Saturday, August 23, 2008

 

A silent end to what was once a stellar career

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They pulled him off the job and refused him access to the Victoria Police Building. Then they accuse him of receiving a salary for "doing nothing". Read on. - BC Mary.

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MYSTERY OVER TOP B.C. COP RESIGNATION UNRAVELS

CTVBC.CA - Updated Fri. Aug. 22 2008


It's been a 10-month mystery. One day, he's a well-respected police chief, the next day he's suspended over a secret personnel issue.

But it appears the mystery is now unravelling. It wasn't a criminal issue that brought down former Victoria Police chief Paul Pattershill. It was his alleged affair with police board lawyer Marli Rusen.

Until this spring, Rusen worked for law firm Heenan Blaikie.

An official with the law firm says the allegation is that Marli Rusen was secretly having an affair with Paul Battershill while also offering legal advice to the Victoria police board.

In a statement to the media, Heenan Blaikie says:

"Upon learning this information regarding the alleged conduct of this former member of the firm, we reported the matter to the Law Society of British Columbia."

And now the Law Society has launched its own investigation into a complaint against Rusen.


{Snip} ...


Battershill was once an outspoken cop who was often called upon to rule on allegations of police misconduct. But he has never spoken about his own troubles and couldn't be reached Friday. So it's a silent end to what was once a stellar career.


With a report by CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080822/BC_battershill_police_080822/20080822?hub=Canada

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Calling all journalists: please report on all affairs, past and present, among public officials, beginning with the premier's office. Of course, that means "sexual relationship" in the unromantic terminology of the Police Board. Investigate. Start with the premier's office. Then the Attorney-General. Next: the Solicitor-General. And hey, why not the CanWest Newsrooms? I'll wager that office romances have never happened before, eh? Or if such things have happened, you will call for a public inquiry into each case.

Sorry. Just a sad little joke for a very sad state of ... um, err ... affairs. - BC Mary.


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Comments:
Well put Mary. This has the odour of another hit job perpetrated by the godfather of BC Lib/Socred inheritor politics.

You know who I mean. The same man who engineered the downfall of another 'liberal' leader of the opposition.

Find some 'personal' reason to bring down anyone who might be in the way; anyone who might threaten to tell truth to power; anyone who could interfere with the 'organized' and traitorous sell off of this province and its wealth to other members of the 'family'.

I don't know what it was that Battershill knew about the political establishment - or what that tight little clique thought he might know - but there is no doubt he's been 'taken' out.

Just like Judi Tyabji and Gordon Wilson were.

Thugs!

Do you suppose Heenan Blaikie reports on every lawyer on the letterhead who has a fling in the conference room with a new secretary?

By the way, whatever happened to little erik bornmann and his application for admission to the Law Society of Upper Canada?

I think he'd fit right in here in BC.
 
CALLING ALL JOURNALIST:
Start with the office of the shamefully demoted, former SOL/GEN, RICH COLEMAN!
Remember; 'what do dirty dogs do, when they lay down, THEY LIE!'
 
You have said it like it is is Mary, G West and anonymous . . . It is what it is according to the rules of the members of the gang: A targeted selective HIT.

As for the Law Society perhaps there should be a probe into WHO is pulling the strings on that 'organization' linked to the gang: including Ken Dobell who was recently removed as a Lay Bencher when his lobbying tactics were uncovered.

Or how about the former Ombudsman who the Legislative Committee chose not to renew his position; for what reasons?

Yet the former Ombudsman was quietly appointed to a top Administrative role with the Law Society at the same time as Dobell?

Curious . . . Birds of a feather. . . and all those stinking "dots".
 
Right on Mary, they have amazing resumes, Rusen a gold medal in Law and Battershill with a stellar career of accomplishments and bravery. To destroy them simply because they had something together is sick, really sick.
 
If this is truly what they had on him to spark all of this, it is completely disgusting. It sounds more and more like Victorian Victoria!
 
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Anonymous 5:00,

Your sensitive words are very much appreciated.

I've been searching for more information on the Heenan Blaikie break-in and found quite a bit on this very web-site. Use the Search Box at top left on your screen.

Here's one of the first inklings of what had happened:

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=8d602543-b3cd-4c19-9f92-a4ad35175196&k=91267

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Then I looked up Bruce Torrie.


Bruce Torrie, a Victoria lawyer and a former legal counsel to the Liberals who has been briefing high mucky mucks in that party about the possible infiltration of the Liberal Party of Canada by organized crime. It would seem someone got nervous and did a professional burglary job of his home. What does Torrie think? "I think organized crime was trying to find out what I know about their activities within the Liberal Party of Canada."

- from Reflections on Canadian Politics, 13 February 2004.

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Here's the last comments made by Chief Battershill before he went silent. I had forgotten that this whole unlovely business had conveniently erupted while Battershill was on a speaking assignment in ... Halifax.



Police chief says allegations are 'wrong or spun'

Battershill forced to take paid leave; details not revealed but mayor says it's a personnel issue

Louise Dickson
Times Colonist - October 12, 2007

Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill will face the police board next week to answer allegations that have removed him from his job and placed him on administrative leave.

But in an e-mail to the Times Colonist last night, the chief said he suspects most of the allegations are "wrong or spun."

"When I get back I'll have a look at what they are saying," wrote Battershill, who was returning to Victoria late last night from Halifax, where he was supposed to be speaking at a conference on civilian oversight of police.

"The reality is that chiefs always get attacked toward the end of their tenure."

Battershill, who has been chief since 1999, is under contract with the city until December 2008.

Mayor Alan Lowe, chairman of the police board, refused yesterday to explain what the allegations are, other than to say they have to do with a personnel issue. He said they are being taken "seriously."

Lowe said Battershill is not under investigation; rather, the police board put him on leave until the chief can review the information and defend himself. "It's the fairest option due to the fact he was out of town and did not see the information that was put in front of us," he said.

The bombshell dropped Wednesday about 4:30 p.m. when Lowe convened an emergency meeting of the police board, which continued past midnight. Deputy police chief Bill Naughton, who is now acting as chief, and police inspectors were called to answer questions.

Because he was in Halifax, Battershill was only able to defend himself via a conference call with board members.

Administrative leave means Battershill is not allowed to enter the police building. He cannot receive e-mails, and his BlackBerry has been blocked. It's different from a suspension, Lowe said, noting the term suspension would mean an investigation is underway.

 
As much as the public likes to point the finger at the spokesperson for the police department, when something goes wrong, perhaps its the Police Board which the public should be directing their complaints towards.

According to the Police Act its the BC Liberals (current government of BC) that gets to appoint the majority, up to five members, to the Victoria/Esquimalt "POLICE BOARD

The Victoria Police Board currently consists of eight members, including the Chair. Under the British Columbia Police Act, the Mayor of a municipality is always the Chair of the municipal police department. As the VicPD has jurisdiction within two municipalities, Mayor Clement of Esquimalt is the Vice Chair. In addition to Mayors Lowe and Clement, there are six appointed members, five Provincial appointees and one Council Appointee. The Council Appointee (Victoria) is pending.

The 2008 Victoria Police Board is comprised of:
Mayor Lowe of Victoria, Chair
Mayor Clement of Esquimalt, Vice Chair
Ms. Catherine Holt, Provincial Appointee.
Mr. Ralston Alexander, Provincial Appointee
Ms. Christine Stoneman, Provincial Appointee
Mr. Ken MacLeod, Provincial Appointee
Ms. Lindalee Brougham, Provincial Appointee
Ms. Kathy Mick, Council Appointee (Esquimalt)
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anon 5:00PM

Simple yet powerful. Thanks. With my limited skills I couldn't have said it as well as you have.
 
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North Van's Grumps,

Again, we owe you thanks for your research findings.

So the Mayor of Victoria is a BC Liberal with political ambitions.

The Police Board is made up of appointees chosen by the BC Liberal government. So we may assume that they, too, are BC Liberals.

Supreme Court Case #23299 (Basi-Virk-BC Rail) is a very important case which, so far, is reflecting poorly upon the current Liberal Government of Gordon Campbell.

And ex-Chief Paul Battershill will be an important witness when the case comes to trial.

The pre-trial hearings begin again on September 17.

So is it sheer co-incidence that Paul Battershill is under attack?


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"they have amazing resumes, Rusen a gold medal in Law and Battershill with a stellar career of accomplishments and bravery."

Sorry, wrong qualities to assure success in "The Greatest Place (for scammers) on Earth" under Gordo and his gang. Here we value and reward a maximum of greed and a minimum of ethics. If you ain't a greed infested con-man, with a good eye out for the big score, go east, or somewhere else.

How can we reward the right actions since we don't really even keep score properly. We only care about the accepted bottom-line evaluation, yet most of the costs are deferred, ignored or just left for the descendents to deal with. What is called profit, is not profit if the true "costs" aren't accounted for.
 
Bottom of page 21/107 of this Handbook lays out who speaks for a municipal police board of which there are only 11:

Municipal Police Boards

There are 11 municipal police departments in British Columbia serving the following communities: Abbotsford, Delta, Central Saanich, Nelson, New Westminster, Oak Bay, Port Moody, Saanich, Vancouver, Victoria and West Vancouver. The RCMP serves all other B.C. municipalities.

The Police Act requires each municipal police department to have a board consisting of:

The mayor who acts as board chair
One person appointed by the municipal council
Up to five people appointed by the Province.

The appointment criteria and process allows municipal governments to contribute to the makeup of their police board while also distancing the boards from regular council operations. This ensures independence which is fundamental to policing in a free and democratic society.




Hmmmmm..... In light of the police raid on the BC Legislature how can this process assure the public that there is independence when one of the Board members for Victoria/Esquimalt was appointed by the Provincial Goverment, upon the approval of municipal politicians, who came from within the working confines of the Premier's Office?

Sure, she has the right qualifications, but there must be many others who are equal to the challenge, in what Premier Gordon Campbell promised to be an "open and transparent" government.
 
Nancy, Jessica, Lara. Just who is number one for Gordon Campbell anyway? Are there any answers besides Kevin Potvan's article which, as noted, hasn't drawn any law suits? Seems almost like Bountiful doesn't it?
 
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NVG,

That was a great piece of work you did ... many thanks for sharing it with us.

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