason he refused to give his last name. His daughter goes to Hagersville Secondary School, where Wobbes went, and he doesn't want her to be connected to his opinion.

"It disgusts me," he said. "Two years is a slap on the wrist and he should have gotten more. He has two years to figure out what he has done. That girl has the rest of her life to suffer." more

What I find even more disgusting than Zach Wobbes is his classmates attitudes. While all of this was going on in Zach's locked and darkened bedroom, there were five or six more Hagersville students watching the rape happen. They watched it the way they viewed the porno movie they had enjoyed earlier in the evening.

Amazingly, the Hagersville High connection doesn't end there. Dozens of students quickly heard about what happened at Zach's party. By the next day, the rumours were rampant. The victim herself heard details of her rape for the first time from students. And yet, all those students who knew the story did nothing. Didn't tell their teachers. Or the police.

Here's one comment from a severely mixed up girl, "even under the influence of alchol, Zach would not take advantage of a female. I strongly believe that he was under peer pressure from hs so called 'friends'. I do not feel that jail time is appropriate for this young man, but house arrest maybe a better idea."

more quotes from the rapists schoolmates.

The Hagersville I new growing was a place full of good people with holsome values, when did it revert back to the time of the caveman full of misogynistic drunken thugs.

Later,
Kenaz

The province and Hamilton police shut down crack house

The Ontario Attorney General has seized an infamous downtown Hamilton landmark, scene of every type of crime from drug dealing to murder. The seizure yesterday is the first step to freeze and forfeit to the Crown the property at 193 King St. E., which includes the defunct Sandbar tavern and five apartments above it.

Chief Brian Mullan says the police department plans to use the Civil Remedies Act as a weapon to move against trouble spots across the city. Police now have an officer specializing in applications of the legislation. He promised to use it against booze cans selling illegal alcohol, marijuana grow operations and prostitution.

Mullan said this is the first time the conspiracy section of the Remedies for Organized Crime and Other Unlawful Activities Act (Civil Remedies Act) has been applied in a seizure.

Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant came to Hamilton yesterday to stand in front of the old Sandbar and promise a safe community.

"This crack house of horrors is out of business."


Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, right, with police Chief Brian Mullan, centre, and Hamilton Police Services Board Chair Bernie Morelli, announces the seizure of the tavern.



The property manager of the King Street East building was not available for comment yesterday. The building's owner, Ruth Ricca, was quoted after a homicide in the building in 2003 that she had nothing to do with how the building was run. She was not available for comment.

The Sandbar closed in 1999 when the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario revoked its licence, charging that drugs were sold, stolen property was fenced and violence was common. There have been two murders in the apartments upstairs since. In 2001, Jackie McLean, 35, was beaten to death in an unoccupied apartment. Two years later Jim McAllister was stabbed to death there.

The province and police are invoking rarely used powers to implement the five-year old Civil Remedies Act. Under this legislation, the court can take over private property suspected of housing criminal activity.

Mullan -- whose own office window faces the backside of a building he calls "a blight" across a parking lot -- says police have answered calls to the site almost every day for years and have spent millions of dollars in policing this one address. In the past 10 years, two crack-cocaine related murders, numerous stabbings and illegal drug trafficking have all taken place inside.

Three weeks ago, police armed with search warrants for each of the five apartments arrested a number of people on charges involving crack cocaine and seized closed circuit video equipment which had been used to monitor the entrance and the stairs leading to the apartments.

Police now have to show the extent of criminal activity within and that means boxes and boxes of incident reports had to be submitted. A hearing will be held in about a month to determine whether the seizure will be made permanent. At that hearing police will have to demonstrate that "criminal enterprise was being undertaken at the location with the knowledge of the landlord."

Mullan said the ministry was prepared to move ahead some months ago but decided to hold off until the trial of McLean's killer finished a few weeks ago. If the final hearing is successful, use of the conspiracy section of the legislation will become "a benchmark case that will be precedent-setting and will allow other police services to take advantage of the legislation in this way, in partnership with the ministry."

Area residents breathed a sigh of relief as they watched lock smiths and city workers board up the den of hell. A police officer will guard the boarded up building 24 hours a day until the courts allow the province to sell it.

Since being created five years ago, the Civil Remedies Act has been used to seize half a dozen properties in Hamilton and more than 100 in Ontario. The province has accumulated more than $2.2 million from the sale of these properties.

Civil asset forfeiture, as used in the Sandbar case, focuses solely on the connection between property and unlawful activity whereas criminal asset forfeiture permits forfeiture of assets obtained by or used in the commission of an offence following conviction of an individual.

Later,
Kenaz