Not cooperating with oversight investigators should be a fireable offence. Just straight up your job has a higher standard of conduct. If you want your right to not talk that's fine but you can do that as a civilian not a police officer.

It's long past time to force officers to be held accountable.

And they wonder why nobody trusts them anymore. It's long past time to take away their civilian rights. As an officer of the law, they need to be held to a higher standard, and not be able to hide behind the rights designed to protect civilians from them.

ACAB.

Refusing to participate in an investigation is obvious criminality. If they did nothing wrong, they shouldn't have anything to hide. Hypocritical disgraces to this country. Too busy killing native women and prostitutes. Old habits die hard, and let's not forget how many cops sided with the "Freedom" convoy, and opposed the black lives matter movement. Pigs will be pigs. 🐖 🐷. Eternal useful idiots to despotism.

I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that an independent investigation committee even exists. Hopefully they can push enough to actually get some accountability.

As much as things are broken here in Canada, this is refreshing after reading so much US politics.

The police are a gang

Our section 11c allows for the defendant's right not to give testimony directly against oneself,

11 Any person charged with an offence has the right

(c) not to be compelled to be a witness in proceedings against that person in respect of the offence;

but it doesn't allow for one defendant not to give testimony against another -- just, via section 13, indemnification against that witness in a separate proceeding when previous testimony is compelled (via lack of a right to silence when potentially incriminating others).

13 A witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right not to have any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate that witness in any other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory evidence.

So, cops don't have to testify against themselves, but they don't get to be silent. And they get indemnification if they do speak up, so it seems a dumb move not to say "yeah, me and Bobby totally beat the hell outta that guy" and use that section-13 clause to skate.

Hmm. But they'd be bounced out of the force on Ethics, but I guess at that point they're no longer cops anyway; just thugs (and if you're all ACAB about it, you need to know why that's toxic).

I know Police Unions in the USA are obscenely powerful (and corrupt) is it the same in Canada?

What's the standard procedure for noncooperation? Oh right torture them.