The administrative review, or Independent Officer Review (IOR,) which began on April 24, 2019, has been completed.
Yellowknife RCMP arrested a male on February 19, 2019. The male was brought into custody and placed in Cells.
On April 8, 2019, the man appeared before court in relation to the charges from the arrest. During court proceedings, comments from the defense counsel inferred the man was injured while in custody and that the incident was not recorded.
An Independent Officer Review (IOR) was commenced by NT RCMP.
An IOR determines if the RCMP's policies and procedures were followed in a given circumstance.
The actions of the officer were found reasonable given the circumstances.
On the evening of February 19, an RCMP member located a stolen vehicle in the city of Yellowknife, and observed what was believed to be an intoxicated individual behind the wheel. Safety of the man, the officer and the public required quick action to remove the person from the vehicle, to prevent potential flight. The RCMP member involved did not activate their lights and siren, so as not to startle the driver into possible action. The video recording device is activated by turning on lights and siren or manually. The device was activated manually as soon as the member was able to secure the person and place them into the police vehicle.
The Review finds that while it is possible the man could have been injured while being removed from the vehicle and taken into custody, it was unable to determine when the injury occurred.
"The intent of an IOR, is to determine if the RCMP's policies and procedures were followed. In this case, they were. We thoroughly reviewed the incident and find the officer acted reasonably and took immediate action to protect the public, the individual and themselves from the potential threat of a stolen vehicle being put in motion by a possibly intoxicated driver. With their actions, the officer ensured a safe resolution to a fluid and risky situation" states Inspector Alex Laporte, Officer in Charge, Yellowknife Detachment.