Three off duty officers arrested for assault and Robbery.

[Ron in Regina]

26/01/2009
The news as of 17:30 Pacific is that all three have been charged. Any bets on how much time they get considering the public outrage?

Someone (like me) is going to want a Link to this, so I looked it up.
Source: CTV British Columbia- Criminal charges recommended against police - CTV News, Shows and Sports -- Canadian Television

Criminal charges recommended against police

Updated: Mon Jan. 26 2009 17:32:50

ctvbc.ca
The Vancouver Police Department is recommending charges against two Lower Mainland police officers in connection with an alleged assault on a newspaper deliveryman in downtown Vancouver last week.



A rookie officer from West Vancouver Police Department may be charged with robbery, and a 38-year-old New Westminster police officer was recommended to be charged with assault and possession of stolen property.

A third officer who was with the pair, a 28-year-old from the Delta Police Department, has not been charged.



The names of the two officers would not be released until charges were laid.
The New Westminster Police department said Wednesday afternoon that their officer continues to be suspended with pay. The other two officers had been placed on desk duties.



Firoz "Phil" Khan, a 47-year-old deliveryman from Surrey, was dropping off newspapers to pay boxes and local hotels in the 600-block of Burrard Street in the early hours of Wednesday, Jan. 21, when he was allegedly kicked and beaten by three men.



Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu said six investigators from his department spent the weekend interviewing nine witnesses. They also interviewed Khan at length.


Chu said more investigators than usual were put on the case, and he took the unusual step of meeting with them while the investigation was ongoing.



Hate crime charges are not being pursued, said Chu.



He added that the Delta officer may have been trying to stop the attack.

The attack took place in the presence of a taxi driver who took two of the officer from the Roxie nightclub to the location near the Hyatt Hotel, and two City of Vancouver employees, Meatr Chima and Phil Pilon.



Chima and Pilon say the attack was so brutal they actually feared for the victim's life, not to mention their own.



"I wanted to jump in and get the one guy who was doing the punching off of the victim," said Pilon.



"Justice probably won't be served, I don't think so," said Chima.

"If it was a guy like me who did that to that guy there would be justice served, but against those police officers I doubt it. I think these police officers should look at themselves in the mirror and think of what they've done. I mean this is ridiculous."


Speaking from his Surrey home on Friday, Khan says one of the only reasons he's alive is because the two city workers stopped to help.



He said he had suffered serious injuries to his head and internal injuries after the attack. He also lost a filling and chipped a tooth.



"Thank God there was a lot of city workers that I know that clean the streets in downtown Vancouver," he said.



He fears what would happen if it didn't happen on city streets.


"Just imagine this thing happened on a back lane. I would have been dead and buried."




With a report from CTV British Columbia's Leah Hendry.
__________________________________________



Maybe the officers actually being charged will happen later on tonight.
This is all I can find so far.

 

[JLM]

26/01/2009
The news as of 17:30 Pacific is that all three have been charged. Any bets on how much time they get considering the public outrage?

Oh, that's a little different from what I got from Global news, they reported that charges were recommended against two of the officers, but there wasn't evidence to support charging the third. What will the ones charged get? By the time it's all over and if they've already spent time in custody, I'd be very surprised if either of them gets more than an additional 12 months. "after all they've got no prior criminal record and are both very upstanding citizens in their community and their crippled mother is dependent on them and one has a kid who is mentally/physically/emotionally challenged............blah blah blah blah".

 

[Ron in Regina]

They submit their recommendations to the Crown along with their evidence, and wait
to see what happens by the sound of things, according to Vancouver police Chief Jim
Chu. Video on the right side of the page (Chief's Statement) at the link below...

Source: Off-duty police may be charged in downtown Vancouver attack

Off-duty police may be charged in downtown Vancouver attack

Last Updated: Monday, January 26, 2009 | 4:45 PM PT

Vancouver police are recommending charges against two of the three off-duty officers involved in the brutal beating of a man outside a hotel on Burrard Street early last Wednesday morning.

Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu said Monday that the off-duty West Vancouver police officer involved in the beating will be charged with one count of robbery, while a New Westminster officer will be charged with one count of assault and one count of possession of stolen property.

Police said there is evidence the third man involved, a Delta police officer, may have tried to stop the alleged crime. He will not be charged.

Chu admitted during Monday's news conference that he expects the incident will hurt the public's perception of police.

"From the moment Vancouver police were called to the scene, many of us realized that this was a case that could polarize public opinion, shake their confidence in the justice system and offer every police critic a new platform to speak from."
The three off-duty officers are alleged to have assaulted Phil Khan, a delivery worker, and robbed, kicked and punched him early Wednesday morning while he repeatedly pleaded for help.

Before charges were announced, Vancouver police interviewed nine witnesses, as well as the three Vancouver officers who were initially called to the scene in the 600 block of Burrard Street.

Forensic evidence was also taken from the scene but there was no video evidence.
Several witnesses have already spoken out publicly in the last week.

Pair heard screams

Phil Pilon and Netar Chima told CBC Radio they were driving in a city truck near West Georgia Street and Burrard when they heard screams.

