HALIFAX – Research investigating the 2020 Nova Scotia shooting will examine one of the most controversial aspects of the RCMP’s handling of the tragedy this week: public communications.
Teams have faced intense criticism for delaying the release of key information about the killer during his commotion, and last month it was confirmed that a senior officer is under investigation for his role in controlling the killer. information flow.
“There is still speculation on the part of the public about the lack of transparency about the communication process,” said Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University in Manitoba who teaches in the media and police. “This is not good for restoring confidence in the RCMP.”
The commission of inquiry has heard that at the end of April 18, 2020, the RCMP issued its first public statement on the start of the killer attack in rural Portapique, NS, where the first 911 call originated at 10:01 p.m. A total of 13 people were killed in Portapique that night.
Although police knew the victims had been killed and an active gunman could still be released, the RCMP posted a seemingly innocuous tweet at 11:32 p.m., saying officers were investigating a “gun complaint. fire, “a relatively common occurrence in rural areas. configuration.
In addition, a series of 911 calls and eyewitnesses had clearly indicated that the killer was driving a car that looked like a marked RCMP cruise. But this information remained with the public until the next day, mainly because the Mossos d’Esquadra could not confirm what they had been told or simply did not believe it, according to the investigation.
According to eyewitness accounts and documents released by the commission, the Mountains considered issuing a more detailed public notice that night, but never did.
Shortly after midnight, however, RCMP officers were given the name and a photo of the suspect. And at 1:09 a.m., province-wide police were alerted to an “ongoing sniper incident” involving a “armed and dangerous” suspect associated with an “old police car.”
According to the commission’s investigation, the RCMP’s discussions on “media messaging” took on a renewed urgency the next day at around 7.30am, when police received a photo of the patrol car’s replica. the killer and they were told he was full of guns and could be anywhere. the province.
At that time, the Chief Superintendent of the RCMP. Chris Leather was involved in public messages, according to a recently published summary of evidence.
In personal notes he provided to the investigation, Leather confirms speaking with Lia Scanlan, director of the Nova Scotia RCMP Strategic Communications Division at 7:43 am
“Public information: tweets,” his notes say. “Image and name – not now.”
At 8 in the morning, the sergeant. Addie MacCallum was asked to speak with Scanlan about drafting a press release with photos of the suspect and his car. But there was an hour’s delay, which has not yet been explained.
Nearly 10 hours after the gunman killed his first victim, the Mountains issued their first tweet declaring an “active sniper situation” in Portapique at 8:02 a.m., but the tweet did not mention the name of the gunman. suspicious or anything about his runaway car. He also did not make it clear that he was on the move.
Relatives of some of the victims have argued that if the RCMP had provided previous public warnings with this key information, several lives could have been saved.
At 8:04 a.m., the RCMP issued an internal alert to its members indicating that the suspect was potentially using a fully branded Ford Taurus police cruiser and could be anywhere in the province. The same message was then sent to all police departments in the province.
At 8:54 a.m., the RCMP sent a tweet with a photo identifying Gabriel Wortman, 51, as a suspect, but his car was not yet mentioned.
The investigation has heard that shortly after 9 a.m., the sergeant. Bruce Briers contacted the sergeant. Al Carroll to ask if there was a press release about the car. Carroll, the district commander of Colchester County, later replied, “It was thought that the vehicle could be released, but it was decided not to do so.”
It is unclear who made the decision. At least one senior official has said no such decision has been made.
According to a summary of evidence published on May 13, the commission is now investigating “whether the public disclosure of the replica of the RCMP cruise information was delayed or denied at any time, by whom and why.”
RCMP senior officials told the investigation that they were reluctant to disclose details about the vehicle because they were concerned that the information could cause the public to panic and flood the 911 system.
“It’s an illustration that the RCMP doesn’t trust the common sense of the public,” said Wayne MacKay, a professor emeritus at Dalhousie University School of Law in Halifax. “There’s no doubt there would be a little bit of panic … but I think they should have had a little more confidence in the public’s good sense.”
Regardless of the reason for the mounts, there are still questions about what happened after 9:11 a.m. when Leather, the second in command of the RCMP province that morning, sent an e-mail requesting a copy of the alert sent to the police about the suspect and his reply from the vehicle.
According to the commission, another investigation “is underway into the role of Supnt in chief. Leather … in connection with the release of information on the RCMP cruise replica.”
Scott Blandford, a former police sergeant in London, Ontario, said he could not comment on whether RCMP chief superintendents should be involved in public communication, but said he would involve police chiefs in communiqués. press was not the practice when it was. with the London Police Service.
“As a general rule, the commander of the incident is the senior officer on the scene, and only in exceptionally rare circumstances are they overruled by a senior officer,” said Blandford, who teaches police to Wilfrid Laurier University of Waterloo, Ontario.
The investigation has heard that a draft tweet showing a photo of the cruise replica was approved at 9:49 a.m., but again there was another unexplained delay.
It wasn’t until 10:17 a.m. that the RCMP sent a tweet showing a photo of the car. This key warning came 12 hours after the teams were first informed about the vehicle and more than two hours after receiving the photo. Six other people had been killed that morning.
Two soldiers shot dead the killer at a gas station north of Halifax at 11:26 a.m. At the time, police were drafting an Alert Ready emergency message to send to radios, televisions and mobile phones in the province. But the message was never sent.
– Archived by Michael Tutton.