Head of CLEU shoul

LAST week’s arrest of
Philip Tsang Chiu
Ping, a special consta-
ble assigned to the
Coordinated Law
Enforcement Unit
(CLEV), sent shock-
waves through the
organization itself and
the police community
in general.

Tsang, 41, was hired in
1993 along with two others
who emanated from Hong
Kong’s policing community,
amid much fanfare from offi-
cials within the attorney gen-
eral’s ministry, particularly,
CLEL director Peter
Engstad.

Officers within CLEU
were more restrained.

Engstad is a life-long
bureaucrat. He is formerly
the “policy analysis supervi-
sor” at CLEU. That’s an
administrative position, noth-
ing more. It determines how
money should be spent and
other such bureaucratic
niceties.

Somehow in 1987,
Engstad, who I’m sure is a
marvellous paper-pusher, got
himself appointed as the
director of CLEU. A civilian
running intricate, complex,
police investigations.

For those of you who
don’t know, CLEU is a Joint
Forces Operation, (JFO)
funded in part by the provin-
cial government and in part

_ by the RCMP and all munici-
pal police forces in the
province.

It was formed in 1974 to
fight organized criminal ele-
ments. They needed to tran-
scend the traditional bound-
aries of jurisdiction.

They began conducting
long-term, complex and intri-
cate investigations into things
like major drug importing
conspiracies. They racked up
a number of successes such as
“Sparky” Simpsun and
William “Fats” Robertson.

In those days a police
inspector named Andy
Andrasic ran the organization
with an iron fist, a soft heart
and a keen mind. But he was
a cop’s cop.

Very much unlike
Engstad, the paper-pusher.

In 1987, Gllowing
Engstad’s promotion, the last
good inspector assigned ta’
CLEU, Ron Foyle, was
forced out of his position.
Since then, CLEU has been
decidedly incflective. Except
for the Asian organized crime
section, which has been a
bright light.

Engstad, in the meantime,
set about solidifying his posi-

_ tion.

The officers assigned to
CLEU said he wanted to play
policeman. In fact, in

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November 1989, he wrote a
letter to the assistant deputy
attorney general requesting
an appointment as 4 special
constable,

He said in the letter that
he was privy to sensitive
information from wiretap
investigations and as a civilian

.. prior to
Engstad’s takeover,
CLEU was a place

for the best and
the brightest.”

that could put him in contra-
vention of the Criminal
Code.

Skeptical officers assigned
to CLEU at the time said
there were no legal difficul-
ties and suggested among
themselves that Engstad just
wanted a badge to play “littic
boy policeman.”

In December of the same
year, senior bureaucrats
granted Engstad’s request
and gave him a badge as a
provincial special constable.

Then started a period
where police departments and
RCMP detachments began
using CLEU as a dumping
ground for officers who were
not fitting in other positions.

In the 1994 commission
on policing, Mr. Justice Wally
Oppail identified this as a spe-
cifie problem with the organi-
zation.

This is not xo say all the

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officers assigned to CLEU fit
in this category. Far fram it.
But, when CLEC started and
prior co Engstad’s takeover,
CLEU was a place tor the
best and the brightest.

No longer.

Engstad is now trying to
lobby for a dress uniform for
himself to wear when he
attends formal, official police
functions, such as the annual
Vancouver Police Ball.

The official word trom the
AG is no decision has vet
been made on a uniform for
special constables front
CLEU, of which there are 18
including Engstad.

But, make no mistake
abour it, Engstad is the one
who wants a uniform, He
must really feel left out ina
tux among all the real police:
men.

This brings me back to
Tsang.

Tsang and his two col-
leagues were brought into
the organization in 1993.
Privately they were called the
“Asian Dream Team.” This
was largely because of the
treatment they got trom
Engstad.

Ac the time, they were
introduced as having been
recruited specially from Hong
Kony, as a unique and new
tool in the ight against orga-
nized crime in the form of
Asian gangs. Special guys
with special expertise were
now available to our investi-
gators. Engstad was in his
glory.

Since the arrest of Tsang,
media investigations have
shown he arrived here in
1982, not 1993 as was allud-
ed to by Engstad. He appar-
ently drove a cab for over a
decade before being recruited
into CLEU.

In a confidential chat i
had with officers involved in
the pre-hiring background
check of Tsang, I was told

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they began finding “disturb-
ing” information.

They were ordered to
back off and complete their
investigation report
Essentially, thew were shut
down. Why? Whether or nor
Engstad personally shut-
down the check, it happened
on his watch. And there’s no
doubt he wanted an Asian
Dream Tea n, just as he
wanted a badge.

Now we learn that Tsang
has been arrested atter a nine-
month-loag investization. He
is charged with criminal
breach of trust, counselling
to commit an offence (per-
jury) and obstruction of jus-
lice.

Would any of this have
happened if the background
investiganion was allowed to
proceed? Would ‘Tsang have
been hired?

Wednesday. June 17, 1998 — North Shore News — 7

How could he be passed
off realistically as an expert
on anvthing to do with the
job he was hired to do given
his time as a cabbie?

But this issue was hidden
from the public and from his
co-workers.

Privately, officers in
CLEU describe Engstad as
“y. Edgar Hoover.” They
have little or no respect for
him.

Given the Tsang flaseo,
and the way he has handled
his position, especialiy in
apparently misk.ading the
public before and after the
Tsang story broke, Engstad
should be relieved of his job,
forthwith.

Someone has to be
answerable and, at the very
feast, he was in charge. He
must be accountable.

Ansthing less is an abdica-

d step down

tion of responsibility by the
atierney general who has
announced a blue ribbon
team io review how we, as a
society, handle the fight
against organized crime.

The AG, Ujjal Dosanjh,
said this comnuttee has noth-
ing to do with the Tsang
case, VPD spokesman, Anne
Drennan confirmed this wo
me.

OK, PH buy that. But the
fact remains that the authori-
ties have been singulariy inef-
fective recently in fighting
organized crime in BC.

CLEU has been given a
black eve over this, one the
officers who do the work
don't leserve. Neither, |
might add, do the other avo
officers who were hired «ith
Tsang.

Engstad. He’s another
matter altogether.

New heights of tastelessness

Dear Editor:

Hey, what a great idea.
(SPut a monument atop
Fromme”, North Shore
News, Sunday, May 31).

It’s sisnply on a par with
monetarism, globalization,
frez market cconomies, de-
regulated banks; it’s even
better than a six-lane tunnel
trom Marpolk/Shaughnessy
to Westview/Taylor Way,
wherever, What will it be?

A big Jesus? A totem
pole?

Well no, we are after all
multiculturalists.

And, as we are noted for
non-ostentation (not to start
a new movement or any-
thin’) perhaps a topped tree
or, simply a pole.

And perhaps we might
construct a pole atop all our

mountains, even our hills.
And thereupon impale alt

those with a taste for the

tasteless.

Wayne “The Impaler”

Mulherin

North Vancouver

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