RCMP Watch

UPI

Royal Canadian Mounted Police informants broke the law a total of 11 times in 2005 and 2006 during undercover operations, the agency reports.

A 2002 Canadian law allows the RCMP to authorize breaches of the law without fear of prosecution with regular reports to parliament. There were seven incidents of law-breaking reported in 2004-2005 and six in 2003-2004, Canwest News Service reported.

No police officers were involved in breaking the law last year, the agency said. The 11 incidents involved civilian informants.

While the law excludes sexual assaults and any crimes involving bodily harm and says that any crimes committed must be “reasonable and proportional” to those under investigation, civil liberties advocates say that the law still gives police too much leeway. “Our position is that it should never have been enacted and it should be repealed,” said Ken Swan, of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.