'MemeGate' hearing date set for 5 suspended Lethbridge officers

UPDATE: On June 11, 2021, lawyers appeared via video link to enter not guilty pleas on behalf of the officers and to booka date for the hearing, now set to begin Oct.27.

A hearing date has been set for five suspended Lethbridge police officers accused of creating and distributing offensive memes involving the brass and NDP MLA Shannon Phillips.

Four officers each face six charges under the Alberta Police Act; oneofficeris charged with an additional two offences.

The investigation has beendubbed internally as "MemeGate," according to sources close to the situation.

The charges include two counts of discreditable conduct, three counts of insubordination and one neglect of duty charge.

A sixth officer faces additional discreditable conduct and neglect of duty charges.

The professional conduct hearing is set for April 27, at whichtime the officers will enter pleas.

• Alberta government threatens to dissolve Lethbridge police force unless chief shows reform plan in weeks

Last week, Alberta's justice minister gave Lethbridge police ChiefShahin Mehdizadeh a three-week deadline to produce a plan to shape up the force.

Inletters sent to the chief and mayor, Justice Minister Kaycee Madusaid he was considering taking the"extraordinary" step of dissolving the police service if he didn't see a concrete action plan.

Recent controversies include the discovery that six employees allegedlyusedpolice databases to do unauthorized searchesof a cabinet minister's personal information.

Two LPS officers were recently disciplined for photographing and following Phillips, the Lethbridge-West NDP MLA,while she was environment minister under the previous NDP government.

The service says ithas been developing an action plan over the last several months to address the problems raised by the "troubling" cases and expects to have a plan to Madu before the three-week deadline.

Officers have controversial history with LPS

The officers facing charges are Sgt. Jason Moulton, Const. Keon Woronuk, Const. David Easter, Const.Matt Rilkoff and Const. Derek Riddell.

Woronuk was recently disciplined for spying on Phillips.

Moulton has filedseveral previous complaints against Deputy Chief Scott Woods who also recently served as interim chief the most recent of which was dismissed last June.

Easterhas twice been charged with assault. He was found not guilty in 2014, and in 2020, his charge was dropped.

Riddell was recently named in a CBC story as one of the five officers who used police databases to search Phillips's namewithout any apparent investigative justification.

Toy Story memes

The meme investigationbegan in 2018 and was conducted by Edmonton Police Service, which forwarded its findings to LPS in December.

In early March, Mehdizadeh sent an all-staff email advisingLPS employees of the officers' suspensions.

The memes are aseries of photos distributed by the group deemed the"meme militia."

Some of the memes were posted and circulatedon work-issued phones and while officers wereon duty, according to sources.

CBC News has not viewed the images but some have been described by those who have.

Severalinvolved the faces of then-chief Rob Davis and Woods placed onto various images including some from theToy Storymovies. Davis was depicted as Buzz Lightyear while Woods was Woody.

The images involved criticisms of the leaders and havebeen described by police employeesas humiliating,offensive and toxic.