An investigation into an incident involving Lloydminster RCMP has recently been wrapped up.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team reviewed the evidence from a situation that happened last January, where a suspect was driving a vehicle towards the Lloydminster RCMP officer in an attempt to avoid a spike belt, and the officer fired at the truck several times.
There were no injuries resulting from the shots fired and ASIRT did not find the officer to have have committed any criminal offences.
“The way it works in the province of Alberta is that under the Police Act, police agencies have to report certain things to the Director of Law Enforcement, which is a government head of law enforcement in the province. And one of the things that it’s mandatory to report is an incident where police have fired at a person, even if there’s no actual wound,” says Susan Hughson, Executive Director of ASIRT.
ASIRT has been around since 2008 and is unique in the sense that it is the only agency that currently works under the system where the Director of Law Enforcement determines what investigations the agency enters into.
“My position’s always been, to be quite honest with you, if my child was involved in an altercation with police and was hurt or shot and killed, I’d want a homicide investigator investigating that. I’d want the best of the best investigating. And the same would be my perspective if my son or daughter was the officer involved in the incident. I’d want to make sure there’s a capable investigator who knows the issue surrounding evidence and can ensure that it’s the best investigation possible,” say Hughson.
You can find all the agency’s releases on their website at ASIRT.ca