Sunday, September 21, 2008
Battershill saga: what happened to the police chief
.
Today, for the first time, Times Colonist reporter Rob Shaw reveals the events that set in motion Paul Battershill's downfall.
Rob Shaw, Times Colonist, File
Published: Sunday, September 21, 2008
Just a year ago, Paul Battershill was the highly regarded police chief of the city of Victoria. He had a reputation as a progressive police officer -- Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe called him a "New Age kind of guy."
Then suddenly, on Oct. 11, 2007, he was placed on administrative leave, and on Nov. 6, he was suspended with pay while the RCMP investigated allegations of misconduct against him.
Eleven months later, Battershill resigned, five days before a scheduled disclipinary hearing. His resignation was accepted because the Victoria Police Board had suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill, Lowe said.
Until now there has never been a public airing of the allegations against the former chief. But today, for the first time, Times Colonist reporter Rob Shaw reveals the events that set in motion Battershill's downfall. Using sources who were present at the time, he has pieced together the heretofore secret events that led to resignation of the police chief.
The fall of Victoria police chief Paul Battershill started, oddly enough, at a meeting about crime in the city's downtown core. It was Aug. 29, 2007, and Mayor Alan Lowe was facing tough questions from the business community about rising petty crime and whether the police force had the money to continue boosted downtown police patrols.
Business owners told the mayor they loved seeing extra officers walk the beat to tackle the city's chronic street problems. But the mayor and the department warned that those extra bodies had to come from other units, and the budget was stretched thin.
Among those attending that night was businessman Gerald Hartwig, who owns numerous downtown buildings. Hartwig believed there was more money in police coffers than the mayor was suggesting and wondered how much had been spent on a series of severance packages for high-ranking officers in the last few years.
{Snip} ...
Some board members had already heard rumblings about what was about to occur. The rank and file of the department had expressed displeasure toward senior management and Battershill after the suicide of a constable in September, sources said. The officer had killed himself after being informed by senior managers he was to be investigated for alleged misuse of a Taser.
The suicide seemed to bring the crisis between Battershill and his senior managers to a head, even more so than the FOI request from Hartwig, sources said.
"It was precipitated by the businessman's letter, but it was on its way anyway, it was coming down the pipe," said a source with first-hand knowledge of the process.
Nonetheless, some board members expressed shock at what they heard in the meeting. Vice-chairman Chris Clement has called it one of the most extraordinary meetings he has ever attended.
In addition to Battershill's affair with Rusen, sources say other allegations heard by the board that night included:
- That Battershill had offered Insp. Cory Bond the job of police chief in the future if she supported his decision to get rid of the department's backup police boat, to save money. She interpreted this as inappropriate. The police board was unaware of the offer.
- That sometime in late 2006 or early 2007 Battershill had placed numbered locks on his office door and limited access to the office, including cleaning staff and his executive assistant. He had also placed a surveillance camera in the ceiling.
- That Battershill kept alcohol in his office, even though he knew the board had approved a policy prohibiting alcohol in the building and was waiting for the policy to receive provincial approval. Earlier that same year, 2007, he disciplined a West Vancouver constable who drank in her station and then drove drunk.
- That some senior officers were dissatisfied and worried that numerous colleagues had been dismissed without cause during Battershill's tenure as chief.
- That some officers were fearful of coming forward because they felt their careers were at risk and feared retribution by Battershill when he discovered who they were.
"It became obvious there was a severe loss of faith by senior management," said a source who was there. "Those men and women who came into the room that night were so severely concerned about the path the police department was taking that they were willing to put their jobs on the line."
Still, some of the senior officers and civilian employees had nothing bad to say when asked about Battershill and were unaware of the allegations by their co-workers. Some officers praised him, while others continue to believe certain allegations were unfounded, leaving a deep divide among working colleagues.
At the time of the meeting, the department had a deputy chief and seven inspectors beneath Battershill. Four of them - then deputy chief Bill Naughton, Insp. Cory Bond, Insp. Darrell McLean and Insp. John Ducker - refused to come back into police headquarters if Battershill remained as chief.
Shortly afterwards, in what would be one of his last public interviews, Battershill told the Times Colonist from Halifax the allegations were "wrong" and "spun" and he would address them when he returned.
The board took the ultimatum from senior staff, and their concerns about their jobs, seriously. Clement said the staff's lack of confidence in Battershill affected the board's confidence in him as well.
"You can't run a police department if your senior management refuses to show up because of their grievances with the chief," another close source said. "You do not have a police department that can function under that leadership.
"You can't ignore four of your most senior officers saying the same thing."
The eight-hour meeting finished after 2 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11. "At the end of the meeting that night, everyone agreed Battershill could not come back into the building," said one person in the room. "It was unanimous."
Lowe then e-mailed Battershill to tell him he had been placed on administrative leave, with pay. The chief was barred from the building, and his BlackBerry was blocked. The news spread quickly to the Halifax conference, where Battershill was giving a presentation on effective civilian oversight of police departments.
When Battershill returned to the city days later, Lowe said the two walked along the waterfront to talk. Lowe would not say what about. He said the meeting was in keeping with his role as the board's discipline authority for the chief.
The police board was left with two options - it could do its own investigation and make a decision as Battershill's employer about whether to fire him, or it could send the matter to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner for review under the Police Act.
With its own investigation, the board could have set parameters and made its own decision about what to do with the chief. On the other hand, the complaint commissioner could provide a third-party review, and also limit whether the city and police department could be sued for wrongful dismissal.
Sources in the room say the board was divided on its decision, but ultimately chose to have Battershill's conduct investigated by the complaint commissioner.
On Nov. 6, Battershill's administrative leave was changed to suspension with pay as the RCMP began its investigation on behalf of the complaint commissioner. Naughton was promoted to interim chief, a position he has now held for almost a year.
To aid in the investigation, the board summarized approximately 13 points of concern for the complaint commissioner. However, since the Police Act deals with issues of public trust and code-of-professional-conduct regulations - such as deceit, corrupt practices, neglect of duty, discreditable conduct and abuse of authority - the investigators deemed that several of the staff concerns about personnel matters and management style were not applicable. The allegations were narrowed to seven, although the board was not told how or why, sources said.
Six RCMP investigators spent six months and 1,900 hours interviewing 37 people and examining 900 documents.
For months, the public heard nothing about the investigation, about who was interviewed, or even what the investigation was about. All Lowe said publicly was that the allegations against Battershill involved a "personnel matter."
On April 23, 2008, the RCMP submitted its final report, which concluded that only one allegation - the affair with Rusen, to which Battershill had admitted - was substantiated. The Mounties suggested Battershill be suspended. As a result, Lowe began negotiating with Battershill's legal team to schedule a disciplinary hearing, where the chief would be allowed to present his case before Lowe ruled on what kind of discipline, if any, he would impose on Battershill. Different dates came and went without progress, because Battershill requested more information and the lawyers kept negotiating details, Lowe has said.
The rest of the allegations pitted Battershill's word against that of his officers and could not be proven to a civil standard - the legal benchmark used by the Police Act, which is less than the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
The complaint commissioner also didn't examine whether Battershill had lost the confidence of his police board - which it seemed he had. According to members, the board viewed the affair as a direct conflict of interest, because Battershill was having a relationship with a person he had contracted, with taxpayer money, to give unbiased advice on sensitive labour issues for his employees, sources said.
Although Rusen denied the affair to Heenan Blaikie, and the RCMP investigation determined neither party profited by the relationship, the board was angered at the poor judgment Battershill showed, sources said. "Either he was having an affair or he wasn't, but the fact he told people he was makes it appear he has a serious conflict even if he's lying," a source said.
All the RCMP's investigative work made for a lengthy final report - but the board was never given a copy to read.
Instead, members received an oral summary from Lowe, a troubling fact for many members. In addition to his close working relationship with Battershill, Lowe had also been interviewed by the RCMP as a witness during its investigation. This prompted the police board to debate numerous times, at in-camera meetings, whether Lowe was in a conflict of interest and whether it was appropriate to get information filtered through him.
Despite the board members' concerns, B.C.'s Police Act didn't allow for an alternative. Under the act, the mayor is always the police board chairman and is the only person who can discipline the chief constable. He doesn't need to get the rest of the board's consent to discipline the chief, nor does he need to share all his information with members. Currently, the Police Act does not explicitly say whether he can delegate the disciplinary job to another person should he feel it necessary, although changes that would allow this are being drafted by the province.
After reading the complaint commissioner's report, Lowe began negotiating with Battershill's legal team, which included high-profile Vancouver lawyer Len Doust. On July 28, Battershill offered to resign, Lowe said.
Board members were not included in the negotiations, sources say, and only received word from Lowe when he had reached a settlement agreement.
Under the deal, Battershill received $15,000 for his legal bills, and both sides signed a non-disclosure clause that forbade them from talking about the issue. The board voted in favour of the deal and Lowe publicly called it a good arrangement for taxpayers.
On Aug. 13, Lowe held a press conference to announce Battershill's resignation, five days before he was to face a scheduled disciplinary hearing.
"The investigation completed by the RCMP did not find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, had any involvement with any criminal activity, nor did it find any financial impropriety," he told media.
But Lowe's reference to a criminal investigation was a red herring. The next day, Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld told the Times Colonist that the RCMP investigation was never about criminal acts.
A review of Battershill's severance shows Lowe was required to make the carefully worded statement as part of the deal.
Lowe did not mention to the press the one substantiated allegation, the affair. He said the board suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill's leadership but would not elaborate on what that was.
Ryneveld's 12-page report, made public on Sept. 4, 2008, outlined the reasons for the decision not to hold a public hearing into the Battershill case and released excerpts of the RCMP investigation. It was this report that confirmed the substantiated allegation of the affair with Rusen and clarified that it wasn't the complaint commissioner's place to examine Battershill's management style or his grievances with staff. Ryneveld's report made passing references to camps, political motives and departmental infighting his agency was not willing to investigate.
But for Victoria and Esquimalt taxpayers seeking answers about the complicated 11-month saga, Ryneveld had nothing. He said he recognized the public's desire for details, but said an "exemplary" RCMP investigation, combined with Battershill's resignation, left "insufficient grounds to conclude that a public hearing is necessary in the public interest."
Ryneveld did address the thorny issue of Lowe's role as Battershill's disciplinary authority, noting that a mayor's dual role as police board chairman can be problematic because a police chief and mayor don't work at arm's length - they have a close relationship because they attend the same functions and talk frequently.
Yet Ryneveld concluded the fault lay with the provisions of the Police Act, and not with the mayor's actions. He said that Lowe's close ties with Battershill, and his RCMP testimony, didn't go outside the normal bounds of a police chief-mayor relationship and that, ultimately, Lowe acted appropriately.
Officially, Ryneveld's report was the end of the Battershill affair. There would be no public hearing, no disciplinary hearing for Battershill, no release of the full RCMP investigation, no official explanation of the allegations.
{Snip} ...
The police board is looking for a new chief and have hired a company to help in the search.
Whoever it is will take command of a department that remains, by all accounts, bitterly and deeply divided by the Battershill issue, how it was handled and what allegations, if any, were true.
The new chief will also be subject to annual performance evaluations by the police board thanks to a new policy disclosed this month by the board members.
Lowe, who is not running for office again, has said he hopes to swear in the chief at the November police board meeting, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 11 - four days before a new mayor is voted into office in the municipal election.
rfshaw@tc.canwest.comw
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=364c66f7-4d52-417e-8367-fa286d8115f0
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Battershill Timeline (Times Colonist)
[Sorry, I'm having difficulty copying the URLs. - BC Mary]
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Civilian Oversight Lacking (Times Colonist)
[Google the titles to see the stories.]
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Vancouver Sun has just picked up the main story: Battershill saga
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Today, for the first time, Times Colonist reporter Rob Shaw reveals the events that set in motion Paul Battershill's downfall.
Rob Shaw, Times Colonist, File
Published: Sunday, September 21, 2008
Just a year ago, Paul Battershill was the highly regarded police chief of the city of Victoria. He had a reputation as a progressive police officer -- Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe called him a "New Age kind of guy."
Then suddenly, on Oct. 11, 2007, he was placed on administrative leave, and on Nov. 6, he was suspended with pay while the RCMP investigated allegations of misconduct against him.
Eleven months later, Battershill resigned, five days before a scheduled disclipinary hearing. His resignation was accepted because the Victoria Police Board had suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill, Lowe said.
Until now there has never been a public airing of the allegations against the former chief. But today, for the first time, Times Colonist reporter Rob Shaw reveals the events that set in motion Battershill's downfall. Using sources who were present at the time, he has pieced together the heretofore secret events that led to resignation of the police chief.
The fall of Victoria police chief Paul Battershill started, oddly enough, at a meeting about crime in the city's downtown core. It was Aug. 29, 2007, and Mayor Alan Lowe was facing tough questions from the business community about rising petty crime and whether the police force had the money to continue boosted downtown police patrols.
Business owners told the mayor they loved seeing extra officers walk the beat to tackle the city's chronic street problems. But the mayor and the department warned that those extra bodies had to come from other units, and the budget was stretched thin.
Among those attending that night was businessman Gerald Hartwig, who owns numerous downtown buildings. Hartwig believed there was more money in police coffers than the mayor was suggesting and wondered how much had been spent on a series of severance packages for high-ranking officers in the last few years.
{Snip} ...
Some board members had already heard rumblings about what was about to occur. The rank and file of the department had expressed displeasure toward senior management and Battershill after the suicide of a constable in September, sources said. The officer had killed himself after being informed by senior managers he was to be investigated for alleged misuse of a Taser.
The suicide seemed to bring the crisis between Battershill and his senior managers to a head, even more so than the FOI request from Hartwig, sources said.
"It was precipitated by the businessman's letter, but it was on its way anyway, it was coming down the pipe," said a source with first-hand knowledge of the process.
Nonetheless, some board members expressed shock at what they heard in the meeting. Vice-chairman Chris Clement has called it one of the most extraordinary meetings he has ever attended.
In addition to Battershill's affair with Rusen, sources say other allegations heard by the board that night included:
- That Battershill had offered Insp. Cory Bond the job of police chief in the future if she supported his decision to get rid of the department's backup police boat, to save money. She interpreted this as inappropriate. The police board was unaware of the offer.
- That sometime in late 2006 or early 2007 Battershill had placed numbered locks on his office door and limited access to the office, including cleaning staff and his executive assistant. He had also placed a surveillance camera in the ceiling.
- That Battershill kept alcohol in his office, even though he knew the board had approved a policy prohibiting alcohol in the building and was waiting for the policy to receive provincial approval. Earlier that same year, 2007, he disciplined a West Vancouver constable who drank in her station and then drove drunk.
- That some senior officers were dissatisfied and worried that numerous colleagues had been dismissed without cause during Battershill's tenure as chief.
- That some officers were fearful of coming forward because they felt their careers were at risk and feared retribution by Battershill when he discovered who they were.
"It became obvious there was a severe loss of faith by senior management," said a source who was there. "Those men and women who came into the room that night were so severely concerned about the path the police department was taking that they were willing to put their jobs on the line."
Still, some of the senior officers and civilian employees had nothing bad to say when asked about Battershill and were unaware of the allegations by their co-workers. Some officers praised him, while others continue to believe certain allegations were unfounded, leaving a deep divide among working colleagues.
At the time of the meeting, the department had a deputy chief and seven inspectors beneath Battershill. Four of them - then deputy chief Bill Naughton, Insp. Cory Bond, Insp. Darrell McLean and Insp. John Ducker - refused to come back into police headquarters if Battershill remained as chief.
Shortly afterwards, in what would be one of his last public interviews, Battershill told the Times Colonist from Halifax the allegations were "wrong" and "spun" and he would address them when he returned.
The board took the ultimatum from senior staff, and their concerns about their jobs, seriously. Clement said the staff's lack of confidence in Battershill affected the board's confidence in him as well.
"You can't run a police department if your senior management refuses to show up because of their grievances with the chief," another close source said. "You do not have a police department that can function under that leadership.
"You can't ignore four of your most senior officers saying the same thing."
The eight-hour meeting finished after 2 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11. "At the end of the meeting that night, everyone agreed Battershill could not come back into the building," said one person in the room. "It was unanimous."
Lowe then e-mailed Battershill to tell him he had been placed on administrative leave, with pay. The chief was barred from the building, and his BlackBerry was blocked. The news spread quickly to the Halifax conference, where Battershill was giving a presentation on effective civilian oversight of police departments.
When Battershill returned to the city days later, Lowe said the two walked along the waterfront to talk. Lowe would not say what about. He said the meeting was in keeping with his role as the board's discipline authority for the chief.
The police board was left with two options - it could do its own investigation and make a decision as Battershill's employer about whether to fire him, or it could send the matter to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner for review under the Police Act.
With its own investigation, the board could have set parameters and made its own decision about what to do with the chief. On the other hand, the complaint commissioner could provide a third-party review, and also limit whether the city and police department could be sued for wrongful dismissal.
Sources in the room say the board was divided on its decision, but ultimately chose to have Battershill's conduct investigated by the complaint commissioner.
