Hearing denial for man held for tweet shows complaints system favours police: experts

A University of Alberta criminologist says the recent denial of a public hearing for a Labrador man detained by police over a social media post shows the province’s police complaints system is set up to protect officers.

Temitope Oriola, who was a special adviser to the government of Alberta during a review of policing legislation, says the time limit to file a complaint against a member of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is among the shortest in the country.

The legislation governing the force says citizens have six months to file a complaint of misconduct by an officer, and Oriola calls that timeline “grossly inadequate.”

His comments come after an adjudicator with the force’s independent public complaints commission ruled there could be no hearing into the 2015 detention by RNC officers of Andrew Abbass at a mental health facility because Abbass filed his complaint too late.

Adjudicator John Whalen wrote that he felt a hearing was in the public’s interest, but he was limited by the deadline in the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Act.

St. John’s lawyer Lynn Moore says the six-month window is arbitrary, unfair and symptomatic of a confusing complaints system that makes it exceedingly difficult for citizens to hold officers to account.

Abbass was held at a western Newfoundland hospital for six days because of a tweet he posted about a fatal police shooting, and he was never diagnosed with a psychiatric condition or charged with a crime.

Abbass says he didn’t file his complaint until more details emerged about his detention during a public inquiry into the shooting that began about two years later.

Oriola says Abbass’s case shows the province needs to update its policing legislation and remove the six-month requirement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2024.