An Edmonton family is considering legal action against police after a loved one who recently passed away was featured in an advertisement for people with outstanding warrants.

Operation Warrant Execution (O.W.E.) is a pilot project that looks to clear a backlog of 16,000 unanswered offences, both criminal and non-criminal. People were given a month to come forward, before their name and photograph were released to the public.

Randy Jackson's picture appeared in a local newspaper on April 5th, one month after his sister says the 57-year-old died from complications related to diabetes.

"A lot of people are really outraged about this," said Shannon Jackson, as she wiped away tears. "He didn't deserve this kind of defamation. He did not. And to look in the paper and see that was very hard on everybody."

A police spokesperson associated with O.W.E. was not available for comment Sunday, but a media liaison says part of the problem is their system does not automatically update when a death is non-criminal in nature.

Clair Seyler with Edmonton Police Service could not confirm the nature of Jackson's offence, but says everyone featured in newspaper ads were facing criminal charges and were among 30 of the city's top 100 most wanted.

Jackson says her brother was a well-known and well-loved boxer and she believes the advertisement unfairly tarnishes his memory.

"I feel like he did an injustice to my brother in a lot of ways," she said. "I don't think they did their homework. I don't think they bothered to look through the obituaries. l don't think they bothered to do anything."

The family is asking for an apology and wants to know what police will do to ensure similar mistakes aren't made in the future.

Seyler couldn't comment on this, but says a full review of the program will be conducted. The police chief ordered the move earlier this week, after officers mistakenly published the name and photograph of a young offender.

The privacy commissioner is also launching her own investigation to ensure the campaign does not violate the Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act.

While it's unclear if the campaign will run again, Seyler says police view the program as a success.