REGINA – Regina Police Service is reacting to the report of Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner into privacy breaches by one of its officers.
The report into Cst. Clinton Duquette was released this week, in which it was found there were 67 privacy breaches over the period of three years.
Regina Police Chief Lorilee Davies spoke about the report to reporters Thursday afternoon. She confirmed that the Regina Police Service Professional Standards Unit was made aware of the potential privacy breach in the summer of 2024.
“At that time, a formal investigation was undertaken, including an audit of the officer's database inquiries,” Davies said.
“The investigation revealed the officer had improperly accessed the RPS internal database on multiple occasions between 2021 and 2023 to search the complainant and other members of their family and friends. It was confirmed that none of these searches were conducted for work purposes. Following the conclusion of the internal investigation, those who were subject of the searches were contacted by the RPS Access and Privacy Unit and notified of the unauthorized access to their information.
“As per Regina Police Service practice, a proactive report of the breach was also made to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The officer, a 10-year constable, acknowledged his actions and took full responsibility for what he had done. The officer was disciplined, including a suspension without pay, participated in mandatory ethics and accountability training, as well as access and privacy training. He is also subject to random audits for a minimum of two years.”
Davies added that Regina Police Service takes these matters "very seriously," and have implemented a number of policies and procedures related to accessing information. She said they will review the recommendations included in this report and respond to the Office of the Access and Privacy Commissioner within 30 days.
As for the length of suspension, Davies said it was a one day suspension without pay. When asked if this is enough given the number of breaches committee, Davies said in determining discipline, they look at the practice within the policing community in the country, as well as the officer's conduct record, and whether or not there have been any sort of previous similar instances.
“And to me the fact that the officer was remorseful, took full responsibility, acknowledged that he can do better, to me all of those factors play into what's a reasonable discipline and I think that in this case it was fitting.”
The case has also been referred by the Privacy Commissioner for prosecution. When asked about that, Davies said that was not for her to comment on, but acknowledged the Privacy Commissioner “felt like that was a step that had to be taken.”
Of his conduct Davies believed the officer made mistakes.
"You know, that's not for us to say. For me, discipline falls under the Police Act and you “Well, I would like to say that we are all perfect, but unfortunately, we are imperfect humans,” Davies said. “He acknowledged he's made mistakes. He is very remorseful, like I said, took full responsibility. Part of our discipline isn't just about punishment, but it's also about taking remedial steps so that there isn't further mistakes made down the road. So, we've done that in terms of additional training, both in ethics and accountability and in privacy training and I have full confidence that this will not be an issue for this officer going forward.”
She noted the individual had no previous service or discipline record. “And so yeah, I appreciate that for me, I have to balance the public trust as also the member and whether or not they can continue to be a productive member of the service and you know, I think in this case, we have.”
When asked why she was confident that the officer will actually follow the rules from now on, Davies said he “understands what he did was a serious error in judgment.”
“I've spoken to him as recently as several hours ago and he's very upset. He is embarrassed. He's embarrassed for our organization and so, like I said, I appreciate that people make mistakes and I have full confidence in him that he will do better.”
