Now retired, police officer André Bernard no longer has to report and affirms it bluntly: the decision of the staff to restructure the emergency measures module has led to a loss of expertise which has played a role in the outcome of the Carpentier case.
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The search operation to find Norah and Romy Carpentier was the last in the career of André Bernard, who spent his last 10 years as a police officer in the emergency services module, in particular in the field research unit.
“I loved this job, it was my life,” the policeman told the public inquiry on Thursday.
However, the outcome of the Carpentier case deeply shocked him.
“I was so frustrated with the turn of events. When I was relieved of the event, I just wanted to find the journalists and tell what had happened, how crooked it was,” agent Bernard told the coroner.
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Cuts
His frustrations are obviously linked to the death of the children, but according to him, the outcome stems from administrative decisions that led to a major loss of expertise in the field research department.
“There were a lot of cuts. What we heard was that the SQ wanted to shut us down for a long time,” he testified, adding that the final reorganization of the unit came in 2019. According to the agent, between 2012 and 2019, his unit based in Mascouche went from “25, 30 specialized patrolmen” to a dozen.
“Afterwards, they decided to reopen under another name, the intervention module. But you had to reapply for competitions to get positions. We had very good police officers, excellent research technicians who were trained, but by closing, by sending everyone elsewhere, the expertise was lost, ”explained the former police officer with verve.
“Were you ready to face the Carpentier case,” questioned the coroner’s attorney, Mr.e Dave Kimpton.
“No,” Mr. Bernard insisted.
A decision “that does not make sense”
Next came the decision to drop footprints seen in the woods to move the search 8 kilometers further, after screams were heard during the night of July 9-10.
A decision “which made no sense” insists André Bernard.
“The theory is that we always start from the last known point and there, we have the point, it’s the trace”, remembered the retired agent. The latter claims to have informed his superior several times during the day of the 10th that the walkers “had no business there” and that they should have followed the trail of the first traces.
On the morning of July 11, after resuming searches around the traces observed on the 9th, the bodies of Norah and Romy were found dead.
“To have lost 24 hours, to have gone elsewhere, I could not believe that we had missed them”, hammered Mr. Bernard, still marked by this failure which will have concluded his career, clearly adding to believe that the outcome shouldn’t have been this one.
A “death cry” on seeing the first body
The policeman who found the first body, that of Norah Carpentier gave “a death cry” when he saw “the little red shorts” during the search operation, which confirmed the worst.
“I ran, I went to see and I saw that she was lying on her stomach,” said Sergeant Martin Boulanger with emotion, who was part of the “march line” which found the little ones. .
It was he who unfortunately noticed Norah’s death very quickly.
“I took her to see if she was alive and it was obvious. I took off my glove and she was very cold”, explained the policeman, admitting to having experienced “a state of shock”, like all of his colleagues who accompanied him.
Romy’s body was then found about twenty meters away.
“I was so angry to find the girls like that. I can’t believe we missed that. I would have torn off someone’s head,” also testified police officer André Bernard, who accompanied Mr. Boulanger.
Objects found
Forensic identification officers Marco Cloutier and Pier-Luc Brisson then came to tell coroner Luc Malouin what they had observed near the scenes.
A piece of branch a little less than a meter on which was found DNA corresponding to that of Martin Carpentier on one end and that of his two daughters on the other end.
Beneath Norah, a pile of pieces of wood set up to make a fire was discovered. Under one of his arms, a small red child’s shovel and near the body, a barbecue lighter were found. The investigation established that these objects came from a nearby trailer.
Traces of the presence of Martin Carpentier were found at this place which is not very far from where the two remains were found.
Coroner’s Public Inquest: Week 2 Highlights
- Significant delays before launching the Amber alert, caused in part by a lack of knowledge of the risk posed by Martin Carpentier
- Insufficient staff during the first days of research – only 6 specialized police officers on July 9
- Search moved 8 km despite the discovery of a footprint
- SQ cuts that have had an effect on field research expertise