SIRT will bring ‘oversight of the oversight,’ says head of Public Complaints Commission

Saskatchewan’s new civilian-led investigation team is now active.

Greg Gudelot, the executive director of Saskatchewan’s Public Complaints Commission (PCC) and the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), told Gormley this is a huge step forward in establishing public confidence.

“It’s our top-of-the-page goal,” Gudelot said. “Everything that we do has to lead to that goal of public confidence.”

SIRT investigates serious incidents involving police officers.

Serious incidents are defined as death or serious injury that was caused by police or that may have happened in police custody. As well, they could be incidents in which police officers or special constables — on or off duty — are alleged to have committed acts of domestic violence or sexual assault.

Until the introduction of SIRT, such incidents were usually handled by the Ministry of Justice, and the investigations were conducted by a separate police force.

SIRT will fall under the authority of the PCC.

Gudelot said that in previous cases, investigations rarely gave the public a proper sense of what actually happened in an incident and hardly clarified why a decision was made.

As the civilian director of SIRT, Gudelot will be able to determine whether or not an incident falls within SIRT’s mandate.
He had also previously served as the assistant executive director of Alberta’s Serious Incident Response Team.

SIRT investigators are retired police officers.

When a serious incident occurs, the police force or jurisdiction involved has an obligation to notify Gudelot.

“SIRT doesn’t deal with complaints, we deal with serious incidents but operationally we report to the PCC,” he said.

“We’re able to leverage what I like to call ‘oversight of the oversight.’ By having the civilian executive director of SIRT report to an independent non-police civilian appointed body, you’re really building into the process a second layer of oversight.”

Gudelot told Gormley that while certain details might not be disclosed for privacy’s sake, the summaries of investigations will be very transparent.

“It really is a complete recounting of what happened,” he said. “It has to tell the public what happened, it has to tell the public who was interviewed as a result of that investigation, it has to tell the public the legal analysis that was provided and whether or not that matter was referred on to the Crown for opinion on whether or not charges should result.”

If an incident is investigated and is found to be unethical but ultimately short of a criminal violation, Gudelot has the option to forward the matter to the separate investigative team of the PCC, which handles police complaints.

“That’s primarily of a disciplinary nature,” Gudelot said. “I can also take a completed SIRT investigation and forward it to the chief of police with the suggestion that discipline be imposed.”