Holy Bill Of Rights, Batman!

BOOM! WHAM! POW! BAM!

These are just a few descriptors used to illustrate the mighty fist of the comic book superhero striking a blow for justice in a world infested with villainy.

“I say thee nay”, bellows the Mighty Thor as the Thunder God smites enemies with his Uru hammer. CRACK!

“Hulk smash”. KABOOM!

“Whatever is fair in love and war is also fair in crime fighting”, retorts the Batman. WHAMO!

Just days into 2011 and yet another unnamed police officer is caught on camera administering some gratuitous street justice.

“B.C. cop caught on tape allegedly kicking man in the face”: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110107/bl_kelowna_brutality_110107/20110107?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

On-lookers were shocked.

In the words of an unnamed witness, “he [the police officer] kicked him so hard. He never fought”.

SMACK!

The target of the kick was next observed sporting the bloodied evidence of the steel-toed boot of criminal justice.

“Holy Bill Of Rights, Batman”!

Sadly, this incident in Kelowna, British Columbia is not an isolated event – not even close. Recent months have born witness to a graphic display of wanton violence by police against those whom they have a duty to protect. I watched in disgust as Cst. Desmond Sandhoe unleashed a fury of aggravated closed fist strikes to the body and face of a prisoner in full view of a camera at the Lac La Biche R.C.M.P. detachment.

SMASH! POW!

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/Biche+RCMP+officer+pleads+guilty+appalling+assault/3891371/story.html

I was again unnerved to watch the actions of Ottawa police performing a series of aggressive manoeuvres whilst executing an undignified strip search of prisoner Stacey Bonds. A knee to the lower body, followed by a forced take down of the prisoner by multiple officers represents just a few actions critically denounced by Justice Lajoie.

BOOM! BING!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/11/25/ottawa-bonds-video-115.html

I was dismayed to watch a police officer unceremoniously shove a disabled woman to the pavement in full view of shocked Vancouverites walking along a local sidewalk.

DONK! BLAMMO!

Rather than remaining to offer assistance to the woman, later identified as having cerebral palsy, the great triumvirate of police simply continued their shoulder-to-shoulder stride, cutting a path through the people using the pedestrian walkway. The officer’s pathetic excuse, “I thought she was going for my gun”.

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101207/bc_cop_charged_101207/20101207?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Of course, there was also Robert Dziekanski. Need I say more? ZAP!

Holy shenanigans, Batman!

Aside from several unnamed Calgary police charged with criminal offences in 2010, Calgaryians have yet to witness the iron fist of our boys in blue captured in Technicolor. As a criminal defence lawyer, however, I assure you, I have unfortunately born witness to such things. Whether it is due to a complete absence of investigative reporting in Calgary, a biased media, a corrupt police department, a good cover-up or a combination of all of the above, the evidence of such conduct has yet to be exposed via the powerful medium of videotape. And though I cannot divulge things I know to be true because of my involvement as a member of the criminal bar, I can tell you that such violence exists. I have seen it both as a Prosecutor and a criminal defence lawyer.

That said, perhaps the best evidence of violence within the Calgary Police Service is not resting within the binary code of digital video or police reports disclosed to the crown; rather, it is expressed with brutal efficiency by pseudonym author, John Smith, in his 2008 publication, “The Wolf and the Sheep Dog”.

“They break the law and we try to catch them”, Smith writes. “But running after you are caught is going to get your ass kicked. Those are the rules”.

“We called it ‘the one-punch rule’, you run and every cop involved with the foot chase gets a punch after you get caught”.

A reading of “The Wolf and the Sheepdog” leaves one with the indelible impression that its writer is prepared to twist logic and defy sanity in the name of justifying violence. Just a few short lines following the aforementioned passage, the writer laments his inexperience as justification for failing to administer some worthy street justice. A mistake he will not make a second time.

“Just as I finished yelling my totally asinine threat he just stopped and laid down. He went into the fetal position and started begging not to get hit”.

“What am I to do”? ...

“My partner looks at the guy and lets him know that he is lucky that I caught him, otherwise she would have kicked the shit out of him”.

In other words, the compliant prisoner barely avoided: BOOM! WACK! POW! BONK! BING!

No mercy, Batman!

Reading “The Wolf and the Sheep Dog”, one quickly learns mercy was rarely given. But before regaling you with more superhero tales about the author beating citizens in the name of justice, let me tell you a little about the book and its writer.

