A concerned parent has been accusing some members of the local RCMP detachment of bias and prejudice against her child while the RCMP detachment commander said he had looked into the matter and shared his conclusions with the parent.
The parent, who will not be named to protect the identity of the children involved, has given a lengthy description of a series of events during which her child was involved in playground arguments with other children, including one whose parent is a law enforcement officer.
According to these accounts of the incidents, the child was interrogated more than once by RCMP officers at school offices without parents being present.
In addition, the parent said her child was accused of mischief and other wrongdoing by RCMP officers without any basis and called a “liar”.
She added that her child was also given inappropriate advice by an RCMP officer.
According to the parent, RCMP officers used their position to protect the child of the law enforcement officer in the dispute involving her child.
When asked about the incidents, Sgt. Rowland Schmidt, commander of RCMP Stettler Detachment, said he had conducted his own investigation into the matter and also that he had shared his conclusions with the concerned parent.
Schmidt said he would like all the members of the community to know that his door was always open to listen and discuss such cases.
“I am always prepared to listen,” said Schmidt.
He also added it was always possible for community members to relay their concerns to the Commission of Public Complaints against the RCMP and, in the course of that process, if they remained dissatisfied with the conclusions of the investigation, they could still appeal those conclusions at the head office of the complaints commission in Ottawa.