Pilon said he stopped the truck and saw three young, fairly clean-cut and well-dressed people punching and kicking someone on the ground.

"I walk over there with my orange vest on, and more or less tell the guy, get off of him," Pilon said. "And the guy on the bottom is saying, 'Help! Please call the police!' And the people on the top say, 'We are the police.' "

Pilon then backed off and watched with several other witnesses as the alleged assault continued, he said.

"There were people standing around, and we felt helpless," Pilon said. "I can honestly say the feeling I had was a helpless feeling when I knew that the people that were doing this were police, and I felt like I couldn't do anything."

Witness recognized victim

Eventually, Pilon also realized the man on the ground was Phil Khan, a newspaper delivery man he had met several times over the years working the night shift in downtown Vancouver.

His partner in the city truck, Chima, said both men felt it was important to come forward with their story.

"We look up to police officers as role models … and that's why I'm speaking up," Chima said.

Vancouver police eventually arrested three off-duty police officers following the incident. Their names have not been released.

Last week, Khan told the public he was beaten, robbed and racially abused for seven to eight minutes in an unprovoked assault. He also said all three assailants smelled of alcohol.

Despite Khan's accusations that racial slurs were made, police said they will not be treating the case as a hate crime because Khan was unable to identify the officer who made the racial comments.
_____________________________

 

[Scott Free]

I like this bit:

"From the moment Vancouver police were called to the scene, many of us realized that this was a case that could polarize public opinion, shake their confidence in the justice system and offer every police critic a new platform to speak from." - Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu

Translation: "Well I guess we can't cover this one up."

What BS!!!!!!

This doesn't restore my confidence, it makes me think they should fire the whole lot of them!

 

[Scott Free]

Chief Jim Chu could teach the RCMP a few things about transparency

Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu has taken yet another step forward in enhancing public confidence in his department.

He did this by announcing that the VPD has recommended charges be laid against police officers in West Vancouver and New Westminster in connection with an alleged attack on newspaper delivery person Firoz Khan at 2 a.m. last Wednesday (January 21).

It was a speedy response, driven in part by Vancouver police working through the weekend on the case.

This isn’t the first time Chu has demonstrated that the VPD is undergoing a transformation under his leadership.

Shortly after becoming chief, Chu approved a formal police apology to Downtown Eastside residents who felt aggrieved by the treatment meted out by local cops.
Contrast that with the RCMP’s response to the death of Robert Dziekanski after he was struck by a taser. There has been what can only be described as stonewalling from the commissioner, William Elliott.

The B.C. government responded by ordering two inquiries: one into the use of tasers, and another designed to provide a complete record of the circumstances surrounding Dziekanski’s death.

The RCMP misled the public initially about how many officers were on the scene. The RCMP sent cops to Poland to dig up dirt on Dziekanski. And the officers involved in the incident were not charged---and it took what seemed like forever for the investigation to be concluded.

In 2007, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh got it right when he said that the RCMP’s image “took a hit” over a four-year period when 17 people died after being struck with Tasers.

The VPD’s reputation, on the other hand, appears to be improving—particularly after Chief Chu’s news conference today, when he set aside any concerns that police officers from the suburbs might receive special treatment from his department.

Source

An interesting fact is that the VPD was created to replace the RCMP who had become too corrupt.

 

[JLM]

Chief Jim Chu could teach the RCMP a few things about transparency

Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu has taken yet another step forward in enhancing public confidence in his department.

He did this by announcing that the VPD has recommended charges be laid against police officers in West Vancouver and New Westminster in connection with an alleged attack on newspaper delivery person Firoz Khan at 2 a.m. last Wednesday (January 21).

It was a speedy response, driven in part by Vancouver police working through the weekend on the case.

This isn’t the first time Chu has demonstrated that the VPD is undergoing a transformation under his leadership.

Shortly after becoming chief, Chu approved a formal police apology to Downtown Eastside residents who felt aggrieved by the treatment meted out by local cops.
Contrast that with the RCMP’s response to the death of Robert Dziekanski after he was struck by a taser. There has been what can only be described as stonewalling from the commissioner, William Elliott.

The B.C. government responded by ordering two inquiries: one into the use of tasers, and another designed to provide a complete record of the circumstances surrounding Dziekanski’s death.

The RCMP misled the public initially about how many officers were on the scene. The RCMP sent cops to Poland to dig up dirt on Dziekanski. And the officers involved in the incident were not charged---and it took what seemed like forever for the investigation to be concluded.

In 2007, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh got it right when he said that the RCMP’s image “took a hit” over a four-year period when 17 people died after being struck with Tasers.

The VPD’s reputation, on the other hand, appears to be improving—particularly after Chief Chu’s news conference today, when he set aside any concerns that police officers from the suburbs might receive special treatment from his department.

Source

An interesting fact is that the VPD was created to replace the RCMP who had become too corrupt.

Yep, Chu comes across as a straight shooter, actually I think MOST cops are, just a few rotten apples to spoil the barrel. I guess that can be said of any profession, but I suppose like any profession we are dealing with people here. I think there's a lot of bad bastards who would like to join a police force for obvious reasons, so I would hope the screening process is thorough enough to keep the baddies out.