Alberta’s new police watchdog agency has selected its inaugural CEO — but one lawyers’ group says it has concerns about the pick.
This week, public safety minister Mike Ellis announced the appointment of Katherine Murphy to the Police Review Commission, a provincial agency that will investigate Police Act complaints and criminal allegations against Alberta police officers.
Murphy, a lawyer, most recently worked as the Calgary Police Service’s civilian chief strategy officer, where she oversaw legal services, professional standards, finance, policy and communications. She takes over from interim-CEO Michael Ewenson, a Crown prosecutor appointed to the Alberta Court of Justice after a stint leading the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which now falls under the Police Review Commission umbrella.
“I am honoured to lead the Police Review Commission as it continues to grow and deliver on its important mandate,” Murphy said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the team to ensure independent, fair and transparent oversight that strengthens trust between communities and police across Alberta.”
In an email, public safety ministry spokesperson Sheena Campbell said Murphy was selected for her “extensive leadership experience, strong governance background, and demonstrated commitment to independent, transparent oversight of policing in Alberta.”
But Tom Engel, the longtime Edmonton police critic and chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association (CTLA) policing committee, said he is concerned that the new organization will be helmed by a former police service employee rather than a prosecutor.
Engel noted that all three ASIRT executive directors have been Crown prosecutors (ASIRT continues to have an independent executive director, and its current acting director, Matthew Block, worked as a Crown).
“Crown prosecutors, their job is to see that justice is done, that is their primary role,” Engel said. “People who work for the Calgary Police Service, that wasn’t their role. Their role was to protect the Calgary Police Service.”
The Alberta government began looking for a CEO for the Police Review Commission in 2024. The agency, which is expected to top out at 157 employees, will handle both ASIRT investigations and Police Act complaints. The latter have traditionally been the responsibility of chiefs of police and investigated by internal units like the Edmonton Police Service Professional Standards Branch.
Critics say the internal system amounts to police policing police. Police unions have also criticized the set up, in part because the chief of police both prosecutes misconduct cases and appoints the presiding officer who hears them.
While police services and unions have applauded the move to the Police Review Commission, groups including the CTLA have criticized the process. The CTLA pulled out of consultations on the new agency in 2024, saying the process gave law enforcement with “a special status to the exclusion of all other stakeholders.”
The Police Review Commission launched last December, though at the time Edmonton Police Chief Warren Driechel said it will likely be a “couple of years” before it completely takes over the police discipline process.
In a news release, the government said the review commission has spent its first five months “building robust operational processes, clear policies and strong investigative capacity to support independent civilian oversight of policing in Alberta.”
Engel said he was “extremely pessimistic” about the new system, given the role former police service employees are playing in review commission leadership. He said it is doubly concerning given the shortcomings identified in the 2018 Arkinstall Inquiry, which criticized the Calgary Police Service’s approach to police discipline in a 2008 arrest.
Campbell, the ministry spokesperson, defended the inclusion of former civilian police officials in Police Review Commission leadership
“It is not uncommon for legal professionals to move between roles or sectors over the course of their careers,” she said. “These transitions do not diminish their ability to carry out their duties with professionalism, integrity and independence. The focus remains on the individual’s qualifications, ethical obligations, and the safeguards built into the organization’s structure and mandate.”
Murphy formally takes over the CEO role June 8.
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