POLICE CHIEF APOLOGIZES TO FAMILY FOR BOTCHED RAID

After nearly eight years, the longest running complaint against the
Calgary Police Service has ended with a rare public apology from the
chief to a family who was the victim of a botched drug raid.

In a reconciliation of sorts, Nancy Killian Constant and her husband
Fernand have agreed to withdraw their ongoing complaints with the
Calgary Police Commission and Law Enforcement Review Board, while
also settling their civil lawsuit over the search warrant gone wrong.

The family's persistence and refusal to drop the case led to mounting
legal costs for both sides, but resulted in significant changes in
how the police department obtains search warrants and put the
spotlight on how allegations of police misconduct are handled.

"We apologize to the Killian Constant family for all the trauma and
grief that came upon them as a result of a search warrant," police
Chief Rick Hanson said Tuesday in a dramatic turnaround from his
predecessor, who vigorously defended the department and its officers.

"We made a mistake. We've put a lot of work into identifying and
fixing the problems. . . . It shouldn't have happened."

Neither side could speak about the terms of an out-of-court
settlement, but both agreed it was a satisfactory resolution and said
it's time to move on.

"The last eight years have been extremely difficult," said Nancy
Killian Constant, whose complaint became a lightning rod for changes
in how allegations of misconduct are handled.

"The initial event had a huge impact on every aspect of our lives,
right from our personal lives to our business.

"It's a huge weight lifted.

"Today, I'm inspired and impressed with the Calgary Police Service."

It was a quiet evening in September 2000 when Nancy Killian Constant
opened her door and came face-to-face with a police officer pointing
a gun at her head.

The door, she later complained to police, was violently jerked from her grip.

The woman was forced backward into the home, where her husband,
89-year-old grandmother and family lawyer were sitting.

Several other officers stormed past her and began a search, the
commotion waking her 12-year-old son upstairs, whom she alleged was
ordered to the floor at gunpoint when he emerged from his room.

With the couple's other three small children asleep in their beds,
the officers proceeded to search the home for evidence of a marijuana
grow operation. Problem was, there wasn't one. And the information
that police used to obtain the search warrant turned out to be false,
the source of it a landlord with whom the family had been feuding.

The family lodged a complaint. After two years, they received a
letter from then police chief Jack Beaton, acknowledging mistakes
were made. At least one officer received a minor reprimand, and
Beaton said he was sorry in writing, but Nancy Killian Constant wanted more.

She took her case to the Law Enforcement Review Board, the police
commission and even took on Beaton, alleging he didn't properly
investigate the case.

For his part, Beaton maintained the officers weren't negligent,
defending himself and the service.

At one point during the family's legal odyssey, the Law Enforcement
Review Board -- where citizens can take their complaints if unhappy
with how the police or its oversight body have dealt with them --
ordered the couple to pay $5,000 to cover part of the police
department's legal bill.

The ruling, which called the couple's efforts vexatious and
frivolous, came despite the surfacing of an internal police memo that
suggested the grounds used to obtain the search warrant on the
family's home were based on notes altered by an officer.

Hanson said he couldn't speak to how the complaint was dealt with in
the past, but said he's pleased to have been able to resolve it.

It's important, he added, for the service to admit when it has made a mistake.

"We have a quarter of a million dispatched calls a year and an equal
number of contacts with individuals

. . . so in the vast majority of cases, our officers act
appropriately. Unfortunately, mistakes happen," he said.

"I would hope that people recognize how complex the job is and . . .
that each and every day our officers strive to be professional, but
that even in the execution of their duties, that mistakes happen."

Many policy changes have been made as a result of the lengthy
dispute, including a more rigorous process for obtaining search
warrants, he said. Officers are no longer allowed to rely on
information from a single source, and an expert drug squad now
handles marijuana grow op investigations.

Nancy Killian Constant said she fought for eight years so other
innocent families wouldn't experience the terror of a mistaken police
raid and to ensure accountability when things go awry.

"The public needs to feel comfortable with the police and that they
are doing their job in the manner they should be. When they're not,
situations like this become important because this is the only means
we have to curtail activity that is not favourable by police,
whatever that may look like," she said, adding that her now grown son
still mistrusts the police.

Calgary police commission chairman Denis Painchaud said the Killian
Constant case also highlighted the need for better public oversight
of the police.

"Obviously, you have to give a lot of credit to Miss Constant and
their family. They were persistent, courageous and diligent," he
said. "It was frustrating for us, but hats off to her for staying
with it because, at the end, everybody learned from this."