Officer rapped in case involving Star reporter

This officer should make a great leader of the union..........


Sep 25, 2009 11:42 AM
Robyn Doolittle
Crime Reporter
Const. Michael McCormack, who is running for the Toronto Police Association presidency, was convicted of insubordination at a police tribunal this morning.

Supt. Jane Wilcox said she did not believe McCormack's testimony that he was carrying out police business when he ran a former Star crime reporter's name through law enforcement databases.

McCormack was charged with insubordination under the Police Act after checking reporter John Duncanson's name on three police databases in January 2008.

Duncanson, who died in January, wrote extensively about police corruption in the service – including stories involving McCormack's brother, William Jr.

Earlier, McCormack told the hearing that Duncanson wanted to meet.

"He (said he) had information for me," McCormack testified. Duncanson also mentioned he was facing impaired driving charges.

McCormack testified he checked databases "to see if John was wanted or should be in court."

But prosecutor Insp. Scott Gilbert alleged it was done for personal reasons.

McCormack will likely lose three days pay. His lawyer, Peter Brauti, who could not appear today for personal reasons, will meet with Wilcox next week to set a date for sentencing submissions.

Outside the hearing, McCormack said he felt the wrong decision was made and it should not affect his run for the union.


The Star.com

Ontario deficit $2.5B worse than expected

Ontario's deficit for the last fiscal year was $2.5 billion higher than expected, driven by a 48 per cent drop in corporate tax revenue.

The provincial budget in March forecast a deficit of $3.9 billion in the 2008-09 fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.

But according to financial statements released Friday afternoon by the government, the deficit for the year stands at $6.4 billion.

Corporate tax revenues for the year totalled $6.7 billion, the statements show. In 2008, the government had pegged that number at $12.3 billion.

'Difficult choices ahead'
"As I've indicated in the past when we had numbers, we were very careful to say that there is enormous volatility in the economy," Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told CBC News. "Corporate taxes are historically the most volatile tax, and that volatility has come through."

Duncan also hinted that the government's projections for next year's deficit may go up. In March, he forecast a $14.1-billion deficit in 2009-2010.

"It'll depend on whether or not what we have seen up until March of this year continues on and it also depends on how quickly government revenues get restored to where they were," said Duncan, when asked about a possible change in that projected figure.

"One thing we know is that both growth in employment and growth in government revenues tend to lag growth in the economy. That's been the experience after every major downturn in the last generation."

The Ministry of Finance has predicted Ontario's GDP will contract by 2.5 per cent for 2009 before growing by 2.3 per cent the following year.

The government has some "difficult choices ahead," Duncan said, adding he would elaborate during his fall statement, expected in October.

He would not say if the government would stick to its plan to eliminate deficits by fiscal year 2015-2016.

Opposition questions Liberal credibility
The Progressive Conservatives said "it was no surprise" the Liberals waited until Friday afternoon to release the public accounts.

"Premier Dalton McGuinty has lost all credibility when it comes to managing the province's finances," said Opposition finance critic Norm Miller.

"We fell faster and harder than other provinces in this recession."

The New Democrats charged that the government was always playing politics with its budget forecasts and should agree to set up an independent budget office like the federal government's.

"Ontarians should expect an impartial budget document, not one clouded by partisan political spin like we've gotten from the McGuinty government," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

"Each and every update out of the mouths of the premier and the finance minister was rosy. It turns out their spin was far from the truth," she said.

The province's debt grew this fiscal year by $14.7 billion, which included some accounting practice changes, to $113.2 billion, according to the documents.

But Duncan touted his government's management of finances, saying spending growth was brought to its lowest level in eight years.

Total spending for the year stood at $96.9 billion, an increase of 0.37 per cent from the previous fiscal year.

With files from The Canadian Press

CBC.CA

Toronto officer charged with sexual assault

A Toronto police officer with four years' service has been charged with sexual assault.

Const. Richard Akunyili, 35, is alleged to have sexually assaulted a female victim at her home Wednesday. The officer was off-duty at the time, police said.

