Edmonton's chief of police has gone on indefinite medical leave. It happened after Alberta's solicitor-general blasted the Edmonton Police Service for its clumsy sting attempt on a journalist.
An excerpt from the CTV.ca story:
Edmonton's chief of police has gone on indefinite medical leave just as his department is being blasted over a 'sting' scandal.
"The Edmonton Police Commission was just notified through counsel for Police Chief Fred Rayner that effective immediately he is on a medical leave of absence and deputy chief Darryl da Costa has been appointed acting chief,'' Martin Ignasiak, the commission's chair, told reporters.
The announcement came after the department was criticized for an incident in which it appeared police were attempting to catch the commission's chair and a newspaper columnist driving while impaired.
Rayner had claimed the Nov. 18 stakeout of a downtown bar had begun with a tip that Kerry Diotte, an Edmonton Sun columnist who had been critical of police, might drive after drinking heavily. It was just a coincidence that Ignasiak was at the same establishment, he said.
The two men were attending a Canadian Association of Journalists event.
Harvey Cenaiko, the province's solicitor general, said after reading transcripts of radio transmissions he had "grave concerns" over how the incident had been investigated.
According to transcripts leaked to the Edmonton Journal, the cops involved in the stakeout didn't hold Mr. Diotte in high regard.
For starters, they talk about the glory that will accrue to the guy who busts Diotte:
P1: You just want free drinks for the rest of your life, that's all.
P3: Anything that's bought is never anything that I drink anyways.
P1: Yeah, I think the guy who gets this target will never have to pay for a drink as long as he lives.
They were not big fans of his writing:
P4: You call that work?
P3: I don't think he writes any columns Fridays. If he did they had already been done anyways, but I think he just writes Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
P4: I heard they're cut and pasted from the Internet.
P1: You know what? I'd do his job and I'd do it better than him. A f---- idiot can write that up in about five minutes.
They seemed to have trouble identifying Diotte, who is bald:
P4: Nobody is dressed like he is anyway so he will stick out. He's go a real bright royal blue button-up shirt with a tie on and a sports jacket and his shiny, shiny dome.
P1: A couple faggy looking guys coming out now. Maybe one of them's him.
Actually testing Diotte was a stimulatory prospect for one officer:
P3: Yeah, Smitty. We have been talking here. I'm not comfortable at all doing this roadside.
P4: Might not need to.
P5: I'm kidding. I can't wait to do the test.
P3: We better haul him up there, you think? Or should we go to the closest one? He might have a good lawyer.
P1: I'm getting a f----- chubby (erection)