N.S. police watchdog investigating alleged domestic abuse by officer

Nova Scotia’s police watchdog is investigating allegations of domestic violence at the hands of a local RCMP officer.

The Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) opened the case on Friday, after it was notified of the alleged assaults by the Halifax District RCMP.

“An civilian adult male, the affected party, contacted the RCMP to report that he was a victim of domestic violence,” reads a news statement from SiRT.

“The male alleges that the female member assaulted him on five [to] six occasions over a two-year period.”

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Pat Curran, interim director for SiRT, confirmed the adult male is a civilian and none of the alleged assaults involved a weapon. He was unable to elaborate on the relationship between the victim and RCMP officer.

Curran also couldn’t speculate on how long investigation into the matter will take, but said he doubted it would be one of the “lengthier cases.”

A single investigator has been assigned to the issue.

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The Serious Incident Response Team is responsible for investigating serious incidents involving police in the province, both RCMP and Halifax Regional Police.

Its members can launch investigation based on public complaints, or referral from police chiefs, the head of the Nova Scotia RCMP or the province’s justice minister.

Results of SiRT investigations are made public.