Report Following a Public Interest Investigation into a Chair-Initiated Complaint Respecting the Death in RCMP Custody of Mr. Robert Dziekanski

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Appendix F – Independent Observer Program

The CPC Independent Observer Program assesses the impartiality but not the adequacy of RCMP investigations in these cases using the following criteria:¹¹⁵

1. Line Management: Assess whether there are any actual or perceived conflicts of interests in terms of the members of the investigative team and those who are the subject of the investigations. Determine the appropriateness of the management structure and reporting relationships.
2. Appropriate Level of Response: Assess whether the RCMP investigative team response to the incident is appropriate and proportionate to the gravity of the incident. Has the RCMP assigned the appropriately qualified investigators to the investigative team? Are the team leader(s) and the lead investigator(s) Major Case Management accredited?
3. Timeliness of the Response: Assess whether members of the RCMP investigative team responded in a timely fashion to the incident.
4. Conduct: Assess whether the conduct of members of the RCMP investigative team is consistent with section 37 of the RCMP Act.

The Independent Observer completed an assessment as to the impartiality of the IHIT investigative team and identified no issues with respect to the impartiality of the IHIT investigation. More specifically, with respect to the criteria enumerated above, his observations were:

1. Line Management
   The Observer found that no IHIT investigators had any association with any of the responding members. He noted that the girlfriend of an IHIT investigator was acquainted with the girlfriend of Constable Millington. As a result, the team commander unilaterally assigned the IHIT investigator to the role of file coordinator, with the result that the investigator did not participate in conducting the investigation itself. This action was taken with no prompting from the Independent Observer.
2. Appropriate Level of Response
   The investigation team commander was accredited (in Major Case Management). Each of the investigators was assigned full time to the IHIT team, meaning that each worked solely on the investigation of homicides.
3. Timeliness of Response
   The incident occurred at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 14, 2007. IHIT was advised of the death of Mr. Dziekanski at 2:28 a.m. and arrived at YVR to begin the investigation at 3:45 a.m.
4. Conduct
   The Independent Observer noted no obvious signs of bias or partiality on the part of the IHIT investigators. On October 29, 2007, the Independent Observer received a CD containing witness statements taken to that date. In his update of November 1, 2007, the Independent Observer noted no concerns with respect to impartiality or leading the witnesses. As part of my Chair-initiated complaint, I have identified issues with respect to the conduct of the IHIT investigation (which arose subsequent to the update), which are discussed in the body of this report and related appendices.

114 All information in this section is located on the CPC website: www.cpc.cpp.gc.ca.

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