Police watchdog launches 2 investigations

Manitoba'sIndependent Investigation Unit has launched two separate probes, one focusing on a Dakota Ojibway Police Service officer and the other on members of the police force in Brandon.

In the case of the Dakota Ojibway Police Service, the unit wastold an off-duty officer "was involved in an incident, several weeks earlier, where a weapon may have been brandished," an IIU news release said on Friday.

The news release came days after the IIU released its final report into the investigation of an officer with the same police force.

That earlier probe involved allegations of a series of inappropriate incidents at work, but the unit did not find the necessary grounds or evidence to support criminal charges.

The Dakota Ojibway Police Service serves several southern Manitoba First Nations.

'Criminal code offences'

The second investigation announced Friday has to do with a complaint against members of the Brandon Police Service about "criminal code offences" between February and June of this year, the IIU said in a statement.

One of the allegations involves an obstruction of justice offence under the Police Services Act, which makes an IIU probe mandatory, the news release said.

The Independent Investigation Unit is responsible for investigating serious incidents involving police in Manitoba.