PRC Investigator Visits Medicine Hat in Police Misconduct Complaint

The Police Review Commission sent an investigator to Medicine Hat this week to interview witnesses in a misconduct complaint filed by two local journalists against Chief Alan Murphy and three MHPS officers.

Owl News journalists Thomas Fougere and Kelly Allard were among the people interviewed by an investigator for the Police Review Commission (PRC) as part of the investigation of three Medicine Hat Police Service (MHPS) officers this week. The investigation stems from a complaint that Fougere and Allard filed in October 2024. It originally involved 4 police officers but one is no longer  with the MHPS and is no longer subject to the Police Act.

Officers named in the complaint include:

• SSgt Cory Both

• SSgt Darcy Brandt (no longer with the MHPS)

• Inspector Joe West

• Chief Alan Murphy

The interviews took place at a conference room in the Provincial Building downtown over several days. The investigator will make a report and the PRC will make a decision as to how to proceed. 

It is being investigated as a Level 3 complaint which addresses misconduct.

Complaints about potential breaches of the Police Conduct and Oversight Regulation, which governs officer conduct, are categorized under this level. This includes offences such as unlawful use of authority, deceit and neglect of duty. The PRC's jurisdiction at this level applies to officers working for municipal and First Nation police services.

The PRC aims to complete investigations within 180 days after they have been categorized. This complaint was categorized as Level Three on August 19 2026, the deadline for completion of the investigation is February 15 2027. 

What Happens After the Investigation

Once the PRC investigator completes their report, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PRC reviews the findings. The CEO must decide whether the evidence shows that an officer committed a contravention of the Police Conduct and Oversight Regulation .

If the CEO finds a contravention, the matter proceeds to a disciplinary hearing before a neutral presiding officer.

If the CEO finds no contravention, the complaint is dismissed, though the complainant may appeal to the Law Enforcement Review Board within 30 days.

Possible Penalties

At a hearing, the possible penalties include

• a reprimand,

• suspension without pay,

• forfeiture of overtime,

• reduction in rank, or

• dismissal from the police service.

The regulation also contains a specific provision addressing resignations:

if an officer retires or resigns while an active Level 3 complaint is ongoing, the CEO may begin or continue an investigation when it is in the public interest to do so.

This means a resignation does not automatically end the matter—the PRC retains the complaint file for five years and can proceed if the public interest warrants it.

Only in Alberta do Police Misconduct Records Automatically Disappear

Alberta is the only province in Canada that destroys police misconduct records after five years.

Under the Police Conduct and Oversight Regulation, a police officer's disciplinary record can be removed and destroyed after five years if no further entries are made.

The regulation states the record "shall not be used or referred to in any future proceedings respecting that police officer."

The Supreme Court of Canada has criticized this practice, noting that "the removal of a police misconduct record is arbitrary and occurs by the mere passage of time."

Most provinces require an officer to apply for record removal. The RCMP has no removal provision at all.

In Alberta, the record is destroyed automatically.

A criminal record, by contrast, is not destroyed after five years. It is set aside through a record suspension, and it can be revived if the person is convicted of a new offence. Police misconduct records in Alberta simply vanish.