The Saskatchewan Police Commission has released its final report into the inquest of the Estevan Police Service which was requested in 2021.

In the September 2021 inquiry by Aaron A. Fox, a number of questions were laid out, including whether or not the EPS had a respectful and professional workplace, if it had the resources and willingness to respond to the wellbeing of its officers, and if the board and police chief properly understood their roles.

In his investigation, he found that "The Police Service does not have a respectful and professional workplace culture with appropriate conflict resolution practices.", though he did acknowledge that they were willing to change.

He also stated that "The Police Service does now have a genuine willingness to recognize, respond to and support the health and well-being of its members.", mentioning a list of resources the service could use.

For the police board, he stated that "The Board does not have a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities.", though they do have a willingness to learn their roles.

He also found that the Board, EPS, and Estevan Police Association all have a willingness to better work with and understand one another.

In talking about former Police Chief Ladouceur, Fox described him as "extremely hands-on and came in with the intention of making changes."

Fox describes the handling by Ladouceur of the situation with Constable Pierson in 2017:

"It was known that Cst. Pierson had a variety of medical problems. At the time he went off work in 2017 he had no sick benefits left available to him. One of the issues, when Constable Pierson had his problems, was the ability to assess whether this was a mental health issue or simply a discipline/performance issue."

"Former Chief Ladouceur immediately dealt with it as a discipline issue and did not take any steps to have a mental health assessment or fitness for duty assessment done to see whether or not there was an underlying problem. It did not seem the Police Service had in place any procedure to deal with this situation or have a fitness for duty assessment carried out."

Fox does bring up multiple positive accomplishments that Ladouceur had with the EPS, including the hiring of Dr. Jody Burnett to facilitate mental health assistance, though he does note the hiring was after he actively opposed Constable Pierson's diagnosis of PTSD.

Acting Chief Morrical relayed to Fox that there was a lack of "trust" between EPS members and former Chief Ladouceur.

The Estevan Police Association had proposed a non-confidence vote "some years ago" which was discouraged by previous president Sergeant Reed and was not held. A survey was conducted in 2017, which was very negative and contained multiple unprofessional and unvetted comments that frayed relations with the former chief further.

A confidence vote was later held, which Fox describes:

"There was then a confidence vote which expressed an overwhelming lack of confidence in former Chief Ladouceur and Deputy Chief Cowan. The feeling was that the Board and the Executive did nothing in response to the survey. It was a very poor working atmosphere. Morale was low."

"It felt like every mistake resulted in discipline or the threat of discipline. The Association was concerned about a confidential leak that originated from the Board. They felt the lives and safety of the members were put at risk as a result of it."

As well, the Police Board was found to be not well run, with members sitting for short periods of time and unable to properly grasp their roles and resources. Fox feels this made them unwilling or unable to speak up against Mayor Roy Ludwig, who was a permanent member of the board and likely had an effect on hiring Ladouceur and the situation with Constable Pierson.

As for the current status of the police force, Fox says that existing programs have seen improvements, especially with Dr. Burnett working with officers' mental health.

Fox stated, in his conclusion:

"There will be pushback from some of the parties involved however, as I indicated previously, I was impressed with the overall willingness and desire of the people I interviewed to move ahead in a positive way."

"This was reflected in the comments made by Sergeant Reed, President of the Association, when he forwarded his letter of concern to the Board. There were improvements made in the Police Service as a result of the initiatives put in place by former Chief Ladouceur. Now is the time to address the negatives and the work that still needs to be done."

The list of recommendations by Fox includes the following:

1) Continuation of the program involving Dr. Jody Burnett

2) a variety of policies that focus on mental health supports, critical incident responses, and leadership dialogue

3) changing the relationship between members and civilian staff, so that civilian members have a greater say and have their own needs met

4) the role of the police board should be made clear, with sitting members better trained and equipped to deal with situations

The Saskatchewan Police Commission put the findings and recommendations into four categories: workplace well-being, communication, mental health support and services, and board governance.

In the inquiry, the Commission says that all four areas have either been met or are being sufficiently worked towards by the Police Board, EPS, and EPA.

They also put forward multiple key actions for the board and noted that many in the EPA had much more trust in Chief Lowen, though some said they were reserving their judgment to see how he responds to an organizational conflict.

In their conclusion, the Commission says that the three organizations had shown a commitment and ability to improve mental health support, improve workplace culture, and understand their roles as it relates to each other.

The Commission then closed the inquiry:

"The inquiry concludes with all involved parties have made significant, constructive efforts in establishing trusting and respectful relationships between the Board, police service leaders, and police personnel. The quality of policing in the municipality does not appear to be negatively affected by the current relationships.