Eleven 2010 Games police officers removed for alleged misconduct One officer charged with shoplifting -

Reading - Eleven 2010 Games police officers removed for alleged misconduct

One officer charged with shoplifting -

Eleven officers with the 10,000-member Integrated Security Unit police force providing security for the 2010 Olympics have been ordered to return home because of allegations of misconduct, including one senior officer charged with shoplifting and two police officers under investigation by the Vancouver police.

Staff Sergeant Suzanne Denise Marie Martel from Ottawa was charged with a single charge of theft under $5,000 over an alleged shoplifting incident in a retail store in Burnaby while off-duty.

Martel, a 19-year veteran was part of the 2010 ISU detachment composed of municipal and RCMP and Canadian military officers brought into Vancouver from various parts of the country. Seven police officers and four Canadian Forces officers have been sent home. Martel is the only one to be criminally charged.

ISU spokesman Staff Sergeant Michel Coté said two other officers are under investigation by the Vancouver police department.

Coté said the other officers were sent back to their home detachments because of alleged misconduct. Those misconducts can range from not showing up for shifts on time to drunk and disorderly behaviour, according to Coté, but he could not confirm exactly why the officers were sent home.

Coté said he could not confirm whether the two incidents under investigation by the Vancouver police occurred on the cruise ship organizers have brought in to house the large security force. He denied that alcohol, which is allowed in the temporary officers' quarters, played a factor in the alleged incident under investigation by the VPD.

“There's lots of rumours and innuendos that's been going on in terms of life on the ship. I'd like to make it clear right now there have been allegations of sex trade workers brought on the ship. I can emphatically state today that is absolutely not true,” said Coté. “None of those incidents took place. It's disturbing to paint our security workforce with such a large brush.”

Coté said Canadian military and police officers are working 24/7 in difficult circumstances and living in very cramped quarters.

Security for the Games composes one of the largest budgets in putting on the Olympics. The federal government has committed just under $1 billion to provide security for the Games but has not guaranteed that number will not go up before the end of the two-week event.

Vancouver police spokeswoman Constable Jana McGuiness confirmed the investigation against the two officers.

“As the investigations are ongoing, there are no further details to release at this time,” she said in a statement.

The ISU has released information about two security breaches that happened on the first few days of the Games.

On Feb. 15, a suspicious item inside a bag that went through the x-ray machine was picked up by the owner who disappeared into the crowd. Coté said the item was suspicious but was not considered dangerous. By the time the screener alerted the supervisor who contacted the supervising ISU officer, the bag had left the screening area before a secondary hand search could be conducted.

Despite a sweep of the venue and bringing in extra personnel to search, neither the person nor the bag were located at the B.C. Place Stadium.

“Unfortunately the bag was gone. We regret that. It's totally unacceptable,” Coté said.

As a result of that incident, Coté said protocols and procedures have been changed so the police officer supervising the screening will take a more hands-on role if something suspicious is spotted by the screening machines.

Earlier this week, the RCMP confirmed a man carrying fake credentials was able to wander into the VIP area near where U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden was sitting during the Opening Ceremonies.

Read more -http://olympics.thestar.com/2010/article/768403--11-games-police-officers-removed-for-alleged-misconduct