Sask. RCMP says staffing shortages are an obstacle to addressing lessons of 2022 mass stabbing inquests

The Saskatchewan RCMP is taking stock of lessons learned from the Sept. 2022 mass killings in the communities of James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon.

On Thursday morning, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore released the results of an extensive internal review of its investigation into the mass stabbing event and its subsequent manhunt for Myles Sanderson, who killed 11 people and injured 18 others before going on the run for several days. A series of jarring emergency alerts rang out with updates as the search continued, gripping the province in fear.

The RCMP also addressed point-by-point responses to the recommendations of two coroner’s inquests –one probing the circumstances of the 11 killings, and one outlining what we know about Sanderson’s death in police custody.

A forensic toxicologist determined that Sanderson died of a cocaine overdose shortly after being forced off the road by an RCMP constable, following a harrowing high-speed chase down the wrong side of the busy Saskatchewan Highway 2.

Recommendations of the victims' inquest

Among the recommendations of the jury in the first inquest — held in January in Melfort, Sask. — a call for RCMP to watermark any photos they upload to police information databases with the date the photo was taken.

The recommendation stems from an incident in the days leading up to the killing spree, when officers were called to a home in James Smith in search of Damien Sanderson — Myles’ brother. The two were dealing cocaine in the community prior to the event, and Damien was Myles’ first victim.

When police arrived at the home looking for Damien, they were working from an eight-year-old photo from an RCMP database. Damien provided officers a fake name, and they did not recognize him.

• Sask. RCMP say more on why they failed to identify Sanderson before the violence started

Now, Blackmore says all photos added to police databases in the province will be watermarked with an occurrence number, the date obtained, and the name of the detachment that procured it.

The coroner himself further prodded RCMP to find methods to keep more up-to-date photos for its patrol officers.

The RCMP says its officers have access to the database of SGI photos, and said that staff in the division’s communication centre can source photos from “any available digital media.”

The Melfort jury called on the RCMP to divert more resources to its specialized drug enforcement team, as many framed the killings as a consequence of the illegal drug trade in rural communities.

While RCMP agreed with the recommendation, in its response it pointed out that it’s facing a significant staffing shortage province-wide.

“As a result of human resource pressures, SERT currently manages a 30 per cent vacancy rate among regular member positions,” the report said.

“The division is in the process of staffing a number of vacant positions and it is anticipated that the vacancy rate will decrease significantly in the coming months.”

In his separate set of recommendations, the coroner also called for RCMP commanding officers to make sure the Saskatchewan’s special enforcement teams are fully staffed.

Based on its struggles to fill vacancies across the province, RCMP said only that it agrees with those recommendations “in principle.”

In the January inquest, a number of relatives of those slain in Sanderson’s brutal killing spree pointed out the lack of effort by police to track him down when he was declared unlawfully at large months before the incident. This, despite the fact he was widely known to be travelling between Saskatoon and James Smith, staying with the mother of his children, Vanessa Burns.

Others pointed out Sanderson’s pattern of violent offences and history of domestic violence against Burns as red flags they felt were minimized by police and parole officers.

• 'I want to f***ing kill Vanessa': James Smith inquest hears of warning signs before mass killing

The coroner called on the RCMP to change its warrant enforcement practices to prioritize offenders with a repetitive history of domestic and intimate partner violence.

On this point, the RCMP appears cautious to commit, at least without clarifying the terms.

“Presently, domestic violence is not considered in the violence prioritization matrix. Much of the violence prioritization process is automated, therefore the identification of a history of domestic violence would be a manual task,” the report said.

Before establishing such a procedure, the RCMP says it would need to determine what constitutes domestic and intimate partner violence, to what degree historical information about domestic violence should be considered, and whether it would be restricted to only include situations where charges had been laid.

“The process of manually flagging could prove to be extensive,” the RCMP wrote.

Inquest into the death of Myles Sanderson 

In the February inquest into Sanderson’s in-custody death, the jury saw dash-cam video of the dramatic highway pursuit that ended the three day manhunt.

The inquest watched as Cst. Heidi Marshall executed a flawless high-speed pit maneuver to force Sanderson’s stolen vehicle into the ditch, leading to his arrest along Highway 11 near Rosthern, Sask.

• Family of Sask. mass killer embraces officer who put an end to high-speed chase

In the dash cam video of the chase, the inquest heard the RCMP commander instruct his constables to “take him out.”

Marshall responds — “take him out?”

“If we can, ram the vehicle with another [police cruiser] to get him out of play,” the commander said.

As a result, the jury later called on the RCMP to implement mandatory enhanced driver training to teach patrol officers the technique.

In its response Thursday, the RCMP was not willing to commit to broadly applying such an “inherently hazardous and dynamic intervention” for all its officers.

Conducting a pit maneuver at speeds greater than 80 kilometres an hour is considered an application of lethal force, the RCMP says, and “carries a significant risk of death or grievous bodily harm to the suspect, the police and the general public.”

In its response, RCMP said its national advanced driving course was currently being updated, and it would consider an “optional module” in the use of the PIT maneuver, strictly for members, “identified as having an aptitude in advanced driving skills.”

The RCMP says its policy on high-speed pursuits was revised in 2020 to remove explicit descriptions of “pursuable” and “non-pursuable” offences. It said that decision should be left up to the supervisor based on the “totality of the situation,” and the urgency to apprehend the suspect.

In the tense three days after the killing spree in September 2022, getting Sanderson into custody was priority one for police across Saskatchewan.

Following Marshall’s inquest testimony in February, even Sanderson’s uncle thanked her for putting her life on the line to end the manhunt.

“We were with you,” he said.