'Time for talk is over': Justice minister tells Lethbridge police to shape up or face intervention

Alberta's justice ministeris considering government intervention and demanding immediate action from Lethbridge's police chief as the city's top copaddressed "recent complaints" about the force including that multiple employees undertook potentially unauthorized searches of a cabinet minister's personal information on police databases.

Documents showed a Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) civilian employee and five officers including a deputy chief and a staff sergeantaccessed personal information on NDP MLA Shannon Phillips when she was Alberta's environment minister,yet no investigative purpose was given for any of the searches.

The force also came under recent scrutiny when the CBCNews reported that a retired LPS inspector, who was head of a victims advocacy group, had a sexual relationship with a client, a domestic violence survivor, who said their relationship was not consensual. When the woman went to the police service to complain, the man's friends and former colleagues were initially assigned to investigate him with the woman saying they were dismissive and that she worried about potential conflict of interest.

"The time for talk is over,"said Justice Minister Kaycee Madu on Wednesday. "It's clear to me that what is going on over there is unacceptable and they understand that I need action right away."

Police Chief Shahin Mehdizadehagreed the allegations against the force's employeesare "very serious."Mehdizadehcommitted to fully cooperating with Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT)investigators, who are looking into all the searches conducted on Phillips.

In a press conference Wednesday, thechief of police also indicated that new allegations of misconduct againstLPSofficers are expected to be revealed in the coming weeks.

Lethbridge police chief speaks to 'very serious' allegations against 5 officers, civilian employee

3 years ago

Duration 1:28

The Alberta government has told the Lethbridge Police Service to shape up or it will step in, according to Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh who held a news conference to address recent complaints in the southern Alberta city today.

LPS losing 'faith and trust'

When Madumet with Mehdizadeh Tuesday, the justice minister saidhe won't rule out directing the Law Enforcement Review Board to investigate the service but will give the chief who took over the service in September a few weeks to come up with an action plan.

"Law enforcementthat is sworn to protect and discharge their duties with honour and integrity have found themselves in a position whereby the citizens of Lethbridge are beginning to lose faith and trust and we can't affordto let that happen."

Madu says he sympathizes with the chief who is fairly new to LPS and will give him the opportunityto prove he'sserious about making changes.

One officer suspended

On Monday, CBC News published a story about the LPSemployees' potentially unauthorized searches of NDP MLA Shannon Phillips.

Mehdizadeh, who refusedCBCNewsinterview requests for thisstory, said inWednesday's press conference that oneof the officers is currently suspended for an unrelated matter but wouldn't elaborate.

The chief also said there will be no suspensions forthe others who searched Phillips' name without an apparent investigative reason.

"I don't believe it's going to be a right process to go ahead and suspend them," saidMehdizadeh. "We need to have the facts before making judgments. We need to have the facts to make that decision."

5 officers, 1 civilian accessed Phillips'personal info

In 2017, Phillips was photographed by two on-duty police officers, one of whomwho posted about her online. The officers were off-road enthusiasts and the then-environment minister hadproposed the phase-out of off-highway vehicle (OHV) use on designated trails in Castle Provincial Park, west of Lethbridge.

Following a Medicine Hat police investigation, theofficers have since been disciplined.

But Phillips believed there was more evidence she was being watched and filed a request under theFreedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act(FOIP).

The result, which she received late last year, was 9,308 pages on a compact disc. Almost all of it is blacked out in full or in part, but the several hundred unredacted pages released and viewed exclusively by CBCNews contain startling revelations.

Shannon Phillips calls for independent investigation after Lethbridge police officers demoted

4 years ago

Duration 1:41

The former Alberta NDP cabinet minister and current MLA for Lethbridge-West says an external investigation would help restore trust in Lethbridge police after learning two officers conducted surveillance on her without authorization.

Over the course of 11 months in 2018, Phillips's name was searched eight times by five differentpolice officers, one of whom is now retired, as well as one civilian employee.

The searches revealed in the FOIP request were "a fishing expedition, for reasons of snooping or wanting to engage in gossip," Phillips said in a recent interview with CBC News. "There is no reason associated with the search in those records."

Mehdizadeh has issued a public plea for patience.

"We are working on it, we are we are trying to move through these investigations and allegations through a proper process and protocol that's legal. So I just ask for the public to be patient."

"The men and women of law enforcement possess a great deal of power, and all Albertans should be outraged when that power is abused,"Mehdizadehsaid Monday afternoon.

No plan to reopen drugging complaint

Further details gleaned from the FOIP'd documents suggest officers never warned Phillips that someone reported to police that they thought the MLA was the intended target of a drugging at a bar in 2016.

"I'm sure if there was aserious concern about her safety, she would have been notified," saidMehdizadeh.

Forcecriticized for handling of complaint against former inspector

Last month,CBCNews reported Bill Kaye,a retired LPS inspector who was the head of a victim's advocacygroup, had a sexual relationship with a domestic violence survivor33 years his junior who saidthe relationship was not consensual.

The woman, who was identified as "Emma" by CBC News since she is now the complainant in a sexual assault investigation, said Lethbridge police weredismissive of her complaint when she reported it.

Until he was confronted with the allegations last month, Kaye lead the Domestic Violence Action Team (DVAT) in Lethbridge, following his retirement from LPS as an inspector with 35 years of service.

In late January, thewoman who isin her 20s reported she felt forced into a sexual relationship with Kaye who had been assigned as her case worker in 2018.

The woman reported the relationship to the Domestic Violence Advocacy Team (DVAT) and Chinook Centre for Sexual Assault (CCSA) with both organizations immediately supportive.

But when she went to LPSearlier this year, Kaye's friends and former colleagues were assigned to investigate him until CBCNews contactedthe force and asked about perceptions of conflicts of interest.

Ultimately, LPS allowedCoaldale RCMPto take the case.

Mehdizadeh said LPS voluntarily handed the case over to Coaldale RCMP despite an email from RCMP to the alleged victim explaining that Lethbridge police were keeping the file.

The southern Alberta city has been plagued with more than its fair share of controversies in recent years including the violent arrest of a teenager dressed as a stormtrooper and the emergence of a disturbing video showing an officer repeatedly driving his patrol carover an injured deer.

Meghan Grant is the courts and crime reporter for CBC Calgary.If you have a good story idea or tip, you can reach her atmeghan.grant@cbc.caor on Twitter at @CBCMeg. You can read some of her recent stories here: