OsgoodePD program brings Charter essentials to front line investigators

The front lines of constitutional law are not found in any of the country’s courtrooms.

They’re out on patrol with police officers and at the desks of investigators like Dave Cobey, the co-program chair of OsgoodePD’s third annual Charter Essentials for Investigators: Practical Guidance in Detention, Investigation, Arrest and Search.

Cobey is currently the AI and Transformational Technology Lead for the Criminal Law Division at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, but he dates the inspiration for the Charter Essentials program back to his previous life as a member of the RCMP, where he spent more than two decades in a variety of investigative and support roles that required him to understand and apply Charter concepts in his day-to-day work.

While pursuing a mid-career LLM at Osgoode, Cobey says he was struck by the approach to Charter principles taken by then-Professor James Stribopoulos, who has since been appointed a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

“Unlike other Charter training I had taken as a police officer, Professor Stribopoulos’ Charter course included police officers, crown prosecutors and defence counsel,” says Cobey, who retired from the Mounties in 2024. “The high-level depth of knowledge and different perspectives resulted in a terrific learning environment.” 

In the following years, Cobey convinced Stribopoulos to deliver in-service training to some of his RCMP colleagues, so that they could get the benefit of his practical instruction without needing to earn a law degree.

Elements from both sessions were incorporated into Osgoode’s inaugural Charter Essentials program in 2022, which Cobey developed with co-chairs Katie Doherty – a Crown counsel at the Crown Law Office in Toronto – and Maggie Loda, Counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in its Vancouver office.

Their work as prosecutors, both in complex criminal matters and appellate litigation, brings them into frequent contact with the challenges that police and investigators encounter during the real-world application of Charter principles.

“I have had conduct of Charter applications of increasing complexity over my career, which has given me an appreciation for the need for a frontline understanding of Charter concepts,” Loda says.

“A large part of my work also involves advising police,” Doherty adds. “I serve as the Electronic Surveillance Unit Coordinator for MAG. In that capacity I regularly advise police and prosecutors on investigative techniques, search and seizure and wiretap issues.”

In its short history, the program’s keynote session has become a popular session for attendees, who include police trainers, senior executives and regulatory and criminal investigators of all stripes, as well as police counsel and lawyers from both sides of the criminal bar.

This year’s address was a fireside chat with Ontario’s Associate Chief Justice Michal Fairburn. Previous sessions included a candid conversation with former Supreme Court Justice Michael Moldaver and a keynote address from an inspiration of the program, Justice Stribopoulos.   

Attendees will also explore emerging issues in the fast-evolving area of Charter law, including border searches and developments regarding s. 10(b), which protects a detained person’s right to counsel.

Building on Osgoode’s reputation for interactive learning, the Charter Essentials faculty place a heavy emphasis on practical, straightforward guidance geared to their particular audience. 

“The areas of instruction are taught through investigative or regulatory scenarios, so that attendees can immediately see their real-world application,” Cobey explains. “For example, the program includes a fact scenario to be reviewed in advance by the attendees involving various timely Charter issues which present challenges to all involved in a criminal and quasi-criminal investigation.”