On Nov. 6, Battershill's administrative leave was changed to suspension with pay as the RCMP began its investigation on behalf of the complaint commissioner. Naughton was promoted to interim chief, a position he has now held for almost a year.
To aid in the investigation, the board summarized approximately 13 points of concern for the complaint commissioner. However, since the Police Act deals with issues of public trust and code-of-professional-conduct regulations - such as deceit, corrupt practices, neglect of duty, discreditable conduct and abuse of authority - the investigators deemed that several of the staff concerns about personnel matters and management style were not applicable. The allegations were narrowed to seven, although the board was not told how or why, sources said.
Six RCMP investigators spent six months and 1,900 hours interviewing 37 people and examining 900 documents.
For months, the public heard nothing about the investigation, about who was interviewed, or even what the investigation was about. All Lowe said publicly was that the allegations against Battershill involved a "personnel matter."
On April 23, 2008, the RCMP submitted its final report, which concluded that only one allegation - the affair with Rusen, to which Battershill had admitted - was substantiated. The Mounties suggested Battershill be suspended. As a result, Lowe began negotiating with Battershill's legal team to schedule a disciplinary hearing, where the chief would be allowed to present his case before Lowe ruled on what kind of discipline, if any, he would impose on Battershill. Different dates came and went without progress, because Battershill requested more information and the lawyers kept negotiating details, Lowe has said.
The rest of the allegations pitted Battershill's word against that of his officers and could not be proven to a civil standard - the legal benchmark used by the Police Act, which is less than the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
The complaint commissioner also didn't examine whether Battershill had lost the confidence of his police board - which it seemed he had. According to members, the board viewed the affair as a direct conflict of interest, because Battershill was having a relationship with a person he had contracted, with taxpayer money, to give unbiased advice on sensitive labour issues for his employees, sources said.
Although Rusen denied the affair to Heenan Blaikie, and the RCMP investigation determined neither party profited by the relationship, the board was angered at the poor judgment Battershill showed, sources said. "Either he was having an affair or he wasn't, but the fact he told people he was makes it appear he has a serious conflict even if he's lying," a source said.
All the RCMP's investigative work made for a lengthy final report - but the board was never given a copy to read.
Instead, members received an oral summary from Lowe, a troubling fact for many members. In addition to his close working relationship with Battershill, Lowe had also been interviewed by the RCMP as a witness during its investigation. This prompted the police board to debate numerous times, at in-camera meetings, whether Lowe was in a conflict of interest and whether it was appropriate to get information filtered through him.
Despite the board members' concerns, B.C.'s Police Act didn't allow for an alternative. Under the act, the mayor is always the police board chairman and is the only person who can discipline the chief constable. He doesn't need to get the rest of the board's consent to discipline the chief, nor does he need to share all his information with members. Currently, the Police Act does not explicitly say whether he can delegate the disciplinary job to another person should he feel it necessary, although changes that would allow this are being drafted by the province.
After reading the complaint commissioner's report, Lowe began negotiating with Battershill's legal team, which included high-profile Vancouver lawyer Len Doust. On July 28, Battershill offered to resign, Lowe said.
Board members were not included in the negotiations, sources say, and only received word from Lowe when he had reached a settlement agreement.
Under the deal, Battershill received $15,000 for his legal bills, and both sides signed a non-disclosure clause that forbade them from talking about the issue. The board voted in favour of the deal and Lowe publicly called it a good arrangement for taxpayers.
On Aug. 13, Lowe held a press conference to announce Battershill's resignation, five days before he was to face a scheduled disciplinary hearing.
"The investigation completed by the RCMP did not find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, had any involvement with any criminal activity, nor did it find any financial impropriety," he told media.
But Lowe's reference to a criminal investigation was a red herring. The next day, Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld told the Times Colonist that the RCMP investigation was never about criminal acts.
A review of Battershill's severance shows Lowe was required to make the carefully worded statement as part of the deal.
Lowe did not mention to the press the one substantiated allegation, the affair. He said the board suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill's leadership but would not elaborate on what that was.
Ryneveld's 12-page report, made public on Sept. 4, 2008, outlined the reasons for the decision not to hold a public hearing into the Battershill case and released excerpts of the RCMP investigation. It was this report that confirmed the substantiated allegation of the affair with Rusen and clarified that it wasn't the complaint commissioner's place to examine Battershill's management style or his grievances with staff. Ryneveld's report made passing references to camps, political motives and departmental infighting his agency was not willing to investigate.
But for Victoria and Esquimalt taxpayers seeking answers about the complicated 11-month saga, Ryneveld had nothing. He said he recognized the public's desire for details, but said an "exemplary" RCMP investigation, combined with Battershill's resignation, left "insufficient grounds to conclude that a public hearing is necessary in the public interest."
Ryneveld did address the thorny issue of Lowe's role as Battershill's disciplinary authority, noting that a mayor's dual role as police board chairman can be problematic because a police chief and mayor don't work at arm's length - they have a close relationship because they attend the same functions and talk frequently.
Yet Ryneveld concluded the fault lay with the provisions of the Police Act, and not with the mayor's actions. He said that Lowe's close ties with Battershill, and his RCMP testimony, didn't go outside the normal bounds of a police chief-mayor relationship and that, ultimately, Lowe acted appropriately.
Officially, Ryneveld's report was the end of the Battershill affair. There would be no public hearing, no disciplinary hearing for Battershill, no release of the full RCMP investigation, no official explanation of the allegations.
{Snip} ...
The police board is looking for a new chief and have hired a company to help in the search.
Whoever it is will take command of a department that remains, by all accounts, bitterly and deeply divided by the Battershill issue, how it was handled and what allegations, if any, were true.
The new chief will also be subject to annual performance evaluations by the police board thanks to a new policy disclosed this month by the board members.
Lowe, who is not running for office again, has said he hopes to swear in the chief at the November police board meeting, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 11 - four days before a new mayor is voted into office in the municipal election.
rfshaw@tc.canwest.comw
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=364c66f7-4d52-417e-8367-fa286d8115f0
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Battershill Timeline (Times Colonist)
[Sorry, I'm having difficulty copying the URLs. - BC Mary]
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Civilian Oversight Lacking (Times Colonist)
[Google the titles to see the stories.]
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Vancouver Sun has just picked up the main story: Battershill saga
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Thursday, August 14, 2008
To Globe and Mail from BC Mary
.
Today's Globe and Mail story:
Victoria police chief's exit shrouded in secrecy
BRENNAN CLARKE
Print Edition 14/08/08 Page S1
Embattled Victoria police chief Paul Battershill officially resigned his post this week, 10 months after he was suspended over an unspecified ''personnel matter'' and less than a week before a B.C. Police Complaint Commission disciplinary hearing. {Snip} ...
Comment #22: You (BC Mary, from Canada) wrote:
Because Paul Battershill, as Chief Constable of Victoria Police, was co-leader of the police raid on the B.C. Legislature (Dec. 28/03) ... and because of CanWest's indifference to that news ... I run a blog called The Legislature Raids. So I have watched this side-show with great concern.
Note: Don't ask me why those numbers appear in the left column. They just do, and I can't get rid of them. My faithful eMac computer is dying. So it's been difficult to get the URL for each item, too. Takes about 10x as long to do anything. New iMac arrives soon. Things should look better then. Right now, though, I need to write to Gary Mason who is busy bashing B.C. cops again today. Fine. But what about Paul Battershill, I say.
Below is part of Victoria Times Colonist's editorial on Battershill; definitely one of the best so far. - BC Mary.
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BATTERSHILL'S FALL REMAINS A MYSTERY
Times Colonist - August 14, 2008
Just over two years ago -- on May 23, 2006 -- the City of Victoria and Mayor Alan Lowe had such great confidence in the leadership abilities of Police Chief Paul Battershill that he was appointed acting city manager.
Before that, the Edmonton police department had wanted him as its chief. Some provincial New Democrats had even approached him about taking at run at their leadership.
To call him highly regarded seemed an understatement.
Yet yesterday Lowe, in his capacity as chairman of the Victoria Police Board, announced that the board had lost confidence in Battershill's ability to lead the police department and that Battershill had resigned as chief.
What happened?
{SNIP} ...
... the police board and Battershill reached a settlement agreement that prevents either party from disclosing the contents of the RCMP's investigation report into the allegations against Battershill.
The only exception was to disclose that the investigation, by Supt. Bill Ard, "did not find any financial impropriety on the part of Battershill, nor did it find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, or had any involvement with any criminal activity."
That might eliminate some of the wilder speculation surrounding Battershill's departure but it doesn't offer any clues as to what caused the police board's loss of confidence in the chief.
Lowe has said repeatedly that it's a "personnel" issue. The taxpayers of Victoria deserve a better explanation than that.
{Snip} ...
Victoria taxpayers, who have underwritten Battershill's $167,000 annual salary since his suspension, would surely like to know what led to the chief's fall from grace. Lowe had the authority to release Ard's report, but the settlement agreement with Battershill, which includes the city paying $15,000 toward his legal expenses, precludes that.
Lowe has passed the buck now to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which could convene a public hearing if the commissioner believes it would be in the public interest.
Since Battershill is no longer a police officer, a hearing would not result in any disciplinary action. It might, however, help the public determine whether or not Battershill's resignation is a just outcome.
Not that any discipline is necessarily warranted. We don't even know the nature of the allegations, let alone the outcome of Ard's investigation.
All we really know is that the city no longer has to pay Battershill for staying at home, and that it can concentrate on finding a new leader. [That's a helluva snide way to describe the situation -- "paying Battershill for staying at home". Can they just not stop themselves from dissing? - BC Mary.]
That's small consolation for keeping taxpayers in the dark about how such a highly regarded chief as Paul Battershill could fall out of favour.
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Today's Globe and Mail story:
Victoria police chief's exit shrouded in secrecy
BRENNAN CLARKE
Print Edition 14/08/08 Page S1
Embattled Victoria police chief Paul Battershill officially resigned his post this week, 10 months after he was suspended over an unspecified ''personnel matter'' and less than a week before a B.C. Police Complaint Commission disciplinary hearing. {Snip} ...
Comment #22: You (BC Mary, from Canada) wrote:
Because Paul Battershill, as Chief Constable of Victoria Police, was co-leader of the police raid on the B.C. Legislature (Dec. 28/03) ... and because of CanWest's indifference to that news ... I run a blog called The Legislature Raids. So I have watched this side-show with great concern.
Research tells me that Battershill is an outstanding cop, forward-thinking as well as courageous. His creds were proven when he was asked to step into a short-term management position for the City of Victoria. Now, as the trial arising out of the Legislature raid is coming closer, people might well question whether this man is being deliberately side-lined before he gives evidence. The findings are that he did nothing wrong, didn't associate with wrong-doing, and made no financial errors. So ... ?
The comments on this thread suggest to me that other people believe that we're seeing a good cop being harassed until he quits. Is this OK? I don't think so.
I wish Paul Battershill well and hope that he returns to public service in some other city, or some other way. I don't see how we can keep denouncing "bad cops" while letting this sort of witch-hunt happen to a good cop under a cloud of official secrecy.
The Legislature Raids
http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/
Note: Don't ask me why those numbers appear in the left column. They just do, and I can't get rid of them. My faithful eMac computer is dying. So it's been difficult to get the URL for each item, too. Takes about 10x as long to do anything. New iMac arrives soon. Things should look better then. Right now, though, I need to write to Gary Mason who is busy bashing B.C. cops again today. Fine. But what about Paul Battershill, I say.
Below is part of Victoria Times Colonist's editorial on Battershill; definitely one of the best so far. - BC Mary.
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BATTERSHILL'S FALL REMAINS A MYSTERY
Times Colonist - August 14, 2008
Just over two years ago -- on May 23, 2006 -- the City of Victoria and Mayor Alan Lowe had such great confidence in the leadership abilities of Police Chief Paul Battershill that he was appointed acting city manager.
Before that, the Edmonton police department had wanted him as its chief. Some provincial New Democrats had even approached him about taking at run at their leadership.
To call him highly regarded seemed an understatement.
Yet yesterday Lowe, in his capacity as chairman of the Victoria Police Board, announced that the board had lost confidence in Battershill's ability to lead the police department and that Battershill had resigned as chief.
What happened?
{SNIP} ...
... the police board and Battershill reached a settlement agreement that prevents either party from disclosing the contents of the RCMP's investigation report into the allegations against Battershill.
The only exception was to disclose that the investigation, by Supt. Bill Ard, "did not find any financial impropriety on the part of Battershill, nor did it find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, or had any involvement with any criminal activity."
That might eliminate some of the wilder speculation surrounding Battershill's departure but it doesn't offer any clues as to what caused the police board's loss of confidence in the chief.
Lowe has said repeatedly that it's a "personnel" issue. The taxpayers of Victoria deserve a better explanation than that.
{Snip} ...
Victoria taxpayers, who have underwritten Battershill's $167,000 annual salary since his suspension, would surely like to know what led to the chief's fall from grace. Lowe had the authority to release Ard's report, but the settlement agreement with Battershill, which includes the city paying $15,000 toward his legal expenses, precludes that.
Lowe has passed the buck now to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which could convene a public hearing if the commissioner believes it would be in the public interest.
Since Battershill is no longer a police officer, a hearing would not result in any disciplinary action. It might, however, help the public determine whether or not Battershill's resignation is a just outcome.
Not that any discipline is necessarily warranted. We don't even know the nature of the allegations, let alone the outcome of Ard's investigation.
All we really know is that the city no longer has to pay Battershill for staying at home, and that it can concentrate on finding a new leader. [That's a helluva snide way to describe the situation -- "paying Battershill for staying at home". Can they just not stop themselves from dissing? - BC Mary.]
That's small consolation for keeping taxpayers in the dark about how such a highly regarded chief as Paul Battershill could fall out of favour.
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Paul Battershill death threat
.
My eyes are popping. Even though I've been secretly dreading news that a gun and/or murder had become part of the whole picture of suppression in the Basi Virk / BC Rail Case ... what I can't believe is that such an event happened two years ago ... June 2006. Two years ago, and we didn't even know!
June 2006 is when the trial of Basi-Virk was supposed to begin. That's why this web-site, The Legislature Raids, was established in May 2006 ... because we thought the trial was beginning. We were pretty sure that the public wasn't getting all the news. And we were correct. Since then, it's been one suppression after another.
But this! Was "somebody" threatening to silence Victoria's Chief of Police at that critical point?
I've been googling "Battershill" high and low, without ever seeing this hugely significant news. Nor was the death threat reported (apparently) when it happened -- on June 8, 2006, which was a month prior to Russ Francis writing it up for The Straight. Without seeing this old news item, I couldn't have believed that ALL reporters and ALL media could have been brought on-side to agree on keeping this news quiet.
A thousand questions spring to mind: is Paul Battershill still being guarded or has he been thrown to the wolves? Has the threatener been charged? Or Assessed? Or released? Or tried in a court of law? Who is the threatener?
And isn't it alarmingly interesting that Whoever Decides These Things, felt that then-Chief Battershill himself should be armed and not rely solely upon the protective bodyguards ... leaving the burning question: did the threat come from within police ranks, for heaven sake???
Enough of this.
Isn't it time the media, the bureaucrats and the whole system recognized that there's a public interest here? We need to be included in the business of our province. Just expecting us to shut up and pay the bills doesn't quite cut it anymore. - BC Mary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BUREAUCRAT PACKS HEAT
Straight Talk - July 6, 2006
By Russ Francis
A few eyebrows were raised when Victoria police chief Paul Battershill was appointed acting city manager, effective June 1. A former president of the Vancouver Police Union, Battershill is believed to be the first Canadian police chief to act as a municipality's top bureaucrat. Battershill will devote half his time to the police chief's job, while the other half is spent on city administrative work.
But the most surprising thing about Battershill is that, following a bizarre death threat last month, he wears a concealed handgun, even when sitting in his City Hall office, just a few metres from that of mayor Alan Lowe.
During a June 23 interview with the Straight, Battershill lifted up his jacket, revealing a small bulge under his shirt. “They've asked me to carry a handgun,” Battershill said.
Though he is no stranger to bearing arms, this is the first time he's needed to wear a weapon off-duty. He said it's not something he's entirely comfortable with. “It's a pain in the summer,” he said. “If I want to wear a tennis shirt, what do I do?”
Battershill began carrying the handgun after police learned on June 8 [2006] of a threat to shoot him.
At the time, the Victoria city council was meeting as committee of the whole, with Battershill in attendance. Police rushed Battershill out of the meeting and temporarily locked down City Hall. They also assigned bodyguards to the chief and moved him out of town for a time.
“It was disruptive to the first week, for sure,” Battershill said.
Although a suspect was later arrested, charges have yet to be laid and he is not in custody. [??]
The Victoria police behavioural-sciences unit is now assessing the suspect, Battershill said. During the Straight interview, Battershill repeatedly checked his BlackBerry for updates on the threat.
Battershill led Vancouver police emergency-response teams and ran a serious-crimes strike force. As well, Battershill was a member of then–judge Wally Oppal's 1993 commission of inquiry into B.C. policing.
http://www.straight.com/article/bureaucrat-packs-heat-0
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Special thanks are owed to a much-appreciated Anon-Y-mouse who used magic skills to find this story and to share it with us. - BC Mary.
