Acts and Regulations

2022-62 - Serious Incident Investigations

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Current to 1 January 2024
NEW BRUNSWICK
REGULATION 2022-62
under the
Police Act
(O.C. 2022-249)
Filed September 22, 2022
Under section 38 of the Police Act, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council makes the following Regulation:
Citation
1This Regulation may be cited as the Serious Incident Investigations Regulation – Police Act.
Definitions
2The following definitions apply in this Regulation.
“Act” means the Police Act.(Loi)
“business day” means a day other than a Saturday or a holiday as defined in the Interpretation Act.(jour ouvrable)
“investigating agency” means a police agency that conducts an investigation under paragraph 24.6(b) of the Act or an investigative unit, police force, person or other entity in another province or territory of Canada that conducts an investigation under paragraph 24.6(d) of the Act.(service d’enquête)
“police official” means a subject officer or a witness officer. (fonctionnaire de police)
“witness officer” means any of the following persons who is a witness to, was present at or has material information related to a serious incident: (agent témoin)
(a) an officer;
(b) an auxiliary police constable; or
(c) an appointee as defined in the Cross-Border Policing Act.
Chief officer’s designate
3If a chief officer becomes a subject officer, the chief officer’s powers and duties under Part II.1 of the Act and this Regulation shall be carried out by the chief officer’s designate.
Notification report
4(1) For the purposes of subsection 24.5(1) of the Act, the chief officer shall submit a notification report to the head of the investigative body no later than 24 hours after notifying the head of the investigative body of the serious incident.
4(2)If the chief officer is unable to provide all the information required in the notification report within the period referred to in subsection (1), the chief officer shall submit a revised notification report to the head of the investigative body as soon as all the required information is available.
Notice of investigation of a serious incident
5The head of the investigative body shall notify immediately the relevant chief officer and the disciplinary authority that the head of the investigative body
(a) has arranged for the investigative body to conduct an investigation of the serious incident,
(b) has referred an investigation of the serious incident to an investigating agency, or
(c) has entered into an agreement to have an investigating agency conduct an investigation of the serious incident.
Securing scene
6On notification of an investigation under section 5, a chief officer shall ensure that officers at the scene of the serious incident take any lawful measures that appear to the officers to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of protecting, obtaining and preserving evidence relating to the serious incident until the investigative body or investigating agency takes charge of the scene.
Segregation during interviews
7(1)On notification of an investigation under section 5, a chief officer shall ensure, to the extent that is practicable, that all the police officials are segregated from each other until the investigative body or the investigating agency has completed all the interviews with the police officials unless the person in charge of the investigation directs otherwise.
7(2)Unless the person in charge of the investigation directs otherwise, a police official shall not communicate, directly or indirectly, the details of the serious incident with any other police official until the investigative body or the investigating agency has completed all the interviews with the police officials.
Notes
8(1)A police official shall complete their notes about the serious incident in accordance with the procedures of the police agency or the police force in another province or territory of Canada in which the police official is employed.
8(2)Subject to subsection (3), a witness officer shall provide their notes to the person in charge of the investigation and a copy to the chief officer within 48 hours after the person in charge of the investigation requests the notes.
8(3)If, in the opinion of the person in charge of the investigation, giving a witness officer 48 hours to provide their notes would cause an unreasonable delay that may jeopardize the investigation, the person in charge of the investigation may require that the notes be provided within a shorter period.
8(4)A subject officer is not required to provide their notes to the person in charge of the investigation, and no other person may provide the subject officer’s notes to the person in charge of the investigation without the subject officer’s written consent.
Interviews
9(1)The person in charge of the investigation may request a subject officer to attend an interview and answer questions as part of the investigation.
9(2)Subject to subsection (3), the person in charge of the investigation may direct that a witness officer attend an interview and answer questions as part of the investigation at a specified place and at a specified time that is at least 48 hours after the serious incident occurred.
9(3)If, in the opinion of the person in charge of the investigation, waiting at least 48 hours to conduct an interview with a witness officer would cause an unreasonable delay that may jeopardize the investigation, the person in charge of the investigation may specify an earlier time for the interview.
9(4)Subject to subsection (5), before conducting an interview, the person in charge of the investigation shall notify the subject officer or the witness officer, as the case may be, of their right to be represented by counsel and give them a reasonable opportunity to consult with counsel.
9(5)Subsection (4) does not apply if, in the opinion of the person in charge of the investigation, waiting for an opportunity for the witness officer to consult with counsel would cause an unreasonable delay that may jeopardize the investigation.
Recording interviews
10Any interview conducted in accordance with section 9 shall, when practicable, be recorded by audio recording or video recording.
Notice of status
11Before a request is made for notes under section 8 or an interview under section 9, the person in charge of the investigation shall notify, in writing, the chief officer, the police official and the disciplinary authority whether the police official is considered to be a subject officer or a witness officer.
Change of status
12(1)If, at any time after notice is given under section 11, the person in charge of the investigation determines that the police official is considered to be subject officer instead of a witness officer or a witness officer instead of a subject officer, the person in charge of the investigation shall notify, in writing, the chief officer, the police official and the disciplinary authority of the change of status.
12(2)If, after notes have been obtained from or interviews have been conducted with a police official when the police official was considered to be a witness officer, the person in charge of the investigation determines that the police official is instead a subject officer, the person in charge of the investigation shall
(a) give the police official the original and all copies of the record of their interview, and
(b) give the chief officer and the disciplinary authority the original and all copies of the notes of the police official.
Summary of investigation
13(1)For the purposes of subsection 24.8(1) of the Act, a summary containing the following information shall be provided to the Minister and the relevant disciplinary authority within three months after the conclusion of an investigation:
(a) a summary of facts;
(b) the duration of the investigation;
(c) the number of civilian witnesses and witness officers interviewed;
(d) a statement of the relevant legal issues; and
(e) a summary of the results of the investigation and the reasons for the results.
13(2)For the purposes of subsection 24.8(2) of the Act, a summary shall be made available to the public no later than two business days after it is provided to the Minister.
13(3)A summary may include the names of the subject officers and witness officers involved in the investigation.
Annual report
14For the purposes of section 24.9 of the Act, an annual report shall contain the following information:
(a) a comparison between the number of times in the year the head of the investigative body is notified, or otherwise becomes aware, of a serious incident and the number of investigations of serious incidents started and concluded in the year;
(b) the number of times in the year the head of the investigative body referred an investigation of a serious incident to a police agency; and
(c) the number of times in the year the head of the investigative body entered into an agreement to have an investigative unit, police force, person or other entity in another province or territory of Canada conduct an investigation of a serious incident.
Commencement
15This Regulation comes into force on October 1, 2022.
N.B. This Regulation is consolidated to September 22, 2022.