Thread by @Tim_Bousquet

Good morning. I'm at the proceedings of the Mass Casualty Commission. Today, Chief Supt. Darren Campbell is testifying. You can avoid this thread by muting the hashtag #MCC

Here's Campbell. #MCC

Also this morning, Stephen Kimber @skimber takes a somewhat more optimistic view of the #MCC than I did last week: Will the mass casualty commission report even matter? halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house…

Campbell: "Everyone seems to have a nickname here [in Nova Scotia]." I just called Cst. Bent, "Skipper," I don't think he even knows his own name. (Skipper was the sole family liaison officer after the murders) #MCC

Campbell says that after the mass murders, he suggested that public alerting be added to the Critical Incident Commander training, and that was done. #MCC

Young, the lawyer for the #MCC, points out that public alerting was one of the recommendations of the MacNeill Report after Moncton

Campbell: "I believe that an active shooter who was active, then dormant, then active again is a common event." I searched the internet and didn't find much, and especially where the shooter was using a marked police car. "This was a unique event" #MCC

[the Norwegian shooter killed 8 people in Oslo, then, dressed as a cop, travelled several hours to Utøya island, where he killed 69 more people] #MCC

Young: the Staff Sergeants weren't required read the MacNeil Report #MCC

I keep coming back to how incurious many of the RCMP brass are. Here was a disastrous event for the RCMP, and a document detailing what happened and making recommendations, but maybe they read *some* of it? #MCC

Campbell: "there should be a requirement" for people to read such reports. #MCC

The discussion so far is about the post-mortem after the murders (that's an unfortunate wording, but that's what we call it in the news biz). Young is asking Campbell what recommendations he made to whom #MCC

I remember Campbell immediately after the murders. He was a terrible spokesperson, and told transparent lies. He's much more polished today. #MCC

Campbell says that he asked for a national review, and not a H-division (Nova Scotia) review, because everyone in Nova Scotia was involved in some aspect of the response to the murders. He wanted an independent review #MCC

Campbell: "I do believe everyone did everything they could do. And they felt awful." #MCC

Campbell met with the commanders in the days after the murders, and he says this gave him some understanding of what had happened #MCC

Campbell: after Portapique, we moved "part-time resources" of the ERT team full-time into the ERT. These were cops whose day jobs were general duty #MCC

Campbell: before Portapique, there were 6 fully funded ERT position — 3 funded by the feds, 3 funded by the provincial contract. We funded 6 more by shifting funding around. The recommendation was we have 18 RT members #MCC

Campbell: so the first thing I did was make those 6 part-timers full time. We had to ask for a change in the provincial contract to do that. #MCC

Campbell: it's a big province. It's going to take a long time to get an armoured vehicle to Meat Cove or Yarmouth, but we can get the ERT there quicker, and we've made changes to make that happen #MCC

Campbell says he told Chris Leather about his request to national RCMP headquarters for a review of the response during the murders. Campbell doesn't know if Lee Bergerman was aware of it or not #MCC

We're on break for 15 minutes. I need caffeine #MCC

In the scheme of the loss of life and the associated issues of police, violence, etc, I recognize that my concerns are beyond petty, but all the same, reporting on the murders and the inquiry has been exhausting. I'm very much looking forward to some time off after this week #MCC

Week before last, I worked five 12-16 hours day straight. I ain't in my 20s anymore, heh. #MCC

We're back. Young is now asking about info that wasn't passed on *during* the murders. She first mentions the blueberry field road #MCC

You'll recall that Cst. Vicki Colford radioed about a second exit out of Portapique. Young: whose responsibility is it to listen to radio traffic? Campbell: everyone should be listening to it #MCC

Campbell: I'm not faulting Colford, but she should've asked for an acknowledgement that she was heard #MCC

The time stamp on Colford's transmission is Eastern Time, and the actual Atlantic Time was 10:48pm. It appears the killer had already left Portapique, but the response for the rest of the night was that he was contained in Portapique #MCC

Young now looking at all the witnesses who told police the killer was driving a police car. Young: Jamie Blair said it was a police car. Campbell: With all due respect to her, she was in terrible situation and didn't say "it's an exact police car" #MCC

The audience isn't happy about this. #MCC

Young: Blair said his name, his profession, and that he was driving *an RCMP car*. Campbell: it was confusing to the call-taker. Young: that's why we're talking about it. How do cut through that confusion #MCC

Campbell: they did search to see if one of our cars was missing. Young: so they took the report that it was a police car was taken seriously. Campbell: it was one of the possibilities #MCC

Campbell: what I think happened, because of human biases, the possibility that someone had a fully replicated car to that degree was not conceivable #MCC

Andrew MacDonald wasn't interviewed until well into the next day, so Young asks about how to improve that communication. Campbell: a break-down in communications is human nature. During an unfolding even, there needs to someone tasked with reviewing all calls #MCC

Young: was relying on second-hand info from people in the OCC over first hand accounts from actual witnesses, a mistake? Campbell: the likelihood of it being a decommissioned police car with some markings on it was unlikely #MCC

Campbell: it would have been better if it had been clearly stated that it could've been a police car #MCC

Campbell: in my 33 years of policing, I've never come across someone in a replica police car, so that probably would've been my bias too, had I been responding #MCC

Young: could training help here? Maybe just telling people to expect the unexpected? Campbell: If there is a direct quote (from a witness) that people are challenged by, make sure everyone has the exact quote #MCC

Young now asking about the post-murder press conferences. Campbell: there are 2 issues: telling the public what the public needs to know, but also not negatively affecting the investigation; #MCC

Young: Chris Leather gave the first few press conferences, and then you took over; why was that? Campbell: I knew more about the investigation #MCC

