At issue: the fact that Saskatoon police will lead the investigation while the newly formed Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), the independent, civilian-led unit responsible for investigating serious incidents involving police officers in Saskatchewan, will have only an observational capacity . “Cadillac’s version is to have a completely independent investigation, including independent investigators without involving the police,” Ian Scott said in an interview. Scott headed the Special Investigations Unit in Ontario from 2008 to 2013. It is a civilian agency tasked with investigating police incidents of serious injury, death, discharge of a firearm at a person or alleged sexual assault. Miles Sanderson, 32, died shortly after being arrested by RCMP north of Saskatoon on September 7. He was the prime suspect in a knife attack on the James Smith Cree Nation that left 10 dead and 18 injured over Labor Day weekend. In a Sept. 8 news release, the Saskatoon Police Service said its major crimes unit will lead the investigation into Sanderson’s death. The release said it would work “in collaboration” with SIRT. The role of SIRT is the source of Scott’s skepticism. It will be the observation of the research, not the independent review of evidence, “so it’s bound to affect the analysis of any independence to just put these researchers in an observer category,” he said. “I mean, it’s better than nothing, but there’s still a long way to go.”
SIRT is still recruiting
The Saskatoon police press release said the findings of the investigation will be forwarded to the Department of Justice and the Attorney General. In an email Thursday, Justice officials provided some details about SIRT’s current status. “A civilian executive director was appointed in June 2021 to lead the Public Complaints Commission and SIRT. SIRT also employs two investigators. SIRT is currently recruiting investigators and developing its operational capacity to ensure that future SIRT operations are conducted according to the highest research standards,” he said. “Currently, SIRT provides civilian oversight of serious incident investigations by acting as an independent observer to these investigations.” The agency is still building its staff, the email continues, and “SIRT is hiring researchers and developing its operational capacity.” The government had said the SIRT would be operational in autumn 2021. In November, when it was still not operational, the former justice minister said it would run until the end of 2021but it didn’t start. Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre said in July that the government was working to launch the scheme, although she was unable to say when SIRT would be up and running or how many roles still needed to be filled. “Once we have everything in place that we need in light of staffing and other challenges, and getting the right people for a very important role for this person and others involved in SIRT, we will move forward as planned,” he said at the time. . A government spokesman said in an email in July that the team was “working with police agencies to take on an oversight role in serious incidents” and that SIRT was recruiting investigators and “developing its operational capacity”.
