Chief Lowen in favour of new SIRT initiative

Estevan Police Chief Rich Lowen says the formation of the Serious Incident Response Team in Saskatchewan is long overdue.

"Civilian oversight is done in just about every province...I think we're one of the last provinces in Canada to have it," Lowen said. "So it is long overdue and I'm glad that they're bringing it in."

"Civilian oversight just encourages that there is open and transparent investigations that the public can have confidence in their police service. So that's the whole goal of it, is to encourage that public confidence."

Lowed added that SIRT will reaffirm the accountability that officers already demonstrate in their day-to-day work.

"When they do investigations, it shows the confidence in the accountability that officers are already demonstrating," he said. "I think our officers are very accountable, I think our officers are doing a fantastic job. This is just another way that it can be demonstrated to the public. If there's something that's done that wasn't done correctly, that's what SIRT is there to identify."

"It's a welcome addition, it's something we need and we're always accountable to the public, doesn't matter whether it's SIRT or through the court system."

Lowen also explained how the SIRT team will operate.

"It kind of works a bit like a police service. The civilian director has oversight over the investigators, and the investigators do the follow up into the incident that they're investigating," he said. "The investigators themselves are usually former police officers or something along that line that have the investigative skills and have been trained in investigations, that can gather evidence and provide that evidence to the civilian director who can review the information and make sure things were done correctly."

"The nice part is to have a civilian director...he can kind of distance himself a little bit and make sure things are done from a civilian perspective."

"We welcome any kind of oversight to help us do our job better."

SIRT officially came into effect in Saskatchewan on Jan. 1.