The book purportedly depicts true events. To highlight the introductory words of the author:

The calls and situations depicted in this book are only based on actual events.

My name has been changed and my co-worker’s names are false ones.

I am still an active member of a police force and because of laws and personal safety I have to keep my identity a secret....

This book contains my first five years on the street. I consider myself lucky to be able to be at the right place and time to be involved in such calls.

To be waist deep in “the Shit”.

This is my story.

Despite the fact that the pseudonym author/Calgary policeman actually accomplished a great achievement writing his book, nobody said he was necessarily artistic or even particularly intelligent. The book is infected with scatology, littered in slang and composed with grade-school simplicity. Perhaps most troubling, it teaches nothing other than some of Calgary’s finest are little more than bloodthirsty ruffians who use their authority to administer physical violence against those whom they are entrusted to protect. Forgo any notions of higher principle, police responsibility, integrity, or higher cultural and moral values; for “The Wolf and the Sheepdog” paints many members of the Calgary Police Service as nothing short of armed thugs.

Perhaps even more shocking, it paints its author and members of the CPS as “criminal”.

Discovering the real identity of pseudonym writer “John Smith” was just about as easy as surmising Clark Kent without glasses is Superman. Even Inspector Gadget could have unravelled this mystery. Simply “Google” a few rudimentary search terms and the author’s real name, police badge number, telephone number and other personal information is revealed. Even more baffling is that it was the author who exposed himself!

Holy stupid, Batman!

It is not without some irony that the author actually had the audacity to promote his book by messaging MacLean’s Magazine in relation to their “The Best of Film, TV and Books in 2008”.

Holy “it’s hard to be humble”, Batman!

http://www2.macleans.ca/2008/12/24/the-best-of-08-in-film-tv-and-books/

To Brian Bethune:

Good day, my name is John Brix-Maffei and I am a Canadian Author as well as a Canadian Police Constable. I have written a book called “The Wolf and The Sheepdog” published by Authorhouse and distributed through Ingram. I would be honored to send you a copy of the book for your review and critique.

The Wolf and The Sheepdog was created to allow the reader a look into the emotional and philosophical world of policing. The reader gains a valuable insight into a subculture that has been hiding in the shadows, a world of violence, victims and turmoil. Through “The Wolf and Sheepdogs” short stories the reader will be transported into a world that goes far beyond Televisions “Badge, Bottle, Gun” stereotype.

The Wolf and The sheepdog has been well received in the early stages of its release and has been quoted as; “Taking the lid off of policing”, by Gerry Forbes on CJ92, “Truly an eye opening event,“ by Jason Elles on Sirius Satellite Radio, “Raw, powerful and moving,” by Dave Rutherford on AM 770.

I hope that you enjoy the short stories that I have created in “The Wolf and The Sheepdog”.

Please feel free to call me at 1(403) 710 - 8698, my wife Angela at 1(403)567-0495, or contact me at my email if you have any further questions.

pol3530@calgarypolice.ca or memorialpainting@gmail.com

See also: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Dinosaur-Angela-Brix-Maffei/dp/1438904991

Perhaps Gerry Forbes said it best; the book indeed takes “the lid off of policing”.

Reading The Wolf and the Sheepdog, I continuously pictured a series of comic book frames, wherein the self portrayed hero, Cst. John Brix-Maffei was walloping enemies into submission, whilst bellowing cheesy one-liners, such as “it’s Matrix Time”.

Though he self promotes his book with Maclean’s Magazine as “...a look into the emotional and philosophical world of policing”, I take great umbrage with the use of the word “philosophical”; rather, I prefer to characterize Mr. Brix-Maffei’s work as more closely akin to an inculpatory admission of criminality and noble cause corruption by a Calgary police officer serving in the line of duty.

Just seventeen pages into the book, Mr. Maffei essentially confesses to having committed an aggravated assault against a suspect.

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, “every one commits an aggravated assault who wounds, maims, disfigures or endangers the life of the complainant”.

As Mr. Brix-Maffei approaches a motorist just recently involved in a head-on collision with his police cruiser, he sees “a beautiful star-shaped imprint on the front window...caused from [the driver’s] head bouncing off of it”.

Now confession.

“I know that blows to the head will be most effective right now, because he has already sustained damage to his head from impacting the window”. “A quick glance at his hands on the steering wheel tells me that he has no weapons. Game time!”

“My left fist slams into his face, causing his nose to bend and suddenly pop under the force. My right fist lines up for a second blow”.

