q ne BE ENGEL LAW monte TRIAL AND APPEAL LAWYERS Samantha Labato LUdsay Hoban ‘Sone 200 wort Sung + 10209-87Sreetw » Eaentn, a TLOLE + ttepoe: 780 445.899 + fc 7 4484026 mat engelgongelavca + assis leemegorgelan cs + webste wanergelen co (ur Ho: 7388 TE November 7, 2018 Sent Via Facsimile: 780.421.2287 Edmonton Police Service 9620 - 103A Avenue Edmonton, AB TSH OH7 Attention: Chief of the Edmonton Police Service Dear Sir: Re: _ Complaint by Caitlin Dick against EPS Staff Sergeant Bill Clark | am counsel for Caitlin Dick who has instructed me to make a complaint against Staff Sergeant Bill Clark. Caitlin Dick is a 24 year law student at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. On the evening of November 1, 2018, Staff Sergeant Bill Clark was a guest speaker in a policing law course. The sessional instructor was former EPS inspector Malcolm Allan, now a Justice of the Peace who is also a lawyer. | presume that Inspector Allan invited Staff Sergeant Clark to speak to the class. No doubt he would have been presented as a very experienced, respected member of the police service, whose opinions would carry weight Here is what Ms. Dick has to say about what S/Sgt. Clark said to the class: 4. Bill was introduced as Bill Clark, Staff Sergeant with the EPS' Homicide division. It was mentioned that he has years and years of experience in this position and is responsible for overseeing officers engaged in homicide response - reference was ‘even made at one point to Malcolm having taken direction from him during his time with the EPS. It was communicated that he was there to speak to the class to give them some information around how a homicide investigation looks from someone with practical experience and expertise. 2. This lecture occurred on Thursday, November 1, 2018 between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm. + Prfetonal aperaon ‘Criminal Law and Other Litigation“ay page 2 E [ENGEL LAW November 7,20%8 3. | do not recall Bill Clark saying that his opinions were his own and not those of the EPS. | 4, Atthe beginning of the lecture, he asked the class who was interested in being Crown prosecutors, and then who was interested in being criminal defence lawyers. After those interested in being defence lawyers raised their hands, he remarked “So you'll be the bad guys.” 5. After this he stated “No, | don’t hate all defence lawyers, just some of them” and ““if they don’t give me any attitude they won't get any back.” i 6. The lecture consisted of Clark showing the class a real 911 call where a woman had been stabbed by her husband, an example dispatch sheet, and crime scene photographs associated with this call. This was done to illustrate the process for police officers responding to calls where homicide may have occurred, including how much information these officers would have on arrival to the scene. 7. After this, he continued to show the class various police photographs of scenes where death had occurred for the purposes of conducting an exercise where the class was to identify whether the scene was a homicide, a suicide, or an accident. 8. One of these photographs depicted a woman who had been beaten to death with a hammer, rendering her face unrecognizable. He referred to the fact that “This was | an East Indian family.” At this point, | raised my hand to inquire why he had | mentioned their race. He replied “Il dunno, because they were.” | continued to point out that | was asking because we had seen a few photographs now and this was the first time he had mentioned the race of those involved. He replied “Yeah, no reason. The last ones were white, | guess.” 9. At 6:22, | heard him very clearly say “I have an ongoing battle with Tom Engel. | hate him, he hates me, that's how itis.” Mention of Tom's name drew my attention immediately, and | typed this statement immediately after it was said. | don’t recall | exactly what he said before that, but | think it was said in the context of a larger | discussion around how he tries to tell the officers under his supervision to ensure that | they're doing everything “by the book” so as not to be vulnerable to defence lawyers “picking everything apart.” ! 10. Over the remaining portion of the lecture, he made the following additional comments, which | typed as soon as they were made: a. "Raising the age from 16 to 18 was stupid, we should have dropped it to 14 because 14 year olds are just absolute criminals.” This was in Criminal: Law and Other LitigationE | ENGEL b. LAW November te reference to the statutory age when an individual may be considered an adult, rather than a young offender. “Ilet lawyers come in to see their clients if they're respectful.” This was in reference to how much he “allows” a lawyer to physically see a suspect while he’s in his custody, beyond the initial communication required by the Charter. He seemed to imply that his decision to let a lawyer attend to see their clients in person was determined by how “respectful” the lawyer was to him He continued to discuss the differential treatment he gives suspects in his custody depending on how much he likes the suspect's lawyer, and recounted a situation where he interrogated a suspect for longer than necessary to obtain the information he needed because he didn't like the suspect’s lawyer - he slated “I just purposely talked to the guy for an hour and a half just to waste the lawyer's time just to piss him off.” “| think most police officers would like to see the death penalty. | know most defence lawyers won't like that but I'm an eye for an eye kind of guy.” “if you're a criminal, you're a maggot to me.” At the end of the lecture, to wrap up, he stated “If you ever see me in court, come up and say hi. If you're on the good side I'll say hi, if you're on the bad side I'll say fuck you (haha).” Based on his statement at the beginning of class, | took his meaning to be that Crown prosecutors were on the “good” side and criminal defence lawyers were on the “bad” side. 11, These comments were extremely upsetting for me to hear, for the following reasons: a. b. t'm considering pursuing a career in criminal defence. | was left with a strong impression that if | as a defence lawyer ever have a client who S/Sgt. Clark or any member of his team interact with, I'll have to walk on eggshells to ensure that my client's rights aren’t being infringed or their experience of a criminal investigation made even more unpleasant because | had somehow “disrespected” S/Sgt. Clark. ‘S/Sgt. Clark's statements about his personal opinions and how they inform how he interacts with homicide suspects make me seriously doubt his ability to investigate impartially, which makes me worry that his investigations are motivated by personal opinion and not impartial facts or evidence. Criminal Law and: Other Litigation