Court Documents reveal Ottawa Police wiretapped Detective Grus and her family
Detective Helen Grus is charged under the Police Services Act with ‘Discreditable Conduct’ for allegedly conducting “unauthorized” investigations into nine Sudden Infant Deaths where she sought to know the vaccine status of the mothers in January 2022.
Her internal trial is scheduled for August 14, 2023.
“The wiretap was calculated to intimidate Detective Grus and her family – but all these ‘Urgent Emergency’ wiretaps during the Freedom Convoy backfired.
The wiretaps served only to galvanize Canadians and strengthen the legitimacy of protest against governments that overstepped their authority and power.”
Rob Stocki – former Ottawa Police Sergeant
For seven months the Ottawa Police Service (‘OPS’) refused to provide the motions and decisions in the Grus Case to journalists or the public.
Now we know why the Ottawa Police refused to let the public and press see the court documents. The documents are explosive – and not just because of the wiretapping revelation.
Only after famed NYPD Detective Frank Serpico publicly slammed the Ottawa Police and accused them of a cover-up did OPS provide five of the documents they had refused to release in January through April, 2023.
Some documents are still missing but I’ll work with what we have while the OPS decides if they will release further documents.
Prosecution Response Reveals Section 188 ‘URGENT’ Wiretap against Detective Grus
Ottawa Police Conducted ‘Urgent Emergency’ Wiretap Targeting Detective Grus and her Family
On December 29, 2022, the lawyer for Detective Grus filed a ‘Motion Regarding Disclosure’ demanding further access to police records and evidence in the case.
Section 42 (13) of this Defense Motion reveals that the Ottawa Police wiretapped Detective Grus…
“42. Further, on review of the disclosure provided so far, the Applicant requests the following disclosure be made and any and all disclosure in relation to the Discreditable Misconduct Charge:
13) Authorizations to Intercept Private Communications, namely decision to wiretap the Applicant:”
So, the defense lawyers received some type of disclosure that the Ottawa Police had wiretapped Detective Grus. Due to the OPS response below, I speculate that Grus might not have learned about the wiretap as part of the prosecution’s disclosure process. Instead, she (or her lawyers) might have been served with a standard notice of the wiretap after it ended.
In the ‘Respondent’s Factum’ dated January 12, 2023, the Ottawa Police state in paragraph 47…
“Authorizations to Intercept Private Communications, namely decision to wiretap the Applicant”. (Item 13 at paragraph 42 of the Applicant’s factum).
“47. There was no Wiretap authorization sought or granted in relation to this PSA matter. Further, any application to access materials filed and sealed in support of a Criminal Code s.188 (wiretap) authorization must be brought pursuant to section 187(1.3) of the Criminal Code, i.e., an application to unseal the packet must be brought before a provincial court judge, a judge of a superior court of criminal jurisdiction, or a judge as defined in section 552 of the Criminal Code.”
This response is an admission that the Ottawa Police did wiretap Detective Grus under the Emergency Authorizations for Interception of Private Communications under Section 188.
The passage also purports that the police did not wiretap Grus as part of her current Police Services Act charge before the Trials Officer.
Should we believe the Ottawa Police that Wiretapping Detective Grus had nothing to do with her Investigation of Sudden Infant Deaths?
Ottawa Police Professional Standards Unit began investigating Detective Helen Grus and suspended her with pay on February 4, 2022 after at least one of her fellow officers complained that Grus was re-investigating and “auditing” nine Sudden Infant Deaths.
According to the CBC, Detective Grus was also one of only ten Ottawa Police employees to refuse the mandatory mRNA genetic treatment injections that some call Covid ‘vaccines’. In September of 2021, she sent an open letter to the Chief of Police and fellow officers asking questions about the safety and effectiveness of the Covid ‘vaccines’.
One of Detective Grus’s questions to the Chief was: “Will Ottawa Police take full legal and financial liability for any injuries, adverse effects and/or death occurring to members following the receipt of any EUA vaccine potentially mandated?”
Detective Grus’s February 4, 2022 suspension was only a few days after hundreds of Freedom Convoy trucks and thousands of protestors arrived in Ottawa.
Notice to Rob Stocki of Urgent Emergency Wiretap – Courtesy of Rebel News
Police Used Freedom Convoy as an Excuse to Wiretap Grus and her Family
The Ottawa Police used a Section 188(2) ‘Urgent Emergency’ Wiretap against Detective Grus – a special shortcut authorization typically reserved for only the most urgent of cases like abduction, hostage taking, terrorism, murder, or organized crime violence in situations where there is no time to organize formal affidavits and evidence.
Section 188 allows a judge to authorize a wiretap at much lower thresholds of proof and judicial oversight. The ‘evidence’ placed before the judge does not have to be sworn – a huge red flag ripe for abuse.