BAM! POP!

“I can already see blood flowing from his nose”.

“Fucking eh...”, he writes, “I broke his nose....The right fist hits solid on his jaw, causing his head to spin violently away from me. He is fucked; I have two or three seconds now. His brain is bouncing off of his cranial cavity and I have two or three seconds to cause more damage to this fuck before his brain even recovers from that blow”.

WHAM! SMASH!

Holy planned and deliberate violence, Batman!

With writing like this, who needs video?

Well, Mr. Brix-Maffei does not merely confess to brutalizing people, he also confesses to doctoring notes and police reports to avoid accountability. After pondering intentionally ramming the suspect’s vehicle, Brix-Maffei queries, “Did I breach policy? You bet, you have to get permission to ram a vehicle from your supervisor”.

“Will I get a negative paper? I hope the fuck not, this is where my talent for articulation comes in”.

Of course, an event captured on video seldom requires “talent for articulation”.

“Did I lie”, ponders Brix-Maffei. “No”.

“Lies are those that affect the innocent”.

Holy noble cause corruption, Batman!

Has John Brix-Maffei ever been charged with a criminal assault? To my knowledge, the answer is no. Yet “The Wolf and the Sheep Dog” is saturated with stories of wanton violence by a man who is still employed as a Calgary Police Officer. The resounding theme is how the enemies of Brix-Maffei are “fucked”.

I drive my right fist into his kidneys. I set into him and push my fist deep. I can feel my fist sink in up to my wrist before he bends and contorts to avoid any more damage.

He is fucked. His face is contorted in pain. His mouth is gaping, trying to drag in air. Air that was knocked out of him when I slammed into him, precious air that was wrung out of his lungs even more when I drove my fist into him.

I have landed the damaging blows that will allow me to give him the hurt as long as I want to.

My elbow slices into his face. His head snaps to the left and I feel his long hair whip across his face.

I send in another body shot to keep his mind confused. My left fist slams into his sternum. Nothing comes out of his mouth. No groan, no gasp of air or he will die.

The bright white paint of panic is smeared across his face.

POW! CRACK! ARGGGGGG!

Meanwhile, Brix-Maffie has the wherewithal to yell “stop resisting and you won’t get hurt”.

As he writes, these are words designed to “cultivate the minds” of witnesses.

“I know that if someone’s watching, my verbal queues will let them know that we are fighting a bad guy who is fighting with us. The verbal direction will also cultivate their minds. They will believe what I yell out”.

The Wolf and the Sheep Dog consists of 386 pages of brutal and wanton violence confessed with artistic flare by a Calgary Police Officer. Brix-Maffei’s stories are seldom heroic or even brave. Many of the beatings are cowardly excesses of police violence against those who are vulnerable. The book does not, as Brix-Maffei claims, allow the reader insight into the emotional and philosophical world of policing; rather, it is a disgusting and immoral confession which sullies the entire Calgary Police Department.

Comic book heroes are seldom gratuitous. They are manufactured with an ingrained sense of morality that recognizes the need for justice to be, wherever at all possible, peaceful. As Professor David Paciocco writes in his book, “Getting Away with Murder”, “the quality of a nation’s civilization can largely be determined by the methods it uses in the enforcement of its criminal law”. If Brix-Maffei’s conduct at all represents even a small minority of Calgary police officers – and by accounts it does – then I fear the quality of our civilization rests on the boot heels of police power.

“I look at my partner”, writes Brix-Maffei, “who starts to look around in all directions. He is looking for bystanders, for eyes that may watch us. He gives me a nod and I know it is time for me to make sure this loser doesn’t try this again”.

“I move over to this guy lying on the ground, hands cuffed behind his back. His look of delight changes to a look of fear as he knows I am so ready to open a can of shit on him”.

BOOM! BOFF! POW! SLAM!

Holy who are the real criminals, Batman?

David G. Chow
Calgary Criminal Lawyer
Calgary DUI Lawyer

www.calgary-law.ca

You should have let me in on this. We could have planned it, prepared it, pre-sold the movie rights! - Riddler

News Media an Exclusive Playground for Pro-Police Lobby

Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, 14 percent of all people know that.

Homer Simpson

The word “news” is a misnomer that really ought to be substituted with more appropriate language such as, propagandists, advertorialists, fear mongerers , cheap salespersons.

