The number of cases appealed to Alberta’s law enforcement review body increased sharply in 2023, climbing to the highest total in a decade.
Of those 61 cases, 42 were in Edmonton, a disproportionate number compared to just 16 in Calgary. There were a total of 40 province-wide in 2022.
The figures are the latest in a trend reaching back at least a decade in which Edmonton has outstripped Calgary in appeals to the Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB) each year, often by a considerable margin, despite similar numbers of annual complaints.
The reason for the discrepancy is unclear and may not have a single cause, according to experts.
“These numbers support much of what we’ve been saying for a while now — that policing in Alberta needs a significant overhaul,” said Temitope Oriola, a criminologist at the University of Alberta.
Edmonton ahead of Calgary for a decade
The LERB is the provincial appeals body for complaints against law enforcement officers. If someone has filed a complaint with a police service and is not satisfied with the outcome, they can appeal to the LERB in most cases. Police officers penalized for misconduct can also appeal to the board.
The board may also conduct inquiries, either on its own initiative or at the direction of the minister of public safety.
According to the board’s 2023 annual report, the top three categories for appealed allegations were discreditable conduct, unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority, and neglect of duty.
For each year between 2013 and 2023, the Edmonton and Calgary police services saw a similar number of complaints — between 1,000 and 1,500, according to the professional standards annual reports from those police services. The nature of complaints can range from disagreeing with being issued a ticket to use of force.
But Edmonton’s LERB appeals have consistently been well ahead of Calgary’s during that time, with the exception of 2019 when its lead narrowed to four.
While the LERB report counts the number of cases in each city, it doesn’t provide a breakdown of the nature of the allegations in each location. CBC News requested this data, and the board said it only had figures from the past two years.
According to those numbers, the number of LERB cases involving excessive force allegations in Edmonton was 15 in 2023 and 13 in 2022. Calgary had none in either year.
Defence lawyer Tom Engel, who serves as the chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association policing committee, said one factor could be how the two police services handle complaints, including how frequently complaints are categorized by the chief as not of a serious nature.
Under the Police Act, such complaints can be disposed of without a hearing, and cannot be appealed to the LERB, only the Court of King’s Bench, which Engel said is a much more onerous process for a self-represented citizen.
In response to questions about why there were more appeals in Edmonton, the Edmonton Police Service pointed to this as well, suggesting that its handling of cases allowed more of them to remain eligible for appeal.
“While we cannot comment on the practices in other jurisdictions, the EPS does not apply Section 19 if we have found no reasonable prospect of conviction at a disciplinary hearing, leaving a broader scope of files which are subject to LERB review,” said a spokesperson in a statement.
The Calgary Police Service did not provide answers to questions about the LERB data.
A spokesperson for the province directed a request for comment to the LERB, which did not provide a response to questions.
‘It starts from the leadership’
Oriola said all aspects of the complaints process could play a role in the number of appeals, from the initial incidents to how they were handled by the police service. He said the culture of a police organization influences the actions of its officers.
“I believe it starts from the leadership,” he said.
“What signals are being sent out, privately or publicly? The way that the leadership of the police service handles incidents of excessive use of force in particular … it matters how you respond because you are laying the groundwork for what may be the next incident and how officers respond.”
A ‘fragmented landscape’ of accountability
Oriola, who was an expert adviser to the provincial government during its review of the Police Act in 2022, questioned why more data about police misconduct allegations isn’t made readily accessible for the public. Much of the data was compiled by CBC News from multiple reports.
One change mandated by the 2022 review is the creation of the Police Review Commission, which will be a new arm’s length agency intended to streamline the complaint process. Oriola said the current system for police accountability is too complicated for many people to navigate without legal counsel.
“[It] is this incredibly fragmented landscape where oftentimes even the most highly informed citizen may be confused as to where to go for what and when because of the fragmentary nature of police oversight in our province,” he said.
“I think that we have work to do.”