Yes, officers can always consult one another to help them gain a clearer understanding, to share the facts and to ask other officers what they think. But at the end of the day, it is up to the officer in question to make the decision. He or she can consult co-workers to find out how things should work and so forth, but it is the individual officer....
It is also a matter of consistent decision making by officers. When they examine claims involving similar facts, we do want our officers to come to the same conclusion in one way or another—just as with Federal Court decisions. That is just as important as the guidelines we give to our officers.