NBPC Hopes To Complete All Review Recommendations By May

The New Brunswick Police Commission (NBPC) has completed 18 of 22 recommendations made as part of an independent review into the organization.

Executive director Jennifer Smith unveiled the details during a presentation to members of the Saint John Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday.

The provincial police commission asked for the review in Jan. 2019 after the New Brunswick Police Association questioned the fairness and impartiality of the commission’s handling of complaints against officers.

Five months later, the province appointed retired RCMP assistant commissioner Alphonse MacNeil to lead the review, which was released to the public in Dec. 2019.

Among the recommendations, MacNeil called for talks to restart on changes to the Police Act; for the commission to rescind its current list of investigators and create a new one based on competency requirements; and for the commission to develop an electronic records management system.

Smith said representatives from the police commission, the police association, the New Brunswick Association of Chiefs of Police, and civic policing authorities recently took part in meetings with the Department of Justice and Public Safety, which is leading the review into the Police Act.

“In terms of where they’re at with finalizing all of the information that came in from stakeholders and where they’re at with that, I actually don’t know the answer to that,” said Smith.

In a statement, the Department of Justice and Public Safety said the discussions were “very encouraging.”

“We expect to be able to speak in the weeks ahead to next steps,” said spokesperson Coreen Enos in an email.

Smith said the commission’s biggest piece of ongoing work is updating their list of investigators, noting that applications are being accepted until March 19.

“We will be screening the applicants and we will be sharing the list with stakeholders prior to finalizing our list,” she said.

MacNeil’s report also said the province should also look at creating its own Serious Incident Response Team, or SIRT. The independent police watchdog would investigate incidents of death or serious injury involving police officers.

Currently, New Brunswick police forces will ask the RCMP or the chief of another police force to investigate serious incidents. On occasion, a police force, through the public safety minister, will call upon Nova Scotia’s Serious Incident Response Team.

But MacNeil said SIRT in Nova Scotia does not always have adequate resources to help New Brunswick police forces because “Nova Scotia must be their priority.”

Smith said while the final decision on creating New Brunswick’s own SIRT entity rests with Justice and Public Safety, it is something the commission would like to see.

“I think it’s an important piece that’s missing,” she said, “so we’re hopeful, I think like everybody else, that the province will determine the model for a Serious Incident Response Team.”

Other recommendations in the report that Smith said have already been completed include:

• meeting with key groups, including police chiefs, the New Brunswick Police Association and civic policing authorities;
• establishing an orientation training policy for commission members;
• completing and refining the NBPC Handbook;
• creating an electronic records management system;
• identifying a point of contact for each police force to serve as a coordinator for professional standards;
• updating the process for selecting commission members, which includes increasing the minimum term to three years; and
• developing policy and procedure documents for all aspects of the operation (more than 40 policies identified; about 60 per cent completed).

Smith said the remaining four recommendations are expected to be completed by May.