The public will not be allowed to weigh in at Edmonton Police Commission (EPC) public meetings for the rest of this year. On Wednesday, the EPC announced the remainder of this year’s public meetings will be held virtually without public speakers. EPC chair member Ben Henderson said the changes come after broken rules, “This has got seriously out of hand,” Henderson said. “We have tried to come up with sets of rules. People have been unwilling to abide by the rules to the point that the meetings have become dysfunctional.” Henderson said there have been multiple occasions during the last three meetings where the conversation moved “way beyond legitimate criticism of the board of police governance or oversight. “It had devolved into personal attacks, defamation, threats, intimidation directed at commissioners, police service members, staff, and probably most concerning other members of the public,” he added. The EPC said the change is temporary while it reassessed how it handles verbal public input. “We want to get back to a place where we can do something, and we will consider every opportunity. But for the time being, we have to get the meetings back to a point where we can do the work we’re supposed to be doing,” Henderson said. Members of the public are still allowed to attend the Zoom meetings on Sept. 17, Oct. 22 and Nov. 19. The EPC will continue to accept written submissions from the public as long as the correspondence is related to the board’s mandate. Complaints can be submitted through the EPC website.
