Expert says police complaints troubling

Fredericton, N.B. (Times & Transcript) – The president of New Brunswick’s police chiefs association says a spike in allegations that the province’s police officers are abusing their power shouldn’t be seen as alarming due to the small number of grievances found to be true.

But a New Brunswick criminologist says the new numbers show a potentially “troubling trend” that could erode public confidence in policing if it continues.

A report by the New Brunswick Police Commission shows it received more than double the number of complaints classified as “abuse of authority” last year compared to the prior fiscal year.

The independent oversight body’s newly released 2009-10 reports shows a total of 181 complaints – its highest number recorded in the last five years – a 33 per cent increase over last year.

A total of 53 complaints were labeled an alleged abuse of authority, up from 24 the year before.

But the figures contrast with the total number of complaints deemed to be founded after the commission’s review. Just two complaints came to that conclusion.

“This spike could just be an anomaly that we may never see again, or we may have a growing demographic that rather file the complaint,” said Stephen McIntyre, chief of the Rothesay Regional Police Force and president of the New Brunswick Chiefs of Police Association. “While there is a spike of 181 complaints, what is equally important is that you have just two with any meat to it and that speaks volumes right there.

McIntyre said that the police force in Rothesay has been able to bring the complainant and officer in question together, often rectifying the issue which ends in the grievance being recorded as unfounded.

“An awful lot of times it’s a misunderstanding where the people don’t understand the role that the police have to play,” he said. “I have seen a terrific number of complaints be resolved over the years with an explanation on why certain actions are taken.”

Michael Boudreau, a professor of criminology at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, said that the numbers should become a concern if they continue to far outstrip the number found valid.

“You could see the spike as an endorsement of the police commission because people at least have the faith in it for now to put forward a complaint,” Boudreau said. “However, the problem will be if it continues and becomes a trend of more people launching complaints and the large majority of them are deemed unfounded.

“People will lose faith in this oversight body and the police. That then starts to erode public confidence in policing.”

Boudreau said there is a public thirst for assurances that key issues in policing are being examined and reported upon by an independent watchdog.

“On the surface this spike is a troubling trend,” Boudreau said. “If the public feels, justifiably or not, that the police are not acting in a professional manner they then might start to lose confidence in the police service.”

The national police watchdog has also seen a steady increase in complaints over the past three years, but maintains that the number of grievances against the RCMP has remained relatively consistent.

What has changed is where Canadian’s are reporting alleged RCMP wrongdoing. Citizens are turning to the independent National Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP to file a complaint, rather than the police themselves.

There were 3,764 complaints against the RCMP last year, a number slightly down from the year prior.

But the commission received 1,802 of those complaints directly from the public, an increase of 43 per cent over the past two years.