Police finish review of high number of 'unfounded' P.E.I. sex assault cases

Reviews by P.E.I.'s two city police departments have reached different conclusions about how they track the outcomes of sexual assault investigations.

Charlottetown and Summerside completed the reviews, along with the Kensington force and the RCMP, this spring after a report in The Globe and Mail found 19 per cent of sex assault cases in Canada between 2010 and 2014 were deemed unfounded. P.E.I.'s rate, which only included data provided by the RCMP and Summerside police, was even higher — 27 per cent.

After completing its review, Summerside has cut the number of cases labelled unfounded in half — dropping from 19 percent to nine percent. However Charlottetown's review has confirmed its 50 per cent rate.

The lack of a clear definition of what should be labelled unfounded has led to different interpretations from force to force across the country, including here in P.E.I.

• P.E.I. police forces review 'unfounded' sex assault files

Summerside review finds half files mislabelled 

Summerside Police Services determined half the cases labelled unfounded should have been considered unsolved instead.

Just because somebody chooses not to talk about it ... you still can't say that it didn't happen.- Sgt. Ron MacLean

Unfounded cases should be reserved for files where, "we're saying that without a doubt it never happened," said Sgt. Ron MacLean, with Summerside's major crime section.

He reviewed 28 sexual assault files from 2010 to 2016 that were originally labelled as unfounded, and determined only 14 should have been in that category. Summerside had a total of 149 sexual assault investigations over that time period.

"There was no problem with the actual investigation, it was how they were cleared in the end," said MacLean.

Cases he reclassified as unsolved included those where there wasn't enough evidence to lay a charge. Typically, said MacLean, these were historic incidents with no physical evidence and no other witnesses. 

"Other than the allegation made by a victim, and the accused saying it didn't happen, you just have one person's word against another."

Others, he said, that should have been labelled unsolved involved victims who decided they didn't want to talk about it.

"It's their right and we respect that," he said, adding, "just because somebody chooses not to talk about it, which like I said is their right, you still can't say that it didn't happen."

Charlottetown reaches different conclusion

Charlottetown Police Services came to a different conclusion. Of its 107 sexual assault investigations between 2014 and 2016, half — 54 — were categorized as unfounded, and the review has confirmed they were all labelled correctly, said Gary McGuigan, Charlottetown's deputy police chief.

"Any sexual assault file that was labelled unfounded, we looked at it, we reviewed it and we're quite confident that the integrity of the file will stand up," he said. 

Like Summerside, Charlottetown included those cases where there wasn't enough evidence to support a charge, and those where the victim refused to talk. However, while Summerside will now call these unsolved, Charlottetown's deputy chief says investigators will continue to label them unfounded.

"There's no other way to score these files. We are at the mercy of a records management system that will only allow us to score them as unfounded," said McGuigan.

He stressed that unfounded is a category used for record management and doesn't mean those who laid complaints were not believed.

These allegations are treated seriously and taken seriously.- Deputy Chief Gary McGuigan

McGuigan said his force encourages anyone who is a victim of a crime to report it to police.

"We're asking and encouraging them to come forward. These allegations are treated seriously and taken seriously."

"We work with victims of crime and the Crown attorneys' office to ensure the integrity of these files and that justice is done," said McGuigan.

Unfounded label 'expresses disbelief'

Those findings are a concern for the P.E.I. Advisory Council on the Status of Women. When police label a high number of sexual assault investigations as unfounded it sends the wrong message to the community, according to Jane Ledwell, executive director of the council.

She says it suggests that victims are not believed, and that a high number of accusations are false.

"Words are meaningful and labelling something 'unfounded' means that it has no foundation," said Ledwell.

"It means it's baseless and it expresses disbelief about the victim's story."

The P.E.I. government has the results of all four reviews and plans to work with police in the province to come up with consistent reporting in the future.

Ledwell said those who report crimes, particularly violent sexual crimes, need to feel they are believed. 

"I would encourage the Department of Justice and Public Safety and the police services on P.E.I. to come up with really good definitions, really consistent and clear definitions of how they investigate and what they have to do to label a case," she said.

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'Consistent reporting into the future'

The reviews by all four police forces on P.E.I. — RCMP and Charlottetown, Summerside and Kensington police forces — are in the hands of P.E.I.'s Department of Justice and Public Safety.

'We're open to anything that needs to be done or has to be done."- Deputy Chief Gary McGuigan

In a statement, the department said senior staff have discussed the reviews and that a meeting is planned with police, victim services and the Crown, "with a focus on consistent reporting into the future."

The department said the results will be made public, although it does not have a timeline for that.

Gary McGuigan says his department is open to any changes that might be recommended. 

"Anything we can do in terms of assisting victims or helping victims, we're open to anything that needs to be done or has to be done."

Police chiefs recommend clear definitions

Changes are in the works at a national level too. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police in a statement issued April 26 recommended that all police services adopt a more "victim-centred manner — one that correctly conveys our belief in the victim regardless of whether or not the incident can be substantiated through the investigative process," said director Mario Harel.

The association suggested clear definitions be developed, and that the unfounded category be reserved for cases where police are convinced no crime occurred.

Summerside's MacLean welcomes clearer definitions for forces across the country. For his force, the sergeant in charge of major crime, a role he holds, will review all the sexual assault investigations from now on to make sure they're labelled consistently.

"I want to make sure that my service, we're doing the best quality investigation that we can," said MacLean.

The RCMP on P.E.I. have turned their results over to national headquarters, which plans to release its findings once all detachments have submitted their reports.

Statistics Canada announced in late April that it would once again start tracking unfounded sex assault cases. It stopped doing so in 2003 over concerns the files were not being coded consistently.

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