OVERSIGHT ELSEWHERE

Many Canadian provinces have some version of civilian oversight of police. In British Columbia the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner investigates and adjudicates public complaints about municipal police. It also has had, since 2012, the Independent Investigations Office, which investigates serious harm or death. Reports are referred to the Crown, which decides whether or not to lay charges. If they aren’t, a public report details why the officer was cleared.

Unique among the provinces with oversight is Alberta, because, says SIU director Ian Scott in his book Issues in Civilian Oversight of Policing in Canada, it was created absent any controversy over an incident involving cops. Its analogous unit to the SIU is the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team. It investigates serious injury, death and sensitive issues (such as corruption). It has investigators but relies on agreements with police for services such as traffic reconstruction and scene photography.