In a softly worded story in the Abbotsford News by Vikki Hope, which took nearly 13 paragraphs to get around to the point of the issue at hand, the Abbotsford Police Department APD says it has not yet decided on what, if any disciplinary measures will be taken against the officers it admits were involved in a high profile complaint against them.
The allegations, brought forward by Jesse Wegenast of The 5 and 2 Ministries at a meeting of the Abbotsford Social Development Advisory Committee (ASDAC) meeting in July to deal with the use of chicken feces by City staff in a Salvation Army sanctioned attack on the homeless on Gladys Avenue, involved statements that APD officers have used pepper spray, slashed tents, and destroyed or confiscated property on more than one occasion over the last several years.
“This has been going on for years,” Wegenast told the members of ASDAC.
The story in the News gives no details of the settlement which has been reached but quoted Wegenast as describing the process this way, “”The whole thing went really, really well … I was actually surprised at how positively and smoothly it went.”
The APD’s Const. Ian MacDonald told the News, “Wherever that truth went, we were prepared to go.”
The Pivot Legal Society and the Abbotsford Chapter of the BC/Yukon Drug War Survivors have a number of lawsuits and two Human Rights complaints against both the City of Abbotsford and the APD for their treatment of homeless citizens over a number of years.
Some of those cases are scheduled to move forward as soon as February.