News Release

Police investigating Police – RCMP approach needs change

August 11, 2009

Ottawa, Ontario – After an extensive investigation, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) has concluded that the RCMP approach to investigations of its own members is flawed and inconsistent. Moreover, while the RCMP has solid policies on how criminal investigations should be undertaken, generally, there are no mandatory requirements for the handling of member criminal investigations.

In the opinion of the Commission, the current approach of the RCMP investigating itself does not engender confidence in the transparency and integrity of the criminal investigation and its outcome. "As the seriousness of an alleged offence by a member increases, the discretion for the RCMP to respond as it deems appropriate must be removed and be replaced by mandatory requirements," said CPC Chair Paul E. Kennedy.

The following mandatory requirements can be put into place while we await federal legislation to create an enhanced RCMP review body:

• A National RCMP Member Investigation Registrar should be created to coordinate both the development of national policy and the handling of member investigations. This would also address the lack of data collection or monitoring of member investigations that CPC found during this review.
• All member investigations involving death should be referred to an external police force or provincial criminal investigation body. There should be no RCMP involvement in the process. A CPC observer should also be present to ensure transparency.
• The process for all member investigations involving serious injury or sexual assault should be jointly determined by CPC and the National RCMP Member Investigation Registrar to:
• Refer the investigation to external police force or provincial body; or
• Deploy an RCMP HQ Critical Incident Member Investigation Team; and
• Ensure a CPC observer is embedded in the investigation.

Where the RCMP is charged with investigating its own members for lesser offences, an Integrated Manual for members should be put in place with clear guidelines for the process and structure we recommend to ensure that members are not placed in positions of real or perceived conflict of interest.

It is further recommended that when created, the new RCMP review body be given the legislative mandate to: refer an RCMP member investigation to another police force or to another criminal investigative body in Canada; grant the review body the authority to monitor any criminal investigation relating to a member of the RCMP; undertake joint investigations with like-mandated bodies at either the provincial or municipal level. The CPC believes that the combined mandatory and legislative changes outlined above would set a highly credible internal investigation 'gold standard.'

Methodology and Findings

The CPC reviewed a total of 28 internal RCMP investigations which included a full range of incidents and regions. Five criteria were used to assess each investigation: 1. conduct 2. policy compliance 3. timeliness 4. line management (reporting management structure), and 5. level of response. In addition, the CPC reviewed the internal investigation models of other police forces from across Canada and the world.

The CPC Review noted:

Conduct: Individual RCMP investigator conduct was deemed highly professional and appropriate in all 28 cases (100%).

Policy Compliance: There were only two minor policy violations found in the 28 cases reviewed.

Timeliness: CPC found that 82% of reviewed cases were completed in a timely manner.

Line Management: 68% of cases failed to meet key criteria and were deemed to be partially or entirely inappropriate.

Level of Response: Again, 68% of cases failed to meet key criteria and were deemed to be partially or entirely inappropriate.

In the 28 investigations reviewed, the conduct of individual investigators was professional and commendable in each instance. However, there were many concerns noted about the level of response and reporting structure.

Twenty five percent of the primary investigators assigned to cases identified themselves as personally knowing the subject member. A lone investigator was assigned in 60% of the cases reviewed. In both scenarios, there is at least a perceived risk of bias or intimidation (especially where the investigator is of a lower rank). Likewise, subject members and witness officers were interviewed by a single investigator in 17 of the 28 cases. Finally, there was a significant disparity in the qualifications of the investigators assigned to member investigations.

"The CPC set out to answer the question: 'Can the current process of the RCMP investigating itself legitimately engender confidence in the transparency and integrity of the criminal investigation and its outcome,' the informed answer is that it cannot under the current RCMP approach," said CPC Chair Paul E. Kennedy.

The CPC rejects the current RCMP policy that investigations of its members be handled like any other investigation. Police are held to higher account by the very nature of the work they do. It is therefore the CPC's contention that criminal investigations into RCMP members should not be treated procedurally the same as any other criminal investigation. The CPC was pleased to note that the Commissioner of the RCMP agreed with this principle in his response to our report.

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For more information, please contact:
Nelson Kalil
Manager, Communications
613-952-2452
nelson.kalil@cpc-cpp.gc.ca