If I was an MP and wanted a civilian police file for investigative purposes, I would be inclined to cover all my bases by getting judicial authorization via a warrant/production order.
That would almost certainly not be necessary. A PO to a police service for an existing police file will only furnish documents or data… that are already in the hands of a police service. Any intrusion on the reasonable expectation of privacy by the state has already happened. There’s no articulable reasonable expectation of privacy that precludes one police service sharing the fruits of its investigation with another for valid law enforcement purposes. Applicable provincial and federal privacy legislation already allow that sharing; federally, for instance. It’s 8(2)(e) of the
Privacy Act.
I’ve seen judicial authorizations against police services in, broadly three occasions:
1) Seeking police records that are
not fruits of an investigation and were collected for some less intrusive purpose, such as a production order for a police employee’s security clearance package when they’re being investigated for corruption
2) Seeking a Search Warrant to expand the scope of data that can be reviewed on an electronic device. For example, a police service seizes a device and examines its contents for evidence of organized retail theft, and unexpectedly finds data showing evidence of murder in another jurisdiction. That other jurisdiction would get a copy of the data but not look at it til they get a new warrant with expanded scope.
3) The niche case that fills me with rage, police receiving proactive and voluntary child porn disclosures from groups like NCMEC, which contain IP addresses. Police will lock it away and obtain a production order to serve on themselves to bring that voluntary disclosure through judicial review due to the presence of IP addresses, which in
Bykovets the SCC found to attract a reasonable expectation of privacy.
And, once, a bank overdelivered in response to my production order and sent me copies of bank drafts I had not yet asked for and didnmt yet have grounds to. When I saw them I realized immediately they were good evidence, so I locked them in my cabinet, and a few days later triumphantly served my Staff Sergeant with a copy of the search warrant I had obtained for my own filing cabinet. That was funny and dumb.
But anyway, I’ve both shared and received investigation information with various other police services, municipal, provincial and federal. It’s generally no issue, just know the section of applicable law permitting the sharing.
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