Akunyili works in the Toronto Police Service's 52 Division, which covers a central downtown area south of Bloor Street.

Akunyili, who was arrested and charged Thursday, is due to make a court appearance Monday.


CBC.CA

Police officer cleared in crash that killed colleague.

September 25, 2009
Canadian Press

LONDON, Ont. — Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared a provincial police officer of any criminal wrongdoing in a crash that killed her colleague.

On July 6, Const. Alan Hack died when the cruiser in which he was a passenger collided with a tractor-trailer in Elgin County.

The Special Investigations Unit says the driver, Const. Lynn Neale, drove through a stop sign moments before the crash.

The SIU says it appears Neale never saw the truck until the last moment due to her focus on a suspect trying to elude police.

The agency adds that Neale did nothing a “reasonable person” in a similar situation wouldn’t have.

Hack, who was 31, was in the back seat and neither he nor Neale was wearing a seatbelt. Both were thrown from the cruiser.

The Spec

What?

Sharon Bamford photo


No Spin and from The Toronto Sun, props for Connie Woodcock
I wonder what Fantino's fan club at the Sun thinks of this article?

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino is well known for taking his religion seriously.

I realize that makes a lot of people nervous in our secular society but as an active Anglican myself, I rather like it. Surely it's a good thing that the most influential police officer in Ontario is a happy warrior when it comes to the major Christian prohibitions -- no killing, for example, and no stealing. What can be wrong with that?

But a couple of weeks ago, he said something that bothered me to no end.

He was commenting on the decision of an Ontario judge that struck down a particularly contentious section of the law against stunt driving that allows police to seize a speeder's vehicle and licence immediately -- before the driver has been found guilty in court.

The judge found the seizures to be unconstitutional since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees a person is considered innocent until proven guilty.

UNDER APPEAL

But the OPP are going to continue seizing vehicles while the decision is under appeal and Fantino justified it by calling it "the Lord's work."

"When you look at the carnage that we're experiencing on our highways, the kinds of injuries we're having to deal with, the extraordinary health costs, the loss of productivity, the loss of a loved one, all of which is preventable, and you look at speed being a causal factor," he told a Sun Media reporter. "I think we're doing the Lord's work, personally. And we'll continue doing it."

Seizing vehicles is the Lord's work?

Oh really? Funny, but I don't recall the Almighty making any references whatever to "stunt driving" and I wasn't aware He got involved in constitutional matters, although I'm pretty sure that "thou shalt not steal" is up fairly high on His list of priorities.

And seizing the car of someone who has not been proven guilty seems a lot like stealing to me.

The particular case involved an Ontario grandmother who was caught doing 51 km/h over the limit. The stunt driving law kicks in at 50. She says stunt driving was about the farthest thing from her mind. She was just trying to get past a big truck as quickly as she could and who among us hasn't done that?

Professional drivers will tell you that you really don't want to be in the trucker's blind spot any longer than necessary.

There's a big difference between a woman passing a truck quickly and a bunch of kids in hot cars out street racing, but the law doesn't allow for differentiation. When you cross the 50 km/h threshold, you're done and the fine ranges up to $10,000.

The law has been called everything from ridiculous to odious and to hear the OPP commissioner say enforcing it is doing the Lord's work is offensive.

I wonder what he calls that other ridiculous and odious practice that allows Ontario cops to seize a vehicle when the driver blows .05 on a breathalyzer test even though the law draws the line on impairment at .08?

Now I don't like Bible "proofers" -- those objectionable people who are forever quoting scripture to prove whatever they want. But this time, I can't resist.

So here are a few words for the commissioner straight from the horse's mouth. "Blessed are those who show mercy; mercy shall be shown to them."

And better yet, "Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of right; the kingdom of heaven is theirs."

So no, I don't think Fantino is doing the Lord's work on this one. Maybe that other guy's, though...

CONNIE.WOODCOCK@SUNMEDIA.CA

The Toronto Sun