No charges for Manitoba RCMP officer accused of speeding on Trans-Canada: police watchdog

Manitoba's police watchdog says it doesn't have enough credible information to recommend charges after investigating allegations an RCMP officer was speeding for no apparent reason on the Trans-Canada Highway — before pulling up to a Brandon restaurant.

According to a report from the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba released Friday, a driver on the highway called RCMP on Oct. 6 to say an unmarked police SUV was going in excess of 140 kilometres per hour westbound into the city of Brandon.

The SUV did not have emergency equipment activated, according to the caller. When that driver eventually caught up with the SUV, it was parked in the lot at the restaurant.

The caller also claimed to have captured the incident on his dash camera, IIU civilian director Zane Tessler's report states.

The RCMP initially investigated and identified the unmarked vehicle as being registered to the government of Canada's Headingley Traffic Services, according to the notification provided to the investigative unit by RCMP on Oct. 12, which is quoted in the report.

A request was submitted to get the GPS patrol history and officer login information for the vehicle, while arrangements were also made with the caller and the restaurant to get any video that existed.

The IIU examined all of those materials, but it was determined the available evidence was insufficient to identify the driver of the unmarked police vehicle with any certainty.

The driver who made the report and claimed to have dashcam video was interviewed by IIU investigators, but his memory of the incident was "markedly different from the original complaint," the report states.

"In fact, his recollection was the unmarked police vehicle was travelling between 110–120 … [kilometres per hour] in a marked speed zone of 110 km/h," the report states.

Furthermore, no dashcam video existed, since it was apparently overwritten.

The witness's description of the driver — whom he identified as a female officer — was "generic and insufficient to identify … the operator of the unmarked vehicle," according to the IIU report.

A review of RCMP records determined that the vehicle in question was an unmarked police vehicle but there was no record of who had possession of it on the day in question. There was no GPS data available for the vehicle.

A review of the restaurant and gas bar surveillance video showed a female RCMP officer at the restaurant meeting with two unidentified RCMP members. She had been in Brandon for a police-related meeting, according to the report, but there was no video available showing her exiting or entering the unmarked vehicle.

Given the available evidence, there were "no grounds to support the designation of anyone" as the officer involved, and so no one against whom charges could be laid, the IIU report said.

The evidence of the only witness "was inconclusive, confusing and incapable of corroboration," it concluded, leading the investigative unit to close the file.