To All Canadians,
Over the last several years, concerned citizens from across canada have launched volunteer run organizations bearing the trademarks of “police watch” or “cop watch,” such as the websites:
and perhaps there are others that the author of this website is unaware of. All of these websites purport to have one main goal: to ensure that police misconduct and human rights abuses by the various police departments is brought to the public and tracked, to help in fighting these injustices through the open medium of the internet, and to provide a credible citizens source of information regarding these abuses.
This brings us to the mystery of the RCMPWatch.com website. If this website is run by citizens who wish to remain anonymous, that is absolutely acceptable and protected as such. However, it is the opinion of this author that some evidence exists that suggests that the website is run by the RCMP or a constable working in the RCMP.
Generally, when attempting to find who owns a website, one utilizes a lookup entitled WHOIS. The full information is available here. A section of the results follows:
domain: rcmpwatch.com
created: 01-Aug-2004
last-changed: 02-Aug-2007
registration-expiration: 01-Aug-2008
nserver: ns27.1and1.com 74.208.2.3
nserver: ns28.1and1.com 74.208.3.3
status: CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED
registrant-firstname: Privacy Officer
registrant-lastname: The Privacy Manager Dot Com
registrant-organization: RCMPWatch.com
registrant-street1: 74 Kenneth
registrant-pcode: E3B 8B4
registrant-state: NB
registrant-city: Fredericton
registrant-ccode: CA
registrant-phone: +1.5064529292
registrant-email: rcmpwatch@theprivacymanager.com
Often people utilize WHOIS information that hides who they are, so as to avoid spammers and unwanted attention. Here we see the domain RCMPWatch.com is registered with information that points to “theprivacymanager.com.” That website is registered much the same
Theprivacymanager.com is a shell website with no actual functionality, which is peculiar, especially since it has existed since 2001. Regardless, both registrations utilize the same number “5064529292”
Who owns this phone number? A reverse lookup is available here
Which reveals that the phone number belongs to a “Robert A Vinet” of Fredericton, New Brunswick. Who is Robert Vinet?
Looking at this RCMP website available here we find a Constable Robert Vinet working in Oromocto Rural as “Admin Support.”
So what exactly is going on here? To review:
1. The title of the website is RCMP Watch, with the tagline “Who is keeping them accountable?” So far this would seem to indicate that the website is of from a concerned citizen or group thereof.
2. The “About Us” section of the website criticizes that the RCMP have lack of oversight, but does so with some rather favourable language (i.e. “one of the world’s all-time great police forces”).
3. The phone number on the WHOIS information of two websites points to a constable at a RCMP detachment in New Brunswick.
So is the RCMP attempting to subvert the open medium of the internet in order to block attempts by civilians to communicate their concerns regarding RCMP misconduct? Or, are the RCMP unaware that a constable is likely running this website? Is Internal Affairs aware that this website may be misdirecting complaints from the appropriate channels?
Regardless, the website has a contact page asking for information about “tips,” and claims “We always respect your privacy and your contact details will not be divulged to any third party unless we are required to do so by law (i.e. Search Warrant or other legal instrument).”
BE WARNED THAT SUBMITTING INFORMATION TO THIS WEBSITE YOU MAY IN FACT BE SUBMITTING DIRECTLY TO POLICE AND NOT A NON-GOVERNMENT WATCHDOG GROUP
If anyone has any further information regarding this website, please let us know at admin@rcmpwatchwatch.org