you can't just tune someone because "they are not a saint" or because they "had it coming". I deal with the scum of society often, but I cant just beat the shit out of them just because they annoy me or because they did something I didn't like. This is why there is due process. He caused two accidents? Charge his ass with reckless endangerment.

By going hard on him, like they did... all they've done is ensure that this kid will face no charges and he'll get to be a douche-canoe for another day.

Assault victims angered by plea deal for 'dangerous' police officer

Two women who were assaulted by Ottawa Police Const. Eric Post say a plea deal brokered by the Crown diminishes the violence and fear the officer inflicted upon them.

On Jan. 15, Post pleaded guilty to five charges related to violence against several women over the course of five years. They were women he was linked to romantically or knew personally. He initially faced 32 charges — the highest number ever for an officer in the Ottawa Police Service.

With the plea deal, 27 alleged offences ranging from sexual assault and criminal harassment to unlawful confinement were dropped.

The women told CBC's The Fifth Estate the justice system has "silenced" them while safeguarding a "dangerous" police officer.

"I was disappointed and heartbroken. I trusted in our system. I was hoping for justice," said Leah, a kindergarten teacher. "I felt my case was watered down and not presented in the way it needed to be."

CBC is using pseudonyms for the women because their identities are protected by a court-ordered publication ban. They told The Fifth Estate they wanted to testify to hold the constable accountable, but after months of preparation, they were told one week before the trial that Post was being offered a plea deal instead.

Post is awaiting sentencing in April, after being convicted of four counts of assault and one count of uttering threats related to four victims.

The agreement between the Crown and defence did not require the Ottawa officer to enter guilty pleas connected to the claims of three other women, one of whom died by suicide last September.

Before her death, Post was charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of pointing a firearm at the woman in December 2017.

As previously reported by The Fifth Estate, Post is one of eight Ottawa police officers suspended with pay for alleged incidents of violence and misconduct related to women that occurred on and off duty.

Manitoba RCMP say a First Nations man assaulted an officer. Court documents suggest that's not what happened


Newly released documents detail 3 versions of events the night Brian Halcrow is alleged to have thrown a hat


On June 6, 2019, Brian Halcrow woke up in a jail cell in Thompson, Man., with four stitches across his forehead, a torn-up sweater and no recollection of how he got there.

An officer on the scene that night said Const. Jeremiah Dumont-Fontaine punched Halcrow twice in self-defence, after Halcrow tried to hit the officer during an incident outside the Thompson Inn, according to court documents.

But now, newly disclosed court documents obtained by CBC News, along with descriptions of video surveillance footage by Manitoba's police watchdog and interviews with Halcrow's family and friends suggest that's not what happened.

His best friend, Thelma Moar, says Halcrow was a peaceful man, too weakened by multiple strokes to ever pose a real threat.

"They beat him. They beat him good. He didn't know what happened," said Moar.

"We FaceTimed and [I] saw the bloody clothes he had on, the stitches he had across his eye, and he was just covered in blood."

That morning, Halcrow was charged with three counts of assaulting a police officer and causing a disturbance while intoxicated.

Seven months later, on Jan. 5, 2020, he killed himself.

‘We were Black’: Surrey family questions RCMP after being ordered from home with their hands up


Surrey RCMP says it is conducting a review of a recent response to a weapons call which saw a Black family — including a 10-year-old girl — ordered out of their house with their hands up.

Blanche Monabeka, 21, told Global News police showed up at their home around 5:30 p.m. Monday and parked outside.

She went outside to ask what was going on, but said she was told it was nothing to worry about, to go back inside and that officers would let her know if they needed to talk to her.

“Ten, 15 minutes later we just see a bunch of officers pull up in front of our house, we’re looking out the window to see what’s going on, and then we get a megaphone: ‘Everybody out, put your hands up,'” she said.

“To first have officers tell you, ‘Oh no you can go inside, everything will be OK,’ to the next thing you know hearing a megaphone with people calling you outside… it’s terrifying.”

While Monabeka and her sisters — aged 18, 15 and 10 years of age — were outside, police proceeded to search the home, but found no weapon.

Monabeka’s family has tenants in two adjoining units, who she said were not ordered out of their homes.

“They just knocked on their door, and went inside their house but they didn’t make them come out, they didn’t make them put their hands up. There was none of that. We were the only ones that had to do the whole extreme. So I don’t know why that was,” she said.

“They were white and we were black. That’s the only conclusion I can come to.”

According to Monabeka, it was 40 minutes before an officer explained that a neighbour had called police to report someone firing a BB gun in her back yard.

She said police did eventually locate a plastic gun in one of the tenants’ units.

“They were not apologetic,” she said.

