Looking back, Patrick Robin said there are things he would do differently.
Robin was dismissed from the Prince Albert Police Service in March, 2010 for, among other reasons, prosecuting a traffic violation himself after the Crown prosecutor decided to drop it.
It was Dan Heffernan’s turn to question Robin, who is the lawyer for the Prince Albert Police Service.
Heffernan first addressed the issue of Robin being unaware his actions were against the service’s policy.
Earlier, Robin said he prosecuted traffic violations before while working for the RCMP in British Columbia. He said when he joined the Prince Albert Police Service he was never informed of the service’s policies during his training.
Heffernan then turned to Robin’s performance reviews, where Robin stated one of his goals was to learn the service’s policies. Heffernan asked if Robin had taken any steps to learn the policy. Robin said he hadn’t, even though he had been informed how to access it.
Robin also agreed with Heffernan that he could have checked with his supervisor, or Crown prosecutor Joseph Kulyk, to see if there would be any issues with him prosecuting the case.
Another issue brought up was how an anonymous called had contacted witnesses Robin was put on administrative leave, suggesting they speak out.
Robin had already testified that it was his friend Ian Reiman, a retired police officer and confidant of Robin's, who called them.
Heffernan said that Prince Albert Police Service Chief Dale McFee instructed Robin not to contact the witnesses involved in the case while on leave. Robin agreed it was wrong to give Reiman the witnesses’ phone numbers, and agreed that Reiman was acting as an agent on his behalf, which was in violation of McFee’s orders.
Belief in obstruction
Heffermam talked about how Robin filed a complaint against the Prince Albert Police Service with the RCMP, believing he had reasonable and probable cause that their actions were obstructing justice.
Robin said it was a “totality of everything that transpired” that lead him to believe this.
Robin said it was Kulyk’s reason for dropping the case, saying that he felt the court would sympathize with the man accused of dangerous driving and wouldn’t convict him, McFee's order to refrain from appearing in court or contactin, Mike Parenteau not showing up at court because a sergeant with the Prince Albert Police Service told him not to, and a person telling him McFee had let this man off on another matter, led him to believe obstruction had taken place.
During the hearing, Robin apologized to McFee saying he now knew McFee didn’t pull the ticket.
False information given
Robin also said he gave false information during an interview with Dave Wade, an investigator with the Police Complaints Commission. This interview occurred after Robin had been placed on administrative leave.
Robin said he lied because he felt questions were sprung on him and Wade asked about topics unrelated to what Robin had been told to expect.
Motivated to protect wtinesses
Despite admitting to making mistakes, Robin insisted that he did not prosecute the case for the goal of revenge, even though the man he gave a ticket to filed a complaint against him.
Robin said he did so for the witnesses’ sake and that he felt he had reasonable and probable means to prosecute the man, and that he wanted justice to be served.
Final arguments will be on Friday.
rpilon@panow.com
–Former Prince Albert police officer denies doing anything wrong
