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NEWS > 26 November 2006 |
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Trooper Charged With Indecent
A 17-year veteran of the Pennsylvania State Police most recently stationed at the McConnellsburg barracks retired within one day of his arrest on charges of indecent assault and stalking a local woman.
Forty-one-year-old Carl P. Dixon of Greencastle was arrested on Tuesday, April 11, and charged with two counts of criminal trespassing and official oppression; eight counts of indecent assault; and one count each of harassment and stalking. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Wendy Mellott and released on $50,000 unsecured bail.
Charges involving Dixon, who ret... Read more
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Article sourced from |
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Edmonton Journal (subscription 26 November 2006
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Police to tackle ethical pract
EDMONTON - For the first time, Edmonton police officers are taking a page from doctors, lawyers and business students -- and will examine ethics issues.
The service struck a standing committee this fall to discuss ethics outside of training or internal disciplinary decisions.
"Our mandate is to look at the policies of the Edmonton Police Service to ensure they are progressive," said Supt. Norm Lipinski.
"If and when the chief or the chief's committee has an ethical dilemma and needs somebody to research the matter, we're there."
The new standing ethics committee was Lipinski's brainchild earlier this year, when incoming police chief Mike Boyd asked members of the service for their ideas as he put together his 100-day plan.
No specific incident made the committee necessary, Lipinski said. Instead, the members will look at overall best practices for Edmonton police.
City Coun. Janice Melnychuk, who sits on the police commission but was not aware of the ethics committee, would not comment on whether incidents over the last two years make a standing committee necessary.
"I think every profession has issues about ethics," she said. "I think it is appropriate and important that every organization and profession looks at themselves and builds into their training and programs the issue of ethics."
But retired officer and policing expert Chris Braiden questioned whether the new committee speaks to a specific need.
"If the Edmonton Police Service has set up an ethics committee, they must have some reason to believe some aspect of policing is being done unethically," he said.
Lipinski said the team -- comprised of nine Edmonton police officers, a business ethicist and a health-care lawyer -- met twice this fall, but is still hammering out its mandate. Members will get to the nitty-gritty of policy debate at a meeting later this month.
The first priority, he said, will be to look at what other police agencies in Canada and the United States are doing for ethics training and setting policies.
The Calgary Police Service has an ethics committee, while Toronto has an ethics and equity officer who reports directly to the chief of police.
In Quebec, two autonomous bodies oversee police ethics across the province. One of the bodies is civilian, and handles the public's complaints. The other is an administrative tribunal.
University of Alberta philosophy professor Cressida Heyes, who specializes in ethics and gender studies, said the committee will give police the chance to scrutinize themselves without fear of punishment.
"With that structure, I'm not sure what it would be but an opportunity for internal conversation," she said.
"A lot of police forces have come quite late to the fact they have to be accountable in this way."
Melnychuk applauded the initiative.
"I think a committee like this will probably ask themselves, 'Are there things we aren't doing that we should be doing, and are there things that we could be doing better related to the culture of the police service?' " she said.
She pointed to professional training as an area to be focused on. "They should be making sure we're doing the most we can, the best we can for training members."
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