Pubdate: Sun, 13 Sep 2015
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Jacques Gallant
Page: A1

JUDGE ISSUES BLISTERING CRITICISM OF DURHAM COP

Conduct, including a threat to plant cocaine on suspect, 'must be
condemned' by court

When an expletive-filled video of Durham police Const. James Ebdon
threatening to beat up a man and plant cocaine on him went viral in
2013, very little information was provided as to when and why the
incident occurred.

The police wouldn't even confirm at the time the identity of the
officer, who says in the 81⁄ 2- minute clip outside a known
Oshawa crack house: "You give me attitude and I'm gonna f---ing drag
you uptown. I'm gonna say you assaulted me. I'm gonna say you
threatened me."

The force told the Star in 2013 that Ebdon was disciplined for
discreditable conduct, but wouldn't disclose his penalty.

A recent court case has now filled in the blanks, with a Superior
Court judge taking the rare step of saying Ebdon "committed several
criminal offences in the course of his duties."

Durham police spokesman Dave Selby told the Star last week that Ebdon
would not be available for an interview. He is not facing any criminal
charges.

"Const. Ebdon continues to work for us. Although I can't discuss any
internal personnel files, I can say any court ruling or comment by a
justice that we become aware of is taken seriously and reviewed." The
court case in question stems from Project Kingfisher, a massive drug
bust undertaken by Durham and Peterborough police and the OPP's Biker
Enforcement Unit dating to 2011, in which 28 people were arrested.

One of the accused was Harley Guindon, who, along with several
co-accused, had his charges stayed by the Crown in the past two weeks.
His trial was set to begin Monday. The Crown provided no reasons for
the stay.

In June, Guindon asked Justice Laura Bird, a former Crown attorney
appointed to the bench just six months prior, to exclude evidence
obtained through dialled-number recorder and tracking warrants,
arguing that the police did not provide enough information to prove
they had reasonable grounds to monitor him.

Bird dismissed his application, but not without delivering a
blistering assessment of Ebdon's conduct, whose story changed several
times on the stand.

Although Ebdon was not an investigator in Project Kingfisher, Bird
wrote, his videotaped interaction with the man outside the house -
identified as Bradley Cox, an acquaintance of Guindon's - should have
been included by a Durham police detective constable in the
information to obtain (ITO) the warrants.

The video was played in court and Bird noted that Ebdon can be heard
saying into his police radio, "we think he is associated to Harley
Guindon."

"The Crown fairly makes no attempt to defend the conduct of Constable
Ebdon. It would be futile to do so," Bird wrote.

"The evidence establishes that Constable Ebdon committed several
criminal offences in the course of his duties. He has no appreciation
for the seriousness of his conduct and continues to patrol the streets
of Durham. Conduct such as that exhibited by this officer has no place
in our society and it must be condemned by the court."

Guindon's lawyer, Alan Richter, still plans to argue that the Crown
pay his client's costs, despite the stay of proceedings.

"It's pretty clear from the video that the purpose for Const. Ebdon
dealing with Mr. Cox on that occasion was to investigate my client,"
Richter told the Star.

At another point in the video, Ebdon tells Cox about how he should
behave the next time they see each other: "Yes sir, no sir, three bags
full, whatever the f--k you want, can I suck your c--k sir, can I do a
backflip."

Ebdon first testified before Bird that he had prepared no notes or
reports about the interaction, yet a report he authored, dated Dec. 6,
2011, emerged after his testimony and was sent to the defence by the
Crown.

Ebdon, who Bird found was "not a credible or reliable witness," was
then called to testify again, at which point he produced a report
dated Dec. 9, 2011, dealing with another interaction with Cox.

The Dec. 6 report, from the encounter caught on tape, was described as
"unquestionably a work of fiction" by the judge, who also criticized
two other officers who stood passively by in the video.

Ebdon wrote that Cox was "difficult to deal with," but that he
"voluntarily" emptied his own pockets to prove he had no drugs or weapons.

Ebdon testified that his behaviour was justified because Cox had made
threats to the officer's family, something that is not caught on
camera and that Bird wrote was not in his notes.

"I find that Constable Ebdon's evidence in this regard was a poor
attempt to justify what is unjustifiable," she said, adding that Ebdon
was docked 24 hours pay as a result of his actions caught on tape.

Policy for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the federal
agency that prosecutes drug offences, dictates that a Crown counsel
must inform their supervisor in writing when a judge makes a finding
that misleading evidence has been given by a police witness, so that
the matter can be referred to the police. A spokesman said the agency
never confirms whether this has actually been done.

Court heard that the officer who prepared the ITOs in early 2012 -
when the judge said rumours were swirling among the police force about
the Cox video - would have seen in the police computer system Ebdon's
two reports dealing with Cox, but he testified that he did not read
them as he does not read all reports related to police targets.

Bird concluded that the officer who filed the ITOs did not intend to
mislead the justice of the peace who signed off on them and that there
was still enough reliable information pulled from other sources to
obtain the warrants.

"I have no confidence that the Durham Regional Police executive will
do anything further with Const. Ebdon," Richter, Guindon's lawyer,
told the Star. "What Ebdon did cast a pall on all the other officers
who try and do a good job."
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MAP posted-by: Matt