Pretrial date set for ACTION cops charged in fake ticket scandal

The judicial pretrial for the Hamilton police ACTION team accused of falsifying tickets will start Jan. 26.

The date was agreed upon in a Hamilton courtroom Thursday morning.The pretrial will allow for the lawyers representing the five members of the ACTION team to meet with the crown attorneys and judge to set dates and discuss any other trial issues.

• READ MORE: 5 Hamilton police officers charged in fake ticket scandal
• READ MORE: ACTION officers put on admin duty amid ticket probe

Originally, seven officers from the ACTION team — the yellow-vested officers responsible for policing downtown Hamilton  and other specialized assignments— were arrested in June of 2015 after an investigation found discrepancies involving 32 tickets. The seven ACTION members were suspended without pay. Criminal charges are proceeding against five, while the other two officers have since returned to work.

The extensive five-year probe began when tickets that should have been given to the person being ticketed were found inside a service shredder box. Those tickets were still logged with the courts and counted as police statistics, but were never handed out.

The representation for the ACTION officers, according to assistant Crown attorney Debra Kinsella, is as follows:

Gary Clewley will be representing:

• Const. Bhupesh Gulati — charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, namely intent to mislead by fabricating provincial offences notes; four counts of fabricating evidence; four counts of breach of trust.
• Const. Dan Williams — charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, eight counts of fabricating evidence, eight counts of breach of trust and obstructing police

Daniel Moore will be representing

• Const. Shawn Smith — charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, two counts of fabricating evidence, two counts of breach of trust.

Jeff Manishen will be representing:

• Const. Staci Tydesley — charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, 10 counts of fabricating evidence, 10 counts of breach of trust

 Kevin McGilly will be representing:

• Const. Steve Travale — charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, seven counts of fabricating evidence, seven counts of breach of trust