Front-line police need greater supervision in 'increasingly complex' sex assault cases: report

The Mass Casualty Commission's final report into the April 2020 mass shooting recommends increasing supervision for front-line police officers, after identifying shortcomings in investigating sexual assaults and gender-based violence.

Those are among the areas the inquiry found that police have been performing "poorly," noting that front-line officers are not well equipped for "increasingly complex" work.

"The examples reviewed … suggest that some — perhaps many — front-line police are not sufficiently familiar with the existing criminal law and with patterns of gender-based violence," says the report, which was released at the end of March.

It warns of the need to improve "low-visibility decision-making" made by front-line police. It says those decisions are rarely scrutinized by any external body. It also notes those decisions give a "great deal of power" to front-line officers.

The report calls for improving the organizational structure of police forces, including boosting supervision. It suggests providing officers with day-to-day feedback, for example, and reviewing their notes at the end of each shift. 

'Flawed understanding' of law of consent

The report notes similarities in the so-called low-visibility decisions made by police in the case of Lisa Banfield, the common-law spouse of the mass shooting gunman, and the case of Susan Butlin of Bayhead, N.S. 

The gunman was abusive toward Banfield for years and was reported to police for domestic assault, issuing threats and possessing illegal firearms. But no police investigation or charges followed.

In Butlin's case, she reported to police that a neighbour sexually assaulted her and was harassing her. Several officers who looked into her complaints did not see any criminal offences. 

She was shot and killed by that neighbour in September 2017.

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"Multiple members did not see the violence that she reported for what it was: a sexual assault," the report says. 

It cites an internal police review into the RCMP's response in that case. It found multiple failures, including that investigators and supervisors had a "flawed understanding" of the law of consent.

However, the Mass Casualty Commission found that in spite of the mistakes that were made, the review was not shared with the officers who were named in it, resulting in a missed opportunity for them to learn from it. 

National project underway

A national project is underway to review cases in which sexual assault complaints failed to lead to charges and to determine why police chose not to proceed. The federally funded project is called the Violence Against Women Advocate Case Review and it has examined hundreds of cases at the municipal policing level in 29 communities since 2016. 

Nova Scotia's Sunny Marriner, the project's national co-ordinator, helped create the project after working in sexual assault centres for 25 years, where she heard directly from women about their experiences.

The numbers vary across the country, but she says as few as one in five sexual-assault complaints to police result in charges.

Marriner was part of a roundtable on police responses during the inquiry, where she talked about some of the troubling issues the reviews have uncovered.

"It's certainly disturbing and problematic when we see cases where the officer themself doesn't understand the definition of consent," Marriner said.

"Police may ask questions like, 'Well, how did the other person know that you didn't want to?' 'What signs did you show them that you didn't want to?' 'Why didn't you try to leave?' 'Why didn't you say no?' 'You didn't say no, so we can't prosecute.' In fact, all of that is legally incorrect."

She also said there are concerning examples in which officers understood the law but disagreed with it and used their own interpretations regarding what amount of evidence is sufficient to proceed with a sexual assault case.

Marriner's project does not review RCMP cases, but she and her colleagues are in discussions with municipal police services in Nova Scotia about participating.

Recognizing patterns of violence 

A number of experts quoted in the commission's final report also talk about the need for police to expand their approach to reports of gender-based violence and intimate-partner violence, including by focusing on patterns of behaviour rather than individual complaints.

"Police officers are not necessarily equipped to address the pattern," said Carmen Gill, a sociology professor at the University of New Brunswick.

"They may show up and say, 'Well, there is no evidence of violence in this particular situation,' because at the time of their intervention they may not necessarily see physical violence."

Gill led a research project in which police officers across Canada were surveyed in order to understand how they view such cases. That data is currently being analyzed and the final report is expected by the end of the summer, she said.

Progress being made: RCMP

The Nova Scotia RCMP has said it now works with advocates in the field and has put in place a sexual assault review committee to examine its investigations.

The committee was formed during the 2019-2020 fiscal year and is made up of six advocates "involved in violence prevention, wellness and clinical services, women's shelters, post-secondary education, African Nova Scotian social work and clinical consultation and Indigenous victim supports," a spokesperson said by email.

Assistant Commissioner Dennis Daley told CBC News after the report was released that advocates are able to review files and suggest investigative steps, while also identifying myths and bad habits that inform police training.

The RCMP said it has a team in place that is studying the commission's findings and co-ordinating the response.

In a statement to CBC News, the RCMP said it "will meet the same high standards of thoroughness and transparency as the MCC in our response to their report."

The statement said the force plans to report publicly on its progress and it will provide an update in the coming weeks.