Political
Day wants changes to RCMP Act
The Conservative government may change the RCMP Act after a misconduct investigation was tossed out due to a technicality, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Friday.
By CanWest News Service October 7, 2006 Be the first to post a comment
VANCOUVER -- The Conservative government may change the RCMP Act after a misconduct investigation was tossed out due to a technicality, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Friday.
Disciplinary charges against a Prince George, B.C., RCMP officer who was alleged to have paid underage prostitutes for sex were dismissed this week because the RCMP took too long to bring a case against him.
Day told reporters in Vancouver the RCMP has a "long and proud" history, but "no organization is perfect."
He said the RCMP Act and other legislation governing the force "over time needs to be looked at, needs to be improved, and that is what we are doing."
Const. Justin Harris -- who has been on paid suspension -- will not be allowed to return to work until the force decides whether to appeal Wednesday's decision by an RCMP disciplinary panel.
Harris, who maintains his innocence and has not been criminally charged, was accused of behaving in a "disgraceful manner" by having sex with prostitutes under the age of 18 between 1993 and 2001.
Harris was first notified of the disciplinary charges against him in September 2004.
Under the RCMP Act, a commanding officer must launch a disciplinary hearing within one year of becoming aware of an officer's misconduct.
Harris' lawyer Reginald Harris argued the Mounties failed to meet that standard in his client's case because senior members of the force -- including assistant commissioner Gary Bass -- were aware of the allegations as early as July 2002.
Before Harris' disciplinary hearing was shut down, it heard accusations that Harris had sex with two underage prostitutes in Prince George. One woman claimed he hit her when she refused to remove the condom he was wearing. Another claimed he was "drunk and aggressive."