Prince George, B.C. – The report by the Civilian Monitor appointed to investigate complaints about the Independent Investigation Office’s handling of the Greg Matters death in Prince George  has  been released.

The  Civilian Monitor, Mark Jette,  has concluded  there was no  evidence of any action, decision or direction that caused him to find that either the investigative process  or the public reporting lacked integrity.

What he did find, was that  the integrity of the investigation was impacted by the  decision to send two investigators to Prince George, even though  they did not qualify to be  involved in the case. 

In one case Roy Fitzpatrick had not been off the RCMP in B.C. for the required five years,  and in the case of the other,  Patrick Kennedy didn’t qualify  because technically, at the time of the Matter’s call out, he was still on the payroll of  the RCMP in Alberta. Kennedy had  left  the RCMP  in July of 2012, but had added a period of un claimed leave to the end of his  tenure in Alberta which carried him through to Sept 19^th, and he would not be sworn in at the IIO until the 20^th.

In his report,  Jette says  the Matters call out was the first major investigation for the newly operational IIO, he says  those he interviewed acknowledged that   while the IIO was “open for business”  it was not yet fully prepared for a challenging investigation located hundreds of kilometres from their home base.  “Several of the people I interviewed commented that they were quite frankly hoping things would remain relatively quiet while the IIO continued to organize itself for this kind of work. Fate would not be so kind.”

Jette does note that  both investigators relegated themselves to  monitor and or assisting  positions during the course of the  probe into the police shooting death of Greg Matters. However, their very involvement in the first case the IIO was to  tackle, was “inconsistent with the principles which underlie the creation of the IIO”.

Jette says  “If widely known, these facts may to some extent damage the public’s confidence that the investigation was conducted in a fair and unbiased manner, which in turn might cause the public to lose confidence in the CCD’s (Chief Civilian Director’s) decision not to refer the case to Crown.  As is sometimes said in our courts when inadmissible evidence leaks into a trial, “you cannot unring that bell”.   In the Matters case, it is impossible now to make things completely right. The investigation is what is it is, and the CCD has made his decision based on the information which was placed before him.”

Jette says he has found there is  nothing obviously biased or unfair about the investigation “It can never be known how if at all the active participation of Fitzpatrick and Kennedy may have influenced the overall direction of the investigation.”