Cops failing to respect watchdog’s rules
Some officers not obeying protocols in place for probes after shootings
Too many officers are thumbing their noses at Quebec’s police watchdog agency and undermining the credibility of the organization, civil rights groups say. The head of Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes has written letters to four police forces saying some officers are not respecting the rules on investigations into police shootings. The rights’ activists released the letters Monday and said many of the cases involved Montreal police officers flouting the rules. In some cases, officers who were involved or witnessed a shooting were allowed to remain together and did not write up their reports independently, as required by the rules overseeing independent investigations. In other cases, police officers had to be told by colleagues or a supervisor that they’re not permitted to discuss details of the shootings until they had submitted their reports to the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes and had been questioned by agency investigators. Last March, a Laval police officer refused to answer questions from BEI investigators. “These letters show that there are many problems with the BEI and police officers are not obeying the law,” said Alexandre Popovic, spokesperson for la Coalition contre la répression et les abus policiers. “There have to be consequences and sanctions when police do not follow” the regulations. Popovic said he obtained the letters through an access to information request, adding the public would not be aware of the violations if the letters hadn’t been released. Montreal police are taking hours to inform the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes of an incident whereas the regulations say the agency needs to be informed as soon as possible, he said. In a letter sent to former Montreal police chief Philippe Pichet in January 2017, BEI director Madeleine Giauque wrote that following a December 2016 shooting that critically injured an armed man, the police officer involved and two officers who witnessed it were placed in a car together for one hour. The officers wrote their reports in the same room at a police station and were not supervised by a superior until the last minute. Managers must be present when officers are writing their reports to ensure regulations are followed, Giauque wrote. She also told the police directors of the SPVM and the Sûreté du Québec that BEI staff are available to speak to officers to make sure they understand their obligations. The BEI has been investigating police shootings since June 2016. The Quebec government formed the unit after years of complaints that the previous practice of police forces investigating each other lacked credibility. But human rights groups, including the Ligue des droits et libertés and the Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM), say the letters raise questions about whether police officers are taking the BEI investigations seriously. “Too many homeless people have been killed by police bullets,” said RAPSIM director Pierre Gaudreau. “There’s still a lot of work to do for police to regain the confidence of homeless people.” Last week, a lawyer representing the family of Nicholas Gibbs released a letter from Giauque to Montreal police Chief Martin Prud’homme saying the police force was ignoring the rules overseeing independent investigations. Giauque complained that some police officers were taking statements from witnesses and showing those statements to supervisors before BEI investigators arrived on the scene, a practice that’s not permitted. “I am asking you to ensure that the SPVM immediately stop interviewing witnesses whether they are police officers or civilians, where there is an independent investigation,” she wrote. Gibbs, a 23-year-old man from Notre-Dame-de- Grâce, was fatally shot last August after allegedly threatening police with a knife. After Prud’homme received the letter in September, he put an end to the practice, Montreal police say. Quebec’s public security minister, Geneviève Guilbault, told reporters last week she has confidence in Giauque and reminded the SPVM to respect the rules. The BEI put out a statement Monday afternoon saying Giauque is required to inform the director of a police department whenever an officer fails to follow the rules governing independent investigations. “That’s exactly what was done each time that there were irregularities observed in the behaviour of police officers during the course of an investigation,” the statement said.