Advocates seek independent review of Calgary police search for Parker Wells

Community advocates who helped look for Parker Wells are calling for an independent investigation into the Calgary Police Service’s search efforts.

Tanis Charuk, creator of the Parker’s Army Facebook page and a mother to two young sons, says she doesn’t believe the service’s account matches what some volunteers witnessed.

She and others are seeking an external review, citing discrepancies in CPS’s internal review timeline posted to Facebook, which states the 11-year-old autistic boy’s body was found in a culvert on July 29 after “evidence led to rapid re-engagement” of search efforts.

Charuk, who was involved in community search efforts from the beginning, maintains evidence — one of Parker’s shoes — was found in the late afternoon of July 28 by two others, Jenn Thompson and Ashley Cardinal. Thompson is spearheading the One Call to Find Them All campaign, a national framework to use Canada’s existing vulnerable missing-persons code.

Charuk, Thompson and Cardinal have no association with Parker’s family, nor do their campaigns. Parker’s family this week provided a statement to Calgary police before its internal review was publicized, in which they expressed gratitude for the search efforts and asked for privacy.

A police spokesperson confirmed investigators first received information about the shoe discovery on the night of July 28 through social media channels, which led to a search of the area the following day.

“The timeline released publicly was intended as a high-level overview and does not document every investigative milestone,” reads a CPS statement provided to Postmedia.

The Calgary Police Service released findings from its internal review Tuesday, outlining improvements to how it manages major searches, handles public tips and co-ordinates resources during prolonged investigations.

The July search was the largest missing-person operation in the organization’s history, generating around 1,000 formal tips and more than 90,000 direct social media messages.

Charuk said she helped get police to respond to the scene by reaching out to a longtime friend who’s now a Calgary police officer. That contact was able to get officers to respond to Thompson and Cardinal’s discovery.

“I know what time I made the call to a CPS member, and I also know when they showed up. A review that gets that wrong isn’t accountability, it’s just retelling the story the way they’d prefer it happened,” Charuk said.

According to Thompson, the two found the shoe near the culvert around 4:57 p.m. Cardinal waited at the scene until after 10 p.m. before police arrived.

Thompson said the shoe was identified within minutes as Parker’s, with his name labelled inside, but CPS waited until the next morning to resume searches.

“They waited to look to the next day for daylight, for special equipment, for whatever, and that’s OK. That’s understandable, but then they should say that,” she said.

“Their words exactly are ‘a rapid re-engagement of search,’ that is not true. It was 17 hours after the evidence was found.”

Recommendations from the CPS review include creating a centralized system to manage investigative tips and evidence, clarifying command responsibilities, improving staffing and resource co-ordination, and investing in technology and officer wellness during prolonged operations.

“We understand the intense public interest in this case and the questions that continue to be raised,” the Calgary police statement reads.

“We share the community’s commitment to learning from this incident, which is why we released as much information as we could about the findings of our operational review, while being thoughtful about information that cannot appropriately be made public.

“As mentioned previously, nothing identified in the review would’ve changed the tragic outcome in this case.”

Charuk wants an independent external review of the entire search operation, a public correction of the discovery date and the release of CPS’s full citizen tip and dispatch logs from July 22 to 29.

Such a review is necessary not to assign blame, but to ensure accountability.

Without that, she said, it leaves the door open for another tragedy.

“We’re all human; mistakes happen; but if you’re not admitting to those mistakes, how can you fix them?” she said.

In an emailed statement, Calgary police commission chair Amtul Siddiqui commended CPS for its search efforts and for “taking a thoughtful and critical look” at what can be learned from the response, which she said was “unprecedented . . . (and) layered with complexities.”

“The review identifies steps that need to be taken to improve the service’s ability to manage prolonged and complex critical incidents in the future,” Siddiqui said. 

“We are confident these areas can be addressed and believe the findings underscore the importance of continued investment in and modernization of policing capabilities.”

The commission hasn’t met since the Calgary Police Service review was published, however, so the possibility of the civilian oversight board conducting its own review of the investigation has yet to be discussed.

— With files from Devon Dekuyper

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