10 law professors join calls for more oversight of Newfoundland and Labrador police
![Royal Newfoundland Constabulary police car A Royal Newfoundland Constabulary police car is shown in St. John's in a June, 2020 photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2022/6/1/royal-newfoundland-constabulary-police-car-1-5927833-1654099196691.jpg)
A group of law professors in Nova Scotia is joining calls for more civilian-led oversight of police in Newfoundland and Labrador, as the force grapples with allegations of sexual misconduct against its members.
Ten professors from Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law wrote an open letter to Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Minister John Hogan this week, echoing a St. John's-based Indigenous group's calls for a civilian-led board to oversee police.
"In most provinces in Canada -- including Nova Scotia -- police services are directly accountable to civilian-led police boards or commissions that are established by statute," said the professors' letter, released Tuesday.
"Ensuring the transparency and accountability of police through comprehensive oversight is critical to the rule of law."
As of last July, Newfoundland and Labrador has its own civilian-led police watchdog agency -- the Serious Incident Response Team. Led by lawyer Mike King, the agency investigates injuries, death, sexual assault and domestic violence involving officers from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and the RCMP, with whom the Constabulary shares policing duties in the province.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary also has an independent, civilian-led public complaints commission.
Justin Campbell of Indigenous coalition First Voice says a civilian-led oversight board would play a different role than those two authorities.
"Both of those bodies are reactive forms of civilian oversight," said Campbell, whose organization has a working group advocating for civilian-led police oversight in accordance with the Calls for Justice laid out by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
"The civilian oversight board that we're proposing would have the power to draft and enforce policies related to the way that policing is conducted here."
The board, Campbell added, would be proactive and aimed at establishing policies that better serve the public, rather than responding to complaints when existing policies fail.
Such a board is needed in Newfoundland and Labrador, he said, pointing as evidence to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary's quiet introduction last year of a policy regarding the transport of members of the public. An access to information request showed that the force put in place new rules last September forbidding officers from offering people rides home unless the ride is part of a service call.
The rules were introduced after public complaints emerged alleging officers had acted inappropriately after offering women rides home from downtown St. John's. Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Chief Patrick Roche's note to officers emphasized that the force's policies are confidential.
Campbell said it was concerning that The Canadian Press had to submit an access to information request to find out about the policy -- the force had otherwise refused to answer questions about it. "It raises all kinds of questions about transparency, how the policy was drafted, and who had input," he said. "Never mind how the policy is supposed to be enforced."
The issue of police offering people rides home came up in the trials of Const. Carl Douglas Snelgrove, who was convicted in May of 2021 for sexually assaulting a woman while on duty after driving her home from downtown St. John's. He is appealing that conviction.
Snelgrove first went to trial for the charge in 2017, and testified that it was not uncommon for officers to give people lifts home.
Campbell said a civilian-led board could have helped stop that practice. "Had we had a board in place that certainly would have come to their attention, and they would have been able to act much more quickly to address that gap in policy."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6941344.1719400735!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
She's still busy at 105. What secrets and science are behind Canada's 'super agers'?
There is ongoing research to better understand the relationship between social connection and healthy aging, and why the brains of super agers look different compared with their peers.
Several U.S. military bases in Europe on heightened alert amid possible terrorist threat
Several U.S. military bases across Europe were put on a heightened state of alert over the weekend, with the level of force protection raised to its second-highest state amid concerns that a terrorist attack could target U.S. military personnel or facilities, according to two U.S. officials.
Biden allies rally behind him with a public show of support as he spends family time at Camp David
While President Joe Biden was out of sight at Camp David Sunday spending time with family, prominent Democrats rallied with a public show of unwavering support for his campaign following his unsteady debate performance and growing anxiety over whether he should remain in the White House race.
Travellers watch as WestJet cancels flights with no end to mechanics strike in sight
Travellers flying with WestJet continue to watch as the airline cancels more flights due to a sudden strike by its mechanics union.
Some of Canada's wealthiest billionaires, according to Forbes
If you gathered all the wealth that billionaires currently have worldwide, you would have about US$14.2 trillion, according to Forbes Magazine. But what about in Canada alone?
Zelenskyy appeals to West to relax targeting limits for Ukraine as glide bombs hammer front line
Drone footage from Ukraine's military released Sunday has shown what appears to be bodies in a civilian area in the embattled town of Toretsk in the east of the country.
Evacuation orders lifted for some Arizona residents forced from their homes days ago by a wildfire
Evacuation orders in Arizona have been lifted for some residents of northeast Scottsdale, days after they were forced from their homes by a wildfire, authorities said Sunday.
Nude beach etiquette: Lose your clothes, not your manners
Most of us have felt the freedom and delight that comes with stripping down to a swimsuit on a sunny day and wading into a cool sea, the horizon twinkling in the distance.
Female suicide bombers kill at least 18 in coordinated attack in Nigeria, authorities say
Female suicide bombers targeted a wedding, a funeral and a hospital in coordinated attacks in northern Nigeria that killed at least 18 people, local authorities said Sunday.