RPS officer still on-duty after serious snooping offence

A constable with the Regina Police Service still has his job after snooping on his ex and their family and friends 67 times in an internal police database.

According to a new report from Saskatchewan’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Grace Hession David, the snooping went on from the fall of 2021 to the summer of 2024. Constable Clinton Duquette was being investigated by the RPS Professional Standards Branch when the privacy breaches were discovered.

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The investigation found Duquette accessed the files of six people multiple times in the Integrated Electronic Information System over three years. The people included a former partner of Duquette’s, the former partner’s sibling, the former partner’s previous partners and others.

The commissioner pointed out that there were a number of safeguards in place – three years of privacy training, signing a confidentiality protocol, clicking through the privacy disclaimer in the program – but Duquette bypassed all of them to snoop.

In its submission to the privacy commissioner, the police service said Duquette accessed the personal information for personal reasons and used the information for personal gain.

“RPS explained that the police officer was ‘going through some personal issues during the time period which led (them) to making poor decisions,’” read the commissioner’s report.

“Making poor decisions for three years, three months and 15 days and deliberately bypassing every safeguard in place should lead to a conclusion that future access could be risky and highly questionable.”

The punishment for Duquette ended up being one day without pay, a requirement to re-take the privacy training and to sign the confidentiality protocol again. The Regina Police Service also intended to randomly audit his access to the system for two years, which he still has open access to.

The commissioner said that punishment wasn’t enough.

“The disciplinary measures adopted by the RPS in this case are wholly inadequate and will not restore public faith in the RPS,” read the report.

She wrote that the police service should commit to a zero-tolerance culture for inappropriate accessing of personal information and should consider severe consequences.

“The public deserves to know that the RPS guards their privacy and protects their safety – the two concepts go hand in hand,” wrote Hession David.

The report also mentions the case of Sergeant Robert Semenchuck, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to using the Regina Police Service databases to pursue women – Hession David said it was an unfortunate backdrop to this current case.

The commissioner found the breaches were intentional and wilful, and that the police service took minimal steps to contain it.

She said the letter the police service sent to the affected people notifying them of what happened was adequate, but it was sent three months after the breach was discovered and so she determined it wasn’t timely enough.

Among the recommendations from Hession David were that the police revoke Duquette’s access to the system permanently or that he be the focus of targeted audits on a monthly basis indefinitely.

The commissioner also recommended that the case be referred to the Attorney General for an opinion on prosecution for violation of the privacy law.

RPS thinks punishment was justified

Regina’s police chief, Lorilee Davies, said in determining discipline, the police force will look at other cases across the country, as well as the officer’s record, which was clean for Duquette prior to this incident.

“He acknowledged he’s made mistakes. He is very remorseful (and) took full responsibility,” Davies said. “Part of our discipline isn’t just about punishment, but it’s also about taking remedial steps so that there isn’t further mistakes made down the road.”

The report indicates that the officer took information and privacy training before the breaches occurred. He also overrode all of the guardrails to conduct the searches. Regarding this, Davies said she has full confidence in the officer that he won’t do this again.

“He’s very upset. He is embarrassed. He’s embarrassed for our organization,” she said.

“I think having him gone through what he has, including this report being released today, certainly sends a message to all employees of the Regina police service that this isn’t something that will be taken lightly.”

She said the RPS are looking at steps in terms of how the service can improve so that this doesn’t happen again.

“The public should expect us to do better. I expect us to do better,” she said.

When asked about the Semenchuck case, Davies said the incidents are “completely different in terms of the harm to the people involved.”

When it comes to the commissioner’s recommendation of a zero-tolerance policy for privacy breaches, Davies said she was unsure of what that would look like in practice.

“The practicality of our job is that our employees here need to have access to those databases to be able to do their work, and so I don’t know what zero tolerance looks like,” she said.

— with files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick