C-149 - Conduct Appeal

The Appellant has appealed the decision of the Respondent who found one allegation established, contrary to section 4.6 (unauthorized use of RCMP Equipment) of the RCMP Code of Conduct.

This appeal relates to the conduct measures imposed only. It involves the Appellant’s actions during a high speed pursuit in which a civilian was a passenger in the police motor vehicle. The Appellant was part of the provincal team that is a collaborative partnership between provincal health services and the RCMP that responds to calls for service and conducts follow-ups involving individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The Respondent found that policy prohibited the provincal health services employee from participating in the police pursuit and as such, the provincal health services employee became an unauthorized passenger. The Respondent imposed a forfeiture of four days’ leave and two days’ forfeiture of pay and some training.

The Appellant argues that the Respondent’s decision that the passenger in the police motor vehicle was unauthorized was clearly unreasonable. He further argued that the Respondent erred in weighing the mitigating and aggravating factors.

The ERC first found that the Respondent’s reasons, when reviewed overall, were sufficient to demonstrate his reasoning process as to the status of the provincal health services employee. The ERC then found that the Respondent’s decision that the provincal health services employee was an unauthorized passenger at the point when the Appellant decided to engage in the police pursuit was not clearly unreasonable. Lastly, the ERC indicated that conduct measure decisions were owed considerable deference and it was not its role to reweigh the mitigating and aggravating factors that were before the Respondent. It further found that there was no basis to overturn the Respondent’s decision on conduct measures.

The ERC recommends that the appeal be dismissed.