Police Chief Apologizes to Windsor's Islamic Community

November 13, 2009

Author: Staff Writer

Source: CBC News

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2009/11/12/windsor-police-apology-091112.html

Windsor, Ont.'s chief of police has publicly apologized to the city's Islamic community after officers who arrested two Muslim men suspected of involvement in a radical Islamist group offended and embarrassed the men's families in the process.

"We're looking at what we can do differently, what we would do differently here, and that's going to take us a little while longer," Chief Gary Smith told a news conference Thursday.

His comments relate to an incident on Oct. 30 during which Windsor police assisted the RCMP in arresting Yassir Ali Khan, 30, and Mohammad Al-Sahli, 33. The two were wanted by the FBI on charges of conspiracy to commit federal crimes.

During that arrest, the wife of one of the suspects was patted down by a male officer.

"One of the things we'll be looking at is: how do we bring female officers that aren't tactically trained inside a centre of a perimeter, and should we have done it this time, could we have done it better?" Smith said.

Reading from a statement, Smith said it "was never the intention for Windsor police to offend or embarrass the families or our Islamic community."