Another day, another black eye for the cops
If you were mounting a case (so to speak) for the establishment of an independent body to keep an objective eye on the activities of the Constabulary and the RCMP in Newfoundland, a starting point would be to merely collect decidedly disconcerting news stories about cops that have been appearing with shocking regularity over the last little while. The headlines have said it all: “Independent outside unit looking at actions of Constabulary leadership”
“Alberta agency given green light to review RCMP investigation into death of Donald Dunphy”
“Police mistakes lead to child luring charges being dismissed”
“Another case tossed due to police errors”
“Myles-Legér fraud case tossed: judge says case mishandled by police”
“Public Prosecutions to review RNC Sgt. Tim Buckle’s conduct — again.”
Nobody’s perfect, but unholy cops, Batman!
Even the most ardent of police supporters would have to admit that, at best, the cop news of late has been a public relations disaster; at worse, the disturbing stories have poked a sizable hole in the foundation of faith the public has to have in its police, and in the bosses to whom they answer.
And it’s certainly telling that in two of the cases, the government has had to go outside the province for independent investigations. An organization from out West, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), a mouthful, for sure, will be looking at the way the RCMP handled its investigation into the shooting of Don Dunphy by a member of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary; a similarly mandated agency, the Nova Scotia Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT), has started a criminal investigation into allegations that “senior managers” at the RNC, as they’ve been described in news stories, are guilty of criminal wrongdoing in the way in which they have handled (or mishandled) the activities of a police informant.
If these weren’t such serious matters, there might even be a temptation to view the necessity to seek mainland help as a Newfie joke. But what the call for intervention from Nova Scotia and Alberta does point out, in unambiguous terms, is that Newfoundland has a desperate need for an independent, civilian body to review all contentious matters involving cops.
The government should never, ever have to embarrass itself by heading upalong and, by inference, admitting that it is incapable of managing its own affairs of justice. Justice Minister Andrew Parsons has basically said he is not opposed to such a review board, and will look into its viability in Newfoundland. But it seems to me to be a nobrainer, as they say.
As for a bit of perspective on a few of those discomforting stories: we obviously don’t know all the details of why RNC “managers” are being investigated, except that a police informant was allegedly allowed to commit crimes while in the employ of the cops, and apparently without consequence. If true, that’s serious stuff, to say the least.
What I don’t understand is why the managers haven’t been suspended until the investigation is completed, or why they haven’t, at the very least, been assigned to paperwork duties until it is decided whether they will face charges. Perhaps they have been taken out of the trenches; if so, the public needs to know.
The Dunphy case, right from the outset, has just begged for a public inquiry. We may never know exactly what happened in Dunphy’s house the day he was shot. One of the two witnesses, after all, was killed. But what an inquiry could determine is why a member of then Premier Paul Davis’s security staff was sent to the house in the first place, alone, armed, to investigate what is not an uncommon occurrence in the world of politics: angry or nasty messages.
We also heard this week that still another investigation will take place into the Tim Buckle/Sean Kelly affair, this time by the government’s prosecutions office. From the start, I’ve never understood why there was any question whatsoever that something awfully peculiar had taken place here; even the judge hearing the case against RNC Const. Kelly wondered aloud about the impropriety of RNC Sgt. Buckle phoning his colleague to give him a “heads up” that he was being investigated for making indecent phone calls.
According to a transcript of the conversation, revealed during the trial, Buckle even seemed to suggest ways in which Kelly might avoid arrest.
Seems black and white to me, and to many others, or perhaps it’s black and blue, as in the socalled Blue Wall of Silence erected on many occasions by American cops when one of their brethren is in hot water.
If, in fact, it was determined there was nothing inappropriate in that phone call, then we, the public, deserve to know who made that decision, and why.
Without that kind of explanation, this episode will continue to be another blemish on the deteriorating reputation of Newfoundland cops.
If you doubt that’s true, just re-read those headlines at the top of this piece.
It ain’t pretty.
Bob Wakeham has spent more than 40 years as a journalist in Newfoundland and Labrador. He can be reached by email at bwakeham@nl.rogers.com.