The judge can issue an authorization good for only a limited period up to 36 hours. This is typically done to allow time for police to ready and present the full sworn evidence and ‘Information To Obtain’ (‘ITO’) a normal wiretap authorization under Section 186.
We know that the Ottawa Police did NOT follow up after the 36 hours with a ‘real’ Section 186 wiretap against Detective Grus because that would be mentioned in the defense motion and prosecution response. That says everything.
In other words… there were no real grounds, no evidence, no urgency, to obtain the ‘Urgent Emergency’ Section 188(2) wiretap against Detective Grus and her family. Ottawa Police did it because they could get away with it during the Convoy – just to ‘see’ if they might catch Grus doing something, and to intimidate and punish her.
What the Ottawa Police did wiretapping Detective Grus and her family was probably illegal – and at the very least a gross violation of Charter Rights and privacy. It also shows the malicious intent of the Ottawa Police command officers to continue the shut-down of Detective Grus’s investigations into the nine Sudden Infant Deaths.
Someone in charge of obtaining the ‘Urgent Authorizations to Intercept Private Communications’ simply threw Detective Grus’s name on the list as a 36-hour fishing expedition – with no intention of applying for a ‘real’ warrant later.
Make no mistake… Wiretaps strip families naked to a degree that most Canadians never contemplate or realize.
The decision to wiretap Detective Helen Grus and her family was without any legitimate basis. The Ottawa Police knew exactly how invasive a wiretap would be against Grus and her family – and that Detective Grus would know that too when she was served Notice of the wiretap.
The wiretap was intended as punishment and intimidation for Detective Grus and her family members.
Ottawa Police Legal Counsel Probably Advised on the Grus Wiretap
Christiane Huneault
Throughout the Freedom Convoy, Ottawa Police senior legal counsel Christiane Huneault worked with the Chief of Police and even substituted for Chief Sloly at meetings with the RCMP and OPP. (CBC article here)
It seems reasonable that the Senior Legal Counsel to the Ottawa Police would have provided legal advice and perhaps even supervised the wiretapping of Detective Grus and other serving and retired OPS employees during the Freedom Convoy.
Ottawa Police Repeated the Abuses of 1970’s ‘FLQ Crisis’ War Measures Act
During the 1970 ‘FLQ Crisis’, police across Canada took advantage of the War Measures Act to violate rights, illegally enter homes, and to perform illegal searches – all of which had nothing to do with the FLQ kidnappings, murder, and bombings in Quebec.
Some 52 years later the police behaved in the same manner during the Freedom Convoy. Detective Grus and her family are probably one of the best illustrations of this abuse in 2022.
Across Canada during the Freedom Convoy there were many ‘Urgent’ wiretaps issued against serving and retired police employees. To my knowledge, no charges were laid because of evidence collected during these ‘Urgent’ wiretaps.
Ottawa defense lawyer Paul Lewandowski explains on his excellent website that “URGENT” really does mean “URGENT”…
Section 188(2) of the Criminal Code of Canada provides a legal avenue for law enforcement agencies to intercept private communications without obtaining prior authorization under section 186, but only if the urgency of the situation demands it.
[…]One strategic consideration is whether the urgency of the situation justifies the interception of private communications without prior authorization. In determining the urgency, law enforcement agencies must assess the risk to public safety and security, the potential harm that could result, and whether the information that could be gained by intercepting private communications is crucial to the investigation.
Former Ottawa Police Sergeant Rob Stocki
Former Ottawa Police Sergeant Rob Stocki Was Also Wiretapped
Rob Stocki is a former Ottawa Police Sergeant turned New Blue Party candidate in the 2022 Ontario Provincial election. He too received notice that police had wiretapped him during the Freedom Convoy under an ‘Urgent’ Section 188(2) from February 18 to 19, 2022.
Just as with Detective Grus, the Section 188 ‘Urgent’ wiretap was not followed up with a ‘real’ wiretap authorization.
That says everything to Stocki, who told me,
“The ‘Urgent’ wiretaps are a dangerous precedent because in this case they were used as a political tool to serve the interests of politicians. To accept this use is to normalize tyranny.”
“I accept the fact that there are real and dangerous criminals out there who deserve to be wiretapped. But in this particular case, the wiretap had nothing to do with justice. It had nothing to do with a danger to society. The fact that the ‘Urgent’ wiretap wasn’t followed up with a ‘real’ wiretap says it all. It was a political tool on a fishing expedition.”
Rob Stocki also advised about Detective Helen Grus,
“I was working in one of the convoy command centers along with Daniel Bulford, Tom Quiggen, and others. Of course, I met and knew of many others associated with the convoy.
I can definitively and absolutely say that Detective Helen Grus had nothing to do with the organization or planning of the convoy.
The fact that the Ottawa Police wiretapped Detective Grus is an example of politicians using the resources and power of the state to crush those who disagree with political policies.
