In a letter to Winnipeg Copwatch, LERA Commissioner George Wright says:

[T]wo issues have been identified that may have caused or contributed to an alleged disciplinary default. They are:

• The detention of citizens using recording devices.
• Seizure of cameras and cell telephone recording devices.

He goes on to say:

I am writing to Keith McCaskill, Chief of the WPS and Glen Laubenstein, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) City of Winnipeg recommending that appropriate changes be implemented to ensure that
police officers are aware of their legal authorities relative to these
two issues.

Winnipeg Copwatch is also today initiating another complaint around the issue of police intimidation of people with cameras with Aborginal & Community Law Enforcement, and is still waiting to hear back about another complaint made with the Ombudsman.

Chief McCaskill has so far ignored Copwatch’s attempts to address the issue with him directly. We’ll soon see if he’s open to recommendations and oversight from public bodies.

• In partnership with the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties (MARL), Copwatch is initiating complaints with the Law Enforcement Review Agency (LERA) and the Manitoba Ombudsman about a string of incidents over the past five years in which Winnipeg Police Service officers appear to be illegally confiscating video and still camera equipment from journalists and citizens, sometimes destroying some of the contents. The complaints are asking for recommendations that the Winnipeg Police Service change their policy to explicitly recognize the rights of individuals to take photos and video in public.

• Copwatch is distributing a new “rights card”, which is a wallet­-sized reminder for people about their rights while filming or taking photos.

• A new email account, mobile@winnipegcopwatch.org, has been set up for people to send photos to from their cellphones. If someone has an email­-capable phone and is worried about it phone being confiscated, sending the photos will protect them from police deletion.

Asham’s family have been looking for answers after the police failed to answer a number of questions around the death of this otherwise healthy nineteen-year-old, including how he came to have a seizure when he has no history of seizures, and how police account for his bruised face and altered nose.

The vigil takes place tonight from 9 to 11pm outside the Public Safety Building, at 151 Princess Street.

“As of January 1 2008, Winnipeg Police Services’ CrimeStat service changed the definition of sexual assault to ‘an offence that combines the components of assault with circumstances of a sexual nature where the suspect is not known to the victim’ (emphasis added) from the definition based on the Criminal Code which includes sexual assaults where the suspect is known or unknown to the victim.  Over 78% of assault in Winnipeg is perpetrated by a suspect known to the victim (Statistic found in ‘Mean Streets?’ Comak, Chopyk and Wood, p.7). This definition change is not in line with Crimestat’s stated principles of disseminating accurate information and promoting transparency and accountability. Winnipeg is the only Canadian city which reports on sexual assaults in this way (As reported by Gabrielle Giroday in the article “ Board wants police website to report all sexual assaults” in the Winnipeg Free Press, May 29, 2009)

We believe that finding holistic and effective solutions to domestic and sexual abuse begins with being given accurate information.”

The seizure is not an isolated incident.  Last summer, Paul St. Laurent reported that he had the memory card of his camera confiscated by police, and was arrested for “intimidation of an officer,” though he explains that he was at least as far from the incident as other bystanders.

In late 2007, Winnipeg police confiscated the camera of CBC cameraperson Don Scott and arrested him after he refused to stop filming an incident.  Charges were later dropped.

Jon Schledewitz, a photographer then working for the Winnipeg Sun, was arrested and had his camera taken by police in 2006 while taking photographs of police arresting participants in the Critical Mass bicycle ride.  Allegations of police misconduct arose at the event.

Other people known to Copwatch have reported having equipment confiscated, being intimidated into turning their cameras off, and being instructed to delete footage and still photos from digital cameras.

“These incidents are especially worrisome to Copwatch because they have the potential to compromise the rights of all citizens, including those in our group, to oversee the police,” said Copwatch volunteer Alex Paterson.  “Given the great power police wield, transparency and scrutiny are of the utmost importance.”

Kelly Toughill, board member of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, warned last month that “[t]he police practice of obstructing journalists engaged in crime reporting is disturbingly common in Canada.”

Copwatch is calling on Chief McCaskill to clarify the Winnipeg Police Service’s policy when it comes to recording equipment.  In particular, we are asking him to publicly recognize

• the right of citizens and journalists to use recording equipment in public, and to record interactions involving the police;
• that police cannot demand that people stop recording in a way that does not interfere with police;
• that police cannot demand the deletion of photos or footage;
• that police cannot arbitrarily seize equipment;
• that police cannot arrest people for making recordings;
• that police cannot make spurious arrests with the aim of seizing equipment or footage;
• that police cannot themselves destroy footage taken by others; and,
• that taking footage or photographs of police in itself does not constitute “intimidation of an officer”, or any other criminal code offence.

Copwatch would also like the chief to clarify what disciplinary action is to be taken when officers are in violation of these rules.

• Listen to a radio interview with Roanna Hepburn on police brutality in Winnipeg.

“Whereas, the highest rate of acts of violence against women in Canada are committed against First Nation’s Women; And whereas, Canadian police services are supposed to help stop those acts from occurring and not perpetuate them; And whereas, police violence targeting First Nations peoples and communities is a systemic problem across Canada and especially in Manitoba; And whereas, allegations of police brutality committed against Stephanie Kay Warren on March 1, 2009 by Winnipeg police are incredibly serious and demand full investigation;

We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba to hold a full and independent investigation into the case of Stephanie Kay Warren; Moreover, we demand that an independent provincial task force be created to investigate police brutality, especially against First Nations peoples and communities.”

• Download the petition.

Please return signed petitions to Mondragon, 91 Albert Street, or 485 Selkirk Avenue no later than May 14. They will be submitted to the Premier on or soon after May 15.

• Update: The petition drive has been extended, since the province will not accept it until after the complaint working its way through the Law Enforcement Review Agency (LERA) is closed.  LERA is generally regarded as an ineffective accountability body; the independent investigation being called for in the petition would be much more valuable.  All this is to say that if you are still interested in helping with this initiative, please do!