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Review of ‘bungled’ probe into toddler’s death prompts more oversight of police

Sep 15, 2016 | 9:45 AM

HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia government says it will provide more oversight to rural police departments, a day after an independent review found the force in Truro badly mishandled its investigation into the death of a three-year-old girl.

Justice Minister Diana Whalen said Thursday that she would accept all of the recommendations in the review by Gerard Mitchell, a retired chief justice who looked into how police in Truro investigated the death of Samantha Mercer in 2005.

Whalen said that includes doing regular audits of municipal police services, adding that the force now gets support from the RCMP.

“That was 10 years ago and today I think the public can be very confident that the Truro Police is operating at a high standard of professional ability and is properly resourced,” she said.

That was not the case a decade ago when the force was called to look into the death of the little girl on March 3, 2005, after she suffered a severe head injury.

Mitchell, also the police commissioner for Prince Edward Island, found fault with the investigation at almost every turn, saying it lacked the leadership, teamwork and supervision “that are the hallmarks of proper major case management.”

“This was clearly a major case that required a very careful, methodical and painstaking investigative approach,” said the review, which Whalen had ordered earlier this year.

“The Truro police did not take that kind of approach.”

Mitchell said the case was marred by “procedural errors, neglect, lack of diligence and failure to provide the Crown with appropriate deliverables in a timely manner.”

Terry Dean Allen, the boyfriend of the girl’s mother, was charged with manslaughter, but was acquitted in September 2009.

The review was ordered after the Justice Department discovered in April that a Truro police officer was disciplined for neglecting his duties in the Mercer case.

The report said the officer was found guilty following a review of the case by the chief of another municipal police department. He was demoted and ordered to attend a major case management course, it said.

The Truro Police Service did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mitchell also recommended the Justice Department make sure small police forces can get help with major crime investigations.

Despite the poor quality of the investigation, Mitchell cautioned that he couldn’t say a better-managed probe would have produced a different result.

A Justice spokeswoman said the case is closed because a person who has been charged and acquitted after a full trial cannot be recharged or retried.

Mitchell also recommends small police forces have access to support for major crime investigations, perhaps by establishing a “major case support unit.”

It also says investigators should seek legal advice from the Crown as soon as possible when dealing with major crime cases.

Alison Auld, The Canadian Press