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My eyes are popping. Even though I've been secretly dreading news that a gun and/or murder had become part of the whole picture of suppression in the Basi Virk / BC Rail Case ... what I can't believe is that such an event happened two years ago ... June 2006. Two years ago, and we didn't even know!
June 2006 is when the trial of Basi-Virk was supposed to begin. That's why this web-site, The Legislature Raids, was established in May 2006 ... because we thought the trial was beginning. We were pretty sure that the public wasn't getting all the news. And we were correct. Since then, it's been one suppression after another.
But this! Was "somebody" threatening to silence Victoria's Chief of Police at that critical point?
I've been googling "Battershill" high and low, without ever seeing this hugely significant news. Nor was the death threat reported (apparently) when it happened -- on June 8, 2006, which was a month prior to Russ Francis writing it up for The Straight. Without seeing this old news item, I couldn't have believed that ALL reporters and ALL media could have been brought on-side to agree on keeping this news quiet.
A thousand questions spring to mind: is Paul Battershill still being guarded or has he been thrown to the wolves? Has the threatener been charged? Or Assessed? Or released? Or tried in a court of law? Who is the threatener?
And isn't it alarmingly interesting that Whoever Decides These Things, felt that then-Chief Battershill himself should be armed and not rely solely upon the protective bodyguards ... leaving the burning question: did the threat come from within police ranks, for heaven sake???
Enough of this.
Isn't it time the media, the bureaucrats and the whole system recognized that there's a public interest here? We need to be included in the business of our province. Just expecting us to shut up and pay the bills doesn't quite cut it anymore. - BC Mary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BUREAUCRAT PACKS HEAT
Straight Talk - July 6, 2006
By Russ Francis
A few eyebrows were raised when Victoria police chief Paul Battershill was appointed acting city manager, effective June 1. A former president of the Vancouver Police Union, Battershill is believed to be the first Canadian police chief to act as a municipality's top bureaucrat. Battershill will devote half his time to the police chief's job, while the other half is spent on city administrative work.
But the most surprising thing about Battershill is that, following a bizarre death threat last month, he wears a concealed handgun, even when sitting in his City Hall office, just a few metres from that of mayor Alan Lowe.
During a June 23 interview with the Straight, Battershill lifted up his jacket, revealing a small bulge under his shirt. “They've asked me to carry a handgun,” Battershill said.
Though he is no stranger to bearing arms, this is the first time he's needed to wear a weapon off-duty. He said it's not something he's entirely comfortable with. “It's a pain in the summer,” he said. “If I want to wear a tennis shirt, what do I do?”
Battershill began carrying the handgun after police learned on June 8 [2006] of a threat to shoot him.
At the time, the Victoria city council was meeting as committee of the whole, with Battershill in attendance. Police rushed Battershill out of the meeting and temporarily locked down City Hall. They also assigned bodyguards to the chief and moved him out of town for a time.
“It was disruptive to the first week, for sure,” Battershill said.
Although a suspect was later arrested, charges have yet to be laid and he is not in custody. [??]
The Victoria police behavioural-sciences unit is now assessing the suspect, Battershill said. During the Straight interview, Battershill repeatedly checked his BlackBerry for updates on the threat.
Battershill led Vancouver police emergency-response teams and ran a serious-crimes strike force. As well, Battershill was a member of then–judge Wally Oppal's 1993 commission of inquiry into B.C. policing.
http://www.straight.com/article/bureaucrat-packs-heat-0
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Special thanks are owed to a much-appreciated Anon-Y-mouse who used magic skills to find this story and to share it with us. - BC Mary.
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Friday, October 16, 2009
What hideous mischief is this?
.
Yesterday's front page of the Victoria Times Colonist was plastered with another surge of talk about former Chief Constable Paul Battershill of the Victoria Police Department. At first glance, a reader might think this Battershill guy had done something terrible ... and I suggest that this is precisely what we're expected to think.
But a second, closer look reveals something quite different. CanWest may be on the brink of bankruptcy, but they found enough loose cash in their budget to send a reporter to Cache Creek territory with nothing but this question: "Did you KNOW about Chief Battershill's reputation BEFORE he came to Loon Lake?" It's the world's oldest game of black propaganda.
Anybody looking for mischief could ask around anywhere, anytime, about anybody, and leave behind a cloud of suspicion.
For example: "Did you KNOW about BC Mary's reputation BEFORE she started up The Legislature Raids blog?" ... with a meaningful pause ... and the natural response will be: silence ... a worried face ... then: "Oh my God, No, I DIDN'T know ... (gasp!) ... what did she do? tell me about it!"
This is what unfolded at Cache Creek and Loon Lake, B.C., at the hands of a CanWest journalist. Why would the Editor-in-Chief of the Victoria Times Colonist play around with such a hideous game of mischief? Against a good cop? And this wasn't just mere dabbling, it was featured on the TC's front page, above the fold. Top exposure, visible even to traffic passing by the news boxes. Here's how it unfolded ...
First, the newz article by Rob Shaw:
Battershill saga: Victoria's ex-top cop commands Loon Lake
BY ROB SHAW
TIMES COLONIST - OCTOBER 14, 2009
Paul Battershill resigned as Victoria police chief on Aug. 13, 2008.
In Victoria, he was top cop. But former police chief Paul Battershill, who left this city amid scandal, is now chief of a much smaller organization in a remote corner of B.C. -- the Loon Lake Volunteer Fire Department.
Battershill lives in the Cariboo region, where he commands a 20-person volunteer fire force in a small resort destination northeast of Cache Creek.
Battershill could not be reached for comment.
However, his deputy chief, Ted Crawford, confirmed Battershill has been chief for about a year. The department only handles calls along a 30 kilometre-long rural road, called Loon Lake Road, he said.
As Victoria's police chief, Battershill had more than 200 officers under his command and, for a time, was city manager.
Many Loon Lake locals appear aware of Battershill's past as Victoria police chief, although it's not clear if details of his affair with a police board lawyer, and his subsequent resignation from the force after the board lost confidence in his leadership, have filtered north. "He's retired as far as I'm concerned," said Crawford ... {Snip} ...
Battershill's one-year tenure has been so low-profile that even the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, which technically has authority over the fire force because it's in a rural area, was unaware Battershill was now heading one of its fire departments.
"Maybe we haven't been notified yet," said Terry Kress, manager of emergency services for the regional district.
Regardless of who was or wasn't notified, Kress said he's unfamiliar with Battershill's past.
"That name rings a bell about something I heard on the news," he said.
rfshaw@tc.canwest.com
________________________________________________________________
Yellow journalism: no interviews, no news at all. Anyone who respects the profession of journalism would've done what I did: I wrote to the guy whose by-line is on that article:
Rob Shaw,
I have seen the message that you sent to Sharon Lawrence. It reminded me what a small town Victoria is, crowded with people who hold "the absolute opposite point of view" to those of us not in the employ of the B.C. government. So I'd like to talk about Paul Battershill.
[Rob's letter isn't posted here, and the reason for that is Lucinda Chodan's angry letter when I posted something SHE, as TC Editor-in-Chief, had said to me in an e.mail. That story is in the archives of this web-site dated April 11, 2007 WHEN THERE IS NEWS, WE PLAN TO REPORT IT. But I can say that Rob Shaw in replying to Sharon was generally outraged by her gentle letter asking him to write about more appropriate topics. "Priorities are subjective," Rob wrote, and "yours appear to place the stories you listed far above the fate of a our former police chief and the scandal that consumed watercooler talk around the city." And what scandal was that, you may well ask ... and that's what I'd like to know, too. So that's why I wrote to Rob Shaw, too.] To continue with what I said to him, as the Times Colonist reporter:
The way the small community of Loon Lake was portrayed in your story, for starts, was a slag -- as if Battershill should be ashamed to be there. I've lived in small communities and know that Fire Chiefs are very special people: the best of the best, who are elected by their colleagues on the basis of knowledge, experience, all-around competence, ability to train volunteers in a dangerous business, able to blend into the community in good times as well as in crises. They rank right up there with the local doctor. Battershill chose something which, in my view, embodies his apparent notion of public service and which would provide him with a healing environment after the Victoria bruising. I think you violated that environment.
During the uproar about Battershill as Victoria's Chief Constable, research on his career turned up projects and campaigns he had either spearheaded or worked on -- all of them farsighted and progressive. At the top of the list is the raid on the BC Legislature. And haven't you always wondered at the calibre of cop who while chasing Mr Big (Jasmohan Singh Bains), didn't flinch when the trail led them into the Ministries of Finance and Transportation? And wasn't it remarkable, that they nailed Bains (plus 8 others), and all but one of whom were arrested, charged, convicted, sentenced. (But of course, nobody knew about that. Strange, eh?)
Luckily, in December 2008, I received a tip straight from the Basi Virk courtroom that Bains had been sentenced to 9 years. I absolutely couldn't believe it, because not a word had been published on Bains even though police figured him as being Mr Big on the West Coast. I had been watching for his trial for 6 years and knew there was nothing published. So ...
I took the time to verify the details. Got the Reasons for Judgement even, and it was true! So in Dec. 2008 I broke the story on my blog, The Legislature Raids. I set up the headline so that Google would catch the gist clearly. I figured the story would spread. No damn way. Silly me.
Nothing happened until February 2009 when I mentioned Bains to Ian Mulgrew. He then wrote the one and only CanWest story on Bains: DRUG DEALER LINKED TO LEGISLATURE RAID IMPRISONED. RCMP oddly silent about key victory against cocaine ring. By Ian Mulgrew (with credit to me) Vancouver Sun - Feb. 17, 2009.
So that's how CanWest newsrooms treated a very significant, convicted, drug-dealing big crook. And while Bains was protected by silence, the good cop who went after him continues to be regularly slagged as if ... "as if" Paul Battershill was the one who had done something wrong. Can you explain that?
I received messages on my blog from many people, too, including members of Victoria Police Department thanking me for NOT slagging their chief. Some of those letters demonstrated a heartwrenching loyalty ... revealing a Chief who seemed to be everything we look for in a good cop. Like intelligence and social awareness, and courage mixed with kindness. I absolutely don't get it why you're so dead-set against Paul Battershill. [And off the record, I quoted one heartbreaking letter to my blog which began "He was a good boss ..."]
It's difficult to listen to any more of these so-called news stories about you asking citizens "Did you KNOW about Battershill's BACKGROUND before he came to Loon Lake?" I mean, you could do this in any community, about anybody, and citizens would be justified in saying, "No ... what did he do? Tell us everything!" It's unfounded innuendo and a rotten thing to do in a civil society. But I think that's what CanWest is trying to do to a good cop. Like Sharon Lawrence, I don't like seeing journalism used as a weapon of black propaganda.
One last question: why is it intolerable to the water-cooler crowd that Battershill and Rusen had a brief affair ... but it's OK that the premier keeps Lara Dauphinee at his side, night and day, in his office or while traveling, at enormous public cost for salary & expenses, year after year? Put Battershill's $12. lunches at John's Noodle Cafe on Fort Street into context.
BC Mary
The Legislature Raids
http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/
_________________________________________________________
And what I didn't know at the time ... because it was buried in the back pages amongst Letters-to-the-Editor ... is that Times Colonist also had this message from Brenda Battershill, wife of Paul Battershill.
Battershills enjoying retirement in the Cariboo
TIMES COLONIST - OCTOBER 15, 2009
Regarding Rob Shaw's articles from yesterday, some context might make them a little bit more accurate.
Yes, Paul Battershill is the chief of the Loon Lake Volunteer Fire Department. We have been seasonal Cariboo residents for 35 years and fully retired here and to Kelowna in 2008.
Retirement has been just great. We've been able to travel and catch up with family and friends. We have also been active with volunteer organizations in the Cariboo, such as the fire department.
Regarding Mr. Shaw's article on the Loon Lake Volunteer Fire Department's number being out of service, the reason is actually quite simple. We have 9-1-1 here and didn't want people, particularly seniors, to mistakenly call an empty fire hall in an emergency. With no full-time staff at the fire department, 9-1-1 is the method of dispatching help.
We are also pleased that Chief Jamie Graham is heading the police organization and hope that he receives genuine support from the senior managers under him. He has a lot to offer from his experiences in the national force and in a large metropolitan area.
In the meantime, we sincerely thank all of the people and police officers who have been so supportive of Paul and I. We are fortunate to have so many good friends.
Brenda Battershill
Loon Lake
________________________________________________________________
Well ... a tip o'the tuque to a very classy lady. Mrs Battershill's restraint is impressive, especially at a time when people have reason to be angry that a good cop was being pursued and harrassed as if it's some sort of bizzaro amusement park.
___________________________________________________________________
Norman Farrell at Northern Insights wrote to Rob Shaw too:
I regularly scan press reports that touch on BC public affairs - particularly police and justice issues. Your article about the former Victoria Police Chief's involvement in a rural volunteer fire department struck me as odd. More than odd, it was a p.o.s. yellow journalism without news value, apparently intended to ridicule Battershill for some reason that I assume is important to you personally.
Considering how many important and current policing issues need wide public discussion, your October 14 contribution was shameful.
Norman Farrell
North Vancouver, BC Canada V7J 2J7
Northern Insights
_________________________________________________________
If others have written to Rob Shaw and/or Times Colonist about what TC Drama Queens call "The Batterhill Saga", I'd be pleased to include copies of their letters here ... just send them as a COMMENT. And yes, this does connect to the topic of BC Rail; we must not forget that, ever.
- BC Mary.
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G West has left a new comment on your post "What hideous mischief is this?":
Norman and Mary,
I couldn't agree more heartily. It certainly 'was' yellow journalism...I would be very interested to hear anything from Rob Shaw exactly 'how' he justified a front page 'story' about nothing...
There was a story (on page 3, in the same paper) which dealt with the resolution of another loose end in this sordid saga...it provided thumbnail sketches and some art of the other principals in the matter - had Shaw and his editors any real journalistic integrity that was the place for a note about Battershill's retirement activities.
But no, not the Times-Colonist, instead we get a noxious blast of pure unadulterated bullshit....the Battershill fire department story was FRONT PAGE on the paper edition and there is no fucking way it belonged on the front page...not the front page of a REAL PAPER.
Pardon my language Mary - but I'm steamed about this. The only minor grace note in their favour was the pusillanimous publication of Mrs. Battershill's polite and very appropriate letter to the editor in today's paper.
Not much, but something. And it was a LONG WAY from the front page!
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And this wonderful addition from Victoria Police Dept.:
Hi Mary.
A lot of officers have gone to see the Chief and his wife either at their lake house or in Kelowna. They are doing really well and are completely enjoying retirement. They are both missed around here but we know they are happy, that will always be really important to those of us who remain. Mr. Shaw reflects the views of a very small group at VicPD who haven't been able to completely take over but who are still trying, we hope they fail.
_______________________________________________________________
Very best wishes guys & ladies in blue. Someone asked me, a while ago, to suggest a way the public could show support (this was when things were really nasty, against the Chief). He wondered about a salute (or even a cheery wave) when a police car went by. Then we got tangled up in thinking maybe it would look like we were making hand signals. Never got that figured out. Any suggestions? Looks like the support is still solidly there. - BC Mary.
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Yesterday's front page of the Victoria Times Colonist was plastered with another surge of talk about former Chief Constable Paul Battershill of the Victoria Police Department. At first glance, a reader might think this Battershill guy had done something terrible ... and I suggest that this is precisely what we're expected to think.
But a second, closer look reveals something quite different. CanWest may be on the brink of bankruptcy, but they found enough loose cash in their budget to send a reporter to Cache Creek territory with nothing but this question: "Did you KNOW about Chief Battershill's reputation BEFORE he came to Loon Lake?" It's the world's oldest game of black propaganda.
Anybody looking for mischief could ask around anywhere, anytime, about anybody, and leave behind a cloud of suspicion.
For example: "Did you KNOW about BC Mary's reputation BEFORE she started up The Legislature Raids blog?" ... with a meaningful pause ... and the natural response will be: silence ... a worried face ... then: "Oh my God, No, I DIDN'T know ... (gasp!) ... what did she do? tell me about it!"
This is what unfolded at Cache Creek and Loon Lake, B.C., at the hands of a CanWest journalist. Why would the Editor-in-Chief of the Victoria Times Colonist play around with such a hideous game of mischief? Against a good cop? And this wasn't just mere dabbling, it was featured on the TC's front page, above the fold. Top exposure, visible even to traffic passing by the news boxes. Here's how it unfolded ...
First, the newz article by Rob Shaw:
Battershill saga: Victoria's ex-top cop commands Loon Lake
BY ROB SHAW
TIMES COLONIST - OCTOBER 14, 2009
Paul Battershill resigned as Victoria police chief on Aug. 13, 2008.
In Victoria, he was top cop. But former police chief Paul Battershill, who left this city amid scandal, is now chief of a much smaller organization in a remote corner of B.C. -- the Loon Lake Volunteer Fire Department.
Battershill lives in the Cariboo region, where he commands a 20-person volunteer fire force in a small resort destination northeast of Cache Creek.
Battershill could not be reached for comment.
However, his deputy chief, Ted Crawford, confirmed Battershill has been chief for about a year. The department only handles calls along a 30 kilometre-long rural road, called Loon Lake Road, he said.
