Conduct Case MPCC‑2014‑048 Summary
The complainant, a retired Canadian Armed Forces member, filed a conduct complaint with the Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) regarding the conduct of a Military Police (MP) member in the course of an investigation into allegations of public mischief on the part of MP members involved in four prior investigations. The conduct of the MP members in these past files had been the subject of previous conduct complaints. These previous complaints were either found to be unsubstantiated or were out of time pursuant to section 250.2 of the National Defence Act (NDA).
In the present complaint, the complainant alleged that the MP member had been improperly influenced by the MP chain of command (CoC) during the course of the investigation, resulting in no charges being laid in the underlying criminal investigations. The complainant provided extensive additional information to support his allegation.
The Deputy Commander, CF MP Group (Deputy Commander) conducted a preliminary review of the complaint and found there was no evidence that the investigating officer was influenced by his CoC, nor was there any indication of misconduct on the part of the MP member's CoC. The Deputy Commander, as authorized by section 250.28(2)(c) NDA, recommended that no investigation be initiated into this complaint as there was no evidence of misconduct.
The complainant requested a review of his complaint by the MPCC pursuant to section 250.31 of the NDA.
Having reviewed the MP file, the materials provided by the office of the Deputy Commander, and the additional information provided by the claimant, the MPCC is satisfied with the decision by the Deputy Commander that no MP Professional Standards investigation be pursued in this matter.
The MPCC found no evidence to support the allegation of bias on the part of the MP member or of improper influence by the CoC. Moreover, the MPCC views the allegations of public mischief and this conduct complaint as an attempt by the complainant to by-pass the statutory time limit and re-open settled matters, contrary to the scheme of the NDA Part IV and the intent of the complaints process.
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