“He said he hopes we can understand why this happened. And I’m like no, I can’t understand why this happened and why this happened in this way.”

An RCMP officer reached out to the family to apologize Wednesday, two days after the incident, she said — but not until a video she made about the encounter began to spread on social media.

Hamilton officer found guilty after journalist arrests resigns, avoiding penalty



Hamilton police Const. Jeff Todoruk — who was found guilty of several charges after arresting two photojournalists in Waterdown in May 2017 — has resigned from the force before he could be penalized.

In a hearing conducted by phone on Friday, prosecutor Brian Duxbury revealed that Todoruk had resigned effective Feb. 19. Todoruk was not present on the call Friday and had missed multiple hearings before his resignation, delaying the decision on a penalty.

In accordance with the Police Services Act, Todoruk's resignation resulted in the matter being stayed. If he gains employment with any police service in Ontario within five years of his resignation, it will be reopened again, explained hearing officer Peter Lennox.

"If he does find himself reemployed elsewhere, this matter recommences," said Lennox, a retired Toronto police superintendent.

Todoruk was found guilty of two counts of neglect of duty, one count of discreditable conduct and one count of unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority under the Police Services Act in a decision made by Lennox on May 31. He was found not guilty of one count of discreditable conduct.

The charges stemmed from the scene of a car crash in Waterdown where a young girl had been killed. Todoruck arrested then-Global News camera operator Jeremy Cohn and independent videographer David Ritchie, who were working at the time.

Handcuffed and put into a cruiser

A video shows Todoruck pinning Cohn to the ground with his knee, cuffing him with zip ties, and pulling him to a police cruiser. Cohn was released without charge.

Todoruck took Ritchie's camera before handcuffing him and putting him in the cruiser. Ritchie was charged with resisting arrest and obstructing a peace officer, but those charges were later dropped.

Ritchie, who describes what happened that day as an "ego trip," says he's disappointed by how much time and resources went into a process that ended with Todoruk getting "an escape route… Who knows what's on his file, because he walked away and didn't get disciplined."

He believes Todoruk's behaviour undermines public trust, and says police chiefs should be advocating for more powers to fire an officer who commits discreditable conduct. "If other people in high-profile careers can lose their job for misconduct, why shouldn't the police be the same?"

Botched no-knock raids prompt calls to limit police tactic


Police forces across Canada are conducting hundreds of no-knock raids each year to execute search warrants despite growing concern about the trampling of charter rights, an investigation by CBC's The Fifth Estate has found.

These raids, also called dynamic entries, involve heavily armed police barging into a home unannounced. Stun grenades that explode at ear-splitting decibels are often used.

Police say they're used in high risk searches where there is concern the suspect is armed or will destroy evidence.

No-knocks are supposed to be the exception, according to Canadian common law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but The Fifth Estate's analysis of court cases and freedom of information data shows they've become normal practice for some police forces, especially in Ontario.

"That's why we should have prior [judicial] authorization as a check on this conduct, which has gotten out of control," said Ottawa defence lawyer Mark Ertel.

In Canada, investigators need to get a search warrant approved, usually by a justice of the peace, but it's police, not judges, who decide when a no-knock entry will be used.

That's different from what predominantly happens south of the border. The majority of American states require a judge to approve no-knock entries before police execute the warrant.

Following the death of Breonna Taylor, the U.S. Congress is now considering a new law to ban no-knock warrants. The Kentucky woman was shot by police following a botched drug raid last March.

In a recent trial, an Ontario Provincial Police officer testified that dynamic entries are used in 90 per cent of drug warrants, while Quebec provincial police say they conduct about 150 such raids annually.

The practice is coming under increasing scrutiny by judges and community activists in Canada after the death of a 23-year-old Black man in Ottawa.

Lethbridge police chief suspends 5 officers in meme investigation

Five Lethbridge, Alta., police officers have been suspended with pay as part of an investigation into the circulation of inappropriate images, according to an email obtained by CBC News.

The investigation has been dubbed internally as "MemeGate," according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Several memes were circulated among Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) officers which were disrespectful to LPS brass and NDP MLA Shannon Phillips, according to those sources, who spoke to CBC News on condition of anonymity.

The investigation began in 2018 and last week LPS Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh sent an all-staff email announcing the suspensions.

"As of today five employees have been relieved of their duties," wrote Mehdizadeh.

"This file will be damaging to LPS however we need to ensure transparency in the process for public interest and also the integrity of the organization."

It is the latest revelation involving Phillips and the Lethbridge police. Two police officers have been disciplined for spying involving Phillips and five others are under investigation for allegedly searching her private information on police databases with no apparent investigative justification.