As Victoria's police chief, Battershill had more than 200 officers under his command and, for a time, was city manager.
Many Loon Lake locals appear aware of Battershill's past as Victoria police chief, although it's not clear if details of his affair with a police board lawyer, and his subsequent resignation from the force after the board lost confidence in his leadership, have filtered north. "He's retired as far as I'm concerned," said Crawford ... {Snip} ...
Battershill's one-year tenure has been so low-profile that even the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, which technically has authority over the fire force because it's in a rural area, was unaware Battershill was now heading one of its fire departments.
"Maybe we haven't been notified yet," said Terry Kress, manager of emergency services for the regional district.
Regardless of who was or wasn't notified, Kress said he's unfamiliar with Battershill's past.
"That name rings a bell about something I heard on the news," he said.
rfshaw@tc.canwest.com
________________________________________________________________
Yellow journalism: no interviews, no news at all. Anyone who respects the profession of journalism would've done what I did: I wrote to the guy whose by-line is on that article:
Rob Shaw,
I have seen the message that you sent to Sharon Lawrence. It reminded me what a small town Victoria is, crowded with people who hold "the absolute opposite point of view" to those of us not in the employ of the B.C. government. So I'd like to talk about Paul Battershill.
[Rob's letter isn't posted here, and the reason for that is Lucinda Chodan's angry letter when I posted something SHE, as TC Editor-in-Chief, had said to me in an e.mail. That story is in the archives of this web-site dated April 11, 2007 WHEN THERE IS NEWS, WE PLAN TO REPORT IT. But I can say that Rob Shaw in replying to Sharon was generally outraged by her gentle letter asking him to write about more appropriate topics. "Priorities are subjective," Rob wrote, and "yours appear to place the stories you listed far above the fate of a our former police chief and the scandal that consumed watercooler talk around the city." And what scandal was that, you may well ask ... and that's what I'd like to know, too. So that's why I wrote to Rob Shaw, too.] To continue with what I said to him, as the Times Colonist reporter:
The way the small community of Loon Lake was portrayed in your story, for starts, was a slag -- as if Battershill should be ashamed to be there. I've lived in small communities and know that Fire Chiefs are very special people: the best of the best, who are elected by their colleagues on the basis of knowledge, experience, all-around competence, ability to train volunteers in a dangerous business, able to blend into the community in good times as well as in crises. They rank right up there with the local doctor. Battershill chose something which, in my view, embodies his apparent notion of public service and which would provide him with a healing environment after the Victoria bruising. I think you violated that environment.
During the uproar about Battershill as Victoria's Chief Constable, research on his career turned up projects and campaigns he had either spearheaded or worked on -- all of them farsighted and progressive. At the top of the list is the raid on the BC Legislature. And haven't you always wondered at the calibre of cop who while chasing Mr Big (Jasmohan Singh Bains), didn't flinch when the trail led them into the Ministries of Finance and Transportation? And wasn't it remarkable, that they nailed Bains (plus 8 others), and all but one of whom were arrested, charged, convicted, sentenced. (But of course, nobody knew about that. Strange, eh?)
Luckily, in December 2008, I received a tip straight from the Basi Virk courtroom that Bains had been sentenced to 9 years. I absolutely couldn't believe it, because not a word had been published on Bains even though police figured him as being Mr Big on the West Coast. I had been watching for his trial for 6 years and knew there was nothing published. So ...
I took the time to verify the details. Got the Reasons for Judgement even, and it was true! So in Dec. 2008 I broke the story on my blog, The Legislature Raids. I set up the headline so that Google would catch the gist clearly. I figured the story would spread. No damn way. Silly me.
Nothing happened until February 2009 when I mentioned Bains to Ian Mulgrew. He then wrote the one and only CanWest story on Bains: DRUG DEALER LINKED TO LEGISLATURE RAID IMPRISONED. RCMP oddly silent about key victory against cocaine ring. By Ian Mulgrew (with credit to me) Vancouver Sun - Feb. 17, 2009.
So that's how CanWest newsrooms treated a very significant, convicted, drug-dealing big crook. And while Bains was protected by silence, the good cop who went after him continues to be regularly slagged as if ... "as if" Paul Battershill was the one who had done something wrong. Can you explain that?
I received messages on my blog from many people, too, including members of Victoria Police Department thanking me for NOT slagging their chief. Some of those letters demonstrated a heartwrenching loyalty ... revealing a Chief who seemed to be everything we look for in a good cop. Like intelligence and social awareness, and courage mixed with kindness. I absolutely don't get it why you're so dead-set against Paul Battershill. [And off the record, I quoted one heartbreaking letter to my blog which began "He was a good boss ..."]
It's difficult to listen to any more of these so-called news stories about you asking citizens "Did you KNOW about Battershill's BACKGROUND before he came to Loon Lake?" I mean, you could do this in any community, about anybody, and citizens would be justified in saying, "No ... what did he do? Tell us everything!" It's unfounded innuendo and a rotten thing to do in a civil society. But I think that's what CanWest is trying to do to a good cop. Like Sharon Lawrence, I don't like seeing journalism used as a weapon of black propaganda.
One last question: why is it intolerable to the water-cooler crowd that Battershill and Rusen had a brief affair ... but it's OK that the premier keeps Lara Dauphinee at his side, night and day, in his office or while traveling, at enormous public cost for salary & expenses, year after year? Put Battershill's $12. lunches at John's Noodle Cafe on Fort Street into context.
BC Mary
The Legislature Raids
http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/
_________________________________________________________
And what I didn't know at the time ... because it was buried in the back pages amongst Letters-to-the-Editor ... is that Times Colonist also had this message from Brenda Battershill, wife of Paul Battershill.
Battershills enjoying retirement in the Cariboo
TIMES COLONIST - OCTOBER 15, 2009
Regarding Rob Shaw's articles from yesterday, some context might make them a little bit more accurate.
Yes, Paul Battershill is the chief of the Loon Lake Volunteer Fire Department. We have been seasonal Cariboo residents for 35 years and fully retired here and to Kelowna in 2008.
Retirement has been just great. We've been able to travel and catch up with family and friends. We have also been active with volunteer organizations in the Cariboo, such as the fire department.
Regarding Mr. Shaw's article on the Loon Lake Volunteer Fire Department's number being out of service, the reason is actually quite simple. We have 9-1-1 here and didn't want people, particularly seniors, to mistakenly call an empty fire hall in an emergency. With no full-time staff at the fire department, 9-1-1 is the method of dispatching help.
We are also pleased that Chief Jamie Graham is heading the police organization and hope that he receives genuine support from the senior managers under him. He has a lot to offer from his experiences in the national force and in a large metropolitan area.
In the meantime, we sincerely thank all of the people and police officers who have been so supportive of Paul and I. We are fortunate to have so many good friends.
Brenda Battershill
Loon Lake
________________________________________________________________
Well ... a tip o'the tuque to a very classy lady. Mrs Battershill's restraint is impressive, especially at a time when people have reason to be angry that a good cop was being pursued and harrassed as if it's some sort of bizzaro amusement park.
___________________________________________________________________
Norman Farrell at Northern Insights wrote to Rob Shaw too:
I regularly scan press reports that touch on BC public affairs - particularly police and justice issues. Your article about the former Victoria Police Chief's involvement in a rural volunteer fire department struck me as odd. More than odd, it was a p.o.s. yellow journalism without news value, apparently intended to ridicule Battershill for some reason that I assume is important to you personally.
Considering how many important and current policing issues need wide public discussion, your October 14 contribution was shameful.
Norman Farrell
North Vancouver, BC Canada V7J 2J7
Northern Insights
_________________________________________________________
If others have written to Rob Shaw and/or Times Colonist about what TC Drama Queens call "The Batterhill Saga", I'd be pleased to include copies of their letters here ... just send them as a COMMENT. And yes, this does connect to the topic of BC Rail; we must not forget that, ever.
- BC Mary.
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G West has left a new comment on your post "What hideous mischief is this?":
Norman and Mary,
I couldn't agree more heartily. It certainly 'was' yellow journalism...I would be very interested to hear anything from Rob Shaw exactly 'how' he justified a front page 'story' about nothing...
There was a story (on page 3, in the same paper) which dealt with the resolution of another loose end in this sordid saga...it provided thumbnail sketches and some art of the other principals in the matter - had Shaw and his editors any real journalistic integrity that was the place for a note about Battershill's retirement activities.
But no, not the Times-Colonist, instead we get a noxious blast of pure unadulterated bullshit....the Battershill fire department story was FRONT PAGE on the paper edition and there is no fucking way it belonged on the front page...not the front page of a REAL PAPER.
Pardon my language Mary - but I'm steamed about this. The only minor grace note in their favour was the pusillanimous publication of Mrs. Battershill's polite and very appropriate letter to the editor in today's paper.
Not much, but something. And it was a LONG WAY from the front page!
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And this wonderful addition from Victoria Police Dept.:
Hi Mary.
A lot of officers have gone to see the Chief and his wife either at their lake house or in Kelowna. They are doing really well and are completely enjoying retirement. They are both missed around here but we know they are happy, that will always be really important to those of us who remain. Mr. Shaw reflects the views of a very small group at VicPD who haven't been able to completely take over but who are still trying, we hope they fail.
_______________________________________________________________
Very best wishes guys & ladies in blue. Someone asked me, a while ago, to suggest a way the public could show support (this was when things were really nasty, against the Chief). He wondered about a salute (or even a cheery wave) when a police car went by. Then we got tangled up in thinking maybe it would look like we were making hand signals. Never got that figured out. Any suggestions? Looks like the support is still solidly there. - BC Mary.
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Thursday, September 04, 2008
No public hearing for Paul Battershill
.
Police complaints commissioner rejects closer scrutiny
Rob Shaw, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, September 04, 2008
There will not be a public hearing into the conduct of former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill, B.C.'s police watchdog ruled today.
Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld said there were "insufficient grounds to conclude that a public hearing is necessary in the public interest." He called an RCMP investigation into Battershill's conduct "exemplary" and comprehensive on its own, even though that report has not been made public.
Nonetheless, Ryneveld said an RCMP investigation into Battershill's conduct concluded he committed discreditable conduct by having a personal relationship with someone working for the police department.
Last month, the Times Colonist learned Victoria labour laywer Marli Rusen was being investigated by the Law Society of B.C. after her former employer, national Law Firm Heenan Blaikie, filed a conflict of interest complaint alleging she had an affair with Battershill while providing him legal advice he used to negotiate severance packages for people under his command. Both Battershill and Rusen were married at the time.
Battershill admitted the affair to RCMP investigators. The RCMP concluded the relationship "gave rise to an appearance of improper favouritism in the allocation of public monies," according to a decision paper released by Ryneveld today. The RCMP recommended Battershill be suspended.
Ryneveld refused to release the allegations made against Battershill that were not substantiated by the RCMP, only to say they involved specific allegations of oppressive conduct that, if proved, would likely have discredited the reputation of the police force.
Ryneveld said he does have the power to call a public hearing when it is in the public interest and an officer's resignation does not bar me from ordering a public hearing.
Battershill resigned as chief Aug. 13, after the Victoria Police Board said it had suffered a "loss of confidence" in his leadership, but refused to say what allegations were made against him. He resigned just days before a scheduled disciplinary hearing.
Civil rights groups have criticized the lack of an explanation and slammed the police complaints process, and Victoria mayor Alan Lowe, for lacking transparency and accountability in the case.
Ryneveld defended his actions, saying he's aware some people will be dissatisfied with his decision not to call a public hearing but that he felt the complaint process worked as designed.
After Battershill's resignation, Lowe, who is also board chair, would only say a six-month RCMP investigation had failed to turn up any criminal or financial wrongdoing, although Ryneveld was quick to add Battershill had never been accused of either of those things.
Battershill, whose salary was $167,000 a year, was under contract as chief until December 2008. As part of his resignation, the board paid $15,000 toward his legal fees but did not give him any severance money. Both sides signed a non-disclosure agreement that forbids them from talking about the allegations.
That closed the matter for the police board. If the public wanted more information into the allegations against Battershill, they would have to get it from Ryneveld, Lowe had said.
Battershill, who was hired as chief in 1999 and also briefly held the job of city manager in 2006, was put on paid leave last October after senior officers in the police department brought forward complaints about him to the police board.
The board convened an emergency meeting Oct. 10, 2007, in which senior members of the department - inspectors and key civilian staff - were called before the board to talk about the chief's leadership. Battershill was then placed on administrative leave, and suspended with pay Nov. 6.
As a result of Battershill's affair, Heenan Blaikie said it has launched a review of Rusen's billing to the City of Victoria and the Victoria Police Department. Rusen denied the affair to Heenan Blaikie, but left the law firm.
Rusen, who clerked with the B.C. Supreme Court and federal Department of Justice in Vancouver, specialized in labour relations, employment law, sexual harassment cases and mediation. A brief biography on the Lancaster House labour law website said she also helped companies diagnose, prevent and eliminate workplace conflict.
As part of her work at the police department, Rusen helped draft a settlement agreement for Battershill's former executive assistant, Jo-Anne Zimmerman, Lowe said publicly earlier this year.
The RCMP investigation did focus on a particular severance package, Ryneveld said, although he would not say which one. Mounties concluded the matter required no further action.
{Snip} ...
rfshaw@tc.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=0fcba49e-d109-4cb6-b4e1-56f62bd2c2b6
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Police complaints commissioner rejects closer scrutiny
Rob Shaw, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, September 04, 2008
There will not be a public hearing into the conduct of former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill, B.C.'s police watchdog ruled today.
Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld said there were "insufficient grounds to conclude that a public hearing is necessary in the public interest." He called an RCMP investigation into Battershill's conduct "exemplary" and comprehensive on its own, even though that report has not been made public.
Nonetheless, Ryneveld said an RCMP investigation into Battershill's conduct concluded he committed discreditable conduct by having a personal relationship with someone working for the police department.
Last month, the Times Colonist learned Victoria labour laywer Marli Rusen was being investigated by the Law Society of B.C. after her former employer, national Law Firm Heenan Blaikie, filed a conflict of interest complaint alleging she had an affair with Battershill while providing him legal advice he used to negotiate severance packages for people under his command. Both Battershill and Rusen were married at the time.
Battershill admitted the affair to RCMP investigators. The RCMP concluded the relationship "gave rise to an appearance of improper favouritism in the allocation of public monies," according to a decision paper released by Ryneveld today. The RCMP recommended Battershill be suspended.
Ryneveld refused to release the allegations made against Battershill that were not substantiated by the RCMP, only to say they involved specific allegations of oppressive conduct that, if proved, would likely have discredited the reputation of the police force.
Ryneveld said he does have the power to call a public hearing when it is in the public interest and an officer's resignation does not bar me from ordering a public hearing.
Battershill resigned as chief Aug. 13, after the Victoria Police Board said it had suffered a "loss of confidence" in his leadership, but refused to say what allegations were made against him. He resigned just days before a scheduled disciplinary hearing.
Civil rights groups have criticized the lack of an explanation and slammed the police complaints process, and Victoria mayor Alan Lowe, for lacking transparency and accountability in the case.
Ryneveld defended his actions, saying he's aware some people will be dissatisfied with his decision not to call a public hearing but that he felt the complaint process worked as designed.
After Battershill's resignation, Lowe, who is also board chair, would only say a six-month RCMP investigation had failed to turn up any criminal or financial wrongdoing, although Ryneveld was quick to add Battershill had never been accused of either of those things.
Battershill, whose salary was $167,000 a year, was under contract as chief until December 2008. As part of his resignation, the board paid $15,000 toward his legal fees but did not give him any severance money. Both sides signed a non-disclosure agreement that forbids them from talking about the allegations.
That closed the matter for the police board. If the public wanted more information into the allegations against Battershill, they would have to get it from Ryneveld, Lowe had said.
Battershill, who was hired as chief in 1999 and also briefly held the job of city manager in 2006, was put on paid leave last October after senior officers in the police department brought forward complaints about him to the police board.
The board convened an emergency meeting Oct. 10, 2007, in which senior members of the department - inspectors and key civilian staff - were called before the board to talk about the chief's leadership. Battershill was then placed on administrative leave, and suspended with pay Nov. 6.
As a result of Battershill's affair, Heenan Blaikie said it has launched a review of Rusen's billing to the City of Victoria and the Victoria Police Department. Rusen denied the affair to Heenan Blaikie, but left the law firm.
Rusen, who clerked with the B.C. Supreme Court and federal Department of Justice in Vancouver, specialized in labour relations, employment law, sexual harassment cases and mediation. A brief biography on the Lancaster House labour law website said she also helped companies diagnose, prevent and eliminate workplace conflict.
As part of her work at the police department, Rusen helped draft a settlement agreement for Battershill's former executive assistant, Jo-Anne Zimmerman, Lowe said publicly earlier this year.
The RCMP investigation did focus on a particular severance package, Ryneveld said, although he would not say which one. Mounties concluded the matter required no further action.
{Snip} ...
rfshaw@tc.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=0fcba49e-d109-4cb6-b4e1-56f62bd2c2b6
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
About Paul Battershill ... with updates added
.
This anonymous comment came in today, and may be seen following the story on this web-site of Paul Battershill, Chief of Police for Victoria B.C., co-leader of the raids on the B.C. Legislature. [The story is titled $91,000 over 4 years = $22,750 a year. Its date is October 30, 2007.]
The updating comment received today tends to confirms my own hunch right from the start of the Battershill issue. I thought you might like to see it ... so I am posting it up front. This is important. But there are other items added at the end, showing how this news is being reported by CanWest, which are also disturbing.
Anonymous wrote:
The buzz around the station is that the RCMP pretty much cleared Battershill and if they found anything it was pretty minor.
Makes you wonder why or how this all got going. He'll never come back after the way he's been treated.
Victoria couldn't attract a good outside chief now. Lots of good people from the department are quitting or getting ready to.
Pretty sad for the public.
# posted by Anonymous: May 14, 2008
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From today's Times Colonist:
BATTERSHILL INFORMATION COULD COME IN MONTH
Rob Shaw,
Times Colonist - May 14, 2008
It could be another month before the public receives answers about why Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill has been suspended and what, if any, of the allegations against him were substantiated.
Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe said he won't explain the case until it goes through a disciplinary hearing. "I'm hoping it can take place within the next 30 days," Lowe said. "Until the situation has concluded, I will not be able to tell the public very much."
At the hearing, Lowe will decide upon what he called a "range of disciplinary options" facing the chief. He would not say what that range includes or whether one option could be no discipline against Battershill because the allegations were unproven.
Lowe said he is obligated to consider a range of discipline according to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and Police Act legislation, which governs the case.
Battershill has been suspended with pay since November, but the allegations against him have not been made public. Lowe has described them only as a "personnel issue."
The RCMP investigated the case on behalf of Victoria police, under the oversight of the police complaint office. A team of four officers interviewed dozens of people.
Under provincial legislation, Police Act investigations are not public. The full report on Battershill is not expected to be released. Lowe said he would release whatever information his lawyers said he could.
Battershill received a summary of the report last Thursday. It included a factual account of the incidents, a brief account of the investigative steps and a summary of the conclusions, said Bruce Brown, deputy complaint commissioner.
Battershill has 10 days to request any additional information. Lowe then schedules the disciplinary hearing.
Battershill is able to request a public hearing if he is not satisfied with the conclusion. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner may also call a public hearing or order another investigation if it has any concerns about the case, Brown said.
Meanwhile, Victoria's police board is looking for another police chief. Battershill's contract expires at the end of the year, and Bill Naughton has been serving as interim police chief.
rfshaw@tc.canwest.com
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This is too embarrassing to post. Students of elementary witchcraft might study it:
http://www.cfax1070.com/newsstory.php?newsId=5310
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Over and over, CanWest newspapers speculate on what shoulda, coulda, mighta, or maybe will happen to former Victoria Police Chief, Paul Battershill. I cannot believe that the RCMP's deputy complaints commissioner would lightly make statements like the ones shown below ... when other reports continue to complain that the RCMP are too quick to close ranks and protect their own. Look at this, from today's Vancouver Province:
TOP COP'S HEARING SET [No, it isn't. That hearing is expected within 30 days, date unknown. - BC Mary]
The Province; News Services
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
A disciplinary hearing for suspended Victoria police chief Paul Battershill will be set in the next 30 days, says Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe.
And that likely means investigators have found something against the chief, says Bruce Brown, B.C.'s deputy police complaint commissioner.
"From a common-sense point of view, you wouldn't hold [a disciplinary hearing] if you were of the view nothing was substantiated," Brown said yesterday.
Battershill has been suspended with pay since November. Lowe has said only that allegations against the chief are "personnel" issues. The RCMP investigated the case on behalf of the Victoria police, under the oversight of the police complaint office.
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=1d141de3-6257-4436-89fe-2c4c3b692069
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And Times Colonists chimes in with
SUSPENDED POLICE CHIEF FACES DISCIPLINE HEARING
which, I dunno, pretty much announces that Paul Battershill is guilty, doesn't it?
And is that correct? Is that fair? Is that decent journalism?
Read the CanWest version of the Battershill story at:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=a8b25c38-79e4-4b42-a598-68265f76ab5b
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Oh, wow: A makeover for Victoria Police Department
The force -- now to be called "VicPD" -- gets a new look, and sets targets for crime reduction.
The story is at:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=4d23d447-d563-4a84-9614-d90fc3c8b781
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This anonymous comment came in today, and may be seen following the story on this web-site of Paul Battershill, Chief of Police for Victoria B.C., co-leader of the raids on the B.C. Legislature. [The story is titled $91,000 over 4 years = $22,750 a year. Its date is October 30, 2007.]
The updating comment received today tends to confirms my own hunch right from the start of the Battershill issue. I thought you might like to see it ... so I am posting it up front. This is important. But there are other items added at the end, showing how this news is being reported by CanWest, which are also disturbing.
Anonymous wrote:
The buzz around the station is that the RCMP pretty much cleared Battershill and if they found anything it was pretty minor.
Makes you wonder why or how this all got going. He'll never come back after the way he's been treated.
Victoria couldn't attract a good outside chief now. Lots of good people from the department are quitting or getting ready to.
Pretty sad for the public.
# posted by Anonymous: May 14, 2008
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From today's Times Colonist:
BATTERSHILL INFORMATION COULD COME IN MONTH
Rob Shaw,
Times Colonist - May 14, 2008
It could be another month before the public receives answers about why Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill has been suspended and what, if any, of the allegations against him were substantiated.
Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe said he won't explain the case until it goes through a disciplinary hearing. "I'm hoping it can take place within the next 30 days," Lowe said. "Until the situation has concluded, I will not be able to tell the public very much."
At the hearing, Lowe will decide upon what he called a "range of disciplinary options" facing the chief. He would not say what that range includes or whether one option could be no discipline against Battershill because the allegations were unproven.
Lowe said he is obligated to consider a range of discipline according to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and Police Act legislation, which governs the case.
Battershill has been suspended with pay since November, but the allegations against him have not been made public. Lowe has described them only as a "personnel issue."
The RCMP investigated the case on behalf of Victoria police, under the oversight of the police complaint office. A team of four officers interviewed dozens of people.
Under provincial legislation, Police Act investigations are not public. The full report on Battershill is not expected to be released. Lowe said he would release whatever information his lawyers said he could.
Battershill received a summary of the report last Thursday. It included a factual account of the incidents, a brief account of the investigative steps and a summary of the conclusions, said Bruce Brown, deputy complaint commissioner.
Battershill has 10 days to request any additional information. Lowe then schedules the disciplinary hearing.
Battershill is able to request a public hearing if he is not satisfied with the conclusion. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner may also call a public hearing or order another investigation if it has any concerns about the case, Brown said.
Meanwhile, Victoria's police board is looking for another police chief. Battershill's contract expires at the end of the year, and Bill Naughton has been serving as interim police chief.
rfshaw@tc.canwest.com
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This is too embarrassing to post. Students of elementary witchcraft might study it:
http://www.cfax1070.com/newsstory.php?newsId=5310
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Over and over, CanWest newspapers speculate on what shoulda, coulda, mighta, or maybe will happen to former Victoria Police Chief, Paul Battershill. I cannot believe that the RCMP's deputy complaints commissioner would lightly make statements like the ones shown below ... when other reports continue to complain that the RCMP are too quick to close ranks and protect their own. Look at this, from today's Vancouver Province:
TOP COP'S HEARING SET [No, it isn't. That hearing is expected within 30 days, date unknown. - BC Mary]
The Province; News Services
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
A disciplinary hearing for suspended Victoria police chief Paul Battershill will be set in the next 30 days, says Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe.
And that likely means investigators have found something against the chief, says Bruce Brown, B.C.'s deputy police complaint commissioner.
"From a common-sense point of view, you wouldn't hold [a disciplinary hearing] if you were of the view nothing was substantiated," Brown said yesterday.
Battershill has been suspended with pay since November. Lowe has said only that allegations against the chief are "personnel" issues. The RCMP investigated the case on behalf of the Victoria police, under the oversight of the police complaint office.
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=1d141de3-6257-4436-89fe-2c4c3b692069
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
And Times Colonists chimes in with
SUSPENDED POLICE CHIEF FACES DISCIPLINE HEARING
which, I dunno, pretty much announces that Paul Battershill is guilty, doesn't it?
And is that correct? Is that fair? Is that decent journalism?
Read the CanWest version of the Battershill story at:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=a8b25c38-79e4-4b42-a598-68265f76ab5b
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Oh, wow: A makeover for Victoria Police Department
The force -- now to be called "VicPD" -- gets a new look, and sets targets for crime reduction.
The story is at:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=4d23d447-d563-4a84-9614-d90fc3c8b781
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
$91,000. over 4 years = $22,750. a year.
.
Perhaps it needs repeating: BC Mary is not a supporter of any political party which is not on people's side ... and that includes just about all political parties, all the time. I post the following story only because I feel as if there's something amiss - not with Victoria Police Chief Battershill - but with the way he is being treated and reported this past month.
Look twice and it's the headline (below) that's alarming. It's saying: the Police Chief at the site of a historic, delicate policing situation where close liaison might be extremely important is adopting a different way of holding those meetings: over a meal, in a pointedly public place.
Compare Paul Battershill with Blair Wilson, MP for West Vancouver, who resigned from the Liberal Caucus yesterday. Wilson, the Revenue Critic for the federal Liberals, was an accountant who left a trail of debt and controversy through his careers as a businessman, restaurateur and politician, and who allegedly ran a campaign - even paying staff - using cash [cash?!] and did not report all his spending. Quite a different track record from Paul Battershill who is now the subject of headlines for what? for business meetings held over lunch or dinner in public restaurants for which he was up-front with his presentation of receipts. I'm uneasy about the sly divulging of information while Battershill is left isolated.
It's offensive the way CanWest rhymes off every violation listed under the B.C. Police Act code-of-professional-conduct regulations, not quite -- but almost -- suggesting that Chief Battershill stands accused of them all. Not fair play, CanWest. Not serving the public good.
The key issue here, in my opinion, is that Paul Battershill was co-leader of the Legislature Raids -- so important to this province -- but clearly presenting a threat to others. Can we rule out the possibility that it may simply be convenient to try to discredit the Victoria Police Chief at this point in B.C. history? - BC Mary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Victoria police chief charged more than $91,000 since 2004
Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, October 29, 2007
Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill's credit card transactions since Jan. 1, 2004, total more than $91,000 on restaurants, hotels, travel, books, even Kleenex, documents released today show.
The figures were made public by the Victoria Police in response to Freedom of Information requests by lawyer David Mulroney, acting for an unnamed client. They do not show any obvious link to allegations of misconduct against Battershill, who is being investigated by the RCMP at the request of Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld.
Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe has described the allegations as a "personnel issue." But according to Public Bodies Information reports, Battershill's employment-related expenses for that time period total $59,385 - a total of $11,748 in 2004, $18,000 in 2005 and $20,637 for 2006.
The incomplete expenses for 2007 are close to $9,000. Some credit card charges were assigned to other accounts and small personal transactions were reimbursed by the chief. Mulroney had asked for information on such matters as the chief's expenses, severance payments and the cost of external investigations.
Costs related to the latter were released today, but Victoria Police said information about severance payments could not be released without the consent of the people involved. More information could be available by mid-December.
Battershill was placed on administrative leave by the Victoria police board Oct. 11. He is also the subject of the Police Act investigation ordered by Ryneveld. Under the B.C. Police Act code-of-professional-conduct regulations, these violations include abuse of authority, discreditable conduct, neglect of duty, deceit, corrupt practice and improper disclosure of information.
Some of the expenses revealed today relate to work Battershill was asked to do by Ryneveld. Close to $3,000 is related to his investigation of Const. Lisa Alford of the West Vancouver Police Department, which will be reimbursed by that department. Other expenses relate to Battershill's involvement in the Victoria police department's review of the Taser.
Of the $40,000 in expenses, $16,000 has been reimbursed by the province. The documents show that Battershill conducts business meetings with Victoria police officers over meals and uses the credit card to pay for those meals. The chief has often had two meals in different Victoria restaurants for himself and for his guests in the same day. His guests also include Lowe, chairman of the police board and members of the police board, who approve his expenses.
Most often, his guests include senior officers from the department, but he's picked up the tab for a number of rank and file officers. Group meetings have been held at Fifth Street Bar and Grill, the Malahat Mountain Inn and Swan's.
In 2005, the last time police were included in public bodies information reports, Saanich police chief Derek Egan's expenses totalled $11,769. Retired Oak Bay Police Chief Ben Andersen's expenses were $7,487.
Victoria police financial controller Scott Sievewright and Freedom of Information officer Debra Taylor could not be reached for comment on expenses incurred by police employees.
Victoria's assistant city manager Mike McCliggott said it is an exception to the city policy to reimburse elected officials and employees for dining out expenditures unless traveling out of town on city business.
However it is recognized that elected officials and certain employees, as representatives of the City of Victoria, will occasionally be expected or required to expense dining out as part of their official duties and functions.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e322721b-cf4c-4472-961b-e912564ab2de&k=99261
and
Liberal party awaits probe after MP leaves caucus
Elections Canada investigates West Vancouver's Blair Wilson
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=950fb44a-468c-4cd4-be69-14f95281dfc3&k=87706
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
And this curve-ball, for future reference:
In the buzz about the fuzz, where's the beef against the chief?
And if Battershill regains Victoria's top police job after all this turmoil, will the department be too torn by dissension to lay down the law?
Jack Knox
CanWest News Service - Tuesday, October 30, 2007
So, here is the big question still hanging out there: What exactly are the allegations against Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill?
And if this has turned into a palace coup, the chief dealing with dissent within his own department, how can everyone go back to working together if and when he returns to the job? {Snip} ...
[David] Mulroney [failed B.C. Liberal candidate for Saanich-Gulf Islands] hasn't said who his client is. Victoria developer Gerald Hartwig doggedly refuses to either confirm or deny that he is behind it all.
Hartwig is not, however, reticent to talk about the issues he believes are behind the FOI requests (you know, the ones that may or may not be his). In a nutshell, he contends that the department is wasting money that could be devoted to policing downtown.
Hartwig is tight with many people within the Victoria police. He attends the department's annual Christmas get-together to which politicians, media and others are invited, and has even been known to join cops on their coffee breaks at Paul's Motor Inn in the wee hours of the morning.
So is Hartwig, if he is the Mystery Client, being backed by his buddies in the department? No, he says, adding that if the cops have bones to pick with Battershill, they differ from his own.
Which brings us to the closed-door session involving the senior officers and the police board. What was said isn't being divulged. Nor is it clear whether the officers drove the process or were merely sucked into it. But since it ended in Battershill being parked on the shelf, the assumption is that any subsequent working relationship would be sorely tested.
It has been a pretty dramatic reversal of fortunes for Battershill, who arrived in Victoria from the Vancouver police in June 1999 with a reputation as an able administrator with both political moxie and street cred. (He had served on the emergency-response team in Vancouver -- had, in fact, seen his friend Sgt. Larry Young shot dead by a drug dealer who, having been listening to a police scanner, was waiting with an assault rifle when they burst into his basement suite in 1987.) If a bit of turmoil followed Battershill's arrival in Victoria, with five senior officers departing within his first 18 months, it was argued that the department needed a shakeup.
He was also frequently rumoured to be on the fast track for bigger and better things. Last year, when Victoria needed a temporary city manager, it was Battershill who got the tap on the shoulder from Mayor Alan Lowe. In 2005, he came close to heading the Edmonton police force, while earlier, persistent rumours linked his name to the chief's job back in Vancouver.
In the early 1990s, he worked closely with Judge Wally Oppal on a report -- Closing The Gap -- that became the bible of policing across Canada; when Oppal became a cabinet minister, many thought Battershill would end up as his right-hand man. In 2003, Battershill said he was approached about running for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in B.C. There was also speculation that if the Liberals ever did force the amalgamation of Greater Victoria's police departments, he would become chief of the new regional force.
Instead, the question now is whether he will ever return to the department as it exists, and, if he does, how it will function?
jknox@tc.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=5310ddc9-afcd-4eba-861a-b57429c7eda6
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From Times Colonist story today 31 Oct 07:
" ... Reached yesterday in Thailand, [Mayor Alan] Lowe defended Battershill's expenses.
"The nature of expenses have not been an issue with the police board as the chief's expenses are a matter of public information. Paul had numerous breakfast and lunch meetings which he paid for on his expense account. This is appropriate as he was conducting VPD business during those occasions," he wrote in an e-mail.
He added "these kinds of expenses are not defined in any contract, but you use common sense to determine if they are appropriate."
Meanwhile, police board vice-chairman Chris Clement said the board doesn't normally see the chief's detailed expense accounts, although the board approves the police department's budget. Clement said there is no clear policy on expenses, but said it is something the board should consider.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
So why are we discussing every little item on the front page of Victoria Times Colonist in such detail? Just asking. - BC Mary
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
My personal favourite:
Times Colonist Letter-to-the-Editor, 31 October 2007
PLEASE, GIVE THE CHIEF A BREAK
Re: "Chief's credit card bill tops $91,000 since '04," Oct. 30.
The Halloween witch hunt certainly started early this year. I am referring, of course, to the overblown tempest in a teapot over Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill's credit-card use and all the other mud being thrown. Your headline is one example of how this all seems so petty. Broken down by year, the expenses become insignificant for someone in such a position.
So what's the big deal? This man is being paid a pittance, $147,000 a year plus some minor expenses. Nowhere did your article mention if these credit-card expenses also cover the period where he acted as temporary city manager in 2006, when his expenses were some $20,000, the highest of any year. If you accept that Chief Battershill is a professional police chief representing a major city then an appropriate salary with an equally appropriate expense account is part of the package.
Victoria prides itself on being an internationally recognized city, but this whole incident reveals how small-minded and provincial it really is.
Chief Battershill, I am sorry you are being subjected to such nitpicking. It is unworthy of the position you have attained. Maybe Victoria really needs the Sheriff of Mayberry if they can't rise above that level.
Pamela Jackson,
Victoria.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
John's Noodle Village & BC Mary tip our toques to you, Pamela.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Perhaps it needs repeating: BC Mary is not a supporter of any political party which is not on people's side ... and that includes just about all political parties, all the time. I post the following story only because I feel as if there's something amiss - not with Victoria Police Chief Battershill - but with the way he is being treated and reported this past month.
Look twice and it's the headline (below) that's alarming. It's saying: the Police Chief at the site of a historic, delicate policing situation where close liaison might be extremely important is adopting a different way of holding those meetings: over a meal, in a pointedly public place.
Compare Paul Battershill with Blair Wilson, MP for West Vancouver, who resigned from the Liberal Caucus yesterday. Wilson, the Revenue Critic for the federal Liberals, was an accountant who left a trail of debt and controversy through his careers as a businessman, restaurateur and politician, and who allegedly ran a campaign - even paying staff - using cash [cash?!] and did not report all his spending. Quite a different track record from Paul Battershill who is now the subject of headlines for what? for business meetings held over lunch or dinner in public restaurants for which he was up-front with his presentation of receipts. I'm uneasy about the sly divulging of information while Battershill is left isolated.
It's offensive the way CanWest rhymes off every violation listed under the B.C. Police Act code-of-professional-conduct regulations, not quite -- but almost -- suggesting that Chief Battershill stands accused of them all. Not fair play, CanWest. Not serving the public good.
The key issue here, in my opinion, is that Paul Battershill was co-leader of the Legislature Raids -- so important to this province -- but clearly presenting a threat to others. Can we rule out the possibility that it may simply be convenient to try to discredit the Victoria Police Chief at this point in B.C. history? - BC Mary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Victoria police chief charged more than $91,000 since 2004
Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, October 29, 2007
Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill's credit card transactions since Jan. 1, 2004, total more than $91,000 on restaurants, hotels, travel, books, even Kleenex, documents released today show.
The figures were made public by the Victoria Police in response to Freedom of Information requests by lawyer David Mulroney, acting for an unnamed client. They do not show any obvious link to allegations of misconduct against Battershill, who is being investigated by the RCMP at the request of Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld.
Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe has described the allegations as a "personnel issue." But according to Public Bodies Information reports, Battershill's employment-related expenses for that time period total $59,385 - a total of $11,748 in 2004, $18,000 in 2005 and $20,637 for 2006.
The incomplete expenses for 2007 are close to $9,000. Some credit card charges were assigned to other accounts and small personal transactions were reimbursed by the chief. Mulroney had asked for information on such matters as the chief's expenses, severance payments and the cost of external investigations.
Costs related to the latter were released today, but Victoria Police said information about severance payments could not be released without the consent of the people involved. More information could be available by mid-December.
Battershill was placed on administrative leave by the Victoria police board Oct. 11. He is also the subject of the Police Act investigation ordered by Ryneveld. Under the B.C. Police Act code-of-professional-conduct regulations, these violations include abuse of authority, discreditable conduct, neglect of duty, deceit, corrupt practice and improper disclosure of information.
Some of the expenses revealed today relate to work Battershill was asked to do by Ryneveld. Close to $3,000 is related to his investigation of Const. Lisa Alford of the West Vancouver Police Department, which will be reimbursed by that department. Other expenses relate to Battershill's involvement in the Victoria police department's review of the Taser.
Of the $40,000 in expenses, $16,000 has been reimbursed by the province. The documents show that Battershill conducts business meetings with Victoria police officers over meals and uses the credit card to pay for those meals. The chief has often had two meals in different Victoria restaurants for himself and for his guests in the same day. His guests also include Lowe, chairman of the police board and members of the police board, who approve his expenses.
Most often, his guests include senior officers from the department, but he's picked up the tab for a number of rank and file officers. Group meetings have been held at Fifth Street Bar and Grill, the Malahat Mountain Inn and Swan's.
In 2005, the last time police were included in public bodies information reports, Saanich police chief Derek Egan's expenses totalled $11,769. Retired Oak Bay Police Chief Ben Andersen's expenses were $7,487.
Victoria police financial controller Scott Sievewright and Freedom of Information officer Debra Taylor could not be reached for comment on expenses incurred by police employees.
Victoria's assistant city manager Mike McCliggott said it is an exception to the city policy to reimburse elected officials and employees for dining out expenditures unless traveling out of town on city business.
However it is recognized that elected officials and certain employees, as representatives of the City of Victoria, will occasionally be expected or required to expense dining out as part of their official duties and functions.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e322721b-cf4c-4472-961b-e912564ab2de&k=99261
and
Liberal party awaits probe after MP leaves caucus
Elections Canada investigates West Vancouver's Blair Wilson
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=950fb44a-468c-4cd4-be69-14f95281dfc3&k=87706
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
And this curve-ball, for future reference:
In the buzz about the fuzz, where's the beef against the chief?
And if Battershill regains Victoria's top police job after all this turmoil, will the department be too torn by dissension to lay down the law?
Jack Knox
CanWest News Service - Tuesday, October 30, 2007
So, here is the big question still hanging out there: What exactly are the allegations against Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill?
And if this has turned into a palace coup, the chief dealing with dissent within his own department, how can everyone go back to working together if and when he returns to the job? {Snip} ...
[David] Mulroney [failed B.C. Liberal candidate for Saanich-Gulf Islands] hasn't said who his client is. Victoria developer Gerald Hartwig doggedly refuses to either confirm or deny that he is behind it all.
Hartwig is not, however, reticent to talk about the issues he believes are behind the FOI requests (you know, the ones that may or may not be his). In a nutshell, he contends that the department is wasting money that could be devoted to policing downtown.
Hartwig is tight with many people within the Victoria police. He attends the department's annual Christmas get-together to which politicians, media and others are invited, and has even been known to join cops on their coffee breaks at Paul's Motor Inn in the wee hours of the morning.
So is Hartwig, if he is the Mystery Client, being backed by his buddies in the department? No, he says, adding that if the cops have bones to pick with Battershill, they differ from his own.
Which brings us to the closed-door session involving the senior officers and the police board. What was said isn't being divulged. Nor is it clear whether the officers drove the process or were merely sucked into it. But since it ended in Battershill being parked on the shelf, the assumption is that any subsequent working relationship would be sorely tested.
It has been a pretty dramatic reversal of fortunes for Battershill, who arrived in Victoria from the Vancouver police in June 1999 with a reputation as an able administrator with both political moxie and street cred. (He had served on the emergency-response team in Vancouver -- had, in fact, seen his friend Sgt. Larry Young shot dead by a drug dealer who, having been listening to a police scanner, was waiting with an assault rifle when they burst into his basement suite in 1987.) If a bit of turmoil followed Battershill's arrival in Victoria, with five senior officers departing within his first 18 months, it was argued that the department needed a shakeup.
He was also frequently rumoured to be on the fast track for bigger and better things. Last year, when Victoria needed a temporary city manager, it was Battershill who got the tap on the shoulder from Mayor Alan Lowe. In 2005, he came close to heading the Edmonton police force, while earlier, persistent rumours linked his name to the chief's job back in Vancouver.
In the early 1990s, he worked closely with Judge Wally Oppal on a report -- Closing The Gap -- that became the bible of policing across Canada; when Oppal became a cabinet minister, many thought Battershill would end up as his right-hand man. In 2003, Battershill said he was approached about running for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in B.C. There was also speculation that if the Liberals ever did force the amalgamation of Greater Victoria's police departments, he would become chief of the new regional force.
Instead, the question now is whether he will ever return to the department as it exists, and, if he does, how it will function?
jknox@tc.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=5310ddc9-afcd-4eba-861a-b57429c7eda6
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
From Times Colonist story today 31 Oct 07:
" ... Reached yesterday in Thailand, [Mayor Alan] Lowe defended Battershill's expenses.
"The nature of expenses have not been an issue with the police board as the chief's expenses are a matter of public information. Paul had numerous breakfast and lunch meetings which he paid for on his expense account. This is appropriate as he was conducting VPD business during those occasions," he wrote in an e-mail.
He added "these kinds of expenses are not defined in any contract, but you use common sense to determine if they are appropriate."
Meanwhile, police board vice-chairman Chris Clement said the board doesn't normally see the chief's detailed expense accounts, although the board approves the police department's budget. Clement said there is no clear policy on expenses, but said it is something the board should consider.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
So why are we discussing every little item on the front page of Victoria Times Colonist in such detail? Just asking. - BC Mary
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
My personal favourite:
Times Colonist Letter-to-the-Editor, 31 October 2007
PLEASE, GIVE THE CHIEF A BREAK
Re: "Chief's credit card bill tops $91,000 since '04," Oct. 30.
The Halloween witch hunt certainly started early this year. I am referring, of course, to the overblown tempest in a teapot over Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill's credit-card use and all the other mud being thrown. Your headline is one example of how this all seems so petty. Broken down by year, the expenses become insignificant for someone in such a position.
So what's the big deal? This man is being paid a pittance, $147,000 a year plus some minor expenses. Nowhere did your article mention if these credit-card expenses also cover the period where he acted as temporary city manager in 2006, when his expenses were some $20,000, the highest of any year. If you accept that Chief Battershill is a professional police chief representing a major city then an appropriate salary with an equally appropriate expense account is part of the package.
Victoria prides itself on being an internationally recognized city, but this whole incident reveals how small-minded and provincial it really is.
Chief Battershill, I am sorry you are being subjected to such nitpicking. It is unworthy of the position you have attained. Maybe Victoria really needs the Sheriff of Mayberry if they can't rise above that level.
Pamela Jackson,
Victoria.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
John's Noodle Village & BC Mary tip our toques to you, Pamela.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Paul Battershill - no date set
.
A date has still not been set for a disciplinary hearing for suspended Victoria police chief Paul Battershill.
Victoria News - May 27, 2008
Mayor Alan Lowe said earlier this month he expected to set a hearing date within 30 days after handing Battershill a summary of findings from an RCMP investigation into an unspecified public trust complaint against him May 8.
Lowe said Monday the hearing has been delayed because Battershill has asked the Office of the Police Complaint Commssioner for information not contained in the summary. As chair of the police board, Lowe is required to serve as discipline authority for complaints involving the chief.
Deputy police complaint commissioner Bruce Brown said there is no deadline for the hearing to be scheduled. But Battershill's information request should not cause a delay.
"I guess you could say it's still in process right now," said Brown.
The discipline hearing will not be public. Only Lowe, Battershill and his counsel and a representative from the OPCC will be permitted.
"We're not required to attend but we often do attend disciplinary proceeding just to observe or monitor the process," said Brown.
If either Battershill or the OPCC disagrees with the outcome, a public hearing would then be convened.
Battershill has been suspended with pay since October 2007. Lowe has only said the complaint, which is not criminal in nature, relates to a "personnel matter."
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/victorianews/news/19267624.html
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Chief Constable Paul Battershill
Chief Battershill joined the Vancouver Police Department in 1977
following completion of a B.Sc. in Clinical Biochemistry at UBC.
During a 22 year career in Vancouver, Paul worked in a variety
of operational roles including patrol, traffic, investigations,
surveillance and emergency response.
In the 1980’s Paul served as the elected president of police
labor organizations at a municipal, provincial and national level.
During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Chief Battershill was the
leader of the Vancouver Regional Emergency Response Teams.
In 1993 Paul served as a member of the Justice Oppal Royal Commission of Inquiry into Policing in British Columbia.
In 1996 AND 1997 Paul was one of the founding Directors of the E-COMM Corporation which
established a multi-jurisdictional dispatch centre for police, fire and ambulance.
In 1999 Chief Battershill was appointed as Chief Constable of the City of Victoria.
In 2002 and 2003 Paul was elected as Chair of the RCMP Forensic Laboratory Services Advisory. Group tasked largely with implementing DNA technology at a national level.
In 2004 Paul was appointed as the Chief Investigator for the study of the use of TASERS in
British Columbia.
www.cacole.ca/Resource%20Library/Conferences/2007%20Conference/CACOLE%20Conference%202007%20Biographies.pdf
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A date has still not been set for a disciplinary hearing for suspended Victoria police chief Paul Battershill.
Victoria News - May 27, 2008
Mayor Alan Lowe said earlier this month he expected to set a hearing date within 30 days after handing Battershill a summary of findings from an RCMP investigation into an unspecified public trust complaint against him May 8.
Lowe said Monday the hearing has been delayed because Battershill has asked the Office of the Police Complaint Commssioner for information not contained in the summary. As chair of the police board, Lowe is required to serve as discipline authority for complaints involving the chief.
Deputy police complaint commissioner Bruce Brown said there is no deadline for the hearing to be scheduled. But Battershill's information request should not cause a delay.
"I guess you could say it's still in process right now," said Brown.
The discipline hearing will not be public. Only Lowe, Battershill and his counsel and a representative from the OPCC will be permitted.
"We're not required to attend but we often do attend disciplinary proceeding just to observe or monitor the process," said Brown.
If either Battershill or the OPCC disagrees with the outcome, a public hearing would then be convened.
Battershill has been suspended with pay since October 2007. Lowe has only said the complaint, which is not criminal in nature, relates to a "personnel matter."
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/victorianews/news/19267624.html
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Chief Constable Paul Battershill
Chief Battershill joined the Vancouver Police Department in 1977
following completion of a B.Sc. in Clinical Biochemistry at UBC.
During a 22 year career in Vancouver, Paul worked in a variety
of operational roles including patrol, traffic, investigations,
surveillance and emergency response.
In the 1980’s Paul served as the elected president of police
labor organizations at a municipal, provincial and national level.
During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Chief Battershill was the
leader of the Vancouver Regional Emergency Response Teams.
In 1993 Paul served as a member of the Justice Oppal Royal Commission of Inquiry into Policing in British Columbia.
In 1996 AND 1997 Paul was one of the founding Directors of the E-COMM Corporation which
established a multi-jurisdictional dispatch centre for police, fire and ambulance.
In 1999 Chief Battershill was appointed as Chief Constable of the City of Victoria.
In 2002 and 2003 Paul was elected as Chair of the RCMP Forensic Laboratory Services Advisory. Group tasked largely with implementing DNA technology at a national level.
In 2004 Paul was appointed as the Chief Investigator for the study of the use of TASERS in
British Columbia.
www.cacole.ca/Resource%20Library/Conferences/2007%20Conference/CACOLE%20Conference%202007%20Biographies.pdf
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Friday, August 15, 2008
Victoria Police Board never saw report into Battershill allegations
.
They approved the Police Chief's resignation without seeing the investigation report into the allegations? This is almost unbelievable. Today the Battershill Case is being reported around the world. The highly-respected former Chief of Police for B.C.'s capital city was co-leader of the police raid on the B.C. Legislature and as such, he will be an important witness in the trials arising from that raid. Whatever happens to Paul Battershill is of vital interest to every citizen of this province. The CanWest-owned Victoria Times Colonist so far is leading the way in reporting developments (as it should be), but there's still a long, long way to go before we know if a respected public servant is being treated fairly. Or if B.C. is functioning as a fair and open democracy. My question today is: How could the Police Board "lose confidence" in the former Chief of Police without seeing the RCMP report? Did they base that serious decision solely on something Mayor Lowe said to them?" - BC Mary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHIEF'S RESIGNATION OKAYED ON MAYOR'S WORD
Police board never saw report into allegations
Lindsay Kines and Rob Shaw
Canwest News Service - August 15, 2008
VICTORIA - Victoria police board members approved the resignation of police chief Paul Battershill without seeing the investigation report into the allegations against him.
Mayor Alan Lowe, the chairman of the police board, said he was the only board member to review the full results of an RCMP probe into Battershill's conduct.
Lowe, who was also a witness in the RCMP investigation and was interviewed by Mounties, told the Times Colonist editorial board he provided the other police board members with only some information -- the amount he determined they needed to make their decision.
The nine-member board, which is supposed to provide civilian oversight of the police, subsequently decided that it had suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill's leadership.
Lowe announced Wednesday that the board had accepted Battershill's resignation effective immediately, cancelled a disciplinary hearing, promised never to discuss the accusations against Battershill, and agreed to pay $15,000 toward his legal costs. The board also issued a statement saying the probe found no evidence of any criminal or financial wrongdoing.
