Civilian-led police boards stalled over training, rules
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/11/2011 (5395 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
CIVILIAN-LED police boards were a priority for the NDP and were supposed to add police accountability, but two years after legislation was first tabled the province appears nowhere close to bringing them in.
The Police Services Act was introduced March 3, 2009, after a damning inquiry into the 2005 death of Crystal Taman — she was killed in a car crash involving an off-duty city police officer — that examined how police bungled the subsequent investigation.
Former Attorney General Dave Chomiak said at the time the new act was a way to modernize policing in the province, but critics say the delay shows the province may be having second thoughts on parts of its bill.
Progressive Conservative justice critic Kelvin Goertzen said some smaller municipalities with one- to three-man police departments don’t need a police board and its additional cost, when councillors of these municipalities already enjoy healthy relationships with their police chiefs. Some of the small departments include Rivers, Ste. Anne and Victoria Beach.
“There is some push-back within these areas because they don’t think it’s going to help policing,” Goertzen said Tuesday, adding that creating a police board in a small community will add to the time it takes to solve problems.
Under the act, Winnipeg and 10 other municipal police forces would each be required to have a civilian police board. The Dakota Ojibway Police Service, the one aboriginal police service in the province, already has a police board.
A provincial spokeswoman said Tuesday the province is phasing in sections of the act as needed.
The establishment of a police commission was the first piece to be proclaimed, given its role in laying the groundwork for other elements of the act such as the creation of police boards.
“The commission is still working out details of how the act will be implemented,” she said. “The commission will provide advice to the minister (now Andrew Swan) on training and standards for police officers and regulations under the act. When the commission is ready to go, we will be able to move on to the next step.”
The Manitoba Police Commission, announced last February, is headed by criminologist Dr. Rick Linden. The vice-chairwoman is Lynn Sauvé, program director of the Boys and Girls Club of Thompson. Commissioners are Sam Anderson, Mildred (Missy) Flett, Joe Gallagher, Roberta Graham, Harley Grouette, Habtamu Wedajo and Robert Taman.
Brian Cyncora, a 30-year officer of the Winnipeg Police Service, was named its first executive director.
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca