Pubdate: Tue, 31 May 2005
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.)

ADJUDICATOR TO RULE THIS SUMMER ON FIRING OF OFFICERS WHO BEAT DRUG DEALERS

VANCOUVER - B.C. Police Complaint Commission adjudicator Donald Clancy will 
decide later this summer whether Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham was 
right to dismiss two police officers for their part in beating three drug 
dealers in Stanley Park.

All the evidence against the officers -- Constables Duncan Gemmell and 
Gabriel Kojima -- has been presented. On Monday, final arguments began 
following a five-week long public hearing into the events of Jan. 14, 2003.

Commission counsel Dana Urban told Clancy that public confidence in the 
rule of law was at stake.

He said commissioner Dirk Ryneveld ordered the hearing because the public 
had a right to know what happened in Stanley Park through the testimony of 
witnesses tested by cross-examination.

Gemmell and Kojima were among six officers who took part in the beating and 
pleaded guilty to assault in provincial court, meaning witnesses were not 
called to testify.

At later disciplinary hearings they all pleaded guilty to a number of 
disciplinary defaults including abuse of authority and discreditable 
conduct but only Gemmell and Kojima were fired. They are appealing the 
chief's dismissal orders.

Urban said the three victims were drug addicts and would never be 
contributing members of society and nothing the police could do would 
change that.

"They are what they are -- criminals -- but they are also human beings and 
citizens of this country and persons entitled to same the protection of the 
Charter of Rights and Freedoms as anyone else," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom