Justice minister orders review of small Manitoba police force

Manitoba's justice minister has called for a review of the East St. Paul police force, saying there have been several incidents which have called into question how the department is being run.

Councillors in the R.M. of East St. Paul, 20 kilometres north of Winnipeg, were notified by letter late Thursday of Justice Minister Dave Chomiak's intention to review the force.

In the letter, Chomiak says the review is necessary "to ensure that the operations of the police force are conducted in an appropriate manner and to restore public confidence."

Chomiak said several controversies have called the operation of the department into question, the latest involving allegations of police improprieties surrounding the investigation the car crash that killed Crystal Ann Taman, 40,in 2005.

Former Winnipeg police officer Derek Harveymordenzenk, also known as Derek Harvey-Zenk, pleaded guilty in July to a single charge of dangerous driving causing death in the case.

Charges of refusing a breathalyzer, impaired driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death were dropped.

CBC sources say the Crown was forced to drop the charges because former East St. Paul police chief Harry Bakema didn't advise Harveymordenzenk of his constitutional rights at the scene.

East St. Paul deputy reeve Mike Wasylin says the actions of Bakema were questionable at best —and were uncovered by other officers on his force.

"There were some procedural irregularities that were actually investigated and uncovered by our police force," he told CBC.

There were also improprieties with police notes of the accident investigation. Wasylin said he could not discuss the matter because he says it could jeopardize the province's upcoming review.

Bakema was dismissed from the force in the spring of 2006.

Controversy dogs police force

The questions raised surrounding the investigation into the crash that killed Taman are the latest in a series of controversies the small force has faced.

Complaints of police brutality put the municipality's police force in the spotlight last year.

Between September 2004 and January 2006, seven people lodged complaints with Law Enforcement Review Agency, the body that investigates police misconduct in Manitoba, about East St. Paul officers. Past annual reports show the force usually receives no more than one complaint per year.

Last year, the municipal council hired retired RCMP officer Robert Tramley to review the nine-member police department's operations.

Tramley wrote that when Bakema conducted some investigations, he required only "minimal note-taking" and showed "a lack of interest in promoting the rights of suspects with junior officers."

The report also indicated an examination of the force's police computers in February 2006 found pornographic material, some of it "very disgusting," on roughly half of the machines.

Last summer, it was revealed that a former police officer on the force had been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with a biker massacre in Ontario earlier in the year.

Municipal officials welcome review

Wasylin said the provincial review will find the municipality has overhauled its police department with the new policies and some new officers.

"It's something that we welcome as a council because what we want to do is reinforce the confidence we have in our new police chief," he said.

"We've taken some disciplinary matters into our own hands and changed policies, procedures. We're hoping that an independent review that the minister is now proposing is going to confirm the confidence that we've placed in our police department."

The province's review won't begin until the case against Derek Harveymordenzenk has concluded.

Harveymordenzenk was expected to be sentenced Wednesday; Crown and defence lawyers agreed on a recommendation for a conditional sentence.

However, Chief Justice Raymond Wyant told the court he requires more time to "reflect" on the sentence. The sentence is now expected in September.