Felix Cacchione set to retire as head of police watchdog

The search has begun for a new head of the Serious Incident Response Team,the Nova Scotia police watchdog which also investigates allegations of police wrongdoing in New Brunswick and P.E.I.

The current director, former Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice Felix Cacchione, will retire at the end of May.

Cacchione has been in charge of SIRT for four years. That's after an 11-year career as a defence lawyerand 32 years as a judge.

Coming from alegal defence background, he said was struck by the ethical code of his team, made up ofboth current and former police officers.

"Ithink what impressed me the most was the professionalism,the dedication, and the objectivity and impartiality of the investigators," he said.

In the online retirement announcement, Nova Scotia Attorney General and Justice Minister Brad Johns thanked Cacchione for hisservice.

"The knowledge and skills he brought to his position cemented the [SIRT's] reputation as a highly regarded civilian-led police oversight body," Johns said.

The province says SIRTcurrently conducts roughly 25 investigations a year.

In 2021, SIRT signed an agreement allowing it to perform investigations in all three Maritime provinces. Previously, SIRT investigated allegations involving police as requested by the New Brunswick and P.E.I. governments.

Cacchione says he'll play no role in choosing his successor, but hopeshis replacement willbe fluent in both English and French, given New Brunswick's bilingual status.

"It's important that the person listening to or reviewing an audio statement understand the meaning of the words, not the literal, but the nuances, their turns of phrases...that may mean something very different from a literal translation," he said.

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