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Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Canadian police face disciplinary action

September 08 2010
Three officers are elleged to have rounded up and dumped homeless people

Three police officers in Canada are facing disciplinary action after allegedly rounding-up local homeless people, taking them on a 90-minute journey across town in the back of a police van and dropping them in different neighbourhoods.

The officers are also accused of keeping no paperwork of their action and refusing to give their names or badge numbers.

The disciplinary hearing also heard how the police station had a 'hotline' for local businesses to report homeless people in the area and arrange for them to be collected.

Diane Wood, one of the nine homeless people taken in the police van, told the hearing she had no idea why she was picked up nor where she was being taken. She said one of the passengers was forced to urinate in the van after officers ignored pleas to stop. She said the officers wouldn't give their names or badge numbers.

Another man, Harold Manuel, 46, said it was "real hot" in the van, sweat started dripping down their faces, and people started getting angry. "They were ready to fight," he said, but no one did.

Staff sergeant Doug Fedechko said this was a way to deal with intoxicated homeless people without having to arrest them.

Detective Bill Allen, who was the acting supervisor of the Whyte Avenue beat in Edmonton, on 20 May 2005, said police would often have to transport the same individual two to three times in a single shift as they would return to their original area after the journey.

Presenting officer Derek Cranna said if it is proved the officers had transported people from Whyte Avenue to the north side, it will reflect badly on the Edmonton Police Service.

"It appears what these members did was simply move the problem."

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