The head of Alberta’s police watchdog has resigned, signaling what critics say is a long-predicted collapse of the chronically underfunded agency.
Susan Hughson, CEO of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), confirmed she submitted her resignation Tuesday morning, but declined to comment further.
“It (ASIRT) is in disarray,” said Edmonton’s criminal defense attorney Tom Engel, whose firm specializes in complaints against police.
“They have no management and I do not know what they will do to try to replace these people,” said Engel, noting that ASIRT’s Deputy CEO Greg Gudelot recently left, as did other ASIRT staff who either stopped or retired.
“It’s not like a toxic workplace or anything like that. It’s just a frustration that they can not do their job.”
Engel said the loss of Hughson is a major blow to the agency.
“She’s been an excellent CEO,” he said. “She has done her best with limited resources, and under her leadership, investigations have generally been thorough and objective.”
Hughson was named CEO in July 2014 and was formally appointed in December 2014. Her last day on the job is December 8th. She joins the Alberta Justice Special Prosecutor as a prosecutor.
Hughson’s resignation follows a recent controversial decision by Alberta’s Crown Prosecution Service to withhold an indictment filed by ASIRT against an Edmonton police officer after a two-year investigation.
Art. Dylan Awid was caught on cell phone video by several citizens in June 2019, where he repeatedly kicked and then hit a handcuffed prisoner with his head into a brick wall.
The Crown said the evidence did not live up to the standard of prosecution.
Former British Columbia lawyer Kash Heed told CBC News it was one of the worst cases of police assault he had ever seen. He said the Crown’s decision should be subject to judicial review.
In October, prosecutors also refused to prosecute an RCMP officer from Sherwood Park with a history of assault charges that handcuffed a prisoner. The Crown said there was insufficient evidence.
Engel and other criminal defense attorneys have said the prosecution uses a standard of evidence in cases involving alleged illegal acts by police officers that it does not apply to cases where civilians are charged with crimes against police officers.
“I think it is fair to say that she has not been particularly pleased with the results of that investigation by the Crown Prosecution Service, especially in recent times,” he said.
Underfunding is creating growing backlogs
ASIRT is staffed by current and former police officers who are investigating cases where police officers – both municipal and RCMP – may have caused serious personal injury or death, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police dishonesty.
The agency has been hampered by chronic underfunding for years.
In February, the Hughson Edmonton Police Commission said the agency was at “a critical breaking point” as it struggled to investigate a growing backlog of files dating back to 2018.
Hughson told the commission that the funding problem for her 30-member team has existed since 2014. But she said she did not expect current Attorney General and Attorney General Kaycee Madu to provide any additional funding.
The government, she said, would have to revise the agency’s mandate because if it did not provide additional funding, “they will have to pick and choose what they want us to do.”
ASIRT funding was cut by three percent in 2019-2020
The government cut ASIRT’s funding by three percent in the fiscal year 2019-2020 as part of a total cut of six percent to the Ministry of Justice.
During the budget debate in March, Madu told the legislature that he was convinced that the various agencies of the ministry would be adequately funded.
CBC contacted Madu’s office to get a comment on this story, but had not yet received a response.
Edmonton’s criminal defense attorney Amanda Hart-Dowhun said the situation at ASIRT would make it difficult to recruit a comparable replacement for Hughson and other staff.
“ASIRT can not retain staff. They do not have enough funding. They do not have enough support. And it has reached the point where the remaining staff is overloaded,” Hart-Dowhun said.
“ASIRT will have great difficulty in recruiting anyone qualified to perform Sue Hughson’s job in these circumstances.”
Post a Comment