The Serious Incident Response Team, most commonly referred to as SiRT, is a civilian led police oversight agency that is responsible for conducting independent investigations into incidents that involve death, serious injury, sexual assault, intimate partner violence or any matter of public interest that may have resulted from the actions of a police officer in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.

SiRT officially became operational in Nova Scotia in April 2012. It commenced operations in New Brunswick in February 2023.

SiRT has jurisdiction to investigate serious incidents across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

SiRT is responsible for investigating all matters that involve death, serious injury, sexual assault and intimate partner violence or other matters of public interest that may have arisen from the actions of any municipal police officer or RCMP officer in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.

SiRT is established by the Nova Scotia Police Act and is also guided by Regulations under the Police Act Serious Incident Response Team Regulations – Police Act (Nova Scotia) . Authority for SiRT to operate in New Brunswick comes from the New Brunswick Police Act and SiRT is also guided by the New Brunswick Serious Incident Regulations.

The Chiefs of all municipal police agencies and the head of the RCMP, in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, are required by law to refer all serious incidents to the SiRT.

Members of the public can make referrals for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by contacting SiRT directly by calling 1-855-450-2010 (toll free) or emailing Sirt@novascotia.ca .

SiRT can also launch or take over an investigation on its own or be referred a matter by the Minister of Justice (NS)/Minister of Public Safety (NB).

No matter where a referral comes from, the decision whether to take on a file rests with the SiRT Director.

No, there is not a legal time limit for when an incident can be reported to SiRT. However, SiRT has a policy that it will generally not investigate matters that occurred before SiRT’s inception (April 2012 in Nova Scotia and February 2023 in New Brunswick).

A serious injury includes:

• fractures to limbs, ribs, head or spine
• burns, cuts, or lacerations that are serious or affect a major portion of the body
• loss of any portion of the body
• serious internal injuries
• any injury caused by gunshot
• significant number of stitches
• admission to hospital as a result of the injury (not including outpatient care followed by release).

Investigators are responsible for leading the investigations and presenting their findings in a detailed report to the Director of SiRT. The Director is the only person who has the authority to decide if charges should be laid.

SiRT has a total of seven investigators:

• four full time investigators, each with over 25 years of criminal investigation experience
• three full-time seconded police officers who answer only to the Director while seconded, one from the Halifax Regional Police and two from the RCMP.

There is no set timeframe for an investigation. The length varies considerably depending on the situation and available information/evidence.

Members of the public can make referrals for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by contacting SiRT directly by calling 1-855-450-2010 (toll free) or emailing sirt@novascotia.ca .

The Director reviews all referrals to determine if the matter meets SiRT’s mandate to be investigated. If a referral does not meet the mandate, the person referring is advised. More information may need to be provided or gathered before a determination can be made. If the Director determines a matter meets SiRT’s mandate, an investigation is undertaken (see webpage re: investigative process)

Any employment related decision rests with the police agency who employs the police officer under investigation.

A Subject Officer (SO) is the police officer under investigation.

An Affected Party (AP) is the person who sustained the serious injury.

A Witness Officer (WO) is a police officer who was present and saw the serious incident take place or who witnessed the situation around the time of the incident and could have valuable information to share.

A Civilian Witness (CW) is a member of the public who was present and saw the serious incident take place or who witnessed the situation near the time of the incident and could have valuable information to share.