Police Investigating Police – Final Public Report
1. Background
Over the past number of years, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) has identified concerns with respect to a number of high profile cases which raise serious questions about whether the RCMP can legitimately and impartially conduct criminal investigations into its own members, particularly in cases where police actions have resulted in serious injury or death.
The 2004 case of Kevin St. Arnaud, who was shot and killed by an RCMP member in British Columbia, was followed by another shooting death in October 2005, this time of Ian Bush, by another RCMP member in British Columbia. These tragic cases resulted in the CPC initiating separate reviews to assess the integrity of the investigations undertaken in each case. Shortly thereafter in 2007, the CPC released its report on the RCMP handling of investigations into alleged sexual abuse at the Kingsclear Youth Training Centre in New Brunswick. The report concluded that the inadequacies in the RCMP investigations were serious enough to create the perception of a cover-up. And most recently, in October 2007, the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport (following the RCMP use of the conducted energy weapon) served to bring the issue of police investigating police to the forefront once more. In addition to the British Columbia Government calling the Braidwood Public Inquiry into the matter, the CPC launched its own investigation into the death of Mr. Dziekanski.
The common question that emerges as a result of these four salient cases is whether or not the organization whose members' actions resulted in serious injury or death should be the same organization then charged with the responsibility to investigate the incident with the prospect of laying criminal charges. Fundamental to this is the question of whether this process can engender public confidence in the transparency, impartiality and integrity of the criminal investigation and its outcome.
In an effort to address these issues in greater detail and assess how other RCMP member investigations involving serious injury or death have been handled, the Chair initiated a public interest investigation in November 2007. The purpose of this public interest investigation is to assess the conduct of those unidentified RCMP members who have undertaken criminal investigations into the activities of other RCMP members, in cases that involved serious injury or death, that took place anywhere in Canada between April 1, 2002 and March 31, 2007.1
This report represents the comprehensive analysis by the CPC Review Team who conducted independent research on the issue, which included an in-depth assessment of the RCMP's handling of several cases. As a member of the public pointed out, the CPC analysis of this issue has the "potential to make marked improvements to how we investigate police in Canada." To this end, the CPC:
- Undertook a detailed analysis of current media, political, and academic debate on the issue to determine a baseline for discussion;
- Sought public submissions on the issue to help inform the debate;
- Assessed the adequacy of current RCMP policy guiding member action when investigating another member;
- Reviewed a sample of 28 RCMP investigations where member actions were alleged to have resulted in serious injury, sexual assault or death cases between 2002 and 2007 (the appropriateness of each case was assessed against specific criteria which include: line management; level of response; timeliness; conduct; and compliance with policy); and
- Researched alternate investigative models and conducted interviews with domestic and international bodies.
All of the above was undertaken in an effort to help identify the most appropriate model to ensure the integrity of criminal investigations into RCMP members involved in serious injury, sexual assault and death cases in the future. The results of this investigation are presented within the following interim report.
1 See Appendix 1 for full details of the Chair-initiated complaint.