Details of complaint-based internal investigations should be made public, Winnipeg Police Board chair says

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This article was published 07/06/2023 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Police Board chair is reacting to an uptick in the number of allegations against officers by suggesting more details from internal investigations should be made public.

An annual report on the police professional standards unit, set to go before the board Friday, shows that the unit received 43 complaints of criminal or regulatory concerns last year, up from 33 in 2021, but a drop from 51 in 2020. The five-year average from 2017-2021 was 36.4.

Coun. Markus Chambers said the public has an interest in those probes — and the results.

“I think the public has more of an appetite where there’s a breach of conduct or something criminal has transpired, where it’s about that trust and accountability, where they’re looking for, ‘What is the outcome of that investigation and what disciplinary actions have been meted out as a result?’” Chambers told the Free Press Wednesday.

“There is concern about police policing police — if we’re ever going to build confidence and trust in policing we have got to make sure that residents know that this action has been dealt with, discipline has been meted out or it’s been resolved as unsubstantiated.”

He added that he thinks the outcomes of human resources matters — a dispute between an officer and a supervisor, for example — should remain internal.

“But where there have been that breach of conduct, that criminality that has happened, the public should be aware of the outcomes,” Chambers said.

No details of the outcomes of the investigations into the 43 complaints — which included allegations of abuse of authority, discreditable conduct, assault and sexual assault — are included in the report, which does not indicate whether any of the year’s investigations have concluded.

WPS Chief Danny Smyth wrote that those 43 complaints led to 46 allegations, as some involved more than one accusation. Of those 2022 complaints, 19 came from within the police service, while 24 came from members of the public.

“Every complaint is examined to determine whether a formal investigation is warranted,” Smyth wrote.

“Formal investigations stemming from complaints and allegations take an average of four to six months to conclude. The PSU members are committed to ensuring an exhaustive investigation of allegations occurs fairly and impartially.”

Winnipeg Police Association union president Cory Wiles could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Chambers, the city councillor for St. Norbert – Seine River, said he thinks people who filed complaints to the professional standards unit deserve information about what police are doing.

“There has been instances where people have filed reports and then they don’t hear anything for weeks, months, even up to years,” he said. “So there has to be some back and forth, to let people know that an investigation is underway.”

The internal investigations are different from probes conducted by the external Law Enforcement Review Agency, which examines complaints made externally. They differ, as well, from the work of the Independent Investigation Unit, which primarily looks into serious injuries or deaths involving police.

In another report set to go to the board Friday, Smyth noted there was an increase in police use of force last year, including a jump in the number of police shootings, from none in 2021 to six in 2022.

Police used force — including using hand controls, weapons such as stun guns or pepper spray, and presented or fired their guns — a total of 780 times in 2022, an increase from 699 in 2021.

Of those reported instances of force, about 20 per cent of them involved an individual who was aggravated and actively aggressive, Smyth wrote.

“These types of encounters are volatile and carry the risk of death or grievous bodily harm to police members, the subjects and potential bystanders,” wrote Smyth. “The increase has largely been attributed to encounters with individuals using methamphetamine.”

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @erik_pindera