On January 7, 2021, RCMP Manitoba North District officers received a report that an on-duty RCMP member driving a police vehicle intentionally struck a dog sitting in the roadway in the community of Pukatawagan, Manitoba.
The condition of the dog is unknown as efforts to locate the dog after the incident were unsuccessful.
Senior officers immediately began investigating the serious allegations, and on January 11, 2021, the RCMP advised the Manitoba Independent Investigation Unit (IIU).
On January 12, 2021, the RCMP was informed the IIU would assert its jurisdiction and be the lead investigative agency in this matter.
The officer in question has not returned to the community and has been placed on administrative duties.
We are not able to provide information on years of service or any other information that could possibly identify the officer.
The RCMP has initiated a Code of Conduct investigation into this matter. To learn more about this process and what is involved, there is information on our website: https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/conduct-process-overview.
We take this incident very seriously. The RCMP has dogs that are an important part of our investigative teams and many of our officers work with rescue groups to help animals find homes.
As this is now an IIU investigation, we are not able to speak further to the incident.