Neighbourhood Update Bulletin September 2000

Re: group beating/kicking at the park, Sept.3 2000

From Jutta Mason: It looks as though the Police Service is perhaps finally beginning to attend to this incident. After the group letter went off to Councillor Silva, notifying him that all correspondence would now be posted at the park, he called and so did Staff Sgt.Glen Holt, head of Fourteen Division Community Response. Sgt.Holt has never been very interested in the park and his attitude was no friendlier this time when he called. He said that Councillor Silva’s “this-was-just-a-fight-with-a-drunk-guy” letter matched the officer’s report in all important details. When I questioned him he said he could reveal no more because the report is confidential. He also said that if people think the victim might have been afraid to talk, they’re letting their imagination run away with them. Then he said that there was no need to send extra police to the park in the hours or days following this attack because “the park gets intense police attention all the time.”

This conversation goaded me into sending Staff Sgt.Holt a list of the ten last park-related calls for police assistance, ranging over the past 16 months. One of calls was resolved satisfactorily, two had dubious response, and for the other seven calls the response was unsatisfactory or absent. I took the opportunity to copy this letter to Holt’s boss, Superintendent Gottschalk, and also to Chief Julian Fantino, and Councillor Silva.

I also spoke to Bruce Lyne, one of the witnesses to the incident (and one of the six who stopped it). He had heard from both Silva and Holt, but found what they told him very confusing. When he realized that both were saying this incident had been a “fight,” he put out a very strong statement about what he saw on Sept.3. This statement, which matches the account of the two parks staff, is now posted in the park and is in your package here. Joe Sherman also faxed it to Silva and Holt (Bruce Lyne and his family were in the middle of moving house, but he still took the time to work on this).

Soon after that, Councillor Silva wrote a letter to Chief Fantino asking him to look into this, and asking him to “sympathize” with us (??). I heard no more from Holt but Supt.Gottschalk called and said that Chief Fantino had asked him to look into each of the ten cases in my itemized list of park-related calls for police help. I sent him some clarifications and a letter giving some background to the frustrating project of police/citizen/parks collaboration in this area (letter included in this package).

We’ll see. The questions remain, and one hopes that the search for answers at Fourteen Division may turn up some improvements. I’ll keep you closely posted.

P.S.: an assistant from the Police Services Board called to say that we couldn’t raise the matter with them because when the police label something as a “complaint,” that turns it into an internal police matter not subject to the Board’s civilian scrutiny (??!?)