NOTE: Amendments to the Police Act and its regulations came into force on December 1, 2025, which instituted a new public complaint process as it relates to complaints against sworn members. A provincial body, the Police Review Commission (PRC), is now the independent oversight body in Alberta who will investigate serious incidents, criminal allegations, and the majority of public complaints (also known as Level 1, 2 and 3 complaints) involving the Edmonton Police Service (Service).
The Edmonton Police Commission (Commission) retains complaint oversight with regards to complaints made before December 1, 2025, and complaints related to service or policy. Those complaints will continue to be investigated and administered under the legislation as it read immediately before December 1, 2025.
Level 4 (performance matters) and Level 5 (complaints about policies or services of a police service) will be directed to the Service for investigation and disposition.
MANDATE:
- The purpose of the Commission’s Professional Standards Committee (Committee) is to monitor and oversee the public complaint process as it relates to all complaints made prior to December 1, 2025. While the Service is responsible for investigating those complaints, the Committee, with the assistance of Commission legal counsel, ensures investigations are thorough, fair to all parties, and are conducted in accordance with laws and policies.
- The Committee will also oversee and review the Service’s Level 4 reporting on unsatisfactory performance matters and Level 5 reporting on policy and service matters.
COMPOSITION AND OPERATIONS:
- The Committee shall have a minimum of three members appointed by the Commission, with one member designated as Chair.
- The Committee shall meet every second month unless there is agreement by the Committee members that a meeting is not required.
- The Committee can consider scheduling additional meetings in order to fulfill their mandate and to be able to make recommendations to the Commission in a timely manner.
- The Executive Director and Commission’s legal counsel shall attend meetings as required to act as administrative support to the Committee and are not voting members.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Review all Service policies, procedures, and processes regarding the public complaint process to ensure that all complaints or expressions of concern made against the Service or its members are dealt with in a fair, equitable and timely manner.
- Ensure that the complaint processes implemented by the Service are transparent for all parties involved and are compliant with the Police Act, Police Service Regulation and Police Conduct and Oversight Regulation.
- Monitor the complaint process as outlined in the Mandate and conduct audits of complaint files as necessary or deemed appropriate.
- Recommend or report on audit outcomes and make recommendation(s) to the Commission as it deems necessary or advisable.
- In regard to complaints made prior to December 1, 2025, and Level 5 complaints, monitor the progress of any investigation or informal resolution process initiated or implemented by or on behalf of the Professional Standards Branch (PSB) and identify opportunities to improve how complaints are handled by or on behalf of the PSB.
- Review the reasons for any delays in the investigative process for complaints made prior to December 1, 2025, and the manner in which complaints are resolved.
- Review and make recommendations to the Commission with respect to requests by the Chief of Police to extend the time limits for the investigation of any complaint made prior to December 1, 2025, as set out in the Police Service Regulation.
- The Committee will review Service reporting on Level 4 unsatisfactory performance matters and Level 5 policy and service matters and will report to the Commission on any trends or concerns arising from this reporting.
- The Committee will review Police Review Commission reporting on Level 1-3 matters and will report to the Commission on any trends or concerns arising from this reporting.
ACCOUNTABILITY:
- The Committee shall review the terms of reference for this committee at a minimum once every three years and make recommendations for changes to the Commission if required.
- The Committee shall keep records of its meetings, and the Chair of the Committee shall provide reports to the Commission on the matters discussed and any recommendations for decision.
References:
- Police Act, RSA 2000, c P-17
- Police Service Regulation, AR 356/1990
- Police Conduct and Oversight Regulation, AR263/2025
Revised April 16, 2026.