Yellowknife RCMP say they are continuing their “internal administrative review” into an officer who is alleged to have broken a man’s rib after allegedly turning off his dashboard camera.
However, police officials say they can’t identify the officer or answer CKLB’s question about whether the officer remains on active duty while he and his actions are being reviewed.
They say the Privacy Act as well as their own internal protocols prevent them from revealing that information.
CKLB asked the question after RCMP admitted they knew nothing of the circustances of the incident until after it was revealed in court and reported in the media.
Mounties have not addressed why they were not aware of what happened that night back in February or whether the officer in question had reported the injury to his superiors.
It is not uncommon in Canada for police forces to tell the public whether an officer being investigated for alleged misconduct has been placed on administrative duty or suspended while he or she is being investigated.
“The RCMP states we are reviewing the file, not investigating,” stated RCMP civilian spokesperson Marie York-Condon in an email to CKLB. “Until the administrative review is complete, we will not comment further.”
Police have also not addressed why an outside police agency was not brought in to look into this accusation of police misconduct which is the usual RCMP protocol.
Police did issue a news release after they learned of the incident through the media back in April.
“Yellowknife RCMP arrested a male on February 19, 2019. The male was brought into custody and placed in (RCMP) cells. The man appeared before court in relation to the charges, and during the court proceedings, comments from the defense counsel inferred the man was injured while in custody. RCMP takes any allegation or reference to a possible injury while in custody very seriously,” police stated. “Accordingly, NT RCMP have commenced an administrative review of the matter. The review will be conducted by a commissioned officer (Inspector) who is independent of the involved incident.”
The alleged victim in this case is Randy Allen, 36, who is known to police.
The Indigenous man has convictions on his criminal record for resisting arrest and assaulting police, but not from this latest incident.
He was not charged with assault or resisting in the latest incident.
Court heard that he was found intoxicated behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle behind a downtown apartment building back in February before suffering the injury.
He has since been convicted of impaired driving.
His lawyer told CKLB it was not the first time Allen was roughed up by a Yellowknife RCMP officer.
