ASIRT on the rocks: Faced with ‘unmanageable’ workload, Alberta Police watchdog is eliminating staff and falling further behind in files

Article content

Last February, the Alberta Police Watchdog Chief appeared before the Edmonton Police Commission to sound an alarm.

Article content

ASIRT, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, was at a “critical breaking point,” Executive Director Sue Hughson told commissioners during their monthly meeting. The agency’s already considerable backlog of cases was growing. Provincial funding shortages and staff vacancies were pushing the roughly two dozen investigators on his team to the limit, working “back to back” on files of police misconduct across the province.

“When we call at three in the morning to send them to Grande Prairie when they just got home the night before from somewhere else… that becomes very exhausting and very dangerous,” he said.

Nine months later, critics say ASIRT has passed the breaking point. More than a year after George Floyd’s murder shook the public’s trust in American law enforcement, ASIRT is still closing files from 2018. Veteran personnel are leaving. And even when an ASIRT investigation concludes that a police officer should be charged, prosecutors often refuse to take the file.

Article content

“Something needs to be done, and very quickly,” said Heather Steinke-Attia, whose client, Pacey Dumas, is suing an Edmonton Police Service officer under the ASIRT investigation for allegedly kicking him in the head. “Otherwise, this entire oversight body is just a facade. It’s just lip service about the idea that there is an independent body that is investigating (the police). “

‘Not a priority’

ASIRT’s staff is made up of current and former law enforcement officers investigating cases in which the police kill or seriously injure someone, as well as “serious or sensitive” misconduct reports.

Since its founding in 2008, ASIRT has filed criminal charges against 44 officers for everything from assault to sexual assault, fraud and criminal negligence that resulted in death.

Article content

Over the years, ASIRT’s file upload has steadily increased. Before Hughson took office in 2014, ASIRT was assigned an average of 32 cases per year. He now has an average of 72.

Arrears have long been a problem, but the Dumas case brought the issue to the fore.

Dumas, a 19-year-old Indian from northern Alberta, says EPS Const. Ben Todd kicked him in the head during an arrest last December, requiring surgery to remove a section of his skull. In early November, Dumas was still missing a piece of skull, and Todd was still at work, albeit under investigation. In response to the delay, Hughson said ASIRT was still handling files from 2018 and the backlog was going nowhere without further ado. staff and funding.

On the staff front, ASIRT has seen a number of recent departures, notably the assistant CEO Greg gudelot , who left to head the Saskatchewan Police Watchdog. In an email, Hughson referred to a “long list of retirements and resignations” in the past year, adding that the agency had “very few resources and … was struggling with an unmanageable workload.”

Article content

Regarding funding, the Alberta government cut more than three percent from ASIRT budget from 2019-20, part of an estimated six percent reduction in overall judicial system spending. During the budget debate In March, UCP Justice Minister and Attorney General Kaycee Madu said he was “sure” that his department agencies would have the funds they needed. Deputy Deputy Minister Bill Sweeney added that the government is reviewing the Police Act, the legislation that governs the ASIRT, to see if its mandate could be shortened or expanded.

Amanda Hart-Dowhun, a lawyer representing the family of a person who died in EPS custody more than two years ago, said ASIRT’s funding problems send a message.

“It is surprising and revealing when we compare these delays with the average time it takes for anyone other than police to be investigated and charged with a crime,” he said in an email. “The lack of funding and the resulting delays show affected individuals and the public that prosecuting police officers charged with criminal offenses is not a priority.”

Article content

Steinke-Attia, who previously worked for EPS, said the delays also send a message to officials.

“They look at that officer every day, who comes to work, puts on his uniform and they see that nothing happens.”

Many in law enforcement, for their part, support increased funding for ASIRT. Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee has said he supports increasing ASIRT’s budget and moving the internal police complaints process to a similar entity. Edmonton Police Association President Michael Elliott said officers under ASIRT’s investigation also want faster resolutions.

Irfan Sabir, the Alberta NDP justice critic, argued that the government’s focus is elsewhere, including creating a provincial police force.

Test standards

Another source of frustration for ASIRT observers is the Crown’s hesitancy to process ASIRT files.

Article content

ASIRT may press charges on its own, but will only do so if the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service agrees that there is a “reasonable probability” of conviction. ASIRT’s standard of proof is lower: Hughson, a former prosecutor, only needs to establish “reasonable grounds” to believe an officer committed a crime.

Between 2015 and 2020, ASIRT handled 352 files and concluded that the charges were justified in 66. Only 22 of them, a third, were taken by the prosecution.

Other times, the Crown will take the file but withdraw or hold the charge after a short period of time.

ASIRT and Crown have faced multiple files in recent months. In particular, in October, ASIRT decided that a Sherwood Park RCMP officer with a history of assault allegations must be loaded for slapping a handcuffed man across the face. The Crown disagreed, saying there was insufficient evidence.

Tom Engel, an Edmonton defense attorney and police critic, said the disconnect between ASIRT and the Crown shows that the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service needs a specialized group of prosecutors to handle charges involving police officers. .

[email protected]

twitter.com/jonnywakefield