On Friday, Chief of the Moose Jaw Police Service, Rick Bourassa, released a statement regarding Alan Murdock withdrawing his appeal after his dismissal from the Moose Jaw Police Service.

More information is expected to be released in the coming days, but Chief Bourassa provided the following statement.

"Because the hearing itself was to be the venue for full public information about the dismissal, the hearing’s cancellation following Mr. Murdock’s withdrawal of his appeal has eliminated that avenue of public information. We recognize the public’s concerns expressed regarding the need for openness and accountability. As we value our relationship with our community members and truly believe that policing is dependent upon public trust and transparency, we are exploring other appropriate avenues to ensure the public is provided the information in order to serve the public interest. We will notify the public once an appropriate venue is identified."

The appeal was set for October 6, but on Thursday, Murdock withdrew his appeal, upholding the dismissal and conclusion of the matter.

Destiny Gibney, who is the Police Services legal counsel, provided a statement regarding how the withdrawal of the appeal came about.

"The appeal was commenced by notice from Mr. Murdock’s counsel on July 16, 2019. We were granted an order allowing the Chief of Police to amend the Order of Dismissal to include additional grounds on April 21, 2020. The original date set for the public hearing to hear the evidence of the matters was August 31, 2020. Mr. Murdock requested to have the public hearing of the evidence adjourned on two occasions. We objected to both of those adjournments and requested that the public hearing proceed as originally scheduled. Throughout the process, the Chief of Police maintained the position that Mr. Murdock was unsuitable to be a police officer, that there was no appropriate option other than dismissal, and that we would not agree to any offers of settlement. We communicated that without an unconditional withdrawal of the appeal by Mr. Murdock, the appeal should proceed to the Public Hearing. On October 1, 2020, Mr. Murdock’s counsel informed us, along with the hearing officer, that Mr. Murdock was withdrawing the appeal."