MHPS inspector returns from conference where police, lawyers gathered to talk Canadian justice system

By Jeremy Appel on November 24, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

Medicine Hat Police Service Insp. Brent Secondiak returned Wednesday from Vancouver, where he was participating in the two-day Law of Policing Conference.

Secondiak says the conference brought together lawyers and police officers to discuss recent developments in Canada’s justice system.

A major topic of discussion was police oversight, which is done by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team here.

The country’s police oversight bodies don’t have a cohesive mandate, he said.

While ASIRT deals specifically with criminal complaints against officers, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit deals with all allegations of wrongdoing.

ASIRT is composed of active and former police officers, as well as civilians.

Secondiak said the SIU and British Columbia’s Independent Investigations Office experimented with having civilians conduct investigations, but determined it wasn’t working.

“I do agree that it’s nice to have civilian oversight, but to do the actual investigation you need someone that’s experienced in doing investigation,” he said, adding that lawyers, accountants, doctors and others investigate their own.

“For transparency’s sake, it’s great to have somebody who’s retired or not with that agency and the final decision is made by a person who isn’t a police officer.”

Attendees also discussed enforcement of the Cannabis Act, the ongoing opioid crisis, harm reduction and needle exchanges, an appropriate discussion to have in Vancouver, home of the first legal safe injection site in North America.

“They’re really at the leading edge of it, because they have such a problem with opioids and fentanyl,” said Secondiak.

The Supreme Court’s Jordan ruling, which sets an 18-month ceiling on time between a suspect’s arrest on provincial offences and trial, was another topic Secondiak identified as a highlight.

This was his second time attending the conference. He previously attended it five years ago.

MHPS likes to send a delegate every few years to keep them up to date with the latest trends in law enforcement, Secondiak said.

“We can scan the environment to look for best practices and see if we’re doing things correctly here,” he said.

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