The word “cheap” aptly describes the so-called reporting transmitted in newspapers and airways across Canada, and in particular, in Calgary, Alberta. A daily read of Calgary’s local media highlights the complete lack of investigative reporting by second rate authors and purveyors of misinformation or half-truths.

Reporting about budget cuts to the Calgary Police Service underscores my point.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/07/14/calgary-police-budget-ad-cuts-letter-herald-penn-west.html

Following this story like shark’s tracking a chum line, the news media has appropriately informed Calgarians about anticipated budget cuts to Calgary’s Police Service, but in so doing, it has apparently been baited by self-serving informers who use news as a platform to advance their particular cause. Rather than providing a balanced perspective, replete with information so that citizens can determine whether their tax dollars ought to be slashed from the police budget, the “news” has seemingly become a near exclusive medium for the police lobby to campaign for public support. A daily read of Calgary’s local newspapers – the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald – supports the argument that these mediums are little more than sounding boards for various preferred lobby groups such as the CPS.

Now, I am not saying the news should stop speaking with these various groups. Rather, I am saying they should stop blindly reporting information without conducting a measure of real investigative journalism.

For example, if one was to blindly accept Police statistics that the reported 32% reduction in property crime was solely due to increased numbers of beat patrol cops it would be easy to feel trepidation about the impact budget cuts would have on public safety. These statistics, however, could be highly misleading.

Just for a moment, let’s rewind the clock to December 9th, 2008 when the City of Calgary revoked the business license for the downtown Cecil Hotel. Now fast-forward just a little more than a month, to Mayor Dave Bronconnier’s comments reported by the CBC on January 22nd, 2009 where he informed us that since the City’s 10.9 million dollar purchase of the Cecil Hotel, crime in the area dropped by 85%.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/01/22/cgy-cecil-hotel-crime-down.html

In that same article, Louise Gallagher, a spokesperson for the Calgary Drop-In Centre aptly commented that since the Hotel’s closure drug dealing and other crime may not be “as visible” but it’s still there. To be fair, Police Chief Rick Hanson also recognized the “visibility” issue when he said, “we’re not naive enough to think the crime has gone away”.

For the purpose of this exercise, let us begin by looking at Mayor Bronconnier’s use of statistics.

Essentially, he lauds the City of Calgary’s decision to revoke the notorious Hotel’s business license and then justifies the 10.9 million dollar use of municipal tax dollars to purchase the property by suggesting the expenditure was worthwhile because it resulted in an 85% reduction in crime in the area. This is certainly a prima facie compelling statistic.

During this same period, the Calgary Police Department was lobbying for more public money to fund additional manpower and police initiatives for 2010 and 2011.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/columnists/rick_bell/2009/08/14/10459661-sun.html

This lobby continued in 2010 with the CPS ringing the public safety alarm in response to a looming 5% budget cut resulting in a 14.8 million dollar shortfall to police coffers. According to police, this cut will result in 120 fewer police, tabulated as 55 current positions and 65 positions in 2011.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/07/07/calgary-police-budget-cuts-council-hanson-beat.html

A recent ad “in support of the Calgary Police” argues that increased police presence has resulted in a decline in drug activity and other crime on Calgary streets. The ad suggests a 32% reduction in property crime, a 21% reduction in person crimes (whatever that means) and a 26% reduction in disorder events. The purpose of the ad is to garner public support to protect the police budget.

Again, on the surface, these statistics are compelling, but in the words of Homer Simpson, “statistics can be used to prove anything, 14% of all people know that”.

Well, I am not saying these statistics are incorrect or even necessarily inappropriate. What I am saying is that on the information provided, I cannot reasonably decide for myself whether these statistics are misleading or inappropriately used. For example, I have a difficulty reconciling a reduction in drug crimes or a 32% reduction in property crimes with the alleged 85% reduction in crime in the area of the former crime hotspot, the Cecil Hotel.

As a lifelong resident of Calgary, I take “citizen’s notice” that the Cecil Hotel was nothing short of a visible cesspool where a plethora of criminal offences were committed in plain view of anybody who stood and watched for long enough. In fact, when my mountain bike was stolen from outside the epicentre of Calgary’s Red Mile on 17th Avenue south west – Melrose – I simply attended at the Cecil Hotel and within about 15 minutes of scanning the inhabitants, found the bike at the liquor store in the parking lot. It was in plain view. I didn’t need Magnum P.I., Starsky and Hutch or any other brand of super detective to locate my stolen property.

