Alison Auld, Halifax, N.S. (Canadian Press) – The RCMP says they dropped a disciplinary review of an officer who shot a Nova Scotia man dead because they couldn’t ask another police agency to expedite a separate investigation into the incident.
RCMP Chief Supt. Blair McKnight said the force didn’t start the review within a year as it’s required to by law because it couldn’t urge Halifax police to complete their investigation out of concern that would’ve interfered with their probe.
“We need to maintain that independence,” McKnight said. “The criminal investigation needs to take the time it takes without us unduly influencing or directing to get it done.”
McKnight’s comments came a day after the RCMP revealed it wasn’t going to take any disciplinary action against an officer who fatally shot a suicidal man in his home on a Cape Breton reserve.
In January, the RCMP launched a disciplinary review of Const. Jeremy Frenette’s actions in the 2008 shooting of John Simon, weeks after receiving a report by Halifax police into the incident.
But the review ended shortly after it began once the Mounties realized the process did not start within a year.
He said the RCMP didn’t have enough information to hold a code of conduct investigation until it received the Halifax police report.
McKnight said that policy is under review and could lead to changes in the time restrictions.
“These types of administrative processes need to be improved,” he said. “Restrictions such as this are not appropriate.”
A senior RCMP officer outside the province is reviewing the criminal investigation and McKnight said that could produce recommendations on improved training for officers in managing critical incidents.
The Halifax police investigation included recommendations, but McKnight said a further review will identify how they can implement them.
Frenette shot Simon dead on Dec. 2, 2008, after the officer climbed through his window and confronted him.
The Halifax police report concluded Frenette didn’t violate any laws and shot the 44-year-old fisherman in self-defence. The report quoted Frenette saying, “I felt he was gonna shoot me.”
But that report also said Frenette was “in contravention of established RCMP policy,” and that his supervisor instructed him to stay out of Simon’s house.
After arriving at the scene, Frenette had moved closer to the home, up onto a deck and had looked inside the door and windows, according to the report.
Frenette asked twice for permission to enter the home but it was not granted, though he “decided to act alone on this opportunity to catch John Simon unaware,” the report said.
McKnight said it was also Frenette’s discretion as to whether he should enter the home, where Simon had been drinking and was said to be suicidal.
“Police officers everyday have to exercise discretion based on what they encounter,” he said.
The case has angered and astounded Simon’s family and friends, who have accused the RCMP of mismanagement and called on the province to hold an inquiry into the shooting.
Provincial Justice Minister Ross Landry has ruled out launching a public inquiry, saying it wouldn’t address the concerns of the Wagmatcook First Nation.
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