Pig at the Trough: Victoria's Top Cop Busted!

By zoeb

Monday November 5, 2007

So, Vancouver, you think you got the worst cops in the province? Just because people keep falling down dead at their hands? Guess again, you big city braggers. Police brutality is so routine, it barely makes the news anymore. Move aside, Jamie Graham! Here comes the baddest chief in the west: Paul Battershill, Victoria’s top cop.

Battershill is about to do what no other police chief has done in recent memory: get himself suspended from his job. What does it take for a chief to get suspended? Battershill’s not telling. Neither is anyone else. All we know is the Police Board put Battershill on administrative leave on Oct. 11, and Victoria mayor Alan Lowe is calling it a “personnel issue.”

Blame it on those damned Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. Some anonymous asshole goes nosing around in police records, and BAM! The chief gets an indefinite vacation.

Lawyer David Mulroney won’t identify the client who hired him to file those FOIs full of pointed questions about goings-on in the cop shop. Like: How many people has the chief fired without cause? How much are senior staff getting paid? And how much does old Battershill spend on lunch?

The answer to the last question is $91,000 since 2004. To be fair, that does include dinners and the occasional box of Kleenex. In 2006, Battershill’s bill to taxpayers was over $29,000. Check it out:

- Dinner for six at the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort: $325.08

- Dinner for three at the Boathouse Restaurant in Richmond: $240

- Complete Cuisine gift certificate (recipient’s name is blacked out): $100

- Only Magazine’s first annual Pig at the Trough Award: PRICELESS

Now, it’s possible Battershill just couldn’t afford to treat all his friends to his favourite restaurants on his $147,000 salary, but it’s worth noting that most of us have an annual income that’s less than half what Battershill spends on restaurants… in one year. Meanwhile, a thousand people in Victoria are homeless and begging for spare change just to score beer and meth.

Things were looking bad for the battered Battershill, but they just got a lot worse. In the last week of October, we learned that Battershill is the target of a high-profile investigation by the police complaints commissioner. Yes, the RCMP are getting ready probe Battershill’s ass. But they still won’t tell us why.

A few suckups have come to Battershill’s defense, whining that he’s just doing his job and it’s the most dangerous job in the world. Well, excuse us for mentioning it, but that’s a lie. Garbage men are more likely to get hurt on the job than cops. Don’t they deserve a gold card and an unlimited expense account, too? Hell, don’t we all?