(CBC News) – The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP is reviewing its Yukon files from the past five years, as part of its overall look at policing services in the territory.
Investigators with the national police watchdog are in Whitehorse to conduct an audit of all files related to public complaints that have been lodged against the Yukon RCMP since Jan. 1, 2005.
Spokesman Jamie Robertson would not say how many complaints the commission is reviewing, or who they are meeting with in Whitehorse, but he said investigators are poring over Yukon-based complaints that have been filed with the commission and local RCMP detachments.
The thorough analyses of files dating back to 2005 should help investigators determine if there are any trends and how complaints were resolved, he said.
“It’s really, I guess, a way to do an audit as such on the complaints process for the Yukon,” Robertson told CBC News.
“Essentially it’s a full reporting on identifying if there were, in fact, any issues relating to the complaints, or if in all cases that they were handled appropriately.”
Yukon launched review
The Yukon government launched a policing review task force following the death of Raymond Silverfox, a Yukon First Nations man, who died in a Whitehorse RCMP jail cell in 2008.
A coroner’s inquest in April raised questions about Silverfox’s treatment by the RCMP in the hours before he died. His family and several groups have since been calling for a full public inquiry.
In a release on Thursday, the task force conducting the policing review said it welcomes the efforts of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.
The task force’s three co-chairs stated that “the commission’s analysis of complaints against the RCMP will help fulfill the goals of the review and result in better policing throughout the territory over the long term.”
As part of the commission’s work, Robertson is in Whitehorse for three days this week. While he has already made arrangements to meet with some individuals and groups, he said he hopes more will come forward.
“It’s really to gauge what the real sentiments are in terms of policing in the Yukon,” he said. “If there are any concerns or issues, we want to identify those.”
Robertson said the commission’s findings will be published on its website once the Yukon’s policing review is complete.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/06/21/yukon-rcmp-review.html#ixzz0rdS9ncl5
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