The revelation that board members acted without seeing the investigation report renewed questions Thursday about the effectiveness of municipal police boards and whether mayors wield too much influence.
In his 1994 inquiry into policing in B.C., then-judge Wally Oppal recommended reducing the mayors' role by denying them the ability to chair police boards and cast votes.
"Board members should be as apolitical as possible, and as a political representative, a mayor would be an inappropriate chair," the report said.
The recommendation has never been adopted by successive NDP and Liberal governments. But Oppal, who is now the province's attorney-general, said Thursday that he stands by his report.
"We recommended that strongly at the time because we thought that the mayor, by virtue of his or her position, plays an inordinately strong role, and for that reason should not be the chair of the board," he said. "I still think that that's something that needs to be looked at."
Solicitor-General John van Dongen, however, has responsibility for policing in B.C. and he was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Victoria police board members, meanwhile, refused to discuss why they did not see the investigation report before making their decision.
"It was not a report we were privy to," board member Christine Stoneman said. She stated, however, that she's comfortable with the decision to approve the settlement with Battershill.
"The board decided on it together," she said. "We're intelligent people and made the decision."
Board member Ralston Alexander declined to discuss the process. "If we've lost public confidence I guess they won't elect us next time -- oh, whoops, we're not elected," he said.
But Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward, who specializes in civil rights cases and has represented a number of police complainants, said the public deserves more information and is surprised the board members didn't ask for it.
"Police officers are public servants. The police chief was a senior public servant who received public funding for an extended absence. The public, or at the very least, its representatives on the police board, should receive the investigative report and be apprised of the full reasons for his departure, especially since the disciplinary hearing will not proceed."
Ward said it's been his experience that police boards are generally ineffectual and "tend to be extremely deferential to the mayor and police chief."
He called on government to reform the Police Act and enshrine Oppal's recommendations.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=21bf8385-cb1a-4091-acbc-7b89bb802d12
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A bit more detail from Times Colonist, August 15, 2008:
CRIMINAL ACTS NOT PART OF PROBE, RYNEVELD SAYS
Complaints solely involved Police Act, not Criminal Code
Rob Shaw,
Times Colonist - August 15, 2008
Former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill may have been publicly cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but B.C.'s police watchdog says the nine-month RCMP investigation into his conduct was never even about criminal allegations.
Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld said yesterday the accusations against Battershill "referred only to Police Act matters" -- generally defined as violations of public trust, conduct and confidence.
Unlike criminal charges, which go to court and can conclude with jail time, the Police Act is disciplinary in nature and an officer can only be reprimanded, suspended or fired from their job. The type of allegations are different as well -- criminal charges refer to the numerous laws in the Criminal Code, while the Police Act refers to provincial rules on public trust, abuse of authority, discreditable conduct, negligence of duty, deceit, corrupt practices and improper disclosure of information.
The significant difference between the two was blurred Wednesday when Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe announced Battershill's resignation.
"The investigation completed by the RCMP did not find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, had any involvement with any criminal activity, nor did it find any financial impropriety," he said at a press conference.
Lowe did not return a call for comment yesterday to explain why he described the investigation only in criminal terms, when it was known to not focus on those issues.
When asked if Police Act allegations had been substantiated against Battershill, Lowe said he could not answer the question because the Victoria Police Board and Battershill had signed a non-disclosure agreement.
However, under Police Act rules, an officer only faces a disciplinary hearing if an investigation recommends discipline in at least one or more allegations, Ryneveld said.
(Snip) ...
Battershill was removed from the chief's position last October while the RCMP investigated the unknown allegations against him. A team of four RCMP officers interviewed dozens of witnesses to produce their final report April 24. If the RCMP uncovered any criminal activity along the way, they were free to pursue it, said Ryneveld.
rfshaw@tc.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=920046bc-9eb0-49b3-8045-479b0dc0e65d
***********************************************************************************
So ... wasn't that just special ... Victoria's Mayor Alan Lowe reassuring us that "The investigation completed by the RCMP did not find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, had any involvement with any criminal activity, nor did it find any financial impropriety," when he knew damn well that such allegations had never been raised in the first place.
Very, very clever ... very political ... very stinky. And I think people are increasingly impatient with this sneaky, sleazy stuff.
Special thanks to Rob Shaw and Victoria Times Colonist for digging deeper on this important issue. - BC Mary.
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They approved the Police Chief's resignation without seeing the investigation report into the allegations? This is almost unbelievable. Today the Battershill Case is being reported around the world. The highly-respected former Chief of Police for B.C.'s capital city was co-leader of the police raid on the B.C. Legislature and as such, he will be an important witness in the trials arising from that raid. Whatever happens to Paul Battershill is of vital interest to every citizen of this province. The CanWest-owned Victoria Times Colonist so far is leading the way in reporting developments (as it should be), but there's still a long, long way to go before we know if a respected public servant is being treated fairly. Or if B.C. is functioning as a fair and open democracy. My question today is: How could the Police Board "lose confidence" in the former Chief of Police without seeing the RCMP report? Did they base that serious decision solely on something Mayor Lowe said to them?" - BC Mary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHIEF'S RESIGNATION OKAYED ON MAYOR'S WORD
Police board never saw report into allegations
Lindsay Kines and Rob Shaw
Canwest News Service - August 15, 2008
VICTORIA - Victoria police board members approved the resignation of police chief Paul Battershill without seeing the investigation report into the allegations against him.
Mayor Alan Lowe, the chairman of the police board, said he was the only board member to review the full results of an RCMP probe into Battershill's conduct.
Lowe, who was also a witness in the RCMP investigation and was interviewed by Mounties, told the Times Colonist editorial board he provided the other police board members with only some information -- the amount he determined they needed to make their decision.
The nine-member board, which is supposed to provide civilian oversight of the police, subsequently decided that it had suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill's leadership.
Lowe announced Wednesday that the board had accepted Battershill's resignation effective immediately, cancelled a disciplinary hearing, promised never to discuss the accusations against Battershill, and agreed to pay $15,000 toward his legal costs. The board also issued a statement saying the probe found no evidence of any criminal or financial wrongdoing.
The revelation that board members acted without seeing the investigation report renewed questions Thursday about the effectiveness of municipal police boards and whether mayors wield too much influence.
In his 1994 inquiry into policing in B.C., then-judge Wally Oppal recommended reducing the mayors' role by denying them the ability to chair police boards and cast votes.
"Board members should be as apolitical as possible, and as a political representative, a mayor would be an inappropriate chair," the report said.
The recommendation has never been adopted by successive NDP and Liberal governments. But Oppal, who is now the province's attorney-general, said Thursday that he stands by his report.
"We recommended that strongly at the time because we thought that the mayor, by virtue of his or her position, plays an inordinately strong role, and for that reason should not be the chair of the board," he said. "I still think that that's something that needs to be looked at."
Solicitor-General John van Dongen, however, has responsibility for policing in B.C. and he was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Victoria police board members, meanwhile, refused to discuss why they did not see the investigation report before making their decision.
"It was not a report we were privy to," board member Christine Stoneman said. She stated, however, that she's comfortable with the decision to approve the settlement with Battershill.
"The board decided on it together," she said. "We're intelligent people and made the decision."
Board member Ralston Alexander declined to discuss the process. "If we've lost public confidence I guess they won't elect us next time -- oh, whoops, we're not elected," he said.
But Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward, who specializes in civil rights cases and has represented a number of police complainants, said the public deserves more information and is surprised the board members didn't ask for it.
"Police officers are public servants. The police chief was a senior public servant who received public funding for an extended absence. The public, or at the very least, its representatives on the police board, should receive the investigative report and be apprised of the full reasons for his departure, especially since the disciplinary hearing will not proceed."
Ward said it's been his experience that police boards are generally ineffectual and "tend to be extremely deferential to the mayor and police chief."
He called on government to reform the Police Act and enshrine Oppal's recommendations.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=21bf8385-cb1a-4091-acbc-7b89bb802d12
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A bit more detail from Times Colonist, August 15, 2008:
CRIMINAL ACTS NOT PART OF PROBE, RYNEVELD SAYS
Complaints solely involved Police Act, not Criminal Code
Rob Shaw,
Times Colonist - August 15, 2008
Former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill may have been publicly cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but B.C.'s police watchdog says the nine-month RCMP investigation into his conduct was never even about criminal allegations.
Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld said yesterday the accusations against Battershill "referred only to Police Act matters" -- generally defined as violations of public trust, conduct and confidence.
Unlike criminal charges, which go to court and can conclude with jail time, the Police Act is disciplinary in nature and an officer can only be reprimanded, suspended or fired from their job. The type of allegations are different as well -- criminal charges refer to the numerous laws in the Criminal Code, while the Police Act refers to provincial rules on public trust, abuse of authority, discreditable conduct, negligence of duty, deceit, corrupt practices and improper disclosure of information.
The significant difference between the two was blurred Wednesday when Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe announced Battershill's resignation.
"The investigation completed by the RCMP did not find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, had any involvement with any criminal activity, nor did it find any financial impropriety," he said at a press conference.
Lowe did not return a call for comment yesterday to explain why he described the investigation only in criminal terms, when it was known to not focus on those issues.
When asked if Police Act allegations had been substantiated against Battershill, Lowe said he could not answer the question because the Victoria Police Board and Battershill had signed a non-disclosure agreement.
However, under Police Act rules, an officer only faces a disciplinary hearing if an investigation recommends discipline in at least one or more allegations, Ryneveld said.
(Snip) ...
Battershill was removed from the chief's position last October while the RCMP investigated the unknown allegations against him. A team of four RCMP officers interviewed dozens of witnesses to produce their final report April 24. If the RCMP uncovered any criminal activity along the way, they were free to pursue it, said Ryneveld.
rfshaw@tc.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=920046bc-9eb0-49b3-8045-479b0dc0e65d
***********************************************************************************
So ... wasn't that just special ... Victoria's Mayor Alan Lowe reassuring us that "The investigation completed by the RCMP did not find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, had any involvement with any criminal activity, nor did it find any financial impropriety," when he knew damn well that such allegations had never been raised in the first place.
Very, very clever ... very political ... very stinky. And I think people are increasingly impatient with this sneaky, sleazy stuff.
Special thanks to Rob Shaw and Victoria Times Colonist for digging deeper on this important issue. - BC Mary.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Dirk Ryneveld, Gerald Hartwig, Paul Battershill, Marli Rusen, and the people of British Columbia
.
"Public curiosity" is the phrase Dirk Ryneveld, QC, applies to citizens of B.C. who are concerned by the treatment of Paul Battershill. I think it is a good deal more than that.
I think citizens are doing their proper homework when they ask: what was it that destroyed the career of this exemplary public figure? "Allegations", says Ryneveld in his published decision not to order a public hearing [See www.opcc.bc.ca]. "Allegations ... by senior police officers against their Chief Constable ... none of the officers being prepared to lodge a formal Police Act complaint."
The hell you say. So, in other words, there was no formal complaint. None. Just allegations.
Chief Battershill was in Halifax giving a speech to a police conference on the topic of civilian oversight for police when this all went down. He was that kind of cop: cerebral, well-informed, public-spirited. But before he could get back to Victoria, Battershill had already been placed on "administrative leave". Because, by then, Ryneveld admits that "...within days, my staff and I spoke to a number of Victoria Police Department (VicPD) officers and civilian employees ..." [P.1-2, Chief Constable Paul Battershill Investigation: Decision whether to order a Public Hearing. - Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, Dirk Ryneveld QC]
Ryneveld, (who, we've been told, has a very 'close' relationship with some police officers), the Police Complaint Commissioner, says he is aware of the public's "understandable confusion about whether there was any relationship between that Police Board action against Chief Battershill and the apparent leak of a letter written by a local lawyer alleging that another lawyer was in a conflict of interest arising from a freedom of information request the first lawyer made to the Victoria Police Department." Really?
A commentor to this web-site September 4, 2008 wrote: "Our senior officers have told us they weren't involved in this so somebody really is lying. The Chief has moved to Kelowna and is doing really well, officers stop by to see him quite often. Morale [in VicPD] will be really bad after this, lying to us isn't going to go over okay. More are going to quit unless they make a major change in senior management. A new mayor would be good too."
Another comment on Sept. 4 says: "VicPD is different because we have gone from one of the lowest rates of officers quitting to one of the highest rates, all in the past 6 months. Great new LEADERSHIP!" Think about that, Mr Ryneveld.
Another comment, September 4, says: "It still isn't clear what's happened. It sounds like only one thing was found and it was a reprimand relating to a perception. The palace coup seems obvious now and there are 'private persons of considerable influence only too anxious to make unfortunate allegations'. The 'system' doesn't seem to have worked at all really ..."
Iain Hunter, in the Victoria Times Colonist, wrote on September 6, 2008: " ... I share the disappointment of many that we haven't been given a full accounting of what the former chief was alleged to have done. We don't know what got, apparently, many senior people in his department to come down so hard on him before the Victoria Police Board and make specific allegations that an RCMP investigation was unable to substantiate. But you, in your report, confidently announce that they touched on "matters of integrity and oppressive conduct."
What kind of satisfaction can anyone get, asks Hunter, from a process based on unsubstantiated allegations of the kind Battershill said from the outset are typically made when a chief nears the end of his term.
Citizens often hurl accusations at police. Police, after all, are the visible symbols of authority when things go wrong. We consider it our right in a free society. But this time, Mr Ryneveld, it's different. This time, we're watching an outstanding police officer who it seems, may have been set up when he wasn't looking, by people still unwilling to go on the record, and without even the balancing component of a single kind word. The omission is right there, Mr Ryneveld, plain for all to see.
Not once does your report commend Paul Battershill for his 9 years of exemplary service to the capital city of British Columbia. For his work on the Oppal Commission. For management competence such that he was able to act as Interim City Manager. And for much more. Not a word. In fact, this whole affair could be mistaken for "Let's get Battershill Time." Why was that?
Commissioner Ryneveld writes that "[a]fter hearing all the concerns and allegations made by those who spoke to me over a two week period, I determined that several of the allegations I heard met the threshold for an investigation. To that end, I drafted seven terms of reference for a Police Act investigation, many of which had more than one element requiring investigation."
Did he speak to the Chief Constable? What was Chief Battershill's view of the situation you describe as two weeks of allegations? We'd like to know that. I'd like to know what the Police Union said, too. We've heard nothing from them. You'd think the Police Union would have been involved.
I think Commissioner Ryneveld may be speaking nonsense when he says that the RCMP Superintendent "also correctly understood that where questions arise pitting one person's word or version of events against another (as was often the case in this investigation), the role of the investigator is to make a finding that best corresponds with the whole of the evidence..." To make a finding. Gotcha.
Ryneveld tells us that he had only the authority to decide upon an investigation and a public inquiry ... not to decide questions arising out of the management environment ... in other words, not questions arising out of personnel matters. He says "I wanted to ensure that the Police Act process not be used to promote personal or political agendas or recriminations about a chief constable's personality or management style ... [which are] not proper matters for police investigations." And yet, and yet, that's exactly where we are today...that's exactly what it did.
From the public's point of view it's entirely about personnel matters ... even including, in my view, Marli Rusen as an outside contractor working for the Chief Constable, reporting to the Police Board. That was an employee matter ... a "personnel matter". Which, in my view, passed the ultimate test of integrity when the RCMP investigations asked: did the actions of Battershill or Rusen benefit either of them? Was there a criminal breach of trust?
And they found that the answer was No, neither Battershill nor Rusen personally benefited; and it was not a criminal breach of trust. It was a personnel matter with no adverse effect upon work accomplished. Oh, you say, it was a "perception". Or, more specifically, a "possible perception". Really.
Well, Dirk Ryneveld QC, let me tell you that my perception of the whole 12 pages of your Decision is that its tone is pejorative.
For example, consider what's left out. No weight whatever is given to Battershill's good service. You go round and round arguing about who has the right to sit in judgment. But it would seem to me that at least one paragraph somewhere in those 12 pages should have begun with, "Given his exemplary service for 9 years with Victoria Police Department, we take this opportunity to express our thanks to Paul Battershill ... " But there's nothing. No acknowledgement. No thank you for services rendered. No severence package. No good wishes for his future.
I am not the only citizen who is left with a feeling that a good cop has been censured. For what, we do not know.
One paragraph of the report did give me high hopes.
VIII. Closing Comments [p.11] "... independence allows the Commissioner to act in a fashion that is objective and independent not only of the government but also of certain private persons of influence who have their own agendas and who unfortunately seem only too ready to make unfortunate allegations and accusations."
This is a very significant area of concern. Thank you for mentioning it, because citizens recognize those images: of lawyers, of Gerald Hartwig, and of a break-in at Marli Rusen's law office. But no, the Police Complaint Commissioner makes not the slightest gesture toward explaining those elements or toward dismissing their "unfortunate allegations and accusations". Which means that those folks are still riding high in B.C.'s political society, continuing with "their own agendas" and "only too ready to make unfortunate allegations and accusations." Surely the Police Complaints Commissioner owes the citizens more.
The RCMP (IV. Investigative Findings) [p.4], found that only one aspect of one allegation had been established ... that is, the personal friendship between the Chief Constable and a lawyer ... which proved precisely nothing.
