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2nd Annual Western Canadian Conference on
The Law of Policing
Essential Professional Development for All Sectors of Policing
Tuesday, November 29 to Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, BC
Day 1: Tuesday, Nov 29, 2011
7:30 Registration Opens; Continental Breakfast
8:30 Announcements and Opening Remarks from the Co-Chair - Robert Mitchell
Chair
Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission
8:40 Top Civil Litigation Developments of the Year - Jeremy Poole
Partner
Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP - Cameron Ward
A. Cameron Ward & Company
- Lessons to be learned from Camaso v. Saanich
- An update on any appeals: Will the $354,000 judgment stand?
- When will the courts find gross negligence?
- Exposure of individual officers to liability
- Advice on officer notes
- When does the cause of action arise in negligent investigation?
- The duty to warn: is it being expanded?
- Developments in defamation
- Use of force
- Adverse consequences for naming officers personally
- Charter damages
- Can they now be awarded in criminal court?
- This year’s developments following Ward
- Practical implications of adverse judgments for police departments
- Policies, procedures and training
9:45 Networking Refreshment Break
10:00 Dealing with the Domino Effects from McNeil - Inspector Ruben Sorge
Vancouver Police Department
- Geoff Crowe
Director of Legal Services
Edmonton Police Service - Ravi R. Hira, Q.C.
Affleck Hira Burgoyne LLP
- Grant B. Wong
Deputy Regional Crown Counsel
B.C. Ministry of the Attorney General
- On what kinds of allegations are defence counsel seeking
or not seeking disclosure?
- When charges against the officer were dismissed,
are the incidents still subject to disclosure?
- What if a McNeil request is made during trial?
- The developing Scopelliti landscape
- What impact is McNeil having on police discipline?
- Managing the repercussions of officer deceit
- Why deceit may be the biggest problem facing police forces today
- Under what circumstances will an officer who has been deceitful in the past be useless as a witness in the future?
- Salvaging an officer as a potential witness
- HR policies police forces need to implement
- Changing the organizational culture
- Lessons from the U.S. experience
- Accommodating officers with problematic discipline records
- What constitutes reasonable limits on accommodation
in this context?
- Resolving any difference between Crowns and police forces as to what needs to be disclosed
- Responding to the practical administrative challenges associated with requests
- Is McNeil’s influence extending beyond the content of the case itself?
- Disclosure creep: are the limitations in McNeil being
left behind?
11:15 Investigating Police Corruption - Special Agent Robert A. Schwinger
FBI, Baltimore Division - Janet Winteringham, Q.C.
Winteringham MacKay George Law Corporation
- Maintaining the integrity of the investigation
- Identifying and meeting the challenges of prosecution
- Ensuring the safety of investigators
- Case studies
12:30 Luncheon for Delegates and Speakers - Cameron Ward
A. Cameron Ward & Company
"The Missing Women Inquiry: Observations from Inside the Hearing Room"
1:45 B.C.’s Amended Police Act: A Report Card - David Butcher
Wilson‚ Buck‚ Butcher & Sears
- Chief Constable Bob Rich
Abbotsford Police Department - Tom Stamatakis
President
Vancouver Police Union
- An update on judicial reviews and other cases that have tested interpretation of sections of the Act and the powers of the Commissione
- How responding to judicial review applications is affecting the Commissioner’s financial resources and ability to hold hearings
- The cost of administering the changes to the Act
- Can the commissioner call a public hearing? – an update on the Dickhout case at the Supreme Court of Canada
- Dealing with the practical problems of meeting the prescribed deadlines
- Responding to uncooperative complainants
3:00 Networking Refreshment Break
3:15 Understanding the Implications of the 2011 Amendments to Alberta’s Police Act - Bonnie Bokenfohr
Field LLP‚ Edmonton
- The impact of a new definition for “complainant”
- The addition of discoverability to the limitation provisions
- How will it be interpreted?
