EPS officer charged with perjury after forgery trial

Edmonton Police Service Headquarters.

EDMONTON -

An Edmonton Police Service (EPS) officer has been charged with perjury after allegedly offering false testimony during court proceedings in January 2021.

EPS Const. Lauren Skibinsky was originally charged with forgery, obstruction of justice and misconduct of an officer executing process of the Criminal Code in 2019. The constable, who has served nearly 20 years with EPS, was accused of writing the wrong date on multiple traffic tickets and correcting the date later, back in May of 2017.

Those three charges were dismissed in January 2021 after court proceedings.

EPS said in a statement Friday that once those court proceedings finished, they followed protocols and initiated an internal investigation by their professional standards branch. That internal investigation uncovered Skibinsky may have made untruthful statements in court while under oath, police said.

The results of the investigation were referred to Alberta Prosecution Services by EPS on June 18, 2021, the police service said.

Prosecutors recommended the EPS member be charged with perjury on July 6.

According to EPS, Skibinsky worked in a non-frontline position during the initial investigation.

“(Const. Skibinsky) has since been relived of duty without pay from the Edmonton Police Service pending the outcome of these new court proceedings,” EPS said in a statement.

“As the matter is currently before the courts, the EPS is not able to provide further comment.”