More police conduct concerns in 2020 than year before: CPS report
Posted Jul 7, 2021 10:25 am.
CALGARY – Calgarians are becoming more and more concerned with police conduct, according to a report from Calgary Police Services (CPS).
The CPS annual conduct report for 2020 says Calgarians reported 12 per cent more concerns about police last year than they did the year before.
Nearly 1,400 police conduct concerns were filed in 2020, which is 144 additional complaints from the year before. There were also 15 more cases where minor misconduct warranted formal discipline than in the previous year.
Most concerns, 86 per cent, were resolved informally, withdrawn, or were found to be invalid.
Eighty-four per cent of the conduct concerns reported in 2020 were investigated and addressed within three months, with a total of 96 per cent being completed in less than a year.
When a concern cannot be resolved informally, is too serious to be resolved informally, or when the person who reported the concern prefers it, the concern is processed as a complaint, and a formal misconduct investigation proceeds.
There were 404 conduct concerns that resulted in a formal misconduct investigation last year. Just over one-quarter of those were started after conduct concerns were raised internally by other officers or partner agencies.
“We know that Calgarians see it as a priority for us to improve how police conduct concerns are addressed, including shortening the time it takes for investigations,” CPS Superintendent Scott Boyd said.
“We also have heard that we need to do a better job of showing the public how we are accountable for our actions. Lost trust takes time to rebuild and we remain committed to gaining the trust of our whole community by being transparent, building relationships, and enhancing understanding.”
Police also say they implemented other reforms such as a new training program to address conduct concerns.
CPS says Chief Mark Neufeld is also now more directly involved in overseeing the progress of investigations and work is underway to try to prevent misconduct through internal education.
There was also a seven per cent increase in compliments submitted, with 326 people submitting a compliment to formally thank officers who went above and beyond.
“We never like to see an increase in people concerned a police officer acted inappropriately, but it is good to see that the vast majority of concerns can be resolved informally or turn out to be situations where officers did, in fact, act appropriately,” added Boyd.
“We are also hopeful that the focus on police accountability this past year has made people feel more comfortable raising their concerns with us, which would be a good thing.”
CPS says the Professional Standards Section has also started collecting data on the race of people reporting conduct concerns to see if there are any patterns that may impact some communities more than others.
This was a part of their September 2020 promise to Calgarians.