- Resolving matters “not of a serious nature”
- Factors to consider
- Penalties available
- Appeals to the Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB)
- The impact of two Alberta Court of Appeal decisions that turned the whole review process on its head
- How will hearings proceed? – a hearing de novo or an appellate review?
- If a review on the record, what constitutes the record?
- the LERB’s holding
- The effect of the Police Act amendments
- Statutory privilege over officer statements
- If the officer does not waive privilege, how can the LERB adjudicate the appeal?
- Can the LERB review privileged statements?
- Is this a factor in favour of a de novo hearing?
- Publication of disciplinary decisions
- An update on litigation involving interpretation of the Act
Day 2: Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011
8:00 Continental Breakfast
- Chief Constable Bob Rich
Abbotsford Police Department
8:35 Effective Risk Management for Police Forces - Sheila Sullivan
Executive Resource Officer
Vancouver Police Union
- Geoff Crowe
Director of Legal Services
Edmonton Police Service
- Identifying and managing key areas of legal risk for police forces
- High-speed pursuits
- Care of persons in custody: lessons from the Frank Paul Inquiry
- Dealing with members of the public who have
mental-health issues
- Confidential informants
- Undercover operations
- Evolving guidelines on use of force
- Public Safety Canada guidelines
- The New RCMP policy
- Preventing incorrect judicial findings that could impair
an officer’s future ability to testify
- Why this is a risk-management issue
- Ethical standards and their role in mitigating risks
- Detecting and correcting systemic errors
- Should internal risk-management reviews be subject to disclosure to the Crown, police oversight bodies or access requests?
- Considerations when hiring, training and supervising
- Use of apologies where apology legislation is in force
- Managing risks associated with requests for assistance
from other forces
- What happens if someone borrowed from another jurisdiction gets injured?
- Who should pay for workers’ comp coverage?
- Should coverage be obtained in the host province?
- Avoiding huge premium increases in the home province if there are injuries
- Contractual risk allocation
- Managing litigation risk
- The impact of risk-management analysis on police oversight and internal investigations and prosecutions
9:45 Networking Refreshment Break - Geoff Crowe
Director of Legal Services
Edmonton Police Service
- Identifying and managing key areas of legal risk for police forces
- High-speed pursuits
- Care of persons in custody: lessons from the Frank Paul Inquiry
- Dealing with members of the public who have
mental-health issues
- Confidential informants
- Undercover operations
- Evolving guidelines on use of force
- Public Safety Canada guidelines
- The New RCMP policy
- Preventing incorrect judicial findings that could impair
an officer’s future ability to testify
- Why this is a risk-management issue
- Ethical standards and their role in mitigating risks
- Detecting and correcting systemic errors
- Should internal risk-management reviews be subject to disclosure to the Crown, police oversight bodies or access requests?
- Considerations when hiring, training and supervising
- Use of apologies where apology legislation is in force
- Managing risks associated with requests for assistance
from other forces
- What happens if someone borrowed from another jurisdiction gets injured?
- Who should pay for workers’ comp coverage?
- Should coverage be obtained in the host province?
- Avoiding huge premium increases in the home province if there are injuries
- Contractual risk allocation
- Managing litigation risk
- The impact of risk-management analysis on police oversight and internal investigations and prosecutions
10:00 Meeting the Challenges of Human Rights Complaints within Police Forces - Derek Cranna
Partner
Field LLP‚ Edmonton
- Responding to the duty to accommodate
- Physical disabilities
- Mental health disabilities, including disorders that
may pose a risk to the officer and/or the public
- Substance abuse
- Identifying bona fide occupational requirements in the police context
- What meets the test of undue hardship in large forces?
- Preventing and dealing with discrimination and harassment
- Multiplicity of fora
- Use of ADR
11:00 Dealing with Clashes at the Intersection of Police Complaints, Internal Investigations, Criminal Investigations and Civil Actions - E. David Crossin
Partner
Sugden‚ McFee & Roos LLP
- Police complaints as a way to get discovery/investigation
in aid of a civil action
- Is there protection of materials generated by the police
for Crown briefs?
