Vancouver's police chief is lashing out against a "self-proclaimed expert" who misled reporters into thinking he authored a definitive review of the 1994 Stanley Cup riot.

Chief Jim Chu flatly rejected Bob Whitelaw's criticisms of the police response to last week's riot in what the top cop characterized as an "all-staff memo" -- but nonetheless posted on the VPD's media site.

"It is unfortunate reporters were misled and didn't test the veracity of Mr. Whitelaw's statements, which at best appear to be incorrect or at worse, misleading and false," Chu said.

Major media outlets throughout the country -- including CTV News -- interviewed Whitelaw in the days after the riot, and quoted him as one of the authors of the 1994 report.

In an interview Thursday, Whitelaw told CTV's Canada AM that police ignored up to a third of the recommendations in the report he claimed to have helped write.

He said he believed officers didn't take any "pro-action" and that the city had incurred a "billion dollars worth of bad publicity."

But Whitelaw was not involved in producing the final report into what went wrong during the riot 17 years ago.

David Edgar, former chair of the B.C. Police Commission, told CTV News Tuesday that Whitelaw was hired as a freelance writer to help draft an earlier version of the report into the 1994 riots.

That report was rejected by the police commission.

"It was below standard. It was somewhat confusing. It wasn't well written. It wasn't something that the police commission wanted to put its name to," Edgar said

A new team of investigators was brought in to write another review that was later accepted by the commission.

In his memo, Chu wrote that he was disappointed with members of the media for not questioning Whitelaw's credentials.

"Without exception they have reported his disparaging attacks against the integrity of the VPD without checking the facts," he said.

"I hope the reporters who gave him prominence when he criticized the VPD will give equal prominence to the real facts."

Whitelaw denies misrepresenting himself in media interviews, and told CTV News he was unaware that his report was rejected by the police commission.

More disparagement from top cop

The chief's scolding of the media didn't stop there, though. The 1,300-word memo also contained harsh words for journalists who have expressed any criticism of the police department's response to the riot.

"We all have been moved by the amazing outpouring of public support [for the police]. The letters, cards, baked goods, dog treats, and hugs and handshakes are unprecedented in my 32-year career," Chu wrote.

"It is difficult to explain why there is some media negativity in the face of this overwhelming public support, and why some insist that because there was a riot, the police ‘failed' because we didn't somehow prevent it."

Some critics have claimed that the number of police officers deployed into the downtown area last Wednesday was insufficient to deal with the massive crowd gathered to watch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Former Vancouver police inspector and security consultant Dave Jones told CTV News on Monday that VPD officers were deployed too late to stem the burgeoning riot.

"Police deployment didn't happen until about 4:30. A critical density had already been reached probably an hour or two prior to that in the Hamilton-Georgia area, and it could not be decompressed at that point," he said.

But Chu says that riots are just a fact of life in cities with professional sports teams.

"The fact is that sports-related riots have occurred and will continue to occur in cities across North America and abroad, despite the best preparations and sometimes massive police presence," he wrote.

Chu did not make himself available for interviews on Tuesday.

Gary Mason, a columnist for The Globe and Mail, said that he was surprised by the "severity" of Chu's note.

"To me that is indicative of a Jim Chu who's really feeling the heat and is under fire and is also looking after his department, trying to bolster morale in his department, because it's down right now," Mason said.

"This is the first time he's really come under a great deal of criticism. I think he's feeling it."

With files from CTV British Columbia's Rob Brown