Racism allegation levelled against Calgary cop provokes Facebook response from chief

Editor’s note: Since this story was published, Sunday Omony posted on social media that she retracts every allegation she made about the Calgary police officer’s conduct “as they are simply not accurate.”

Chief Roger Chaffin has taken to Facebook to defend the Calgary Police Service following an allegation of racial profiling by one of its members.

“Just as I stand up to express my disappointment in moments where public trust is compromised, I stand up to share my distress in finding that a member of the public has purposely misrepresented their interaction with one of our officers,” Chaffin wrote on Facebook Friday afternoon.

In his post, Chaffin made reference to a social media post from Feb. 23.

“This citizen alleged that they were racially profiled and treated unfairly after being stopped,” Chaffin wrote.

“I have had the opportunity to view In Car Digital Video of the incident in its entirety. These allegations are categorically untrue and the police officer that this citizen is referring to has my full support and confidence in how he handled himself.”

The social media post in question has since been deleted.

However, a copy of a post claiming racial profiling by a Calgary police officer on Feb. 23 remains online.

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In the social media post, Sunday Omony claimed she was interrogated non-stop by a police officer during a traffic stop. Her car was unfairly seized, she wrote.

“Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you’re innocent. Some officers are on a power trip and will use their power to exploit people and take advantage of them to push their own personal agenda,” Omony wrote.

“I was a victim of police harassment and set up. This officer hated me so much for no reason. His anger towards me was sad to witness. I feel sorry for his next target.”

Chaffin said the post misrepresented the professionalism and patience of the police officer.

“After failing to stop for nearly 20 blocks while being followed by a police vehicle that had their lights and sirens on, the officer and his partner dealt with the citizen with courtesy and professionalism,” he said.

“Racial profiling is a claim that I don’t take lightly.”

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“We live in a city where our model of policing relies heavily on strong, meaningful relationships with diverse communities.”

Omony describes herself as a Ugandan-Canadian model, author, humanitarian and TV host. Her Twitter profile says she’s a Huffington Post writer. A spokesperson from Huffington Post told Global News Omony is a blogger whose work appeared on the Post’s website, but is not affiliated with the company.

She’s also been featured on Global News.

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“When a member of our community, who also identifies themselves as a member of the media, wants to publicly share their dissatisfaction with a member of the CPS, if what they are saying is not consistent with what actually took place, an environment of mistrust and uncertainty is created, which hinders us all,” Chaffin wrote.

Numerous attempts were made to contact the person in question, including via phone, email, social media and registered mail, but the service has not received a response, Chaffin said.

“I share this with all of you not to ridicule or silence any one person from coming forward with their concerns, I do so with the faith that we all must recognize the importance of sharing information in a truthful manner,” he said.

On Friday, Global News attempted to contact Omony for comment via email and social media.

Omony posted the following statement on her Facebook page Saturday;