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New Indian Express
27-05-2025
- Climate
- New Indian Express
Odisha: Soil cave-in at tunnel 4 of Khurdha-Balangir rail line
BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR : A soil cave-in at tunnel no 4 of the ongoing Khurda-Balangir rail project in Boudh district was reported on Monday after the area witnessed continuous rainfall for the last few days. No one was injured in the mishap. The incident happened in Adenigarh area of Harabhanga block in Boudh. The tunnel measures over 4 km in length and is one of the longest in the state. Sources said a minor part of soil overburden caved in at the site, causing a pit. The area around the tunnel has since been cordoned off to prevent further mishaps. The ECoR authorities termed it a minor soil cave-in and clarified it occurred due to loose soil following rain and there has been no impact on manpower or machinery due to the incident. They stated that this will in no way affect the overall progress of the project. 'All necessary safety measures are in place, and the project work continues as planned,' an official spokesperson of ECoR said. Meanwhile, president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Bhakta Charan Das blamed on lack was monitoring and said standard operating procedure (SOP) was not followed. Das said the responsibility should be taken by the railway minister in the case. He said that the Congress will send a fact finding team to the place tomorrow.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim sues former chief of staff for defamation
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has filed a lawsuit against two people, including his former chief of staff, over alleged defamatory comments that claimed he had been pulled over by police for driving under the influence and used his position to cover it up. According to a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court Friday, political strategist Kareem Allam, who had worked as Sim's campaign manager and chief of staff, told Alexander Tsakumis, a local businessman who is active on social media, that the mayor was pulled over by Vancouver police after driving while intoxicated, and officers let him go without being booked or cited for his actions. The claim says Allam told the story to Tsakumis in November 2023, less than a year after Allam was terminated as Sim's chief of staff, "with the intent that Mr. Tsakumis could publish the statements to others, including on the internet." It alleges Allam told a member of Sim's ABC Vancouver party that someone in the mayor's office told him that Sim had been pulled over by police for driving under the influence, and the mayor's office staffer and a VPD officer had "taken care of it." The suit claims Tsakumis posted a message on X on Nov. 23, 2023, accusing the mayor of driving drunk and using his influence to avoid consequences. It alleges Allam and Tsakumis made the comments "with malice, knowing them to be false, or in reckless disregard to the truth of the statements," and they "intended and expected" that others would republish the defamatory language. The suit says the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) investigated following Tsakumis's social media post, and the VPD's chief constable issued a report that concluded the OPCC investigation found "no objective evidence of an interaction between members of the VPD and [Sim]" as described in the post. It said the chief constable "further concluded the matter to be baseless and that Mr. Tsakumis irresponsibly used the platform to spread a rumour communicated to him by Mr. Allam." Speaking to CBC News Friday, Allam said he plans to "vigorously defend" himself. "It is a matter of public record that I was not the source of these rumours," Allam said. A spokesperson for Sim says the mayor will not comment on the lawsuit but confirmed its existence.
CBC
13-05-2025
- CBC
Head of B.C. police watchdog wants agency to investigate sexual assault allegations
WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse and intimate partner violence. The director of B.C.'s police watchdog says her agency's mandate should be expanded to include investigating sexual assault allegations. B.C. is the only province with a civilian-led police oversight agency that doesn't investigate sexual assault allegations levelled against officers. "I believe [it] would lead to the public having a greater faith that these incidents are being fully and transparently investigated," Jessica Berglund, civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), told CBC News. The IIO investigates any incident involving police that results in serious harm or death. If the agency has reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence, it will then refer the matter to the B.C. Prosecution Service for consideration of charges. If a municipal police officer is accused of sexual misconduct in B.C., they're disciplined not by an independent body, but by senior police officers from their own departments or from external police departments. Those decisions are then reviewed by an outside agency, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC), which can appoint a retired judge to reexamine the evidence if it disagrees with a police department's findings. Police watchdog agencies in every other province are mandated to investigate sexual assault, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, which doesn't have its own oversight agency yet and is working with the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick governments to finalize an agreement for one. 1 in 4 disciplined officers fired In March, the OPCC published a database of substantiated misconduct and disciplinary measures against officers employed by B.C.'s 12 municipal police departments. The database doesn't track RCMP officers. B.C. has about 2,600 municipal police officers, according to the latest provincial figures from 2023, which don't include the recently created Surrey Police Service. A review of all of the cases by CBC News found that in those involving sexual misconduct or gender-based violence, the officer involved was fired in one out of four cases. The offences range from sexual harassment to sexual and physical assault. Most of the victims were female police officers or officers' current and former partners. From 2009 to 2025, there were 40 instances of sexual misconduct or gender-based violence. In ten cases, officers were fired. In the other cases, officers received penalties including unpaid suspensions or training. Fellow police officers decided the penalties in over 80 per cent of the cases reviewed by CBC. Six of the officers resigned from the force before the misconduct process was complete. In each of those cases, the OPCC said their records show the officers were fired. The offences include a Vancouver police officer who was demoted from first-class constable to second-class constable after he "engaged in sexual activity" with a 17-year-old girl without asking for her age. Another Vancouver police officer was suspended for 12 days after he touched a female officer on her "buttock/crotch area without her consent" at a party, then later yelled at her "I haven't washed this hand since the party." An Abbotsford police officer who was issued a peace bond for assaulting his partner was suspended for one day and had to undergo counselling/treatment. 