And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (S.I.S.I.S.) writes: SENIOR MOUNTIE TO FIGHT ORGANIZED CRIME The Vancouver Sun, March 24, 1999 by Chad Skelton/Lindsay Kines [SISIS note: Indigenous sovereignty struggles have long dealt with as "organized crime" by the organized criminals known as the provincial and federal governments. BC AG Ujjal Dosanjh, himself an unindicted co-conspirator in the Gustafsen Lake affair, continues to stonewall calls for an inquiry into the actions of himself and other state officials during the 1995 siege of the Ts'peten Sundance camp. To support a public inquiry, please visit: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/GustLake/support.html ] A senior RCMP officer will head the new B.C. police agency created to take over the troubled Coordinated Law Enforcement Unit's war on organized crime. Beverley Ann Busson, who had been touted as a possible candidate for the commissioner of the national force, will take charge of the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia on May 1. Asked how the OCA will differ from CLEU, Busson said she hopes it will become a visible enforcement presence in B.C. and not simply an information clearing house. "The biggest issue is to have the focus not on intelligence -- but on enforcement," she said. She stressed that the OCA will be built from the ground up and that current staff at CLEU will have to re-apply if they wish to work for it. "We're not going to just re-engineer CLEU," she said. "We're building a new agency." Attorney-General Ujjal Dosnajh scrapped CLEU last fall after a damning report on the agency's woeful efforts to fight a new breed of highly sophisticated criminals. A blue-ribbon panel had painted a picture of an ill-prepared agency that had become a dumping ground for under-performing officers who wouldn't or couldn't share information inside the unit or with outside police forces. The panel's report found that the 25-year-old agency never set-up a formal screening and selection process for staff and failed to allocate resources and set priorities properly. The unit also had a bad reputation among other B.C. police, to the point that some municipal forces refused to share information with it because they feared CLEU was rife with moles. Last June, Chiu Ping Philip Tsang, an officer with CLEU's Asian crime unit, was charged with leaking information to organized crime figures. Tsang pleaded guilty earlier this month. Another key criticism of the unit was that despite its intelligence-gathering operations, it provided only vague information to government about the scope of organized crime in B.C. -- something the report said led to the confusion over priorities and resources. Dosanjh said one of the first things he expects from the new agency is an analysis of the nature and size of organized crime activities in the province. The new agency will be expected to set clear enforcement priorities and conduct joint-forces projects with local police departments, Dosanjh said. And the new agency will be given special status under the Police Act, allowing it to function with all the power and independence of a municipal police force but with a mandate to police the entire province. "This is, for the first time in the history of the province, a policing unit with a provincial mandate," Dosanjh said. "The structure of the new agency will allow for a more flexible, vigorous and determined response to fighting organized crime in British Columbia." The agency, which Dosanjh hopes will be fully operational by next fall, will also be subject to an audit every three years. Dosanjh said the OCA will start with an annual budget of $15.1 million. Busson, who has served the majority of her career in B.C., is currently the assistant commissioner in charge of Saskatchewan RCMP, a position she has held since last August. Dosanjh said Busson was the unanimous choice of the hiring committee, beating out 31 other candidates. "Chief Officer Busson will bring the type of leadership necessary to combat the profound and pervasive threat of organized crime in this province," Dosanjh said. Busson said she is confident that once the agency is established, "we will prove ourselves worthy of further funding." Busson, who graduated from the University of B.C. law school, will direct the agency's day-to-day activities, while a joint management team will provide general direction. Richard Philippe, director of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada, described Busson's hiring as "great news" for B.C., but a blow to the RCMP. "I would say that this is bad news for the RCMP because she was seen as a leader in the RCMP and an officer of the future," he said in a telephone interview from Ottawa. In a media statement, RCMP Commissioner Philip Murray said he was "saddened to see a person of... Busson's calibre leaving the RCMP. However, at the same time, I am elated that she will remain in the Canadian policing circle, particularly in such a high-profile and important position." BEVERLEY ANN BUSSON The new head of the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia, and B.C.'s first female police chief, has a long history in both police administration and criminal investigations. Born in Halifax, Busson began her career as a teacher, working with special-needs children and graduating from Nova Scotia Teachers' College in 1974. She joined the RCMP in Halifax that year and trained in Regina with the first troop of female regular members in the RCMP. Busson spent most of her time as a rank-and-file officer in British Columbia, working in Salmon Arm, Kelowna and North Vancouver. In Kelowna she worked with the plainclothes section investigating drug, fraud and serious crimes for several years. During her time in North Vancouver she studied criminology at Simon Fraser University. In 1990 she graduated from the University of British Columbia law school and was transferred to RCMP headquarters in Ottawa. There, she worked with the force's internal discipline unit. In 1992 she was made a commissioned officer of the RCMP and spent three years as the commanding officer in North Battleford, Sask. She was then transferred to B.C. to become the officer in charge of "Special O," a unit dedicated to surveillance responsibilities. In 1996, she was promoted to superintendent in charge of the unit handling discipline and civil litigation in B.C. In 1997 she was given the rank of chief superintendent and became the officer in charge of criminal operations in Saskatchewan. In August 1998 she became the assistant commissioner and commanding officer for F Division -- Saskatchewan's top police officer. She will take up the head of the new Organized Crime Agency on May 1. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: "The state retains that inherent right to use force" -- BC Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh, Sept. 15, 1995, Victoria Times Colonist, Page A1. Letters to the Vancouver Sun - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
