VPD Police Chief fires back over Stanley Cup riot criticism
Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu issued a strongly-worded denunciation Tuesday of criticism around his handling of last week's Stanley Cup Riot.
And he singled out Robert Whitelaw, who worked on the report into the 1994 Stanley Cup Riot. Chu said he has misrepresented his involvement in the inquiry 17 years ago.
In a letter to officers and staff that he encouraged them to circulate, Chu said Whitelaw falsely claimed he was the author of the report into the 1994 riot. In fact, he said, Whitelaw's suggestions in a preliminary report were discarded as impractical, and the inquiry hired new investigators who provided different recommendations.
"I confirmed yesterday that Mr. Whitelaw did not write the 1994 report, and that he has misrepresented to the news media his involvement with the BC Police Commission. This was confirmed yesterday when I talked to the former Chair of the BC Police Commission, Mr. David Edgar. I also have talked to others who were involved in writing the final report," Chu said in his letter.
In an email to The Vancouver Sun, Edgar said Whitelaw is "grossly exaggerating" his involvement in the 1994 investigation.
"He had no qualifications or experience in policing, security or crowd management and was not hired to be involved in the investigative or recommendation side of the inquiry. He was a "wordsmith" only," Edgar wrote.
"For him to suggest or to allow the idea that he was the author or had any substantive role in its contents is quite simply a fabrication. Nor was he an investigator, let alone a "head investigator", as one broadcaster suggested. He was, rather, an embarrassment to the Commission on this project."
But Whitelaw, contacted Tuesday at his home in Ottawa, said he was surprised at the allegations. He read a letter of recommendation Edgar sent to Whitelaw's employer in the provincial Comptroller's Office at in November, 1994, that said his efforts had been included in the final report.
"As a result of this work the final report was able to reflect accurately the essential facts and draw from the lessons that the report sets out," Whitelaw read from the letter.
In his letter to his officers, Chu said Whitelaw's involvement in the 1994 investigation was largely discarded.
"I was given a copy of an early report that I was told Whitelaw did help write. It was immediately discarded by the BC Police Commission in 1994. I was also told that because of the inadequacy of Mr. Whitelaw's work, new investigators were brought in and a completely new report was written without any use of this first inadequate report.
"Many of Mr. Whitelaw's recommendations in his discarded report were rejected as unrealistic, and recommended a police reaction disproportionate to the offence being committed."
But Whitelaw said no one ever raised any concerns about his work and he can't confirm that his findings were discarded. He said he didn't claim he was the author of the report or the chair of the inquiry.
"I was providing information and I know there were a number of writers. It was not my report, it was the Police
Commission's report," Whitelaw said.
Edgar said in his email to The Sun that Whitelaw's work was never used in the final draft.
"When it came time for him to submit his draft (which was late), it was, to be polite, below standard and unacceptable. The work of drafting the report was taken away from him and assigned to a senior researcher on the Commission staff, Jill McIntyre," Edgar wrote.
"It was Mrs. McIntyre who wrote the report. Nothing written by Whitelaw is in that report."
Chu said Whitelaw also tried to offer his services to the VPD on June 1 and went to The Vancouver Sun after his help was rejected. He said Whitelaw also appeared to misrepresent his involvement with other police forces.
"Mr. Whitelaw has definitely raised his personal profile and received a lot of attention at our expense. I found out yesterday that Mr. Whitelaw did offer his services to the VPD as a consultant on June 1st but we did not accept his offer. Shortly after, he appears to have contacted the Vancouver Sun with his opinions and an article warning of a riot appeared on June 4th. One recent article I read has him assisting the Montreal and Calgary Police with their playoff runs. I talked to the Chiefs in both Calgary and Montreal. Both of these agencies have never had any relationship with Mr. Whitelaw nor have these police agencies heard of him," Chu said in his letter to staff.
Whitelaw said he did contact the VPD to offer his services since Vancouver was once again in the Stanley Cup playoffs and he felt they could benefit from the findings of the 1994 report. He said he never claimed to work with the Calgary and Montreal police departments, but rather gave interviews to the media there.
Chu's strong attack on Whitelaw comes as pressure intensifies on the police department and the city to explain how they could not have predicted or prevented the riot from happening. Chu continues to refuse to say how many police officers he had on the streets Wednesday, saying it remains an operational piece of information. However, the Vancouver Police Union said the number was between 500-700 out of a total police force of 1,300.
On Monday the province and the city announced the terms of reference for an independent inquiry into the riot, but stopped well short of calling for a full public Commission of Inquiry.
jefflee@vancouversun.com
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