Nova Scotia’s police watchdog has confirmed to Global News that they have had conversations with New Brunswick officials about the idea of a shared investigative team.
Currently, the Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) investigates officer-involved incidents involving death, serious injury, sexual assault and domestic violence in Nova Scotia.
But when similar incidents occur in New Brunswick, such as the fatal police shootings of Chantel Moore and Rodney Levi, an outside investigator is requested to investigate.
In the deaths of Moore and Levi that outside investigator is Quebec’s Bureau des Enquêtes Indépendantes (BEI).
A New Brunswick Police Commission review that was presented in late 2019 recommended the province consider creating a watchdog, or a local team to work with SiRT.
However, when SiRT investigates outside of the province it has no obligation or authority to make its report public. It’s a decision that is up to the local agency.
Both New Brunswick’s premier and public safety minister said in early June that it might be better to not establish New Brunswick’s own independent team.
“I’m not sure that New Brunswick having its own (team) is the right answer,” said Public Safety Minister Carl Urqhart.
Higgs said that “independence” is heightened when other province’s watchdog agencies are called in to investigate.
SiRT’s director Felix Cacchione told Global News that there’s been a discussion about how a shared entity could work, but that there has been no official proposal in terms of establishing a new entity.
The Department of Public Safety said on Friday that they’re reviewing various options, including a regional agency serving multiple provinces.