Regina Police Service chief responds to snooping cases, commits to harsher penalties

RPS Chief Lorilee Davies speaking to reporters on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026.

The Regina Police Service (RPS) is looking to regain the public’s trust after a pair of officers were implicated in two separate cases of snooping.

On Friday, former RPS Sgt. Robert Semenchuck received a two-year conditional sentence for using the police service’s internal database to pursue women.

• ‘33 women deserve more’: Former police officer will not go to prison for using internal database to pursue victims

Semenchuck had used the database over several years to access the private information of 33 women.

Semenchuck engaged in intimate relationships between June 2011 and April 2023 with “in excess” of 10 of the women – on some occasions, the former officer even used a fake name, according to an agreed statement of facts.

When the police service was first made aware of the allegations in 2023, Semenchuck was immediately suspended and was blocked from accessing police databases.

In another case, a report released by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) on Dec. 11, 2025, revealed RPS Const. Clinton Duquette had accessed the personal information of six people 67 times over a period of three years, three months, and 15 days.

Those he snooped on included a former partner, the former partner’s sibling, and the former partner’s previous partner, along with others, the report stated.

As a penalty, Duquette faced a one-day suspension without pay, the retaking of a one-hour privacy training course, the re-signing of the RPS Confidentiality Protocol, and random audits of the IEIS database for two years.

The OIPC report called the RPS penalties “wholly inadequate,” and put forward nine recommendations for the police service to adapt.

• Regina police officer snooped on 6 people using police database, privacy commissioner says

Following Semenchuck’s sentencing on Friday, Feb. 6, RPS Chief Lorilee Davies spoke on the outcome of the trial as well as the privacy commissioner’s recommendations in the Duquette matter.

“We know we have much work to do to regain your trust, if ever, and I can assure you we are deeply committed to this work. Without trust, the Regina Police Service cannot serve the City of Regina every day,” Davies said.

In the privacy commissioner’s report relating to Duquette, nine recommendations were given. They include:

• RPS inform all remaining affected individuals of their right to privacy documents under LAFOIP legislation to request a summary of the dates and times officers searched their personal information.
• Permanently revoke offending officers’ access to the internal database.
• Should RPS not revoke access, it should conduct focused and targeted audits on the police officer’s access to the database monthly for an indefinite period.
• Install features into the database requiring members to provide reasoning for accessing it.
• Conduct random audits of the queries by members from random samples of a pool of employees.
• Ensure RPS’ access and privacy unit is sufficiently resourced to perform the audits.
• Implement a protocol for conducting audits of an employee’s access to personal information.
• Commit to a policy of zero tolerance for unauthorized breaches of personal information.
• A review by Saskatchewan’s Attorney General

Davies told reporters that eight out of nine recommendations have already been or are in the process of being enacted. However, she said Duquette’s access to the police database would not be revoked.

“I respectfully disagree with [permanently revoking access] on the basis that permanent revocation of access to [the database] would effectively prevent an employee from performing their core duties, and that would amount to dismissal,” she said.

“The decision on discipline on that case has already been made and cannot be revisited.”

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While Semenchuck’s penalties were more severe than those of Duquette’s, Chief Davies said every case needs to be dealt with individually and commented on what committing to a policy of zero tolerance for unauthorized breaches of personal information means.

“Any member of the Regina Police Service caught accessing personal information without a valid work-related reason for doing so is subject to investigation and discipline. This is a zero-tolerance policy,” she stated. “Zero tolerance does not and cannot mean a fixed disciplinary response to every instance of inappropriate access to information. Each case must be considered on its own merits.”

Going forward, she said any occurrences of police officers breaching privacy will result in harsher penalties.

“I have given notice to all of our employees that any future instances of privacy breach will be dealt with more severely and they can expect more severe punishment,” Davies noted. “So, I can’t say exactly what that might look like. Every case does need to be dealt with on an individual basis, but I hear what the community is saying.”

-With files from Donovan Maess