Calgary police critic hit with rare libel charges over U.S. website posts

Calgary police critic hit with rare libel charges over U.S. website posts

www .theglobeandmail.com

RCMP have arrested a man on criminal libel charges after messages critical of the Calgary Police Service were posted on a U.S. website.

Mounties say the man is accused of making false statements about two officers and that he and the website interfered with a homicide investigation.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.megalaw.com
www.buzzle.com
www.eff.org
www.cracked.com

The time is getting closer if it isn't already here.

What you type online DOES matter and you very well may be held to account for what has been stated and available online. The time when you thought anonymnity and a funky username would protect you are over. Searching out IP's names and information is easy and the results could very well be jailtime for those who glibly accuse persons online. Right or wrong, it may easily become a court case.



www .theglobeandmail.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Uh oh, I better be worried. Especially with all my different rants in all my different namesakes. NOT.

The problem with someone getting charged with something they say on the net, is that this will HAVE to come out in the courtroom.

You can hardly charge someone with saying something on the net, if you are not ready to air ALL the dirty laundry that is covered by what you talk about.

Now, if it is direct libel, that I can agree with someone getting charged.

But, would for what I talk about on the net, no courtroom would ever want it aired.

Especially my talks on jury nullification.

I could see it now, the court charges me with something and I bring up the discussion I have on jury nullification. The priest of the sacred order of BAR states I cannot talk about that. I then state, I motion for a dismissal of all charges, if I am not allowed to talk about what I discuss on the net, how can you charge me for something I state on the net?

Case dismissed with prejudice.

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower


Just the mear act of being brought to court can easily ruin someone, both financially and emotionally, not to mention the finishing off of your reputation. The time and hassle that it takes to get through a trial are emotionally and financially consuming in their own right, then you have to think about the lawyers, court fees, bail and other various defense costs. Just the act of being arounds lawyers for days on end is enough for most people to go insane and this is without the cost. A trial or criminal charges put people through the ringer and for people who have never been through the system before, they still believe it is based off justice so when you find out that the justice system is very far from the idea of justice, it angers them, thereby putting even more stress and emotional dead weight on the "victim". Furthermore, your fate really hangs in the balance of 12 individuals who weren't even smart enough to get off of jury duty.

You see, the DA or prosecutor (federal or local) is very good at what he does and s/he could care less about your guilt. He just wants/needs another slam dunk under his belt for the later years in life when he moves from a prosecutor to a defense attorney to scoop the big bucks. This prosecutor will confuse the jury and then imply that they would be dumb to not see how obvious it is that you are guilty. It's kind of like an "emporers new clothes" theme. This prosecutor is very good at manipulating the thought processes of those jurors and will do his/her damndest to ensure that they are too confused to see that you have done nothing wrong, otherwise, he wouldn't be assigned to try your case. After all, his/her career and future fortunes count on you being convicted.

Furthermore, the judge and prosecutor usually share a very friendly relationship, seeing how they pretty much work together on a daily business and rest assured, that judge is buying whatever s/he is selling. Forget about what you see on TV, that's what you are indoctrinated to believe that our system is. In reality, it's only a process in which to intake US prisoners and political criminals. Our justice system is anything but fair or even based on justice.

Even if you are aquitted on the very rare occasion and it's only a remote possibility if you have spent a fortune on a defense (which is unlikely that you even have close to enough money anyway), you are going to be broke, emotionally drained, aggrivated and angry, stressed out beyond belief and friendless as most of your friends will drop like flies due to the demonization that will happen in an effort to appeal to the juror's emotions on the prosecutor's behalf. One by one, friends and family members will start disassociating themselves with you as it will start to impact their own lives and this is even if your own stress and anger drive them away first.

You see, government prosecutors are only government prosecutors because they either want a good political career or a high paying job as a defense attorney later in life, after they rack up a whole swath of convictions. The more convictions, the higher the pay will be when they make this transition.

The moral of the story here, is that if the government doesn't like you, they will ruin you and just because we have a court system, doesn't mean that you have any kind of chace at "winning". If you get brought to court, you lose, regardless of whether you are aquitted or convicted, though the odds of the former are slim anyway. The best bet, would be to do your best to avoid it all together, if at all possible of course.