The wiretap was calculated to intimidate Detective Grus and her family – but all these ‘Urgent Emergency’ wiretaps during the Freedom Convoy backfired.
The wiretaps served only to galvanize Canadians and strengthen the legitimacy of protest against governments that overstepped their authority and power. When the news broke that the police wiretapped me, so many people told me “When I saw what they did to you, I knew they were evil.”
Dave Menzies from Rebel News produced an excellent presentation on the wiretap against Rob Stocki… Did you take part in the Freedom Convoy? Maybe you were WIRETAPPED like this retired cop
Uher 4000 Report Monitor – Standard wiretap recorder used by Ontario Provincial Police in 1977
My Background in Wiretapping
Starting in 1977 I spent almost a year at the old Ontario Provincial Police HQ working wiretaps against motorcycle gangs and the Italian Mafia.
What an education for a naïve 23-year-old rookie cop!
We had wiretaps on home and business phones. We planted microphones in cold cellars, garden sheds, trucks, boats, and in the parts-room at a major auto dealership. At one home we planted a microphone in a gazebo where the target loved to bring his friends to smoke smuggled Cuban cigars and discuss heroin shipments from Hong Kong.
Against two wiretap targets – a husband and wife – with special judicial authorization we planted microphones over and beside their marital bed. And in the master bedroom ensuite washroom.
In the 1970s, everything was recorded on Uher ‘Report 4000’ reel-to-reel tape recorders – the standard German wiretap machine used by intelligence agencies on both sides during the Cold War.
I soon learned that some of our targets were so evil that they frightened me.
My police comrades and I listened as Mafia mobsters so casually discussed the future abduction, torture, and murder of a minor gang member for the purpose of delivering a message to his boss – their business rival. The plan was to castrate the man alive, then kill him, and send his organ and photos of the killing to his family via Canada Post.
I listened as motorcycle gang members discussed the pros and cons of raping the 15-year-old daughter of a bakery store owner who refused to pay protection money.
I listened as a thug called a prostitute and told her that she had better perform three ‘tricks’ a day or she wouldn’t be so pretty anymore. I heard her cry, promise to work harder, and beg the thug to deliver more “go” (methamphetamines).
Listening in to such evil every day can take a toll on a police officer, so as doctors do, cops learn to compartmentalize – to put the unpleasant in a box in the mind and leave work at work.
After my first week of listening to all this evil, my new squad mates took me out for a beer… or ten. I don’t quite remember except that Tex and Donny R. drove me home and poured me in the front door.
You see, there is much that ordinary decent people haven’t a clue about. They live their lives with love and integrity. They fight the normal daily battles, work hard for their families, and obey the laws – never knowing what evil people live across the street and two doors down.
Wiretaps allow police to listen in on your most intimate moments.
Wiretapping Detective Grus’s Family – Reality of Modern Wiretaps
It is 100% certain that the wiretap targeting Detective Helen Grus also recorded members of her family, her friends, and other people she communicated with.
Properly obtained, judicially supervised wiretaps are an unfortunate necessity against the monsters who live among us. But because wiretaps are such a gross violation of privacy, they should only be used to investigate the most egregious criminals and crimes.
Every wiretap also violates the privacy of innocent people – the target’s family, spouse, children, and friends. When someone calls the home, police listen because the caller might be leaving a message for the target. If a boyfriend calls the daughter and asks to come over while the parents were away, police listen because she might say where her parents traveled to. (“They went to Sudbury and won’t be home tonight so come on over.”)
Now ‘wiretaps’ aren’t just telephone taps. “Interception of Electronic Communications” includes email, chats, photos, faxes – everything. Not to forget that police are now capable of turning on the microphone in your smart phone to listen to everything in the room without your knowledge.
And so it is that the wiretap targeting Detective Helen Grus, was also a wiretap against her family.
For the year that I ‘worked the wires’ I came to know the targets’ spouses, children, relatives, and friends. Some you would feel sorry for, others you would silently cheer on as they faced some personal challenge. And you would learn their most intimate secrets.
I knew that a 17-year-old daughter was pregnant three months before she told her parents. I knew that a wife was having an affair with an old high school boyfriend. I listened as a sobbing son told his father about the affair.
We knew that a grandmother who lived with her daughter’s family kept a bottle of vodka in the garden shed – for those difficult days when she couldn’t find methamphetamine. We knew that grandfather was terribly embarrassed because he had cancer and had to wear diapers – often soiling himself at dinner or when out in public.
Make no mistake… Wiretaps strip families naked to a degree that most people never contemplate or realize.
The decision to wiretap Detective Helen Grus and her family was an abusive fishing trip without any legitimate basis. The Ottawa Police knew exactly how invasive it was against her family – and that Detective Grus would know that too.
The wiretap was intended as punishment and intimidation for Detective Grus and her family members.
Donald Best
August 7, 2023
Revision History
August 7, 2023 8:35pm ET – Originally published.
