The code: Inside 8 years' worth of code of conduct cases involving New Brunswick RCMP

Police and Public Trust, a project of the CBC News Atlantic investigative unit, scrutinizes the largely off-limits police complaint and discipline systems across the region. Journalists are using access to information laws and, in some cases, court challenges to obtain discipline records and data.

Six years ago, a New Brunswick RCMP inspector faced two allegations under the force's code of conduct, which guides employees' behaviour on and off duty.

The officer, whose name is redacted from data CBC News received, was accused of sexual misconduct (non-criminal) and discourtesy, an umbrella category capturing behaviour that is "profane, racial, rude or abusive." 

The allegation of discourtesy was substantiated, or established, while the sexual misconduct allegation was not. The officer faced "remedial measures," though the data doesn't specify what those were.

Just a couple of months later, the same officer was again accused of misconduct under the code. This time, they were accused of abuse of authority and giving a false, misleading or inaccurate statement. Neither allegation was established.

None of that complaint history would be easily available to the public unless the officer faced a conduct hearing, reserved for the most serious cases where an employee's job is at stake. For the CBC to obtain the records, it took more than a year for the access to information request to be processed and the records, which don't include details on the narrative of each case, revealed.

CBC obtained the database of 130 code of conduct cases, spanning 2014 to 2022, as part of the ongoing Police and Public Trust project, which takes the public inside the often-opaque systems of police complaints and discipline across Atlantic Canada.

The data includes 263 unique allegations against about 130 unique employees, as some employees faced more than one allegation. The data doesn't include names, but each officer was assigned a unique subject member identifier.

The code of conduct is in place to hold employees to a high standard, according to New Brunswick RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Hans Ouellette.

"When those standards aren't met, we understand that can affect our community members and the people who call us and who look to us to help with whatever situation that they have," he said in an interview. 

"So it can be concerning. What I can say to that is that we want to continue upholding those values, that we know that the community deserves, that New Brunswick deserves, and we want to continue fostering that."

Multiple allegations

In addition to the inspector, two other officers were also the subject of multiple code of conduct cases.

A constable received remedial measures for committing an unnamed provincial offence. Two other code of conduct charges, including unauthorized disclosure of information, were not found to be substantiated.

A couple of months later, the same officer was again under scrutiny under the code of conduct, this time for providing a false, misleading or inaccurate statement and misuse of RCMP IT equipment. Neither charge was found to be substantiated

Finally, the same officer faced another code of conduct offence later in the year, for failure to properly carry out an investigation. That wasn't substantiated.

Another officer, a corporal, faced "serious" measures after an unspecified allegation. A few months later, they faced "remedial" measures after an allegation of workplace harassment was substantiated.

A fourth officer, a constable, faced 16 unique allegations in one complaint file in 2019, including an allegation of non-criminal sexual misconduct, two counts of abuse of authority and five counts of failing to properly account for an exhibit or property. None were established.

The data doesn't include details about what's happened in each case, though the RCMP publishes copies of decisions from the conduct board after a public hearing.

In 2022, CBC covered the case of RCMP employee Jason Daley, a civilian employee who resigned from his role after admitting to domestic violence.

During a conduct hearing, it was revealed that Daley had been disciplined for similar behaviour twice before. Those discipline decisions hadn't been publicized by the RCMP prior to the conduct hearing for the third code of conduct infraction, when Daley's job was at risk.

Employees sometimes resign, retire before process ends

About one-third of the allegations in the code of conduct database were found to be established, while 39 per cent were not established. 

Another 11 per cent had an outcome pending when CBC received the data.

Fifteen per cent of the allegations had no finding because jurisdiction was lost before the code of conduct process could be completed, typically because the person retired or resigned.

That problem isn't unique to New Brunswick. About 10 per cent of code of conduct cases across the country between 2019 and 2022 ended with the RCMP member resigning or retiring before the code process was complete, according to the RCMP.

"That, I think, adds insult to injury for the public," said Christian Leuprecht, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada who specializes in policing and security issues. 

"If you've been wronged by a uniformed member and it's come to the point of a hearing and essentially by resigning, that member acknowledges effectively that they probably have no real chance of getting reinstated … you can imagine that that sows enormous mistrust and misgivings among the public, among that individual who complained, and among the community in which the individual lives."

The most common category of allegation was discourtesy, followed by other (unspecified), giving a false, misleading or inaccurate statement, and non-criminal sexual misconduct.

Serious disciplinary measures were imposed in 12 per cent of allegations, while another 14 per cent led to remedial measures, and eight per cent resulted in corrective measures.