While merely walking the area, I observed a number of individuals who were clearly intoxicated in a public place (a possible “disorder event”); other persons possibly dealing drugs or engaged in what appeared to be prostitution (a possible “person crime”).

This leads to my second point: eliminating a plain view crime hotspot provided an easy mechanism for claiming crime reduction, for the alleged criminal activity is no longer visible and thus not as easily tabulated. Put another way, the alleged reduction in certain types of crime, such as drug trafficking, may be closely connected to the elimination of a high crime hot spot where such activity was easily observed.

Doubtless, police patrolling in District 1 (downtown) conducted a high number of criminal investigations and arrests in the area of the Cecil. In a sense, despite the Cecil’s reputation and the problems associated with the area, it acted as a kind of crime containment where investigations were logically directed and arrests often made. The activity ordinarily conducted in the neighbourhood of the Cecil Hotel has likely distributed elsewhere, and in so doing, may be more difficult to detect.

The point is, there is a close connection between crime statistics, crime reporting and crime detection.

The Cecil provided fertile grounds for crime reporting and detection, the reduction of which logically corresponds to a statistical reduction in criminal activity.

To say the reduction (or the level of reduction) is necessarily caused by increased police presence may be just about as specious as saying the existence of limestone on City streets protects citizens from being invaded by wildlife.

Again, dialogue in a Simpson’s episode illustrates the point.

After a single bear wandering into town has drawn an over-reaction from the residents of Springfield, Homer stands outside his house and muses, “Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol is working like a charm!”

Lisa Simpson responds: “That’s specious reasoning, dad. By your logic, I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.”

Confused, Homer responds: “Hmm; how does it work?”

Lisa: “It doesn’t work; it’s just a stupid rock!”

Homer: “Uh-huh.”

Lisa: “… but I don’t see any tigers around, do you?”

Homer: “Lisa, I want to buy your rock…”

The point is, increasing the police budget has not necessarily resulted in decreased crime (at least to the extent claimed by the police lobby), just as eliminating the Cecil Hotel has not necessarily decreased the total amount of overall crime in Calgary – for the Cecil crime has probably re-distributed to other communities. But eliminating a visible hotspot may have impacted the number of crimes “reported” thus creating a fallacious statistic pertaining to the number of crimes committed; thus begging the question: has increased police presence really resulted in a meaningful decrease in crime?

In a 2009 article titled “Credit where credit is due: lobby for more police truth ruse” I mused over the police lobby for additional officers.

http://andjusticeforall-calgary.blogspot.com/2009/08/credit-where-credit-is-due.html

To that end, I stated:

I think it is important for citizens to understand a couple of realities. Many years ago, I was a Crown prosecutor, working out of an office in Rocky Mountain Plaza. From my 15th floor vantage point, City Hall was to the South, the old Provincial Courthouse was across the street to the east, and just a couple blocks west was the district 1 police station and the Andrew Davidson building. The epicentre for criminal justice was located within just a few blocks of the Cecil Hotel. I have no trouble saying, the area where my office was located was definitely one the seediest areas I have EVER been in.

From my 15th floor vantage point, I could actually observe a lot of rather suspicious behaviour -- both on the sidewalk beside my building, in Olympic Plaza (right across the street from City Hall) and on the streets just one block east of the District 1 police station.

What is my point?

Despite the sheer presence of law enforcement officials and police, there is little doubt that crime was exceedingly high in that area. Exceedingly high within a couple city blocks of Calgary’s biggest police station, where the numbers of police either patrolling streets, attending the district office or going to court was monumental. I am sure anybody who worked in that area before the closure of the Cecil would not disagree. From this I surmise that the sheer numbers of police, government and law enforcement apparently had little impact on the criminal element.
So, back to the question: is crime really decreasing in Calgary’s downtown because of a higher police presence?

To be fair, I think the answer is probably yes. But the next question is how much? How much of it is attributed to a heightened police presence and how much is attributed to other things? Is Calgary’s top police lobbyist taking credit where it’s not due?

Suffice it to say, I continue to have difficulty resolving the question.

Unfortunately, our Calgary media is so devoid of meaningful investigative reporting that we cannot count on it to inform us in any meaningful way. I am left to feel as if we are in an informational abyss where fast food reporting by indolent news agencies leaves us susceptible to being duped by lobby groups using statistics out of context to advance their agenda.

