Gap in schedule, fear of calling police: inquest hears

“Is that standard, even on busy weekends like Labour Day?”

During his testimony, Case said based on call volume the detachment receives, the largest portion comes from the City of Melfort (27 per cent) but the next most frequent callers are from James Smith at just under 10 per cent.

“We are not a 24-hour detachment. Our schedule covers 20 of 24 hours. Here, locally with our detachment, our officers are being pressed a bit,” Case said.

The Melfort detachment has 16 positions assigned to it, not including four dedicated traffic officers. Case testified with that complement of officers, it’s insufficient to provide continuous policing. He noted members are on call.

Of the caseload for the officers, Melfort is somewhere in the middle when compared to other detachments in Saskatchewan, the inquest heard.

One of the key questions that has not been answered since Myles Sanderson went on his killing spree is why he was out in the community, freely selling drugs and committing crimes, when his early parole from prison was cancelled.

Darryl Burns said in his opinion police were not prioritizing the capture of Myles Sanderson.

“It seems like Myles’ arrest was not a priority,” he said.

Case detailed how warrants impact members’ workloads.

Generally, an immediate warrant can be issued by the RCMP themselves or they can be issued by a judge for failing to appear for court dates (called bench warrants).

Institutions such as jails also have the means to have them issued in the case of prisoners who are unlawfully at large.

Saskatchewan at any given time has between 1,000 to 2,000 outstanding warrants. Melfort, as of Friday, had 88.

They are automatically included in CPIC (the police database) when the police issue them and can be seen by any police service in Canada.

The inquest heard just because someone is unlawfully at large doesn’t mean officers know which community they are in, so they keep a general eye out and make arrests as required.

Each member will have outstanding warrants listed as part of their job tasks daily, Case said.

More serious cases involving large threats and where the issuing jurisdiction has a good idea of where the suspect might be would include a phone call to the local detachment.

Case noted there were no calls regarding either Myles or Damien Sanderson who were travelling the area, selling drugs and collecting debts.

“People are nervous to reach out, they are scared of retribution,” he said. The unwillingness to call police is something they need to address, he added.

Since the attacks happened, the James Smith Cree Nation leadership has employed a security force that patrols the community in marked vehicles. The security team members wear a uniform of sorts and can communicate with each other by radio. RCMP members operate on a digitally encrypted radio system, so James Smith security members cannot communicate with Mounties in the area.

The security team has been a valuable addition, Case said and the RCMP and security officers work well together.

“We work quite closely with their team,” he said. “We receive a considerable amount of calls from the security themselves. They are a benefit to us, that is for sure.”

Some testimony centred around the idea of expanding the security team to involve one or two police officers stationed on the reserve, a move Case said he would welcome.

Follow up questions from family and jury members focused on training and deputizing security members as special constables, which would give them the ability to detain suspects until a police officer arrived. It would also provide policing tools with the exception of a gun.

This is the first of two inquests regarding the murders at James Smith Cree Nation. The second, to be held later this winter, will discuss the circumstances surrounding Myles Sanderson’s death as he died in police custody.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Gap in schedule, fear of calling police: inquest hears

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