Young: the tweet on April 18 referred to a "firearms complaint," but you called it a "shooting"; why was that? Campbell: because it was the truth. #MCC

Young: you said in a press conference that that night they were looking for "possible suspects," but witnesses had told you the name of the shooter. Campbell: well, they were looking at possible police cars, and someone who was a process server who drove a decommissioned car #MCC

Campbell: also they didn't know if Lisa Banfield was involved #MCC

Something was bugging me, so I went to look it up. Campbell joined the RCMP in 1990, right after he graduated from the University of New Brunswick. The killer also attended the University of New Brunswick, starting in 1989 #MCC

Campbell didn't say if he went to the Fredericton campus or the Saint John campus. And there's no evidence that he ever met the killer while in university (or any other time). Just a curiosity #MCC

back to the questioning. Young: you asked for a review, but it never happened. Campbell: I was told it's because the Mass Casualty Commission would do it #MCC

At one press conference, Campbell named Heidi Stevenson but not the other victims. Young: why didn't you name them? Campbell: there were a lot of them. #MCC

Young: is the investigation into motivations over? Campbell: for GW himself, yes. But for those who assisted him, no: How he obtained the firearms, and how he was able to bring the firearms into Canada #MCC

Young: no one was charged in the US, and there were some people charged here in Canada, but that's almost over. Campbell: no file is "closed" if we're still unsatisfied. Young: so an active investigation? Campbell: no one's knocking on doors #MCC

Campbell: we still have the command file in place, and if new information comes in, we'll pursue it #MCC

Campbell: the Pickton investigation is still open, and people are still working on it. Likewise, this case is not finished #MCC

Young is showing Campbell the transcripts of his answer to the National Firearms Association, and now I remember that they showed up as "a reporter" who got to ask questions before the Halifax Examiner could #MCC

In terms of not naming the specific kinds of weapons, Campbell says it was possible they'd have a covert operation in which a suspect could've named them, and that would be important info #MCC

That might make sense, but there's no indication that a covert operation was ever employed in this investigation #MCC

Lunch break #MCC

As the mass murder inquiry was proceeding in Nova Scotia this morning, there was an active shooter in British Columbia bc.ctvnews.ca/man-arrested-a…

We're back. Young now moving to the June 4, 2020 press conference #MCC

Asked about this quote, Campbell says he was referring to complaints he heard that the RCMP wasn't communicating with Amherst and Truro police #MCC

Young is going through a series of docs about the officer safety bulletin of 2010. Campbell says he first learned of it on April 21, 2 days after the murders. #MCC

We still don't know who the source was for the 2010 officer safety bulletin. #MCC

Campbell: "when If first saw it, my reaction was 'you've got to be kidding.'" We should have known about it before then #MCC

Young: how could releasing a 9-year-old bulletin affect an investigation? Campbell: you never know how something might be important. Young: Truro Police released it in response to a FOIPOP, did that make you unhappy. Campbell: No. #MCC

Campbell says he was willing to cooperate with the Fifth Estate for a documentary, but higher-ups in Ottawa nixed the idea #MCC

Young: why did you want to participate in the documentary? Campbell: I didn't want people to think we were hiding something. We should've spoken about what we could've spoken about. I still feel that way. #MCC

Young: were there inaccuracies in reporting or coming from the RCMP? Campbell: you always learn more and your knowledge improves #MCC

Campbell says thee Leah Scanlan was backing the plan, and Lee Bergerman was good with it too #MCC

Young: who cancelled the interview wit the Fifth Estate? Campbell: I don't know, but it was probably someone around Brenda Lucki #MCC

Young shows Campbell an email Jennifer Clarke sent to him, in which Clarke says "the commissioner," i.e. Lucki, cancelled the interview. Campbell says he really doesn't know #MCC

Young shows an email chain that pretty conclusively shows that Lucki herself said she cancelled it. Campbell was on the chain. Campbell: "thank you for showing me that. I see now it was clearly the commissioner who cancelled it" #MCC

I think Campbell was honest here. He knows the #MCC has subpoenaed all this communication, so it would make no sense for him to lie about it. He simply couldn't remember for sure who made the decision, and he readily says now that he sees the emails, it was clearly Lucki

Young: what about Onslow fire hall? Campbell: Whenever there's a SIRT investigation, there's a separate code of conduct investigation. Young: Criminal charges? Campbell: SIRT would do that #MCC

Young: while all these investigations are happening, is there any thought to what should be done so this doesn't happen again? Campbell: Sure. Young: Who would do that? Campbell: no local cop could be objective and independent #MCC

Campbell: that's why we brought in an investigative team from British Columbia. #MCC

Young: you have any recommendations? Campbell: how long do I have? Young: the rest of the day #MCC

Young: if the pot of policing money doesn't get any bigger, are there better ways of spending it? Campbell: yes, NS should do what is done in the lower mainland of BC, the Vancouver area... #MCC

Campbell: there's integration of all the police agencies, inter-agency training, consistent policies, etc. #MCC

Young: has any of that happened in Nova Scotia since the mass murders? Campbell: cops on the streets like each other. But from a management perspective, no, "they haven't gotten better, they've gotten worse" #MCC

Young: we haven't gotten all of your notes yet. Can you tell us why and when we're going to get them? Campbell: I keep disclosing them, and I'm redacting them myself, as needed. They go to H-Strong, and then the Justice Dept. looks at my redactions... #MCC

Campbell: there are 3 more notebooks that will be with the Justice Dept by Wednesday, and they you get them. But there's not much there related to this investigation... mostly, it's other stuff that doesn't touch on the mass murders #MCC

We're adjourned until 9am tomorrow #MCC