Calgary police investigates its own officers for corruption, harassment

Seven peopleincludingtwo current and three retiredCalgary police officers are thesubjectof an investigation intocorruption,harassment and breach of trust, according to CBC sources.

Retired CPS officerSteve Walton started a private investigation firm and was contracting other current and formerofficers for jobs likesurveillance and as guards.

One of Walton's clients, based in Edmonton, was in the middle of a child-custody battle.He initially hired Walton's company to track his ex-girlfriend in an effort to make sure she didn't disappearwith their child.

The child's mother is the one who made the initial harassment complaint to police, which launched the investigation about a year ago.

The Crown's office in Edmonton has had the file since September but has not yet made any recommendations on charges.

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Income for guarding wine cellarnot disclosed

Another of Walton's clients was a wealthy oil and gas executive who has a flood-affectedhome on Elbow Drivethat had to be evacuated.

Inside the home wasa wine cellar worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and the client hired Walton's company to have guards sit outside the home to protect its contents.Those guards were paid $1,000 per shift.

The two current members are being accused of failing to disclose that employment to the Calgary Police Service. It's believed they made tens of thousands dollars each in extra income.

Thosesame two officersare being investigated for data breachesthrough areview of forensic computer and phone data as part of the criminal harassment investigation.It's alleged they were asked by Walton to gather private information from the internal systems.

They have beensuspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

"It's a very, very serious oath that we take and the protection of that information that we collect through the course of our duties isparamountand so to breach that and to access those databases is a significant breach of our oath," said CPS spokesmanKevin Brookwell.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has been called in to provideoversight.The privacy commissioner has also been notified.