statism watch

CBC News
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 20, 2008

An RCMP probe into a southern Ontario drug trafficking ring has exposed a loophole in the province’s casino system that police fear criminals are exploiting in a bid to launder the proceeds of crime.

Called Project Ozzi, the 2004 RCMP investigation broke up a drug trafficking ring involving cocaine and ecstasy in the Toronto and Kitchener areas.

RCMP investigator Cpl. Joe Peel says suspects linked to the ring were frequent players at Casino Rama, outside of Orillia, Ont., and Mohawk Racetrack, west of Toronto. They would play as much as twice a day, often depositing $9,000 into the slot machines each time, said Peel.

“They would go in, under the threshold of $10,000, play various machines and then, at some point, cash out, get the little stubs from the machines … and then ask for a cheque,” said Peel, who is with the force’s proceeds of crime section.

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RCMP warned to back off

Peel said when he approached OLG about possible money laundering at casinos, the organization’s vice-president of security, Mike Sharland, told him to back off. Peel said he was shocked by Sharland’s response.

In 2007, Sharland was the subject of a separate Toronto police investigation into allegations of obstruction into a criminal investigation at OLG concerning an Ontario man who was duped out of his winning lottery ticket. Police found no evidence to indicate Sharland interfered with the criminal probe, but did conclude the secondment of a senior OPP officer to OLG “did create a conflict of interest.” Shortly after the report was issued, the OPP decided to stop seconding its officers to head security at OLG. Sharland retired from the OPP last March, and from OLG four months later.

“I didn’t record our conversation, but basically, [I] was told to look somewhere else and get off his turf, that sort of thing,” said Peel. “I didn’t get very good vibes from him. Let’s put it that way.”

Sharland, who was also pulling double duty as a serving OPP chief superintendent during the time he worked as the head of OLG’s security, told CBC News he couldn’t recall the conversation.

“All the time that I was either at the AGCO [Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario] or OLG, we always co-operated fully with any outside police agencies,” he said.

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Jane Wakefield, BBC
May 20, 2008

Plans for a super-database containing the details of all phone calls and e-mails sent in the UK have been heavily criticised by experts.

The government is considering the changes as part of its ongoing fight against serious crime and terrorism.

Assistant Information Commissioner Jonathan Bamford has warned that the UK could be “sleepwalking into a surveillance society”.

Others have questioned how such a database could be made secure.

Public confidence

“While the public is “sleepwalking” into a surveillance society, the government seems to have its eyes wide open although, unfortunately, to everything except security,” said Jamie Cowper, data protection expert at data protection firm PGP Corporation.

“The bottom line is – information of this nature should only be held if – and only if – it can be demonstrated that an appropriate system of checks and balances is in place and the security of the information being stored is of paramount concern,” he added.

Public confidence in the governments’ ability to look after data has been dented in recent months with high profile failures, including the loss of a CD carrying all the personal details of every child benefit claimant.

The latest plans being mulled by the Home Office will form part of the proposed Communications Bill, which is due to be considered by MPs later this year.

It is, said a Home Office spokesman, crucial “to ensure that public authorities have access to communications data essential for counter-terrorism and investigation of crime purposes.”

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Big Brother

The Internet Service Providers’ Association said it was seeking more information about the proposals.

“In particular we want to know more about the Government’s intentions regarding “modifying the procedures for acquiring communications data,” said a spokesman.

In the run-up to RIPA being approved by parliament, human rights campaigner Privacy International argued that such an act would be a dangerous first step towards a “Big Brother” society.

According to Gus Hosein, a senior fellow at Privacy International, the latest proposals could be even more controversial.

“The idea that ISPs need to collect data and send it en masse to central government is, without doubt, illegal,” he said.

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Robyn Doolittle, The Toronto Star
May 20, 2008

Toronto board panel tables action plan after Falconer’s hard-hitting report on hallway safety

A heightened police presence in school buildings, new procedures for dealing with peer sexual assault, and dozens of new staff to work with marginalized youth – these are just a few of the recommendations made by a panel of Toronto District School Board staff in response to January’s Falconer Report.

The recommendations, obtained by the Star and scheduled for release this morning, call for enhanced “positive police interactions with students in school buildings” and a plan to establish a model to “further engage” police in Toronto schools.

Today’s report stops short of saying uniformed officers should be patrolling hallways. Instead, police will be providing more resources to schools and working to “strengthen the security around the school,” said trustee Cathy Dandy.

“I can assure you, it is not at all the intent to turn our schools into police buildings. We have to deal with the reality,” she said. “We’re not going to pretend that knives and guns aren’t in our schools. We know they’re there. We want to take it seriously.”

The report must still be voted upon by the full board.

One year ago this Friday, 15-year-old Jordan Manners was gunned down inside C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute. Last June, the Toronto District School Board created a School Community Safety Advisory Panel, headed by lawyer Julian Falconer, to consider the events leading up to the tragedy.

Falconer’s 1,000-page report, released in January, painted an unflattering picture of life at many Toronto high schools: drugs, guns, gangs, sexual aggression and a financially impotent board that can’t find funding to solve the problems.

Falconer’s report also unearthed details of an alleged gang sex assault against a 14-year-old Muslim girl at C.W. Jefferys. The school’s then-principal and former vice-principals were later charged under the Child and Family Services Act with failing to report the incident. That came after Falconer learned that vice-principal Silvio Tallevi learned of the incident, but did not report it to police, ostensibly because the girl could not identify the boys. These charges were dropped because of the time it took to have them sworn, but the Crown plans to appeal.

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