Speaking about context, the message about police cutbacks has been delivered in a rather interesting way. Phrased by Chief Hanson et al, the 5% reduction will result in 120 lost positions, including 65 positions slated for 2011. Analyzed properly,however,of the alleged 120 positions in jeopardy, only 55 of those positions directly pertain to the time period of the so-called crime reduction; for the 65 additional officers budgeted for 2011 had yet to start walking the beat. So, the police haven’t really lost 120 positions; they have lost 55.

This begs the question, how many of those 55 officers how many were assigned to beat patrol? How many of those officers were placed on City streets to allow others to engage in administrative duties? How many officers currently on administrative duties or engaged in special projects could be re-diverted back to City streets?

As a citizen, I can say in no uncertain terms, the Calgary Police appear to be using their additional resources to conduct a form of armed tax collection; for the sheer number of speed traps and traffic patrols appears to have increased dramatically. In my experience our police department appears to be highly concerned about traffic safety in areas outside Calgary’s jurisdiction, for the police conduct speed trap enforcement on the borders exiting the City on a quotidian basis. Is there really a connection between controlling traffic exiting the City and public safety “in" Calgary?

How many of the 65 new officers were slated for traffic duty? How many were slated for beat patrol? How many were slated for other tasks not associated with street presence?

The point is, the police lobby tells us they are “losing” 120 officers, when in fact, they are really only losing 55.

Now I see that a lobby group has actually paid $10,000.00 for an advertisement in the Calgary Herald “in support of the police”. Let’s take a look at the group responsible for paying for the ad.

Calgary Crime Stoppers is an agency sponsored by a number of groups, including Penn West Energy and the Alberta Government.

http://www.calgarycrimestoppers.org/sponsors/

The ad was also funded by the Calgary Downtown Association (CDA). The CDA is a group consisting of downtown businesses interested in supporting the vitality of Calgary’s downtown core – certainly a laudable objective. For the purpose of this article, it is interesting to recognize that Keith Luft of Penn West Energy sits on the board of directors. The CDA’s partners consist of the Calgary Herald (the newspaper where the ad was posted) and the City of Calgary (the municipality whose Mayor is presently advocating to increase the police budget).

http://www.downtowncalgary.com/about/partners.html

By the way, Penn West Energy also funded the ad.

I am not a reporter, let alone an investigative journalist, but I was nevertheless able to find a number of rather incestuous connections between the various groups funding the advertisement in support of the police. I located this information in just under 15 minutes.

The point is, the news media has arguably become so tragically dependent upon scraps left behind from its various primary sources (such as the Government or as some of us like to call it, "the Regime") that it either fails or declines to engage in even a minimal amount of true journalism designed to inform public debate.

It would be interesting for somebody to more fully investigate the police budget. How are funds really being used? Are they being spent on police officers or on other projects not highlighted for public attention. By way of example, in recent months the Alberta Government has dramatically decreased Legal Aid funding and in response, Legal Aid has changed its financial eligibility requirements and significantly cutback on certificates for funding lawyers to represent citizens in need. The Government has underscored an approximate 30% increase in lawyer costs associated with certificates, but they have not highlighted the fact that Legal Aid infrastructure (such as costs for leasehold improvements) increased by in excess of 1500% percent; that special projects increased by upwards of 120%; that there has been stupendous increases in other departments within Legal Aid having little or nothing to do with lawyers or the people Legal Aid was designed to help.

What if the Calgary Police Budget was managed in ways similar to Legal Aid? What if the police spent millions of tax dollars engaged in special projects or buying expensive motor vehicles and other equipment not reasonably required to conduct either good or efficient police work?

I mean, it was reported that the Calgary Police Department sent 150 officers to the G-20 in Ontario for the purpose of providing security. They sent 75 officers to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. But when it comes to spending tax payer dollars to police our growing metropolis, the Chief claims the alleged loss of 55 officers is going to have an impact on public safety?

A convenient commment.

Though I appreciate what I am about to say suffers from its own logical frailties, if Calgary can afford to send 150 officers to Ontario, they arguably do not really need the 120 officers purportedly slated to be cutback to a reduced budget.

It is worth recognizing the Calgary Police Service represents the single largest expense for the municiplaity, so why should they be any different than any other Government department required to cutback in tough times?

Will there really be any meaningful impact on public safety? I am sure in 2011 the police lobby will present statistics to claim it so.

Unfortunately, it appears we cannot really count on our news media to expose these types of issues or to inform public debate.

David G. Chow
Calgary Criminal Lawyer
Calgary Criminal Defence Lawyers
www.calgary-law.ca