'Culture of impunity' Danielle McNabb, a Brock University assistant professor who researches Canadian public law and police sexual misconduct, argues the current system of police investigating police "erodes public trust." "It undermines the police's legitimacy when the public is sort of viewing what may appear to be sort of lenient or non-existent consequences," she said. Angela Marie MacDougall, the executive director of the Battered Women's Support Services Society, said she was surprised by some of the penalties that officers received. "It doesn't bode well for confidence in an agency that has a responsibility for being a measure of safety and protection for victims of sexualized violence," she said in an interview. "It's creating a culture of impunity around sexualized violence.... As an employer, I couldn't imagine not taking stronger action, knowing what it means for the culture of an organization." The Vancouver and Abbotsford police departments declined to comment on OPCC matters. The Vancouver department added that it has policies and expectations related to personal relationships and respectful conduct in the workplace. The OPCC told CBC the B.C. Police Act lays out the factors that decision makers should consider when choosing a penalty for officers, which include the seriousness of the conduct, the likelihood of future misconduct and the impact of the penalty on the officer and their family. It said the Police Act says approaches that seek to educate the officer should take precedence, unless it is unworkable or would bring the administration of police discipline into disrepute. Kate Puddister, an associate professor specializing in criminal justice policy at the University of Guelph, says research shows that having an external and independent investigation may facilitate more reports of sexual violence. "The fact that the process in British Columbia is internal, probably, has dissuaded several victims and complainants from coming forward," she said. "So it's possible that the rate of charges being laid or the rate of officers being dismissed wouldn't change, but perhaps the number of cases and people coming forward would be different." More resources would be needed Berglund says the IIO would need more staffing and training resources if its mandate were expanded. "Doing intimate partner, domestic violence investigations requires a very specialized skill set — including being very, very competent in trauma-informed interviewing," she said. A 2022 report into reforming B.C.'s Police Act, which governs the IIO, included a call for a civilian police oversight agency to oversee sexual offence complaints against police. C ritics have said that progress on implementing the act's recommendations have stalled in the three years since. Berglund says she is not currently involved with specific discussions on expanding the IIO's mandate to cover sexual assault. In a statement to CBC, the Ministry of Attorney General said it's deeply committed to ensuring justice for survivors of sexual assault. "Civilian police oversight is an integral component to upholding public confidence in policing and more broadly, the justice system. Calls to expand the IIO mandate in this way is one of a number of issues being considered in response to the recommendations [of the 2022 report]." It said expanding the mandate would require regulatory changes and extensive consultations with police.
New Indian Express
11-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Congress takes out Tricolour rally in Odisha
CUTTACK: The Congress on Saturday took out a Tricolour rally to honour and boost the morale of the Indian military forces which has been actively tackling the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan. Holding a 1,500-feet-long Indian Flag, Congress members took out the rally from Buxi Bazaar, passing through Pension Lane, Tinikonia Bagicha and Dargha Bazaar and ended at Gourishankar Park. It was led by Barabati-Cuttack MLA Sofia Firdous. OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das said, 'Now at this critical moment of the country, the Congress party is with the countrymen. Everyone should stand together regardless of party affiliation, considering the current situation of our country.' Among others, AICC general secretary Ajay Kumar Lallu, former OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak, former MP Ramachandra Khuntia and former MLA Mohammed Moquim took part in the rally.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
Arrests after retail crime crackdown
Eight people have been arrested during a week-long campaign to target shoplifting in Surrey. Officers and PCSOs visited retail staff in Guildford and Waverley, while plain-clothed behavioural detection officers, trained to spot suspicious behaviour, blended in with shoppers. Surrey's Police and Crime Commissioner said retail crime caused victims "financial, emotional, and sometimes physical harm" and also impacted the wider community. Lisa Townsend, who joined patrols in Farncombe, warned shoplifters: "The person browsing the aisle beside them could be a Surrey Police officer." The commissioner has vowed a return to "back-to-basics policing" in her Police and Crime Plan, a blueprint for the force's priorities over the next three years. She said that Surrey Police's progress had been "really impressive" over the course of the year but that she had heard "loud and clear" that more must be done to tackle retail crime. About 200 members of the business community took part in a survey launched by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and Surrey Police in March. The OPCC said a report on retail crime and the force's response will be published in the coming months. Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Shoplifter who stole £60k in goods jailed Anti-social cart riding stopped by dispersal order Surrey PCC launches 'back to basics' crime plan Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey Surrey Police
