Manitoba police watchdog investigating more sexual assault allegations against RCMP officer

Manitoba's police watchdog says it'sinvestigating more allegations ofsexual assault by an on-duty RCMP officer, who was already under investigation.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said on July 9 of this year that it wasinvestigating a singleallegation of sexual assault by an on-duty RCMP officer in northern Manitoba.

On July 28,the RCMP reported several additional incidents to the investigative unit which came to lightafter the initial allegation.

On Wednesday, the agency which istasked with investigating incidents involving police in the province said it is now looking into allegations the officer committed a number of sexual assaults between Oct. 29, 2018, and July 8, 2021.

Those allegationswere reported to RCMP on July 27 and were reported to the IIU the next day, the police watchdog said.

The investigation unit's civilian director has determined it is in the public interestto conduct an independent investigation, the agency said in a Wednesday news release.

No other details have been made public. The investigative unit is not releasing any further information about the incident due to its sensitive nature,the news release said.