Ex-chief has no regrets over murder suspect's reference

The former East St. Paul police chief who wrote a letter of reference for Michael Sandham, a former officer who was charged this month with murder, says he has no regrets about writing the letter that may have furthered Sandham's law-enforcement career.

Michael Sandham was among three Winnipeggers arrested and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the slaying of eight men in Ontario last April.

Sandham was a police officer in the rural municipality of East St. Paul from June 2000 to October 2002.

David Grant, a former police chief in East St. Paul, said he received a visit from RCMP while Sandham was on the force. The Mounties showed him a photograph of Sandham at a biker function in Ontario.

Grant said he took immediate action. Sandham was to face a disciplinary hearing; instead, the officer retired.

Two months later, Sandham asked for a job reference. Despite the photos, Grant says he didn't think Sandham had done anything criminal, so he wrote the letter.

"It was just a letter of reference stating that his on-duty performance was up to standards," Grant told CBC News.

At the time he wrote the letter, Grant says he wasn't worried it would help Sandham move to another job in law enforcement. He believed any future employer would want to know more about Sandham's work, he said, and he was prepared for those calls.

"Well, I couldn't discuss anything out of his personnel file. I would have told them maybe just to check a little further," he said.

But no one called. Sandham went on to work for Prairie Bylaw Enforcement, a company that provided policing services to rural municipalities and small towns in southern Manitoba.

Dave Prud'homme, owner of Prairie Bylaw Enforcement Services, told CBC News earlier this month that he had hired Grant on the strength of a criminal background check and his letter of reference.

"When Mike came over, after he left East St. Paul police, he came over with a great letter of recommendation from the chief from there, so that's all I needed," Prud'homme said on June 16.

Even so, Grant says he is not concerned about having written the letter.

"I don't have any qualms about writing the letter at all. Like I said, it was to deal with his on-duty performance, which was good," he said.

"He performed his job well. There were no complaints from the public, no complaints from officers, myself or council about him. And up to the point he resigned, he was a good officer."

Still, Grant admits it is unsettling to know an officer he once hired is now facing first-degree murder charges in one of Canada's largest mass slayings.

"I was shocked to hear what happened, what he's alleged to have done," he said.