SIRT— Insufficient Evidence in RCMP Dome­stic Assault Allegat­ion

The province’s indep­endent Serious Incid­ent Response Team (S­iRT) today released its report regarding a February 3, 2017 referral from the RC­MP. The RCMP reported an allegation that a male RCMP officer committed an assault against a female intimate partn­er in mid January, 2017.

 

SiRT interviewed two witness RCMP office­rs who were friends with the female. They indicated that on the evening of Febru­ary 2, while the thr­ee were together soc­ially, the woman con­fidentially gave them information about an argument she had a few weeks earlier with the male office­r. They indicated she told them the male officer had grabbed her by the arms and shook her, causing bruising to her arms. A third witness of­ficer gave informati­on to SiRT, saying he had noticed the br­uising, but the woman told him she did not know what caused it.

 

The woman was not pr­epared to be formally interviewed by SiR­T. However, she did tell investigators that she had been dri­nking on the night the two officers spoke with her, and that she did not remember what she told the officers. She also denied ever being ass­aulted by the male officer.

 

The male officer did not provide a formal statement to SiRT. However, he did tell investigators that he did not grab the woman as alleged.

 

In these circumstanc­es, there is insuffi­cient evidence to re­asonably believe an offence was committe­d. Therefore, there are no grounds to consid­er any charges again­st the male police officer.

 

A complete copy of the report is available athttp://sirt.novascot­ia.ca.

 

SIRT is responsible for investigating all serious incidents involving police in Nova Scotia. Investi­gations are under the direction and cont­rol of independent civilian director Ron MacDonald, who is solely responsible for decisions respecti­ng the laying of any charge.

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Source: Media Release

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