Canada: Police protect police and justice be damned

Honest cop (Joe Slemko) hindered from testifying against another cop

An internationally recognized police blood-spatter expert said his own force, the Edmonton Police Service, supplied the RCMP with information to attack his credibility at a hearing into the shooting death of a B.C. man by a Mountie.

The Edmonton police force has confirmed Edmonton Police Service Const. Joe Slemko is now the subject of an internal investigation for testifying, without Chief Mike Boyd's permission, at the public inquiry into the death of 22-year-old Ian Bush inside the RCMP detachment at Houston, B.C. "This is an example of the Edmonton Police Service acting to protect another police officer, no matter what the evidence," said Howard Rubin, the Bush family's lawyer. "This is exactly the sort of behaviour that undermines the justice system and causes it to grind to a halt."

Slemko, a 20-year veteran, had sought permission to testify at the coroner's inquest from Edmonton Police Chief Mike Boyd. In a June 19, 2007, memo, Slemko told Boyd he had been asked by the lawyer for the Bush family to review the RCMP investigation "in hopes of providing an explanation and some closure to the family that a proper and complete investigation was conducted and was consistent with [RCMP Const. Paul Koester's] version." Slemko also provided Boyd with his detailed findings because he was required by the city force to seek permission to testify as a private blood-spatter expert. Slemko already knew his request likely would not be granted. The police service had decided he could testify for the prosecution in criminal cases, but not the defence.

Senior management of the Edmonton Police Service, including Boyd, believed the police and the prosecution were "indivisible" and Slemko would be in a conflict if he testified for the defence. Boyd never responded to Slemko's request.

Instead, Slemko has confirmed, when a lawyer representing the RCMP called the Edmonton Police Service seeking information about Slemko that could be used to discredit him at the public inquiry, the city police provided that information.

According to evidence heard during the inquest, Bush was arrested outside a hockey game after he gave Koester a false name when stopped for having an open bottle of beer. In the detachment interview room where he was taken to be booked, a fight erupted and Bush ended up shot in the back of the head. Koester said Bush sucker-punched him, got the better of him and was at his back throttling him when the officer managed to free his gun and fire. But Slemko testified the physical forensic evidence did not support Koester's account.

During the July inquest, RCMP lawyer David Butcher vigorously attacked Slemko credentials, pointing out he was not a member of the Edmonton police forensic identification unit and was still a general duty constable after 20 years. At the height of the attack, Slemko, his bottom lip quivering, told Butcher: "If you want to challenge me, challenge me in court. Not through the back door."

Slemko told Butcher and the inquiry that he had twice been found guilty of insubordination for defying orders not to testify for the defence. "I told them that because I wanted to show that I felt so strongly about my principles that I was willing to suffer the consequences," Slemko said in a recent interview. As a private consultant, Slemko is paid for his testimony, but does not solicit or accept fees in cases involving what he believes is a wrongful conviction or a miscarriage of justice. "Joe considered the testimony in this case to be his public duty, in the same category as testifying for someone wrongfully convicted," Rubin said. "He specifically made it clear from the outset that he was not asking for any fee and I only paid his travel expenses."

In fact, in his memo to Boyd, Slemko said, "It is my strong belief and conviction that my personal duties and responsibilities are prioritized in the following order: for the public interest, my personal integrity, ethical values and conscience; the reputation and credibility of the profession of policing and, lastly, the interests' of the Edmonton Police Service."

After the Edmonton Journal publicized the police service's treatment of Slemko earlier this week, the Edmonton Police Commission asked Boyd to explain its policy at a commission meeting Wednesday night. Boyd has declined comment until after he appears before the commission.

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