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An investigation by Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has concluded that no charges will be laid against members of the Calgary Police Service in the handling of Colton Crowshoe’s arrest and the subsequent investigation into his disappearance.
Crowshoe, 18, had been arrested by Calgary Police on July 2, 2014, and released the same day. He was last seen alive in the early hours of July 4 and was reported missing by his family on July 6.
His body was found on July 24, 2014, in a water retention pond in northeast Calgary. His death was deemed a homicide. The case remains unsolved.
Crowshoe’s family claimed the police service was racist and it mishandled the missing persons investigation.
On Aug. 15, 2014, Alberta Serious Incident Response Team(ASIRT) was directed by Calgary Police Service to investigate the handling of the Crowshoe incident.
“The presence of racial bias or profiling could certainly constitute partiality in this context and was specifically addressed in the ASIRT investigation. No evidence supporting this claim was found. Indeed, the investigation tended to support an inference that racial bias or profiling was not a factor,” said a news release issued by ASIRT on April 13.
“In this missing person case, it is apparent that a series of misjudgments and errors made by a number of CPS officers at different junctures contributed to the main failings identified in the initial stage of the investigation,” said the news release, which also noted that similar behaviour of not uniformly or consistently following missing person policy protocols was determined in 28 other missing persons investigations.
Further investigation by ASIRT of an alleged assault by CPS when Crowshoe was arrested has also resulted in no charges being laid.
ASIRT’s mandate is to effectively, independently, and objectively investigate incidents involving Alberta’s police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.