Calgary police withhold evidence of brutality as final UofC protest charges fall
New documents reveal Calgary Police Service suppressed evidence of brutality by officers at the University of Calgary on May 9, 2024. Among this was camera footage from senior officers that should have been examined during an internal investigation.
On May 9, 2024, this author attended a protest at the University of Calgary campus to oppose the genocide of Palestinians by Israel. Reporting from that event noted extensive use of force by Calgary Police Service (CPS) officers against participants, including this author, resulting in concussions and other injuries resulting from strikes to people's heads by fists, batons, and riot shields, as well as deployment of flash-bang pepper grenades and less-lethal bullets.
As of November 27, all charges laid against protesters have been dropped or stayed, after some defendants prepared constitutional challenges to set precedents on protest rights in Alberta. No disciplinary action has been taken against any police officer responsible for protester injuries. Before interim CPS chief Katie McLellan dismissed all complaints against officers, the resignation of former chief Mark Neufeld rendered moot all complaints against him.
Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB) appeals are underway to challenge the interim chief's dismissal of complaints. Except under special circumstances, the LERB only reviews evidence available when police conducted their investigation related to a complaint.
Euan Thomson
In the fallout of the police brutality, this author submitted nearly thirty freedom of information requests to CPS and other public bodies to untangle the decisions by UofC, CPS, and the Alberta government responsible for unprecedented police violence on Alberta university campuses. This included footage, correspondence, and other evidence related to brutality against peaceful protesters, repeated less than two days later at the University of Alberta.
Despite redactions, delays, and outright refusals, these requests have revealed policy-breaking destruction of records by UofC security executives, considerable bias among UofC decision-makers, and conversations between then-chief Neufeld and senior UCP government officials named in news coverage related to government corruption. Together, the chief and the government officials premeditated the outcome of an Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) investigation.
Several of these requests asked for footage from bodyworn cameras (BWC) of the eighty-five CPS officers dispatched to UofC. While the complaints were actively being investigated, these requests were universally refused.
However, one request submitted after charges were withdrawn revealed the existence of BWC footage that CPS complaint investigators failed to identify and obtain. This included footage from two senior officers with direct line-of-sight "several times" on this author's beating by police. One of these officers, Sgt. Cody Bell (badge 5046), was supervising an officer accused of that brutality.
The other senior officer, Grant Maveal (badge 4152; current rank unknown), was the subject of a 2014 neglect of duty and discreditable conduct complaint that was dismissed in 2021 by then-chief Neufeld.
On November 28, nine months after the initial request was submitted, Calgary police issued its final decision to refuse release of those BWC files. Their stated reasoning was:
"During our final checks for release, it was brought to our attention that the file these videos relate to is currently before the Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB). As a result, we are denying the video recordings at this time under section 20(1)(h) of the Act which states:
20(1)(h) The head of a public body may refuse to disclose information to an applicant if the disclosure could reasonably be expected to deprive a person of the right to a fair trial or impartial adjudication."
However, these BWC files were never part of the CPS investigation, meaning they are unrelated to the adjudication. No formal application has yet been made to include those files in the LERB appeal.
On November 28, CPS was asked why files that do not exist in the Appeal Record cannot be released. CPS did not respond.
Matters related to an active LERB Appeal Record, including officer BWC, notes, statements, and other evidence, are subject to confidentiality until the conclusion of the appeal.
This author maintains every previous claim concerning use of force, injuries, violation of Charter rights, and lies told by then-Chief Mark Neufeld and the University of Calgary that were propagated by Calgary Police Commission. Further details will be released as they become eligible.
On November 26, one CPS officer at the front line of the University of Calgary protest made his first court appearance. Charged with aggravated assault and careless use of a firearm in an incident unrelated to the protest, Christopher Huggins could face up to fourteen years in prison if convicted on the first charge.
The resignation of chief Mark Neufeld exempted him from formal accountability, while Corey Hogan's election to Parliament provided an escape from scrutiny of his role as the UofC's head of communications during the protest. No resignations at the UofA, UofC, CPS, Edmonton police, or any provincial body have been linked to the brutality against protester.
It remains to be seen if CPS officers who ordered and executed that violence can be held accountable in a city where police rule politics.
An early version of this story was shared with Paid subscribers on November 30.
Additional information can be sent to info@drugdatadecoded.ca.
Drug Data Decoded provides analysis using news sources, publicly available data sets and freedom of information submissions, from which the author draws reasonable opinions. The author is not a journalist.
This content is not available for AI training. All rights reserved.
