A 16-year member of the Regina Police Service has been charged with assault following an investigation into an incident on April 21, 2020.
50-year-old Roger Wiebe, a constable with RPS, will make his first court appearance on the charge at 9:30 a.m. on August 11 in provincial court.
The decision comes following a complaint that was sent to Regina Police of “excessive use of force by a member of the police service against a member of the public.” A media release on Monday afternoon states that the incident happened on April 21 on North Railway Street during an investigation into a person needing help.
According to the report, the officer allegedly assaulted a woman while responding to the incident. It was then that RPS notified the Public Complaints Commission of the incident and an investigation was opened.
Chief of Police Evan Bray said on Monday at a media conference from RPS headquarters that the incident was brought up as an internal concern.
“This was actually brought up to us by another member of our police service with concern about this interaction,” explained Bray. “From that concern, we did an investigation where we learned some details about the call, we were able to discover a video from our in-car camera.”
Following the investigation, Wiebe was charged with assault and police say he has since been reassigned to administrative duties pending the result of the criminal process.
Bray added how important it is for their police service to hold themselves accountable for their actions.
“It is my hope that through this conversation we’re able to get to a point where we do have other community supports that are maybe better equipped to help those that are in crisis, but may not be in crisis that requires a police response,” said Bray. “It’s an important dialogue we have and that we focus on going forward.”
