IIU has closed 44 cases since launch 18 months ago

In its first 18 months and 70 cases, Manitoba's Independent Investigation Unit has closed 44 investigations — leading to one police officer being charged.

Since it began operating June 19, 2015, the IIU has been tasked with investigating all incidents having to do with on- or off-duty cops.

According to new data provided to CBC News by the IIU, a total of 29 cases were referred to the unit in its first fiscal year of operation; it assumed 17 of them and monitored 11.

Things have picked up in 2016-17: seven months in, 22 cases have been taken on, 18 are being monitored and one has been declined for a total of 41.

• New Manitoba investigative unit busy since it formed, director says
• Winnipeg police acted appropriately in Kevin Runke incident, IIU concludes

"There have been times that the IIU has been exceptionally busy, but it has always been able to respond promptly and to handle the caseload with existing resources," spokeswoman Barbara Czech said, in an email, in response to the increase.

The IIU is the newest investigative unit of its kind in Canada, according to University of Manitoba criminology professor Frank Cormier.

Its caseload is heavy by necessity, he said, because the majority of IIU investigations are automatic. 

"It's not that there is necessarily any reason to believe that there has been any wrongdoing; they go into action anytime a person, for example, is injured or killed, and police were somehow involved in the picture in some way," he said. 

"The rationale for having it be automatic, it's trying to ensure that there is no appearance that anything might be covered up," he said.

"On the other hand, if they say, 'We are going to look into this,' then someone might say, 'Oh, they must have done something wrong." 

'Necessary to retain public confidence'

When IIU is able to say the procedure is automatic, it can cover a lot of bases, Cormier added.

"You don't cast doubt … on one person unfairly, and you also don't create the perception that one person is perhaps being treated favourably," Cormier said. 

Czech said while the unit is automatically called in on officer-involved cases, "numerous times" cases have been instigated by civilian director Zane Tessler. 

"The civilian director can choose to investigate any case where he deems it to be in the public interest," she wrote. 

• IIU exonerates police after Tasered suspect became unresponsive
• Officer accused of breaking suspect's wrist cleared by police watchdog
• IIU investigating after video showed police punching man in handcuffs

Then there's the more open-and-shut cases. Cormier cited Haki Sefa, a 44-year-old man who was shot dead by police after pulling out a gun following a police chase to Highway 44 and Highway 59.

"It's not practically legally necessary, perhaps, to do a full check on everything that happens," he said. "But one could argue it's necessary to maintain public confidence." 

Czech also said that all IIU officers — seven when the unit was launched — are former cops. Some, she added, have other investigations experience, from the United Nations and MPI. 

Policing the police

"I think it's very natural for people say, 'The whole point of an independent unit is we don't have police investigating police,'" Cormier noted.

"I think a lot of people believe, if you spent 20 years on a police force and then joined the IIU, you're still going to think like a police officer, you're still going to be more sympathetic toward the police."

But, he said, "There's not a whole lot of people around with investigative skills who weren't attached to policing in some capacity."

Just past 18 months in, the IIU has not yet released a public annual report on its outcomes.

In addition to more data on the outcomes of the investigations, Cormier is hoping to see the IIU make the case for its cases.

"There's virtually never any sort of a reason given. So it's virtually impossible for anyone on the outside to try to assess whether it seems reasonable, the decisions they're coming to," Cormier said.

"What I'm not suggesting is they invite the public to weigh in on whether they made the right decision — because that would be quite a circus," he quipped.

But even a couple of sentences about that could tell people why the unit decided there was no wrongdoing would be effective, he said.