The RCMP Final Investigative Report says, the "relationship would give rise to a reasonable perception of discredit to the reputation of the police department ... or improper favouritism ... adversely affec[ting] [Battershill's] ability to select, assess, scrutinize and give instructions ... in the best interests of [VicPD and Victoria Police Board] ... and therefore, that Battershill's conduct could [please note: could. - BC Mary.] discredit the reputation of the VicPD. But did it? We don't think so.
Did Battershill's conduct discredit the reputation of VicPD. No. It was a perception. Or, more accurately, a possible perception.
Ryneveld concluded that since a mere allegation is often enough to unfairly damage reputation, "it would be improper and unfair to [Battershill] for me to publicize allegations that were found to be unsubstantiated ... " But dammit, Mr Ryneveld, you just did. The allegations, the innuendo has been flying for 10 months now. In fact, the report, arguably, makes it worse.
Mayor Lowe's announcement of August 13, 2008 led British Columbians to believe that the RCMP had been investigating "criminal acts, involvement with criminal activities, or financial impropriety." Dirk Ryneveld QC, Police Complaint Commissioner, must surely have known that neither the allegations nor the RCMP investigation included such topics. But neither he nor Mayor Lowe leapt to correct that mistaken impression. How fair is that?
I, for one, am not in favour of a public inquiry. I think it would put Paul Battershill through another terrible ordeal.
However, the people of B.C. have been hit two ways. Wehave suffered a loss of confidence. And we have had to pay the costs of these RCMP investigations unleashed upon a serving Police Chief (1,900 hours interviewing 37 individuals plus 7 support staff who spent 1,300 hours helping those investigators examine and catalogue nearly 900 documents).
I think that Paul Battershill must be given a chance to speak directly to the people, giving his understanding of the situation.
And from the Police Complaint Commissioner, I'd like a few more details, such as who those two lawyers were, and what they were doing - and let the public decide what "their" political agenda may have been. And about Gerald Hartwig's part in these troubles. Also about that break-in at the Heenan Blaikie office of Marli Rusen. It does not sit right with me that two such brilliant people as Battershill and Rusen are left with their careers in ruins ... while the questions of the community they served are brushed aside as almost idle "public curiosity".
It does not paint a picture of fairness or justice. Frankly, it leaves us wondering if it's something else.
Any reasonable citizen might begin to ask if this attack upon Paul Battershill has something to do with an attempt to discredit a man who diligently led the lengthy investigation into drugs trafficking, which then led to the raids on the B.C. Legislature, and as a result, is someone who will undoubtedly be a Crown witnesses when the BC Rail Case comes to trial.
I think we need a lot more ANSWERS ...
- BC Mary, with help from Friends and commentors to The Legislature Raids.
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Exactly where does Paul Battershill fit into the upcoming trial which could embarrass the Campbell government? The following 2004 Tyee article explains a lot:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RAIDS: HOW BIG A SCANDAL?
David Basi and Bob Virk were key players in B.C.'s Liberal government with strong ties to the Prime Minister. The RCMP raid of their offices as part of a probe into drugs and organized crime will likely cloud the next elections, federal and provincial.
By Barbara McLintock
TheTyee.ca - December 30, 2004
It started out like so many relatively routine tips that police officers pick up - some unsubstantiated information about trafficking in cocaine and marijuana, deemed to be worthy of further investigation by the Victoria Police Department and the RCMP Drug Section for the Greater Victoria region. But as the officers conducted their probe, the tentacles spread further and further, potentially involving organized crime and police corruption. Then this weekend they reached right inside the B.C. Legislative Buildings - a place where police officers rarely venture except to keep the peace at demonstrations and arrest the odd errant protester.
By late afternoon Sunday [Dec 28/03], two high level Liberal government officials, their offices raided by police, were gone from their jobs. David Basi, ministerial assistant to Finance Minister Gary Collins, was fired and Bob Virk, the ministerial assistant to Transportation Minister Judith Reid was suspended with pay.
Ties to Paul Martin's campaign
The sight of uniformed sergeants (the operation was considered too sensitive for any officers of lower rank to participate) toting dozens of cardboard cartons containing file folders and documents down the steps at the legislature has given the Gordon Campbell government a political problem unlike any they have experienced in their past 31 months in the office.
{Snip} ...
Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill confirmed several other locations were also raided by police officers over the weekend. They included the homes of some of those involved, an accounting firm, and a government relations firm later identified as Pilothouse Public Affairs. The company was begun by former Vancouver Province columnist Brian Kieran, but two of its key officials - Erik Bornman and Jamie Elmhirst -- also have strong ties to the Martin camp.
Also visited by investigating officers, although not formally raided, was Mark Marissen, of Burrard Communications, who was director of the Martin campaign in B.C. - and who's also the husband of Deputy Premier Christy Clark.
{Snip} ...
To read the full story, type "Raids: How big a scandal?" into the Search Box, top left on this page.
Or go to:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2004/12/30/Raids_How_Big_a_Scandal/
Paul Battershill's testimony at the trial of Basi, Virk, Basi will be critical. Under oath, he will be telling us why that historic raid had to happen. - BC Mary.
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"Public curiosity" is the phrase Dirk Ryneveld, QC, applies to citizens of B.C. who are concerned by the treatment of Paul Battershill. I think it is a good deal more than that.
I think citizens are doing their proper homework when they ask: what was it that destroyed the career of this exemplary public figure? "Allegations", says Ryneveld in his published decision not to order a public hearing [See www.opcc.bc.ca]. "Allegations ... by senior police officers against their Chief Constable ... none of the officers being prepared to lodge a formal Police Act complaint."
The hell you say. So, in other words, there was no formal complaint. None. Just allegations.
Chief Battershill was in Halifax giving a speech to a police conference on the topic of civilian oversight for police when this all went down. He was that kind of cop: cerebral, well-informed, public-spirited. But before he could get back to Victoria, Battershill had already been placed on "administrative leave". Because, by then, Ryneveld admits that "...within days, my staff and I spoke to a number of Victoria Police Department (VicPD) officers and civilian employees ..." [P.1-2, Chief Constable Paul Battershill Investigation: Decision whether to order a Public Hearing. - Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, Dirk Ryneveld QC]
Ryneveld, (who, we've been told, has a very 'close' relationship with some police officers), the Police Complaint Commissioner, says he is aware of the public's "understandable confusion about whether there was any relationship between that Police Board action against Chief Battershill and the apparent leak of a letter written by a local lawyer alleging that another lawyer was in a conflict of interest arising from a freedom of information request the first lawyer made to the Victoria Police Department." Really?
A commentor to this web-site September 4, 2008 wrote: "Our senior officers have told us they weren't involved in this so somebody really is lying. The Chief has moved to Kelowna and is doing really well, officers stop by to see him quite often. Morale [in VicPD] will be really bad after this, lying to us isn't going to go over okay. More are going to quit unless they make a major change in senior management. A new mayor would be good too."
Another comment on Sept. 4 says: "VicPD is different because we have gone from one of the lowest rates of officers quitting to one of the highest rates, all in the past 6 months. Great new LEADERSHIP!" Think about that, Mr Ryneveld.
Another comment, September 4, says: "It still isn't clear what's happened. It sounds like only one thing was found and it was a reprimand relating to a perception. The palace coup seems obvious now and there are 'private persons of considerable influence only too anxious to make unfortunate allegations'. The 'system' doesn't seem to have worked at all really ..."
Iain Hunter, in the Victoria Times Colonist, wrote on September 6, 2008: " ... I share the disappointment of many that we haven't been given a full accounting of what the former chief was alleged to have done. We don't know what got, apparently, many senior people in his department to come down so hard on him before the Victoria Police Board and make specific allegations that an RCMP investigation was unable to substantiate. But you, in your report, confidently announce that they touched on "matters of integrity and oppressive conduct."
What kind of satisfaction can anyone get, asks Hunter, from a process based on unsubstantiated allegations of the kind Battershill said from the outset are typically made when a chief nears the end of his term.
Citizens often hurl accusations at police. Police, after all, are the visible symbols of authority when things go wrong. We consider it our right in a free society. But this time, Mr Ryneveld, it's different. This time, we're watching an outstanding police officer who it seems, may have been set up when he wasn't looking, by people still unwilling to go on the record, and without even the balancing component of a single kind word. The omission is right there, Mr Ryneveld, plain for all to see.
Not once does your report commend Paul Battershill for his 9 years of exemplary service to the capital city of British Columbia. For his work on the Oppal Commission. For management competence such that he was able to act as Interim City Manager. And for much more. Not a word. In fact, this whole affair could be mistaken for "Let's get Battershill Time." Why was that?
Commissioner Ryneveld writes that "[a]fter hearing all the concerns and allegations made by those who spoke to me over a two week period, I determined that several of the allegations I heard met the threshold for an investigation. To that end, I drafted seven terms of reference for a Police Act investigation, many of which had more than one element requiring investigation."
Did he speak to the Chief Constable? What was Chief Battershill's view of the situation you describe as two weeks of allegations? We'd like to know that. I'd like to know what the Police Union said, too. We've heard nothing from them. You'd think the Police Union would have been involved.
I think Commissioner Ryneveld may be speaking nonsense when he says that the RCMP Superintendent "also correctly understood that where questions arise pitting one person's word or version of events against another (as was often the case in this investigation), the role of the investigator is to make a finding that best corresponds with the whole of the evidence..." To make a finding. Gotcha.
Ryneveld tells us that he had only the authority to decide upon an investigation and a public inquiry ... not to decide questions arising out of the management environment ... in other words, not questions arising out of personnel matters. He says "I wanted to ensure that the Police Act process not be used to promote personal or political agendas or recriminations about a chief constable's personality or management style ... [which are] not proper matters for police investigations." And yet, and yet, that's exactly where we are today...that's exactly what it did.
From the public's point of view it's entirely about personnel matters ... even including, in my view, Marli Rusen as an outside contractor working for the Chief Constable, reporting to the Police Board. That was an employee matter ... a "personnel matter". Which, in my view, passed the ultimate test of integrity when the RCMP investigations asked: did the actions of Battershill or Rusen benefit either of them? Was there a criminal breach of trust?
And they found that the answer was No, neither Battershill nor Rusen personally benefited; and it was not a criminal breach of trust. It was a personnel matter with no adverse effect upon work accomplished. Oh, you say, it was a "perception". Or, more specifically, a "possible perception". Really.
Well, Dirk Ryneveld QC, let me tell you that my perception of the whole 12 pages of your Decision is that its tone is pejorative.
For example, consider what's left out. No weight whatever is given to Battershill's good service. You go round and round arguing about who has the right to sit in judgment. But it would seem to me that at least one paragraph somewhere in those 12 pages should have begun with, "Given his exemplary service for 9 years with Victoria Police Department, we take this opportunity to express our thanks to Paul Battershill ... " But there's nothing. No acknowledgement. No thank you for services rendered. No severence package. No good wishes for his future.
I am not the only citizen who is left with a feeling that a good cop has been censured. For what, we do not know.
One paragraph of the report did give me high hopes.
VIII. Closing Comments [p.11] "... independence allows the Commissioner to act in a fashion that is objective and independent not only of the government but also of certain private persons of influence who have their own agendas and who unfortunately seem only too ready to make unfortunate allegations and accusations."
This is a very significant area of concern. Thank you for mentioning it, because citizens recognize those images: of lawyers, of Gerald Hartwig, and of a break-in at Marli Rusen's law office. But no, the Police Complaint Commissioner makes not the slightest gesture toward explaining those elements or toward dismissing their "unfortunate allegations and accusations". Which means that those folks are still riding high in B.C.'s political society, continuing with "their own agendas" and "only too ready to make unfortunate allegations and accusations." Surely the Police Complaints Commissioner owes the citizens more.
The RCMP (IV. Investigative Findings) [p.4], found that only one aspect of one allegation had been established ... that is, the personal friendship between the Chief Constable and a lawyer ... which proved precisely nothing.
The RCMP Final Investigative Report says, the "relationship would give rise to a reasonable perception of discredit to the reputation of the police department ... or improper favouritism ... adversely affec[ting] [Battershill's] ability to select, assess, scrutinize and give instructions ... in the best interests of [VicPD and Victoria Police Board] ... and therefore, that Battershill's conduct could [please note: could. - BC Mary.] discredit the reputation of the VicPD. But did it? We don't think so.
Did Battershill's conduct discredit the reputation of VicPD. No. It was a perception. Or, more accurately, a possible perception.
Ryneveld concluded that since a mere allegation is often enough to unfairly damage reputation, "it would be improper and unfair to [Battershill] for me to publicize allegations that were found to be unsubstantiated ... " But dammit, Mr Ryneveld, you just did. The allegations, the innuendo has been flying for 10 months now. In fact, the report, arguably, makes it worse.
Mayor Lowe's announcement of August 13, 2008 led British Columbians to believe that the RCMP had been investigating "criminal acts, involvement with criminal activities, or financial impropriety." Dirk Ryneveld QC, Police Complaint Commissioner, must surely have known that neither the allegations nor the RCMP investigation included such topics. But neither he nor Mayor Lowe leapt to correct that mistaken impression. How fair is that?
I, for one, am not in favour of a public inquiry. I think it would put Paul Battershill through another terrible ordeal.
However, the people of B.C. have been hit two ways. Wehave suffered a loss of confidence. And we have had to pay the costs of these RCMP investigations unleashed upon a serving Police Chief (1,900 hours interviewing 37 individuals plus 7 support staff who spent 1,300 hours helping those investigators examine and catalogue nearly 900 documents).
I think that Paul Battershill must be given a chance to speak directly to the people, giving his understanding of the situation.
And from the Police Complaint Commissioner, I'd like a few more details, such as who those two lawyers were, and what they were doing - and let the public decide what "their" political agenda may have been. And about Gerald Hartwig's part in these troubles. Also about that break-in at the Heenan Blaikie office of Marli Rusen. It does not sit right with me that two such brilliant people as Battershill and Rusen are left with their careers in ruins ... while the questions of the community they served are brushed aside as almost idle "public curiosity".
It does not paint a picture of fairness or justice. Frankly, it leaves us wondering if it's something else.
Any reasonable citizen might begin to ask if this attack upon Paul Battershill has something to do with an attempt to discredit a man who diligently led the lengthy investigation into drugs trafficking, which then led to the raids on the B.C. Legislature, and as a result, is someone who will undoubtedly be a Crown witnesses when the BC Rail Case comes to trial.
I think we need a lot more ANSWERS ...
- BC Mary, with help from Friends and commentors to The Legislature Raids.
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Exactly where does Paul Battershill fit into the upcoming trial which could embarrass the Campbell government? The following 2004 Tyee article explains a lot:
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RAIDS: HOW BIG A SCANDAL?
David Basi and Bob Virk were key players in B.C.'s Liberal government with strong ties to the Prime Minister. The RCMP raid of their offices as part of a probe into drugs and organized crime will likely cloud the next elections, federal and provincial.
By Barbara McLintock
TheTyee.ca - December 30, 2004
It started out like so many relatively routine tips that police officers pick up - some unsubstantiated information about trafficking in cocaine and marijuana, deemed to be worthy of further investigation by the Victoria Police Department and the RCMP Drug Section for the Greater Victoria region. But as the officers conducted their probe, the tentacles spread further and further, potentially involving organized crime and police corruption. Then this weekend they reached right inside the B.C. Legislative Buildings - a place where police officers rarely venture except to keep the peace at demonstrations and arrest the odd errant protester.
By late afternoon Sunday [Dec 28/03], two high level Liberal government officials, their offices raided by police, were gone from their jobs. David Basi, ministerial assistant to Finance Minister Gary Collins, was fired and Bob Virk, the ministerial assistant to Transportation Minister Judith Reid was suspended with pay.
Ties to Paul Martin's campaign
The sight of uniformed sergeants (the operation was considered too sensitive for any officers of lower rank to participate) toting dozens of cardboard cartons containing file folders and documents down the steps at the legislature has given the Gordon Campbell government a political problem unlike any they have experienced in their past 31 months in the office.
{Snip} ...
Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill confirmed several other locations were also raided by police officers over the weekend. They included the homes of some of those involved, an accounting firm, and a government relations firm later identified as Pilothouse Public Affairs. The company was begun by former Vancouver Province columnist Brian Kieran, but two of its key officials - Erik Bornman and Jamie Elmhirst -- also have strong ties to the Martin camp.
Also visited by investigating officers, although not formally raided, was Mark Marissen, of Burrard Communications, who was director of the Martin campaign in B.C. - and who's also the husband of Deputy Premier Christy Clark.
{Snip} ...
To read the full story, type "Raids: How big a scandal?" into the Search Box, top left on this page.
Or go to:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2004/12/30/Raids_How_Big_a_Scandal/
Paul Battershill's testimony at the trial of Basi, Virk, Basi will be critical. Under oath, he will be telling us why that historic raid had to happen. - BC Mary.
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Battershill has an amazing resume when you do searches on him. A famous SWAT commando and on the other hand a strong advocate for the homeless, drug addicted and prostitutes. Then a national union leader and on the other hand a management leader. Then on a royal commission. They've sure damaged his reputation but this guy isn't going to have any trouble working anywhere in the world.
May 27, 2008