The two police officers who entered a Mount Moriah home without permission on Sunday morning acted under his authority, an RCMP spokesman said at a news conference on Friday afternoon.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Cpl. Jolene Garland said “the heads and hearts of the officers were in the right place.”
“The police had information that a 17-year-old girl was at risk and possibly in danger. If our police officers had left and located her inside this house, suffering damage from our inattention or inaction, I think that we would be having a very different conversation right now, “Garland said.
Cortney Pike, the owner of the West Newfoundland home, says she woke up around 5:30 a.m. Sunday to find two RCMP officers at her home. They had entered the house without permission and entered her 11-year-old daughter’s room, lit her face and questioned her about a missing 17-year-old girl.
The missing girl was not inside the house, and Pike has repeatedly said he does not know her. She says no one lives in her home except her, her partner and three children.
“This girl has never been to my house. We don’t know who she is. Our children are 13, 11 and nine years old. They don’t even know who she is,” Pike said in a telephone interview after the news conference on Friday. . “I’ve never seen that girl in my whole life.”
Garland said the RCMP senior management had conducted a “detailed review” of the investigation into the missing 17-year-old and found that officers had done nothing wrong to enter the house without permission. However, he said that the RCMP did not interview or talk to the family living in the house as part of this review.
The RCMP believed that the missing girl was inside the house: Garland
Garland said the RCMP believed the 17-year-old girl was inside the house according to information provided by her caregiver.
“The complainant said the young man was picked up in front of this residence on the Saturday before and is known to frequent that specific home,” Garland said.
Garland said the two officers went to the house at 4:38 a.m. based on an address provided by the complainant, as well as a description of the house and the vehicle parked on the roadway.
“Based on all the information provided, officers attended the residence, knocked on doors and windows, shouted, identified themselves as police officers and called the name of the missing youth,” he said.
Pike has repeatedly rejected the claim and did so again on Friday.
“My answer to that is that it’s a lie,” Pike said.
“I’m a mother. I’m sorry about everything. By the time my son was born, I’ve never slept again at night. I hear every little noise. There’s no way in the world for me to be knocked on the door.”
Garland said officers spent about 40 minutes trying to alert residents of the house of their presence before opening an unlocked door, where they hit an adjacent oil furnace for 15 minutes.
Cortney Pike is inside the doorway of her home, where she says two RCMP officers entered without warning around 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning. (Troy Turner / CBC)
Garland said officers pinged the missing girl’s cell phone, and while the ping indicated the girl was in the area, she did not specifically target the house. However, after consulting with a senior officer, police decided to enter anyway, Garland said.
“The officer’s concerns for the safety of the youths were rising at this time, with no response from inside the home,” he said.
Officers first entered the bedroom that belonged to Pike’s 11-year-old daughter, interrogating her without permission before her parents woke up.
“Officers asked the boy his name and if he knew or saw the missing teenager. Officers then asked if anyone else was in the home and they were directed at adults who were said to be upstairs in the residence.” , said Garland.
Pike said he first noticed strangers in his home when he heard voices in the hallway outside his bedroom. Pike said he spoke with officers but made no attempt to search the rest of the house.
“Once police determined that the house and its residents were not connected to the missing youth, they apologized for the inconvenience and left the house at approximately 6 a.m.,” Garland said.
‘I won’t leave this’: Pike
Police officers may enter a home without permission under certain “demanding circumstances,” such as if they have a reasonable belief that a person is in immediate or serious danger.
According to Garland, officers entered the house because they had serious concerns that the missing 17-year-old was in danger, although Garland could not say what the danger was.
“I don’t have the specific level of harm other than what the complainant reported to the RCMP, it was that the young man expressed interest in wanting to return home,” he said. “There were concerns about his safety at the time.”
Pike said she was “livid” after watching the RCMP press conference on Friday and did not understand why a whistleblower would give police a description of her home.
“I’m not going to let that happen. I feel absolutely like we’re being targeted for some reason. I don’t understand what’s going on,” he said.
Garland said the RCMP had not received a formal complaint about the incident, although Pike insisted it had filed one online.
“Everyone can agree that this could be a pretty alarming situation for the occupants of this house. We sincerely apologize for, you know, the disruption, any of the impacts that this has caused them,” Garland said.
Responsibility of the police to explain the incident: PC opposition
Earlier on Friday, conservative progressive justice critic Helen Conway Ottenheimer said the incident was disturbing.
“The police are responsible for them. If they really had the authority to enter the home while they were doing it, we need to understand what circumstances justified it,” he said.
Helen Conway Ottenheimer, a critic of conservative progressive justice, said the incident was disturbing. (Mark Quinn / CBC)
Conway Ottenheimer noted that both police and residents have been killed or injured during other incidents in which officers entered a home without permission. She asked Justice Minister John Hogan to ensure that the police fully explain what happened.
In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said the RCMP was holding a press conference.
“It is not appropriate for the Minister of Justice and Public Security to rule on such an issue,” the spokesman said in a statement.
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