Police recruits practice drills during a course at the École nationale de police du Québec.
Quebec's ombudsman is urging the province to revamp a bill that creates a civilian bureau to monitor police investigations of deaths or other major incidents involving police officers.
Allowing police officers to investigate other officers, even under the scrutiny of an independent civilian body, is no way to ensure impartiality, said provincial ombudsman Raymonde Saint-Germain.
"Whether real or not, the perception is that police officers between themselves are very protective and there is a kind of omertà [conspiracy of silence] And that needs to be counterbalanced by a credible civilian board of investigation," Ms. Saint-Germain said.
The ombudsman is proposing that Quebec adopt a system similar to the one in Ontario, where a civilian agency called the Special Investigations Unit has been operating since 1991. She is calling for a unit made up of former police investigators and criminal lawyers who would ensure transparent, impartial and independent investigations into incidents of deaths or serious injuries involving police officers.
The government's proposal to set up an oversight bureau with limited powers would not alter the current practice, in which a police force is called in to investigate another police force. The government was forced to review the process because of the widely held perception during recent investigations that police protect their own.
The proposed bureau would be made up of civilian observers who would be barred from contacting investigators. They would simply observe and operate without any authority to investigate shootings or other serious incidents involving police.
The ombudsman stopped short of calling the proposed bureau a toothless body, but argues that public interest commands a more "serious and credible" solution to the lack of confidence people have in these investigations.
Ms. Saint-Germain made a similar assessment two years ago, but her proposal fell on deaf ears. The government sided with the recommendations of several police forces who argued that the experience in Ontario was inconclusive and that outside investigations involving civilians should be avoided.
"The observers will have access to the documents, to the crime scene, and will be able to determine whether the investigation was conducted with impartiality," said Denis Côté, president of the Federation of Municipal Police. "Only the police have the expertise to conduct these investigations."
A former lead investigator for the Ontario SIU, Gareth Jones, was asked recently by the Quebec ombudsman whether only police officers have the requisite skills and experience to investigate incidents involving other police.
"Absolutely not," Mr. Jones stated in a letter. "Investigators from civilian backgrounds make just as good investigators as serving or former police officers."
Quebec police forces recognize that people have lost confidence in their ability to conduct impartial investigations involving other police, but Mr. Côté said that allowing an oversight body of observers to monitor these investigations would restore that confidence.
"We will show that the Quebec model is better than the Ontario model … which has come under severe criticism," Mr. Côté said.
Bernard Lehre, head of the Quebec City police union, said there is no perfect system but the one proposed by the Quebec government was best suited to respond to the public's concern for more transparency. He said he will propose amendments to the bill to allow for information about the investigations to be released to the public.
"It is the lack of information that creates apprehension with the public," Mr. Lehre said. "For these types of inquiries there is no reason why the information should not be released quickly rather than being withheld from the families of the victims."
Public Security Minister Robert Dutil said he will keep an open mind to the various recommendations made during the public hearings process. But he gave no indication that he planned to overhaul proposed legislation, as recommended by the ombudsman and human-rights groups appearing before the National Assembly committee.
"We have 38 groups to hear from and the views will vary from one group to another. ... Our objective is to allow the police to do their job, but we have to have more transparency when those events happen," Mr. Dutil said.
He expects the bill to be adopted by the end of the current session in late spring.
Rhéal Séguin