Top Court Orders Release of Erased Police Disciplinary Files

Defendants in criminal proceedings now have a stronger right to access officers' prior violations, even records that have been officially scrubbed from internal files, following a unanimous Supreme Court judgment.

Top Court Orders Release of Erased Police Disciplinary Files

A defendant in Alberta now has the right to examine an officer's prior violations, even though those records had been officially scrubbed from internal files before charges were laid.

The case began in May 2022, when John McKee was accused of narcotics and firearms offences following an inquiry led by Detective Jared Ruecker of the Edmonton Police Service. Ruecker had been found guilty of misconduct during a 2015 hearing, but that entry vanished from his personnel file sometime before early 2022 under existing regulations.

Prosecutors are required to share all pertinent material with defence counsel. Initially, Edmonton's force told the Crown no relevant disciplinary documents existed for Ruecker, and the Crown passed this package to McKee's lawyers.

McKee's team later learned about Ruecker's history and demanded its release. It emerged that prosecutors already held a copy through another, unrelated matter. In 2023, the Crown acknowledged that Ruecker's past violations could realistically affect his reliability as a witness.

McKee obtained a court order at Alberta's Court of King's Bench compelling disclosure. The city's police chief appealed to the Supreme Court.

On Friday, all nine justices ruled that forces must actively locate and forward relevant material to prosecutors, including both investigative and disciplinary documents. The Crown then screens what the accused receives.

Justice Sheilah Martin wrote that administrative purging "does not alter the legal regime" governing release during criminal proceedings.

Source: Toronto Star

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)