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Homicide victims names released on basis of “public good”: McGrogan

Aug 3, 2017 | 3:28 PM

 

Alberta’s police chiefs have agreed in principal to new rules that could mean the names of homicide victims are withheld from the public.

Eleven Alberta chiefs adopted a framework at a meeting in Calgary that lays out how and when police forces name homicide victims in investigations based on advice from lawyers, senior police officers, Alberta’s solicitor generals department and the provincial privacy commissioner.

“There is just a lawful expectation of privacy even for deceased folks. That’s where you start,” Medicine Hat Police Chief Andy McGrogan, the president of the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police, said Wednesday. “There are steps that we take to get to naming homicide victims in certain circumstances.”

The document says releasing the identity has to be in the “public good” and notes families of the deceased should be considered as additional victims.

Speaking with CHAT News, McGrogan said the push for a policy across Alberta was “media-driven” at the beginning, with police in Edmonton releasing less names than their counterparts in Calgary.

According to McGrogan, the AACP was asked to develop a policy for “consistency”. He indicated that work on the policy began from the point of acknowledging deceased people have privacy rights for up to 25 years, under current legislation.

“If you start with that premise, you have to work from there, and work forward,” said McGrogan.

“We went through the whole process.”

McGrogan indicated that he was pleased with the adoption of the framework.

“Every case is different, but I think the neat thing about this framework is it really gives you kind of a process to go through,” said McGrogan.

“It’s nothing that’s binding, it’s not a policy that you can hang on anybody, but I can tell you that all 10 chiefs were there, and all of them said “this is a great framework, and we’re going to follow it”.

As for the possibility of homicide victim’s names becoming available beyond the control of the police, McGrogan indicated that it had been discussed.

“This has been an argument,” said McGrogan.

“It’s always out there on social media, I can go get it off an information to obtain, or in the courts. But somebody on social media doesn’t have to follow the law like we do. We’re a public body, and as a public body, we are restricted by legislation. Our rules are different, and it is what it is.”

McGrogan said that “for the most part” chiefs of police and police organizations want to be transparent.

“Where we can follow the legislation to a point, where we can give the name, and it’s in the public good, we’ll do it.”

-with files from the Canadian Press