More Wicked, Questionable Questions

Self preservation is a natural human inclination. So when a police officer covers up misconduct by fabricating reports justifying a decision to use force, perhaps we should not be surprised. However, police are highly trusted public servants. They are the people citizens rely upon for protection. They are the symbol of morality and justice. So when police fabricate an incident to protect their own self interest, there must be consequences. A Dziekanski-esque cover-up is never acceptable.

I have defended and prosecuted cases where video surveillance did not corroborate allegations by police that the accused was resisting or being assaultive. I have even prosecuted cases where video imagery was tampered with. Though these are rare occurrences, they do exist.

Having said this, LET ME BE PATENTLY CLEAR reiterating a point that I have made time and time again: THE VAST MAJORITY OF POLICE OFFICERS ARE HONEST, HARD WORKING FOLKS, who exercise a proper degree of discretion most of the time and possess such moral fortitude that they own up to mistakes, even if it means supplying information or evidence harming the prosecutions case. So when I criticize police in articles such as this, I am really targeting a small percentage of the police force. It is unfortunate that all of the fine officers potentially get painted with a single brush, but that is why I want the one or two readers of this site not to take things out of context. The reality is, every group or population has the preverbal bad apple.

In what appears to be a consistent theme flowing from the use of Tasers, police have come under fire for yet another incident where the justification for using the weapon has been disconfirmed by video surveillance.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/world/2009/08/20/10531156.html

According to Officer Erik Hansen’s report, the accused (Pawlowski) stepped back and took a threatening stance while he was being fingerprinted. According to Hansen’s report

“Twice he (Pawloski) pulled his hand away and I cautioned him to keep his fingers flat on the scanner. The third time he pulled back his hand, stepped back, focused on me and took a stance as if to attack me. I then grabbed Pawlowski around his neck and shoulders and drove him to the floor.”
Really?? Video obtained by the Associated Press apparently shows otherwise.

The video, which has no sound, shows Pawlowski slightly raising his right arm when Hansen roughly drives him to the floor and two other officers shoot Pawlowski with stun guns. Police then charged Pawlowski with interfering with an officer. Also, the video shows that Pawlowski had no time to focus his attention on the officer before being attacked and tasered.


Being assaulted by police is serious. Being criminally charged by police for something one did not do is even more serious. But being falsely charged so the offending officer can deflect blame due to his or her assaultive behaviour? In this writer’s view, that is one of the most heinous crimes against the public interest imaginable!

It is not enough to merely beat up or taser a citizen (or both), the citizen must be saddled with the risk of being convicted for something he or she did not do? Frightening….

For many citizens, a criminal charge is a catastrophic event. The citizen must now confront the possibility that he or she will lose a job or be restricted in travel. They are painted with the stigma of being “an accused” and face imminent risk of conviction.

Justice is far from perfect. Believe it or not, people are wrongly convicted. We like to believe otherwise because that belief allows us to sleep soundly at night, but the belief is naivety. Justice is a human system. There is no consistent application of reasonable doubt, and even if there was, evidence is often the presented product of witnesses – some who are better than others. Police are professional witnesses.

Better, however, does not necessarily mean more reliable or more credible. By virtue of their position alone, police officers often receive a tremendous amount of deference by courts. When they testify, the default position is that it is true. When they make a notation or record information as part of their investigation, the default position is that the information is reliable.

When police fabricate – as they apparently did in Mr. Pawloski’s case and as Millington and others did in Dziekanski’s case – the risk to the integrity of our system of justice is catastrophic.

The question is, how many false allegations have been perpetrated by self interested officers that were never uncovered because there was no video? How many citizens have been wrongly convicted in these circumstances?

These are yet more wicked, questionable little questions.

David G. Chow
Calgary Criminal Lawyer

www.calgarydefence.com