A Military Police Complaints Commission report on the investigations into the suicide of Cpl. Stuart Langridge details a list of errors and failures by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, including a decision to withhold a suicide note he had addressed to his family.
As a result, Langridge's wishes for his funeral were not respected, and his parents were denied control over funeral arrangements. Instead, the military designated Langridge's ex-girlfriend his next of kin.
Langridge, a veteran of missions in Bosnia and Afghanistan, killed himself at CFB Edmonton in 2008. After lengthy delays, the MPCC's hearings into the military's handling of their investigations wrapped up in January, 2013.
The MPCC's report is being released today. CBCNews.ca is carrying the press conference live.
Only when MPCC announced it was going to court did the Provost Marshal agree to lift the secret designation in Cpl. Stuart Langridge's case.
The MPCC report says military police investigators were so incompetent in their initial suicide investigation, that the force should not be trusted with sudden death investigations.
The force also totally failed to investigate why the funeral and suicide note were so mishandled, and whether negligence on the part of Langridge's superiors had contributed to his death. They then told his parents in writing that they had conducted "two detailed and comprehensive investigations," the MPCC report says.
The MPCC says when it presented its interim findings and recommendations to the Canadian Forces, the military's provost marshal broke with accepted practice by declaring the military's response secret.
When the MPCC threatened court action, the military then offered to lift the secret designation in return for a promise that the MPCC would not publish the response as part of its report, thought that has always been standard practice.
Only when the MPCC announced it was going to court did the Provost Marshal agree to lift the secret designation last Friday.
The MPCC says the military's response to its report seeks to evade the most important issues, offers no plan to improve its behaviour in the future, and suggests the military police intend to make no significant changes.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar