Mountie shared crime data about the Hells Angels

Speaking of security breaches, the Vancouver Sun and the Province both ran a rather bizarre article coming gout of Ottawa today about a Manitoba Mountie. Seemingly an RCMP officer did some unauthorised security checks on his wife and the Hells Angels. He claims he didn't share the information with the Hells Angels but he admitted he shared the information with his wife. Who, get this, is a Hells Angels Associate.

It gets weirder. The reason he got caught was because his wife was crossing the border and admitted to a customs agent she had former business dealings with an outlaw biker and admitted she still visits him in prison. I kid you not. US customs fond out her husband was an RCMP officer and they checked what kind of criminal database enquiries he made. Turns out he was looking at info about his wife and the Hells Angels.

Giving the guy the benefit of the doubt it's remotely possible he was checking his wife's criminal history. That is something I'd likely do myself since they just met in 2009. If she admitted to a customs agent she had previous business dealings with a Hells Angel then she must have admitted that to her husband as well.

The police and US customs would be in a better position to determine what kind of information he was looking at which would more likely answer the why but the flaming question is what is an RCMP officer doing married to a women who is a Hells Angels associate and currently visits a Hells Angel in prison. If that is not a flaming red flag, I don't know what is.

If her friend is in prison then it's most likely part of the Zig Zag Crew bust that was all drug related and involved Sean Wolfe among others. Saying that she had business dealings with drug dealers in the past and still visits a drug dealer in prison is somewhat concerning.

It's reminiscent of Ian Grant who was caught with confidential RCMP documents about the Hells angels and all of their rivals in his home. Ian Grant was from Manitoba. The article in the Sun goes a bit further to explain the officer claims he did the checks to protect himself and the force. Sharing the information with his wife could have been more like confronting her with her past.

There is a big difference between checking out if the women you just met and are going to marry has a criminal past compared to giving the Hells angels confidential information as was found in Ian Grant's home.

One would think that if he found 185 documents about his wife and the Hells Angels then that might be a bit of a red flag. Her continued friendship with a Hells Angel in prison certainly is.

Jeffrey Klassen convicted of assault

Jeffrey Klassen has finally been convicted of assault. He was the use of force trainer that beat and robbed a newspaper delivery man with two other cops when they were off duty in Vancouver.

To Serve and Protect

Another problem we are clearing seeing in Canada or at least in B.C. along with the police brutality is the sheer arrogance that goes along with it. The underlying mandate of to serve and protect has been completely lost.

Of course not all police officers in Canada are bad. Yet the documented problem is much worse than a few bad apples. I had a conflict with an off duty police officer not long ago myself. He was a confrontational bully who bold faced lied about something to get his way. I was shocked. It reminded me of the New Westminster use of force trainer who got drunk before assaulting and robbing a newspaper delivery man in Vancouver. His recollection of the events was a complete contradiction to the victims recollection and two witnesses observations.

Being a bully and assaulting someone is bad enough but lying in court. Coming from a peace officer that is shocking which once again brings us to the lost mandate of serving and protecting the public.

When the use of force trainer is caught red handed beating the tar out of an innocent victim then using his station as a use of force trainer to intimidate a younger police officer from pressing charges, that use of force trainer cannot be the use of force trainer any more. To continue to do so would be to mock the public interest and demonstrate further arrogance and disregard for public safety.

It is past time for a civilian agency.

Geoff Mantler: Another Public Betrayal

This latest shameful decision is more proof we need a civilian agency to monitor police complaints. Constable Geoff Mantler got off charges in the Jeremy Packer case even though he had physical evidence included a lost tooth. Seemingly this was Mantler's third documented offence. There was another case involving Manjeet Singh Bhatti as well.



Before we spend undisclosed amounts of tax dollars to fill our over crowded drug infested prisons with more people for minor offenses, we need to establish a Civilian Agency and we need to clean up the prisons that we do have.