Manitoba bill would set policing standards

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This article was published 16/03/2022 (1016 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Police officers in Manitoba could be subject to a blanket code of conduct and set of policing standards under new legislation proposed by the Progressive Conservative government.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen said Bill 30 would establish policing standards for all law enforcement agencies in the province, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and give new authority to the Manitoba Police Commission to audit and inspect services for compliance.

The Police Services Amendment and Law Enforcement Review Agency Amendment Act would also establish a public provincial code of conduct for all police officers, except Mounties.

“People don’t really know what those standard codes of conduct are, they’re not public… which probably results in complaints to LERA,” Goertzen said after the bill was introduced Thursday.

“If there’s a clear code of conduct that is applicable across the province to all the different forces, not only do of course officers understand that which is important, but the public understands it as well.”

Goertzen said the proposed legislation is the first step towards enhancing police oversight and improving processes by which Manitobans file complaints related to police conduct. The bill would extend the time for filing complaints to the Law Enforcement Review Agency to 180 days from 30 days.

The justice minister said additional changes to LERA — which investigates non-criminal complaints against municipal police officers — are coming and the future of the agency will be part of discussions surrounding the provincial code of conduct.

“Clearly there needs to be some improvement when it comes to the ability to make concerns and complaints when citizens have them,” Goertzen said.

He expressed concern the agency’s mandate, as set out in legislation, does not meet the needs of the public and said the burden of proof for taking a complaint to a public hearing needs to be reviewed.

“I’m not sure that it’s always even the standard by which they have to meet, but are we finding the right place to be able to launch their complaints that don’t reach a criminal standard?” Goertzen mused. “I’m not sure that that’s the case right now.”

The agency’s annual report says 32 per cent of the 106 complaints received in 2020 were dismissed by the commissioner as not supported by sufficient evidence, while 46 per cent were abandoned or withdrawn. Not one was forwarded to a public hearing. A request for updated statistics for 2021 was not returned.

Kevin Walby, University of Winnipeg associate professor of criminal justice, said the agency has been hounded for decades by criticism over its complaints and investigations processes.

“By saying they’re going to address this thing, and then you see there’s just one little change and none of the complaints that have been voiced over the years are addressed, that’s going to push the legitimacy of the system lower,” Walby said.

Establishing a provincial code of conduct and set of policing standards will not address the sub-cultures within law enforcement that do not follow existing codes of conduct, Walby said.

He argued a requirement in the proposed legislation for the police commission to perform compliance audits and compel police services to provide information about its officers, facilities, and equipment could also backfire.

“There’s not a whole lot of incentive for them to comply if the real accountability and oversight mechanisms will have no bearing on them,” Walby said. “There needs to be much more independent, and community-led oversight of policing… and these changes don’t get us anywhere near that.”

Goertzen said the public feedback will be considered in the development of the provincial code of conduct and policing standards alongside input from the Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police.

He noted one of the next steps for his office is to ensure breaches of codes of conduct are reported to the department and the police commission to track the frequency and type of breaches that occur in the province.

NDP justice critic Nahanni Fontaine said Manitobans were expecting an overhaul of the Law Enforcement Review Act and for years have asked for changes to make police accountable for their interactions with citizens.

“We don’t see that here,” Fontaine said. “You can put all the codes of conduct that you want but if there’s no teeth to it, if there’s no consequences, then what’s the point? From this bill we see no consequences.”

Bill 30 would also establish the Manitoba Criminal Intelligence Centre, which would work with police agencies and other law enforcement organizations to co-ordinate the sharing of criminal intelligence and analytics.

Goertzen said Manitobans can expect significant progress on a provincial code of conduct and policing standards to be made heading into 2023.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca