Karen Kleiss (Edmonton Journal) – Alberta RCMP reported more serious complaints against its officers than every other province combined because of poor record-keeping practices, says a report by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.
In preparation for its report on police investigating police, the commission asked RCMP divisions across the country to forward complaints relevant to the investigation. The divisions sent in roughly 600 cases: B. C. 67, Manitoba 95 and Alberta 339, or 56 per cent of the total.
The vast difference is evidence of inadequate record keeping, which reveals a lack of attention to member investigations, the report says.
“Some divisions were better able to narrow the scope of their search to fit the parameters of the review through effective record-keeping processes making for easier retrieval, while other divisions did not have the same capacity,” Commissioner Paul Kennedy said in the 266-page report.
“For example, due to record-keeping processes and time constraints, Alberta’s K Division simply provided everything that could possibly fit the parameters of the complaint. This helps explain the higher number of cases received from K Division relative to the rest of the country.
Alberta RCMP spokesman Wayne Oakes said the province has led the country in reporting processes, and that the division has an excellent record-keeping system and is committed to transparency and openness.
“Alberta was the first division in the country to create a process of formalized reporting to both Ottawa and the(commission)of complaints handled through this division, that was in 2002,” he said. “That was done in an effort to improve transparency.”
He said there is a possibility that Alberta RCMP misunderstood the request from the commission and provided more information than requested so as not to provide too little. “If this was the case, then I personally would not call this poor record-keeping, rather, due diligence.”
One of the commission’s key findings was that insufficient data collection is evidence of inadequate attention to investigations into complaints against officers.
“The lack of national and divisional data collection–or monitoring capacity– for member investigations …demonstrates a lack of attention being placed on member investigations,” the report says.
After commission staff whittled away cases that didn’t meet their requirements, they were left with 150 of the 600 cases, and 34, or 22 per cent, were from Alberta.
Commission spokesman Nelson Kalil said much of what Alberta provided didn’t fit within the parameters provided, and that other provinces were “much more judicious” in selecting cases to forward to the commission. However, he also said he was possible that Alberta was so much more efficient at record keeping that the division simply had access to more records than other provinces did.
The complaints commission did an in-depth review of 28 cases, four of which were from Alberta. In three of those four cases no charges were laid. In the fourth case, an RCMP officer was accused of common assault, but the charge was stayed and he was cleared after an internal investigation.
The report also notes that Alberta’s Police Act is one of just three in Canada that specifically addresses the role of an independent oversight body in handling police investigations.
The commission highlighted the unique advantages of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, a hybrid investigative body that allows teams of police and civilians to probe serious incidents involving police.
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