Fired bike-gang officer won $2-million settlement

OFF THE WIRE
Officer alleged police infighting sank major Hells Angels investigation

Chad Skelton – July 22, 2010
A fired biker-gang investigator who sued the Organized Crime Agency of B.C. for wrongful dismissal received $2 million in an out-of-court settlement with the B.C. government, ministry records reveal.

Allen Dalstrom was fired by OCABC chief officer David Douglas in 2004 after concerns were raised about Dalstrom's handling of Project Phoenix, a multimillion-dollar investigation of the Hells Angels that was never prosecuted, and over comments Dalstrom allegedly made to a journalist writing a book about the Angels.

Dalstrom alleged in court documents that Phoenix failed because of a turf war between the RCMP and the OCABC. His trial threatened to expose deep divisions between the RCMP and municipal police in B.C. and call some of the most senior officers in the province to the stand.

Lawyers for both sides confirmed to The Vancouver Sun two years ago that they had reached an out-of-court settlement, though neither side would discuss the details.

However, the Crown Proceeding Act Report for 2009 -- which details payments made by government in litigation -- states Dalstrom was paid a settlement of $1.3 million plus six years of salary and benefits, about $2 million.

"I think all of us who worked with Al Dalstrom were really upset as to how he was dealt with," said Peter Ditchfield, who was deputy chief of the OCABC at the time of Dalstrom's firing. "He should never have been shown the door.

He was a dedicated investigator who was extremely talented and extremely knowledgeable and guys like that are few and far between in policing."

Insp. Andy Richards, a former investigator with the OCABC who now works for Port Moody police, said Wednesday that Phoenix targeted nine suspects, including three full-patch members of the Hells Angels, and the case should have gone to trial.

"It was a very compelling case and ... highly prosecutable," Richards said. "But because so much baggage had been raised and so much mud had been thrown, Crown was not willing to proceed because ... it was not in the public interest to publicize the level and extent of the infighting."

Richards said that in his view, Phoenix was scuttled by senior RCMP officers because they were jealous another agency had succeeded against the Angels on what they saw as the Mounties' turf.

Asked if he thought the RCMP had learned from the Dalstrom case, Richards replied: "I hope so. But I'm just not convinced they're an organization that necessarily learns from these lessons. ... I'm not sure they learn unless they take it on the chin publicly."

RCMP Supt. Pat Fogarty said Wednesday the four-member board that fired Dalstrom had only one RCMP member on it, with the other three from municipal police forces.

"The decision to do what they did was not exclusively the RCMP," he said. "They were only one vote out of four."

Dalstrom's lawyer, Kevin Woodall, forwarded The Sun a copy of the letter of apology received by Dalstrom from the OCABC and a brief statement saying Dalstrom and his family have moved on and that he didn't wish to comment further.

Original article on Vancouver Sun website