Pubdate: Sat, 05 Jul 2008
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Chad Skelton, and Allison Cross

POLICE TURF WAR SANK B.C. HELLS ANGELS INVESTIGATION, FORMER POLICEMAN ALLEGES

Ex-Officer Claims Wrongful Dismissal

Animosity between the RCMP and the Organized Crime Agency of B.C. 
resulted in the failure of a multi-million-dollar investigation into 
the Hells Angels, a former lead investigator with the OCABC has 
alleged in a wrongful dismissal suit.

The investigation, known as Project Phoenix, targeted several 
high-profile members of the Hells Angels biker gang, with agents 
working for the police buying and selling large quantities of drugs.

The investigation was completed and reports were sent to Crown 
counsel for charges.

However, no charges were ever laid, something Allen Dalstrom -- the 
officer who led the investigation and is now suing for wrongful 
dismissal -- blames on infighting between the RCMP and the OCABC.

Dalstrom was fired in 2004 after concerns were raised about his 
handling of Phoenix and over comments he allegedly made to a 
journalist writing a book about the Angels. However, in a statement 
of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Dalstrom argued there were no 
grounds to fire him and that Phoenix was derailed because of RCMP 
jealousy over the creation of the OCABC in 1999.

"Certain members of the senior management of the RCMP in British 
Columbia were opposed to the creation of the OCABC from its inception 
because the OCABC was given the mandate to carry out investigations 
that had previously been within the mandate of the RCMP," Dalstrom 
alleged in his statement of claim.

"The RCMP in British Columbia sought to persuade the province to 
disband the OCABC and return the mandate for investigating organized 
crime to the RCMP."

Dalstrom alleged that the RCMP attacked his handling of Phoenix "as a 
means of discrediting the management of the OCABC generally."

According to Dalstrom, a number of outside reviews of Project Phoenix 
concluded that the case had been handled properly.

Documents filed by Dalstrom quote a 2003 independent review of 
Phoenix which states: "The multi-million-dollar Phoenix investigation 
could have been prosecuted, but the prosecution was derailed because 
of inter-agency jealousies."

The court records do not state who the criminal targets of Phoenix 
were. However, The Vancouver Sun has learned the investigation 
targeted members of the Hells Angels biker gang.

In his statement of claim, Dalstrom argued that lawyers with the 
Department of Justice ultimately decided not to prosecute those 
targeted by Phoenix because it would have meant the "persistent 
inter-agency dispute between the RCMP and the OCABC" would become public.

"In the opinion of the Vancouver office of the Department of Justice, 
such an examination would have a negative effect on public order and 
morale, and on public confidence in the administration of justice," 
Dalstrom stated.

In 2004, the same year Dalstrom was dismissed, OCABC was folded into 
the new Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), an 
integrated team of RCMP and municipal police officers.

Dalstrom's lawsuit names the province of B.C.; David Douglas, the 
former chief officer of OCABC who fired him; and Kevin Begg, head of 
the provincial government's police services division, as defendants.

In his statement of defence, Douglas, a former RCMP officer, denied 
that Dalstrom was fired without cause, arguing that his "overall 
performance . . . was not meeting acceptable standards" and that he 
mismanaged major investigations.

A report on Dalstrom's job performance prepared by Douglas and filed 
in court, indicated that Douglas had several concerns with how 
Dalstrom managed Project Phoenix. Those concerns included that 
investigators with the project did not adequately handle exhibits, 
such as properly marking purchased drugs as evidence. "During the 
investigation, drugs that had been purchased from one target were 
then, at a later date, trafficked to another target," Douglas' report 
stated. "Both cocaine and marihuana were trafficked in this manner."

Similarly, Douglas's report alleged, proceeds from the sale of drugs 
were also not marked as exhibits, instead forming part of the "cash 
pool" used by investigators to make future purchases.

Douglas's report agreed with Dalstrom that Phoenix's failure was a major blow.

"Project Phoenix was an expensive, long-term project by OCABC which 
had the opportunity to lay [charges alleging] substantial, 
substantive offences against a number of very high-profile targets," he wrote.

However, Douglas's report argued that it was Dalstrom's mismanagement 
of the case that led to the decision by Crown not to prosecute the offences.

Douglas' report also stated that he was concerned about a comment in 
reporter Julian Sher's book about the Angels, The Road To Hell, in 
which an "OCA insider" said that, when it came to organized-crime 
investigations, the RCMP had done "f--- all here for 25 years".

According to Douglas's report, Dalstrom at first denied making the 
statement, but later said he couldn't recall and that "there's a 
possibility I made [it] because that's the way I may have felt about 
the situation."

In his statement of claim, Dalstrom denied making the comment to Sher 
but added that, even if he had, it was not grounds for dismissal as 
it was "fair comment" and did not reveal any confidential police information.

On June 17, Insp. Andy Richards, a former investigator with OCABC who 
is now with the CFSEU, filed an affidavit in support of Dalstrom's lawsuit.

Richards, who was Dalstrom's immediate supervisor, said it was his 
job to prepare regular performance appraisals on Dalstrom.

"Just before Christmas of 2003 Chief Officer Douglas asked me to 
change two performance appraisals for Mr. Dalstrom," Richards states.

He said Douglas wanted him to change his generally positive 
appraisals of Douglas' work to ones that cited Dalstrom's work on 
Phoenix as unsatisfactory.

"This was untrue," states Richards. "I refused to go along. I told 
Chief Officer Douglas that that would be unethical and unfair. He 
just shrugged and walked away."

In a phone interview Friday, David Butcher, Douglas's lawyer, denied 
Richards' allegation that Douglas asked Richards to change Dalstrom's 
performance appraisal.

Butcher said he had no further comment on the case.

Richards added in his affidavit that he strongly disagreed with the 
decision to fire Dalstrom.

"It appeared that Mr. Dalstrom was being fired simply because David 
Douglas and the RCMP wanted him out of the OCABC," Richards stated. 
"To my mind, this was simply politics."

According to an affidavit filed by Dalstrom, he was told a week 
before Christmas 2003 that he had been relieved of his duties and to go home.

"I was not told why I was sent home, who had made the decision, or 
why," Dalstrom wrote. "I was merely told that there was no work to 
assign to me."

On Feb. 5, Dalstrom received a letter telling him he was being put on 
administrative leave because there was no work to do.

"I was devastated," Dalstrom wrote. "It appeared to me that I was 
losing not just my job, but the career I loved."

On July 19, 2004, Dalstrom received a letter from Douglas telling him 
he was terminated.

On April 11, 2006, he filed his wrongful dismissal suit.

At the time Douglas fired Dalstrom, he didn't provide any reasons to 
Dalstrom for his dismissal. As part of the legal case, Douglas has 
since argued Dalstrom's firing was due to his mismanagement of 
Phoenix and for speaking to Sher.

A key legal issue in Dalstrom's case is whether he was entitled to 
the same legal protections as regular municipal police officers.

Under the Police Act, a municipal officer cannot be fired except for 
specific types of misconduct spelled out in the Act.

Dalstrom joined the OCABC in 2000 after resigning his position with 
the Vancouver police.

According to Dalstrom, he believed that working with OCABC carried 
the same job security as the VPD.

RCMP spokeswoman Const. Annie Linteau said she was unfamiliar with 
the Dalstrom case and could not comment on his allegations about the RCMP.

Neither Dalstrom nor his lawyer, Kevin Woodall, could be reached for 
comment Friday.
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