Attention hackers and bored teenagers: the Halifax Regional Police computer systems are woefully insecure and the department has done little to fix the problem over the past 18 months. Auditor general Evangeline Colman-Sadd outlined her office’s concerns about HRP’s cybersecurity in a letter sent July 6 to the Board of Police Commissioners. In the now-public […]
Halifax Regional Police (HRP)
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Racism, sexism and bullying will now be publicly reported to Halifax council
It’s not a public inquiry, says deputy mayor Waye Mason. It’s better than that. “A public inquiry would be a moment in time. This is an ongoing commitment.” In response to continuing outcry about the discrimination faced by HRM employees, Halifax Regional Council approved a motion Tuesday requiring CAO Jacques Dubé to provide quarterly public […]
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Halifax police prep for cyber attacks
The Halifax Regional Police department is on the hunt for a new chief information security officer to develop and then manage its IT security, strategy and operations. Until the newly-created CISO position is filled, HRP’s systems are presumably more vulnerable to outside cyber attacks. Just how vulnerable, though, the department isn’t saying. “The field of […]
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Toronto criminology professor hired to study Halifax police street checks
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission has hired one of the country’s leading experts on racial bias in policing for an independent review of police street checks. University of Toronto criminology professor Scot Wortley appeared before Halifax Regional Police brass and the city’s Board of Police Commissioners on Monday to answer questions about his upcoming […]
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Halifax police hoping to improve use of street checks
A report before Monday’s meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners is recommending several new efforts to improve the police department’s continued use of street checks. New deputy chief Robin McNeil is planning to oversee a privacy impact assessment and policy review on the controversial practice of collecting data on residents who haven’t committed any […]
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Friday’s 9 things you have to read
1 More on the closure of the Quinpool Road Second Cup from the Herald’s Remo Zaccagna; it appears property owner Christina Kioussis is owed over $40,000 in unpaid rent from the last year-and-a-half. Zaccagna also digs up an unfair labour board grievance filed late last year that claims franchise owner Kathy Attis never paid the […]
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Monday’s 9 things you need to know
1 Don’t rain on our parade, weather. The weekend’s damp conditions cancelled Halifax Pride’s show-stopping Dykes vs. Divas softball game. It also caused the cancellation of the first ever heritage Gathering on Gottingen Street—a sponsor-free event designed to connect Pride a bit more with the community and its roots. Both events have been cancelled outright […]
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The always-on stalker
In the middle of the night on a quiet, residential street in Halifax, a 28-year-old man climbed the steps of a white house with a red door. In the apartment upstairs lived a 30-something woman he found on Craigslist a couple hours earlier. The ad said, “I need it.” He replied by email. He was […]
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Holly Bartlett’s unlikely journey
Update, February 24, 2014: Halifax Regional Police and Halifax District RCMP have announced an independent review of the police investigation into Holly Bartlett’s death. For more information, click here. Work finished early that Friday afternoon, but Holly Bartlett’s day was just getting started. She had to shop for a birthday present for her six-year-old nephew—Holly […]
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Halifax police are coming to Twitter
The cops are coming to Twitter. Last year, the Halifax Regional Police Department hired Lauren Leal, a graduate of Nova Scotia Community College’s PR program, to concentrate on social media, and Leal is now helping police administrators and staff sergeants learn the ropes of Twitter and Facebook. Deputy chief Chris McNeil told me at Monday’s […]
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Halifax Regional Police Department refuses to turn over documents to province
UPDATE: A spokesperson from the HRPD says that, contrary to our source, Chris McNeil is now on duty. This article appeared under a different headline when originally published. The first paragraph below has been contradicted by official spokesperson, but none of the rest of the article A source tells The Coast that deputy police chief […]
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Breaking news: Halifax RCMP commander Darrell Beaton to be replaced
Darrell Beaton, commander of the Halifax RCMP detachment, will soon be replaced. Beaton holds the rank of superintendent, but RCMP brass has decided to upgrade the commanding rank to chief superintendent. “It’s an opportunity for us now to increase the rank, but also about showing a commitment on behalf of the RCMP to the Halifax […]