- When a police officer seeks the documents?
- What, if any, rights do witnesses have to production
of the police file that is really the Crown brief?
- Penner v. Niagara at the Supreme Court of Canada:
issue estoppel
- If the CA case stands, will it kill the police complaints process?
- The impact of the 2010 changes to the rules of the BCSC
- Use immunity in the Police Act and Alberta legislation
- How real is the protection?
- Overlapping disclosure requirements: how do they work?
- Have changes to police legislation caused a spike
in related civil actions?
- Are inherent conflicts of interest in some code-of-conduct investigations leading to pressure for civil remedies?
- Rulings in 2011
- The effect of the Basi case
12:00 Luncheon for Delegates and Speakers Luncheon Address:
Managing the Disciplinary Crisis -
A Senior Executive Perspective
- Peter German
Deputy Commissioner West
RCMP
1:15 Social Media and Policing: Like? - R. Kyle Friesen
Counsel
Legal Advisory Section (RCMP Pacific Region) Dept. of Justice Canada
- Appropriate and inappropriate uses of social media
in hiring
- Why doing a web search on a potential recruit could lead to trouble
- Drafting and implementing internal policies for employee use of social media
- Privacy considerations in the workplace
- Criticizing the employer online
- Post-retirement use of social media
- Personal safety considerations
- Social media in criminal investigations and prosecutions
- Material originating with the police such as public warnings and wanted posters
- Use of social media postings as evidence
- The impact of “citizen journalism” on police procedures
- Potential civil liability
- Defamation by and of police officers
- Copyright and trademark infringements
- Appropriate responses to abusive anti-police websites and postings
2:00 First Nations Policing: Making it Work in a Multijurisdictional Context - Chief Supt. Brenda Butterworth-Carr
Director General
National Aboriginal Policing & Crime Prevention Services Contract & Aboriginal Policing‚ RCMP - Patty Cook
A/Chief Officer
Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police Services
- Who does what? – the challenges of policing
in a multijurisdictional environment
- Understanding the role of the First Nation’s chief
and council in the community
- The potential use of external resources on reserve
and where they are appropriate
- Applicability of provincial l aws on reserve lands, including liquor laws and highway traffic statutes
- When does the Indian Act supersede provincial laws?
- Who has jurisdiction to enforce band by-laws, band resolutions, court-ordered banishment, and Indian Act by-laws and land codes? What happens in practice and by policy?
- Applicability of by-laws where reserves are within city limits
- Paramountcy principles and how they apply
- Laws of general application under the Indian Act
- The Alberta and Manitoba models
- When may police from non-First Nation forces enter reserve lands without Band Council permission?
- Addressing governance
- Management boards/police commissions/community consultative groups
- Training for members
- Mentorship
- Best practices for community tripartite agreements (CTAs)
3:15 Proceedings Conclude
Workshop: Thursday, Dec 01, 2011
A: 9:00AM
The Fundamentals of Administrative Law - Michael Stephens
Hunter Litigation Chambers Law Corp.
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
(Registration opens at 8:30 a.m.)
Police are familiar with the model of criminal justice, and operate within
an organizational model derived from the military. But disciplinary and
other decisions fall under administrative law, not criminal law, and those
involved in the process need to understand the distinctions and what they
mean. In this workshop, you’ll receive an intensive introduction to the
essential concepts of administrative law in just half a day.
- The policy underlying the system of administrative justice
- The source of tribunal jurisdiction
- Natural justice / the principles of fundamental justice
- Constitutional and Charter issues
- Applicable procedural statutes
- Guideline, policy and rule-making authority
- Independence and bias: key legal principles
- What is a privative clause, and what is its practical implication?
- Burden of proof, standard of proof
- Judicial review
- sources of authority
- difference from appeals
- remedies
- recent changes in the law of “standard of review”
- Leading cases in administrative law
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Conference Details