Law students defend classroom comments from Edmonton homicide detective

A group of law students is defending comments made in a classroom lecture by a veteran Edmonton homicide detective after another student filed a formal complaint calling for his suspension.

Second-year University of Alberta law student Caitlin Dick filed the complaint to the Edmonton Police Service last week. It calls for Staff Sgt. Bill Clark to be suspended over comments he made as a guest speaker during a law and policing class earlier this month.

During the class, Dick says Clark referred to defence lawyers as "bad guys" and criminals as "maggots," and expressed support for the death penalty, saying he was an "eye-for-an-eye kind of guy."

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The complaint was sent to the chief of EPS on behalf of Dick by defence lawyer Tom Engel. It says Clark's comments in class were "outrageous and disrespectful," damaging to EPS' reputation, and made Dick question his ability to do his job impartially.

Acting chief Kevin Brezinski received the letter of complaint and asked the Professional Standards Branch to investigate, EPS spokesperson Cheryl Sheppard said in an emailed statement this week.

But a letter to the EPS released Saturday says Clark's comments were taken out of context and that the lecture as a whole was "informative and helpful." The letter was signed by seven law students in the class and seven additional unnamed law students, 

"I felt that the characterization of the comments was unfair," said Taylor Chartier, a law student who also sat through the guest lecture.

"He's rough around the edges. It wasn't necessarily a super polished lecture, and there were some phrases that on their own, absolutely I can see why Ms. Dick found them problematic."

The letter confirms comments Dick says Clark made to the class, including references to an "ongoing battle with Tom Engel." But the letter says his comments on defence lawyers being "bad guys" were made in jest. 

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Chartier says she feels the characterization of Clark's comments in the complaint were unfair, and that he prefaced some of his statements during the lecture by acknowledging his biases. 

The letter from the students says the lecture as a whole provided detailed information about police investigations and "allowed students to empathize with the challenges of police work."

Chartier says 26 students are in the class and efforts were made to circulate the letter to everyone for signatures. The letter was not shown to Dick.

Chartier said she felt it would be inappropriate to contact her fellow student considering Dick had retained legal counsel. She said she does not blame Dick for her concerns, but feels they did not warrant the complaint against Clark. 

The group of 14 law students also sent a letter of support for their professor to Dean Yahya, vice dean of the faculty of law.

The letter says the intent of professor Malcolm Allan's class is for students to understand, empathize with and also question the decisions made by police. The letter says the group appreciated the "unfiltered perspective of someone who has worked in policing for over thirty years."

"It was essential and important and it's really good for us to see things like that in those classes," Chartier said.

"I think law students would be done a disservice if they weren't able to see something like that again."

Both letters from the University of Alberta law students can be viewed below.