Matt Gurney: Edmonton’s police owe the public far better than this | National Post
Two months ago, an Edmonton Police Services constable, Jack Redlick, was handed a one-year demotion (effectively a $15,000 penalty) for beating a suspect, George Petropolous, he had arrested. Petropolous, a middle-aged man, had been accused of striking his mother during a dispute about money. Redlick and his partner arrested him, and while heading to the police station, pulled off into a high school parking lot. Redlick took Petropolous out of the cruiser, walked him to an isolated part of the schoolground, out of sight of the cruiser, and beat him. During the assault, Petropolous claims that Redlick boasted that this wasn’t the first time he’d administered a little street justice on his own initiative. The charges against Petropolous were later stayed.
None of the above is disputed. Redlick and his partner at first denied the whole thing, but Redlick later recanted and pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct under the Police Act. That included his admission to this conduct in an agreed statement of facts. (His partner is now facing discipline for the attempted coverup.) When handing down the sentence of the one-year demotion, the presiding officer noted that the incident was “extremely serious,” but that there were also several mitigating factors, including the fact that Redlick was suffering from depression (relating to a suspect he shot and killed, but more on that later) and that he had an exemplary service record.
He may have indeed. But new information obtained by the CBC suggests that he shouldn’t have. The fact that he did raises troubling questions not only about the shooting incident that Redlick was involved in, but also the credibility of the Edmonton Police Service as an institution.
Because according to the CBC’s source, Redlick’s assault on Petropolous was not the first time Redlick had gotten physical with a man in his custody. And their source isn’t another person Redlick is alleged to have beaten. It’s a 10-year veteran of the Edmonton police.
Derek Huff, 37, also had an exemplary service record. In 2010, he claims that he and his partner were responding to a call when they found that three officers, in plainclothes, had subdued a suspect on the ground, but kept beating him. Huff says that the officer leading the assault was none other than Jack Redlick. The suspect, Kasimierz Kozina, had been arrested during a drug sting, and ultimately required reconstructive surgery on his face due to the beating he received. Huff says that he and his partner approached their sergeant and reported what he’d seen. Fearful of being deemed rats, they met with their sergeant quietly, and didn’t file a written report. The sergeant later told them that based on the reports that he’d read of the incident, the use of force was appropriate. And that was that.
This Officer was fired.
Appeal board confirms firing of police officer
The Law Enforcement Review Board has upheld the firing of an Edmonton Police Service officer found guilty of corrupt practice for interfering with a traffic stop in October 2011.
Const. Adam Kube was fired from the police department earlier this year after an internal disciplinary hearing. His lawyer appealed the decision to the Law
The board has now decided that Kube's firing was appropriate.
"It has been said that, for a police officer, the penalty of dismissal is the ultimate penalty, but, even with this in mind, we conclude that the Presiding Officer's decision to impose that penalty is within the bounds of acceptable, reasonable, outcomes on the facts and law before him," the board stated in a written decision.
The internal police hearing found that in August 2011 Kube sold his motorcycle to a woman and then cancelled his insurance policy. He received a confirmation of the cancellation and put it away with the original insurance card.
When the woman who bought the motorcycle was pulled over in a traffic stop on Oct. 22, 2011, she called Kube, who soon arrived at the scene. He provided the cancelled insurance card to one of the police officers at the scene and identified himself as a police officer in an effort to prevent the woman from receiving a ticket for riding without insurance, Mark Logar, the hearing's presiding officer, found.
Logar found Kube was motivated by a desire to develop a personal relationship with the woman.
Two months ago, an Edmonton Police Services constable, Jack Redlick, was handed a one-year demotion (effectively a $15,000 penalty) for beating a suspect, George Petropolous, he had arrested. Petropolous, a middle-aged man, had been accused of striking his mother during a dispute about money. Redlick and his partner arrested him, and while heading to the police station, pulled off into a high school parking lot. Redlick took Petropolous out of the cruiser, walked him to an isolated part of the schoolground, out of sight of the cruiser, and beat him. During the assault, Petropolous claims that Redlick boasted that this wasn’t the first time he’d administered a little street justice on his own initiative. The charges against Petropolous were later stayed.
None of the above is disputed. Redlick and his partner at first denied the whole thing, but Redlick later recanted and pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct under the Police Act. That included his admission to this conduct in an agreed statement of facts. (His partner is now facing discipline for the attempted coverup.) When handing down the sentence of the one-year demotion, the presiding officer noted that the incident was “extremely serious,” but that there were also several mitigating factors, including the fact that Redlick was suffering from depression (relating to a suspect he shot and killed, but more on that later) and that he had an exemplary service record.
He may have indeed. But new information obtained by the CBC suggests that he shouldn’t have. The fact that he did raises troubling questions not only about the shooting incident that Redlick was involved in, but also the credibility of the Edmonton Police Service as an institution.
Because according to the CBC’s source, Redlick’s assault on Petropolous was not the first time Redlick had gotten physical with a man in his custody. And their source isn’t another person Redlick is alleged to have beaten. It’s a 10-year veteran of the Edmonton police.
Derek Huff, 37, also had an exemplary service record. In 2010, he claims that he and his partner were responding to a call when they found that three officers, in plainclothes, had subdued a suspect on the ground, but kept beating him. Huff says that the officer leading the assault was none other than Jack Redlick. The suspect, Kasimierz Kozina, had been arrested during a drug sting, and ultimately required reconstructive surgery on his face due to the beating he received. Huff says that he and his partner approached their sergeant and reported what he’d seen. Fearful of being deemed rats, they met with their sergeant quietly, and didn’t file a written report. The sergeant later told them that based on the reports that he’d read of the incident, the use of force was appropriate. And that was that.
This Officer was fired.
Appeal board confirms firing of police officer
The Law Enforcement Review Board has upheld the firing of an Edmonton Police Service officer found guilty of corrupt practice for interfering with a traffic stop in October 2011.
Const. Adam Kube was fired from the police department earlier this year after an internal disciplinary hearing. His lawyer appealed the decision to the Law
The board has now decided that Kube's firing was appropriate.
"It has been said that, for a police officer, the penalty of dismissal is the ultimate penalty, but, even with this in mind, we conclude that the Presiding Officer's decision to impose that penalty is within the bounds of acceptable, reasonable, outcomes on the facts and law before him," the board stated in a written decision.
The internal police hearing found that in August 2011 Kube sold his motorcycle to a woman and then cancelled his insurance policy. He received a confirmation of the cancellation and put it away with the original insurance card.
When the woman who bought the motorcycle was pulled over in a traffic stop on Oct. 22, 2011, she called Kube, who soon arrived at the scene. He provided the cancelled insurance card to one of the police officers at the scene and identified himself as a police officer in an effort to prevent the woman from receiving a ticket for riding without insurance, Mark Logar, the hearing's presiding officer, found.
Logar found Kube was motivated by a desire to develop a personal relationship with the woman.