Who exactly...

...is being "served and protected"?

-- Matter of public opinion --

Sun scribe's 3-part series of his daughter's brutal swarming irks Belleville's new police chief, but what other recourse did he really have?
By MARK BONOKOSKI

Last Updated: 12th July 2009, 4:12am

Belleville's new police chief, Cory McMullan, has responded to last week's three-part series of my daughter Erin's swarming and beating in her town, her force's non-response to two 911 calls, as well as the allegations of unprofessional treatment of a victim by two members of her force, by stating that the media is not the way to air a complaint.

This is not a good start for the chief, and does not bode well for her promise of transparency, professionalism and accountability.

"I feel that it's unfortunate that this is the way this individual decided to deal with this situation instead of coming into the station, having his daughter -- who is the victim -- come in a lot sooner than now and deal with this situation," said the chief.

"There is a province-wide procedure for making public complaints and it is not through the media."

The chief is correct. There is such a process.

But what would it accomplish in the end?

The public complaints process, which normally has a six-month window, airs no details to the public. The city of Belleville would have been out of the loop about the details of what happened to my daughter 18 months ago, and therefore totally unaware of what transpired that night, and what the police in their city did not do.

So what would be the point?

This forum exists, and it exists to be used.

Besides, is it not the job of the media to be watchdog of public institutions, police departments included?

As I told more than one news-talk radio station, if any parent had come to me with the same set of circumstances regarding their son or their daughter, I would have been on their story like a dog on a bone -- a fact not lost on long-time readers.

When McMullan took over the force back in April as its first female police chief, coming to Belleville as a 22-year veteran and inspector with the Peterborough Lakefield Community Police, the 46-year-old mother of two teenagers promised an in-depth review of the city's police service.

"Transparency, accountability and professionalism are essential to ensure that the Belleville Police Service reaches its full potential," she told the local Belleville Intelligencer.

Arguing, then, that the media is not the place for anyone to air a legitimate complaint against her force -- whether it is me or persons yet unknown -- is not a good start for a freshly-minted chief, and merely a convenient deflection of the real issue.

McMullan also told the local Belleville Intelligencer that, following her own personal probe into the matter, any potential repercussions for the two particular officers named in the series would be dealt with internally -- and "not through the media."

Where, one might ask, is the "transparency" in this?

Given the publicity already generated, and the concerns expressed online by many Belleville residents (all which is still being seen online at torontosun.com), should the good citizens of Belleville not be made aware of whether the two officers received reprimand, were told to apologize, or even -- if the chief so decides -- given no discipline at all?

Not only that, but the reasons?

And what about the force's plan for dealing with victims in the future, especially those who do not have a public forum such as this?

A police force, after all, is not a private company with no stock holders. Every penny it spends is a penny that comes from the pockets of the public it serves.

The public, therefore, has the right to know.

Chief McMullan also said this.

"When the victim called 911, the accused (assailants) were not present," she said, indicating that the police were already at the scene of a serious stabbing incident elsewhere in the city.

"It was not a case of us not responding -- she (Erin) was told to come to the station."

This is a nice spin, but hardly accurate.

The "victim" -- my 23-year-old daughter -- did not call 911. A witness made the call.

And the 911 call to which Chief McMullan refers when all the assailants had fled the scene, and the "victim" was told to come to the station, was not the first 911 call that was made by the witness.

It was the second.

The first 911 call got no response at all.

The serious stabbing incident, by the way, and it was one which supposedly necessitated the response of every available police unit in the city, thereby leaving no one to respond to my daughter's attack, was never reported to the media.

The question could therefore be asked: Did it even exist?

And, if so, where's the proof?

McMullan told the local Intelligencer that no press release was issued on that supposed stabbing because it was "an ongoing investigation," yet she offered no explanation as to why no report was ever made public when that "ongoing investigation" was concluded.

This hardly serves the Belleville Police Service's motto of being "partners with the community."

One can only presume that Chief McMullan, along with her communications officer, Sgt. Beth Harder, have been monitoring the online comments posted at the end of each of the three-part series (which was also published in the Intelligencer) -- with a great deal of them coming from Belleville residents raising serious concerns about their police department.

McMullan has only been at the helm of the force for three months, and has promised, on her force's own website, to dedicate herself "to promoting a close relationship between the police and the citizens of Belleville."

The assault on my daughter, the non-response by police and the subsequent mistreatment of her as a victim when she attended the police station with witnesses in tow, did not happen on her watch.

She therefore has a fresh broom.

The question now, will she use it?

Or will she blame the media for not playing fair, and airing it all out in public instead of sweeping it from view by using the "official" police complaints process that reveals nothing to the public?

So far, not so good.

MARK.BONOKOSKI@SUNMEDIA.CA OR 416-947-2445

*