Introduction
As police officers own right to carry out an investigation on the suspect, public arise concerning on negligent investigation. In the Hill v. Hamiton-Wentworth case, Mr. Hill was accused robbery and then was proved innocent. Mr. Hill filled a lawsuit against police officers on the tort of negligent investigation, and the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Hill’s appeal. Moreover, a majority of the court recognizes there is a tort of negligent investigation in Canada, but Mr. Hill was investigated under code of care and no tort of negligent investigation during his investigation. While the argument of minority believes the tort of negligent investigation should be recognized in Canada, and the police had been negligent, the argument of minority is more compelling than majority.
Tort of Negligent Investigation
General speaking, a tort of negligence is a failure of someone or one party to follow a standard of care which means failed to do what a reasonable person do or do what a reasonable personal would not do. From the interest perspective, the tort of negligent investigation is an offence against private interest of an individual, corporation or government due to the negligent investigation. Whether a tort of negligent investigation exists in Canada is related to whether investigators owe a duty of care to person being investigated and what is the standard of care. Finally, a tort of negligent investigation only exist when there is a loss or injury to the suspect and the loss or injury was caused by the negligent investigation.
While the police officers have rights to investigate suspect, the duty of care of the officers to suspect exist and the officers were under a legal obligation to exercise care for Mr. Hill. ...
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... be found in Mr. Hill’s case given he position set out by the majority judgement in this case.
Conclusion
When police officers investigate suspect, especially a criminal suspect, public interest was against and officers owe a duty of care to general public for the purpose of public safety. Meanwhile, private interest was against as well and officers owe a duty of care to suspect to ensure suspect’s rights and avoid charging innocent person. In order to balance these two conflict interests, a clear standard of care need to be established so police officers could follow the procedures to prevent negligent investigation.
Reference
Boyd, N. (2010). Canadian law: An introduction. Cengage Learning.
Hill v. Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police Services Board, 2007 SCC 41, [2007] 3 S.C.R. 129.Retrieved from: http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2382/index.do
To begin, the events that took place in this Supreme Court Case occurred on November 17, 2003 involving Donnohue Grant and three Toronto Police Officers, two of which were dressed in plain clothes and in an unmarked car. The area had a history of student assaults, robberies and drug offences which was one of the main reasons for the obvious police presence in the vicinity. The accused was walking down the street very close to school when officer’s Worrall and Forde passed by in their unmarked car. Grant stared at the officers as they drove by him while fidgeting with his coat and pants in a particular way which caught the attention of undercover Worrall and Forde. Officer’s Worrall and Forde then informed officer Gomes that he should have a chat with the suspicious accused.
Linder, Douglas O. "Judge James E. Horton." UMKC School of Law. 1999. Web. 24 Feb. 2011.
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