A lawyer who has represented clients who have made complaints against current and former members of the RNC says she’s disappointed that provincial government justice department officials—such as the minister and deputy minister—were not in attendance at the Canadian Association of Police Governance held in St. John’s last week.

Lynn Moore says police governance is a serious issue in recent years and needs to be addressed.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in Canada that does not have a police service board that administers police services. “These boards deal with things like priorities for policing, discipline of police officers and allocation of resources within police departments,” says Moore.

She says the RNC is governed by the RNC Act 1992, a piece of legislation that she says “has not stood the test of time.”

The legislation “leaves a lot of power in the hands of politicians to appoint the Chief, the Deputy Chief, the Superintendent, the inspectors” Moore says “all those decisions are made by elected representatives, not independent police service boards.”

The Department of Justice and Public Safety provided VOCM News with a statement indicating that officials are meeting and consulting with community organizations and other stakeholders regarding what would benefit policing in the province. The department confirms that the policing structure in Newfoundland and Labrador is unique and as a result, “significant work is needed to determine what a new police oversight model would look like.”

Minister John Hogan says in a separate statement, that while he was unable to attend the conference, justice department representatives were present at the conference all weekend.