C-138 - Conduct

The Appellant was the subject of an anonymous complaint received by the conduct authority. The conduct authority then ordered a Directed Review of the Appellant’s detachment. The review led to the matter being referred to the Respondent, who ordered an investigation for three alleged violations of the RCMP Code of Conduct. The allegations led to a conduct meeting. At the meeting, the first allegation was found not established; the second allegation was found established and the Respondent ordered conduct measures; the third allegation was established but found to be out of time to impose conduct measures.

The Appellant appealed the Respondent’s findings regarding the timeliness of the conduct measures and the assessment of the mitigating and aggravating factors used by the Respondent in assessing the appropriate conduct measures. Specifically, the Appellant took issue with the Respondent finding that the time limitation period began after the mandated investigation and not at the time of the anonymous letter.

The ERC found that the Respondent’s findings regarding commencement of the statutory time limit were clearly unreasonable. The Decision did not provide a rational explanation as to why the anonymous letter did not meet the statutory standard for the start of the time limitation period. As a result, the ERC found that the Decision was clearly unreasonable and reassessed the evidence to establish that the submission of the anonymous letter was the start date for the prescription period. As a result, the time limitation expired prior to the date of the Decision and the conduct measures were out of time. 

The ERC recommends that the appeal be allowed.