2005 Highlights

The Complaints Commission is committed to providing independent oversight of military police in a manner that is fair, effective and efficient. To achieve these objectives, the Commission strives to improve client service, enhance its working relationships with Canadian Forces authorities and meet or exceed the management standards expected of an agency of the Government of Canada. This section describes some of the Commission’s accomplishments in this regard over the past year.1

IMPROVEMENTS TO CLIENT SERVICE DELIVERY

The Military Police Complaints Commission is a service organization. In 2005 the Commission renewed its commitment to service delivery, with a particular focus on ensuring that its primary clients – the individuals who have filed complaints or who are the subjects of complaint – are dealt with in a fair and transparent manner.

Research

The Commission’s efforts to improve service this past year have been guided in large part by the findings of a survey of stakeholders conducted on the Commission’s behalf by an external consultant. Informed by the survey results, the Commission built a stronger, organization-wide commitment to service; developed an action plan to increase awareness of its services among key stakeholder groups and Canadians at large; and explored new areas in which the Commission and the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal could work cooperatively to improve service. The Commission plans to repeat the stakeholder survey in fiscal year 2008-09 in order to measure the success of these initiatives.

New Service Standards

In fairness to both the subjects of complaint and those who have filed complaints, the Commission tries to resolve matters as quickly as circumstances permit. The length of time necessary to complete a review or an investigation of a complaint can vary according to a number of factors, including the complexity of the situation that gave rise to the complaint, the availability of witnesses and so on. As part of its continuing effort to improve the efficiency of the complaints process, the Commission adopted new service standards and timelines for the resolution of complaints in 2005.

By breaking the process down into 23 separate steps – from the receipt of a request for review to issuing the Final Report – and assigning an optimum time for the completion of each step, the Commission has set clear goals for itself, and is better able to anticipate and address potential delays in the process. Indeed, in 2005, more cases were completed in less time than in any previous year in the Commission’s history. The staff of the Commission has worked diligently to adhere to these new standards. The Canadian Forces Provost Marshal and the Deputy Provost Marshal-Professional Standards must also be recognized for their cooperation in giving greater priority to completing investigations and preparing Notices of Action in response to the Commission’s findings and recommendations.

The Commission also took steps to streamline its reports on cases, making them more accessible to complainants and the subjects of complaints.

STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS

Visits to Canadian Forces Bases Military police are stationed across Canada and around the world, making establishing and maintaining awareness of its mandate and activities an ongoing challenge for the Complaints Commission. For this reason, Commission staff try to visit as many Canadian Forces Bases as time and resources permit. These visits would not be possible without the cooperation of Wing and Base commanders, base personnel, military police officers and members, the staff of Military Family Resource Centres, and others.

During 2005, Commission staff visited a dozen bases across Canada, meeting and exchanging information with its three key audiences:

• members of the military police, who are most affected by the process whether as subjects of complaint or as potential complainants;
• the military chain of command, which relies on the services of MPs in the maintenance of military discipline and exercises command over them, but which must not interfere with police investigations; and,
• those who may interact with military police because they live, work or pass through a military base. The Commissionfs connection to this latter group is often made through the Executive Directors and staff of the Military Family Resource Centres and Housing Authorities at each base.

Beyond increasing awareness of its mandate and activities, base visits are the Commissionfs greatest opportunity to hear and address concerns about the complaints process. Through formal presentations and informal discussion, Commission staff reinforce the message that independent oversight of law enforcement is not an indication of problems, but rather a sign of the strength of the military police organization.

The chain of command and those who come into contact with military police can have greater confidence in the military police service, knowing that it is subject to independent oversight. Confidence may be further enhanced by knowing that the Commission draws on best practices from other police services in Canada and elsewhere as it formulates its recommendations.

Working with the Canadian Forces

Maintaining a professional and effective working relationship with the Canadian Forces is a priority because the Commission relies on their cooperation and support in order to complete its reviews and investigations of complaints in a timely manner.

While disagreement on certain issues is almost inevitable in the oversight of law enforcement, it is important that this does not colour the entire relationship and jeopardize the contribution of the oversight agency to assure the public of the highest standards of conduct by police.

The enhanced working relationships with Canadian Forces authorities led to measurable improvements in client service, such as the above-noted improvement in the time it took the Commission to resolve complaints during 2005.

The Commission and the Canadian Forces have committed to maintaining regular contact in the coming year and to jointly holding a special conference planned for February 2006. This conference will provide an opportunity to discuss issues of shared concern and to consider additional ways that the Commission and the Canadian Forces can work together to enhance the effectiveness of the complaints process.

THE WEBSITE

The first contact that many people have with the Commission is through its website (www.mpcc-cppm.gc.ca). In recognition of its importance in providing information about the complaints process and the Commission’s services, the website’s content and structure are subject to ongoing review and improvement. A number of updates were executed in 2005, including the addition of a “make a complaint” button on the sidebar of each page on the site.

Working with the civilian oversight community

Civilian oversight of law enforcement is a relatively new discipline and its practices continue to evolve from its beginnings in the middle part of the 20th century. Commission staff are active in the civilian oversight community in Canada through membership in the Canadian Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (CACOLE). The Commission’s General Counsel and Secretary is currently serving as Vice-President of CACOLE and worked with a similar association in the United States. This professional interaction allows the Commission to exchange information on best practices with their counterparts in other agencies, and keep abreast of new developments in civilian oversight in Canada and around the world.