--airspoon

Having lived in Calgary for 23 years I can personally tell all of ATS that the Calgary Police Service is one of the most corrupt, violent and incompetent police forces in North America. They bully the public relentlessly in Calgary and they do it with a ruthlessness very rarely seen.

I remember 2 occasions I was stopped by CPS and treated pretty harshly.

The Alberta Government has for many years promised that they would set up an independent task force to investigate citizen complaints against police officers and police organizations in the Province of Alberta.

Individual Ministers including Heather Forsyth and Harvey Cenaiko have promised and failed to deliver this independent organization, so the corrupt police officers continue to be corrupt and the corrupt police services continue to investigate themselves.

The Professional Standards Division of the Calgary Police Service is wholly corrupt, and cannot be allowed to exist in its present form and structure. This Division of the Calgary Police Service is supposed to benefit the citizens of Calgary not other corrupt officers. We must have an independent agency investigating allegations of criminal acts, abuse and corruption by members of the Calgary Police Service.

Read this quote from AL Koenig a former Calgary Police Officer

"If we had corruption issues in the province we'd be the first saying we absolutely have to have independent investigators, but corruption doesn't exist in Calgary."

Wow...

"The curious thing is, in any other police investigation, if they find reasonable grounds someone has done something wrong, they charge that person,"
"When their own are involved, they themselves are a combination of investigator and judge and the police chief determines who was lying and who was telling the truth."

Stephen Juneth President - Alberta Civil Liberties Association


Here is the hook line from a story I had bookmarked but has been moved or deleted...

CALGARY - In the past three months, four other police officers have been charged with assaults while on duty and none of their identities has been released. (Calgary Herald)

(If anyone can find this story please link it.) Notice how they state four OTHER police officers!?

Last but not least, an account of a traveler being harassed on Calgary roads by the corrupt CPS...

I'm finding it hard to refer to Calgary Police Staff as Officers when I write this, I'd like to use Thugs or Bullies instead. What happened tonight was clearly not proper procedure and it demonstrates the corruption and lack of control of the Calgary Police Staff. The amount of my embarrassment, my time and my tax money spent on lies by the Calgary Police tonight was outrageous and unbelievable.

Click here to read more.

I happen to know quite a few people that were involved in this cruise as I used to be one of the major organizers of street racing in Calgary a few years ago. His account is actually pretty tame compared to what happened to some of the drivers that night.

I'm so glad I only get back to Callgirly* every few months now.

-Lightrule

reply to post by airspoon


Well, we sooner or later have to do something about the draconian asses. My misspent youth taught me a lot about the court systems.

Unless it is criminal cases, the costs are not quite as high. Yes, the costs of lawyers (priests of the sacred order of BAR) do have a pretty much wrapped up mafiaesque structured system don't they.

You bring up the fact that the prosecutors and the judges are in it together, but you forgot to bring up the FACT that the defense attorneys are in it also.

They cannot go against the system, if they do, they end up in jail like the rest of us. That is why I have been pushing the nullification information here and elsewhere.

Look at that lawyer that went after the corrupt courts in Los Angeles. He is STILL in jail for contempt of court.

Contempt of Court, think about it, who gave the courts the ability to throw someone in jail for perpetuity without the right to a trial?

Tell you what, we either have to do something about the court systems or we are done. No one should have the power these corrupt judges, prosecutors and their COMPLICIT defense attorneys have.

Sorry to hear that's happening in Calgary. Calgary is one of my favorite cities in North America. It has a great feel to it, kind of a cross between an old time western and a modern sophisticated metropolis.

Oh and all the girls are beautiful. ... LOL.

Originally posted by masqua
The time when you thought anonymnity and a funky username would protect you are over. Searching out IP's names and information is easy

If the person doing this is shallow minded & dense then yes you are quite correct. You can protect your identity if you have something to say, just requires some thought. The details are somewhat thin here, I really wouldn't think the cops would go out of there way unless some damage was done, yet alone something that could impede their investigation. If they are wrong couldn't the person sue which no police force wants ?

Also thumbs down to the losers who ran the site and voluntarily provided the information to an out of country police force, just plain wrong.

brill