Fred Rayner is now an ex-police chief. It isn't clear why he was fired, but it is undoubtedly in relation to the ham-handed efforts of some of his officers to attempt to catch an Edmonton journalist driving drunk.

The matter heated up on the weekend when the Edmonton Journal released leaked transcripts of radio transmissions between officers involved in the Nov. 18 stakeout (see this posting for details, including transcript excerpts).

It started unravelling pretty fast for Rayner after that.

Harvey Cenaiko, Alberta's solicitor-general, said Monday he had "grave concerns" over how the matter was investigated.

Not long after that, Rayner's health took a turn for the worse and he immediately went on long-term medical leave.

Then, late Tuesday, he was fired by the Edmonton Police Commission.

Diotte told Canada AM (the video is available; it's attached to this CTV.ca story) he got a call that night from an Edmonton Sun colleague who was monitoring a police scanner and heard the chatter.

"It appeared they were trying to get me for drinking and driving. There were seven officers sent down, and the scandal blew up from there," he said.

Diotte wrote in the Sunday Edmonton Sun about the way he was dissed, but he said the personal angle wasn't the issue.

"The big thing issue is why would they send seven officers to get a journalist hoping he would drive impaired and then also target the head of the police commission."

Asked if he was afraid for his safety, Diotte said one starts thinking anything is possible.

"I didn't start out to make this about me. It's a very wide issue about the fact that should journalists or the Canadian public be allowed to speak out and they're free of retribution. I don't think I or anybody deserves to be targeted by police."

One would hope that would be self-evident in a mature democracy.