10% of complaints against P.E.I. police in years leading up to 2023 substantiated, records show

Police and Public Trust, a CBC News Atlantic Investigative Unit project, scrutinizes the largely off-limits police complaint and discipline systems across the region. Journalists are using access to information laws, and in some cases court challenges, to obtain discipline records and data.

A Charlottetown Police officer was accused of using "humiliating language" toward a person who said they'd been administered a drug without their knowledge in a bar. The complaint also said the officer failed to investigate whether a crime actually happened.

An investigation found "clear and convincing evidence to support the allegation of misconduct," but the officer resigned, and Charlottetown's police chief no longer had any jurisdiction to discipline them.

In another case, a complainant alleged a Charlottetown officer neglected their duties and acted in a discreditable manner. 

The officer saw their rank reduced for six months, but it's not exactly clear what kind of behaviour and negligence led to them being disciplined.

Those are two of the gaps CBC News found when analyzing more than three years' worth of municipal police complaints held by the Prince Edward Island Police Commission.

The data includes more than 50 complaints made about police officers in Charlottetown, Summerside and Kensington between 2019 and the end of 2022. It shows that about 10 per cent of the complaints — six in total — were founded or substantiated. 

P.E.I. is unique in Atlantic Canada because its police commission posts summaries of all complaints online. That's information CBC has had to go to court for in other provinces.

But the summaries have varying levels of detail. Any identifying specifics about the officer are excluded, and in some cases the summaries don't identify the police service the officer belongs to — information the police commission could still withhold moving forward.

"I fully appreciate that there is a very strong public interest in policing and civilian oversight agencies, so we aim to be as transparent as possible while always protecting people's privacy rights," said P.E.I. police commissioner Cindy Wedge. 

"It's a balance. It's why we're going to change publishing the name of the police agency that employs the officer complained of, because we think we can do a better job of protecting people's privacy."

Police officers in Atlantic Canada are the subject of hundreds of complaints each year. 

The complaints come from members of the public and internal sources within the officer's own police department.

Allegations may relate to neglect of duty, excessive force or deceitful behaviour, to name a few examples.