The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is turning to B.C.‟s broken police complaints system as one last hope for accountability in the Vancouver Police Department shooting death of Paul Boyd. The BCCLA had filed a complaint in September 2007 about the death of Mr. Boyd that has been on hold since then. Now that a decision has been made about criminal charges, the professional standards investigation can begin.
“We have no faith in the police complaints system, and yet here it is the public‟s last hope for
accountability for an unarmed man who was shot in front of a crowd of people, in the head, while on his hands and knees,” said David Eby, Executive Director of the BCCLA. “All we‟re doing is making sure that when this complaint is dismissed, it‟s done on the full record.”
Under the terms of the Police Act, neither the BCCLA nor the public will be provided with a report on the VPD investigation. The investigation that will form the basis of the determination by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner will be the investigation done by the Vancouver Police Department of its own officers. The two year investigation into whether the involved officer should be charged concluded yesterday that no criminal charges should go to trial, and the BCCLA fully expects that the professional conduct complaint will also be dismissed.
“We filed the complaint two years ago, so we‟re going to follow it through,” said Eby. “But we‟re so tired of having valid and credible complaints dismissed, or upheld only to be met with the vague discipline of „managerial advice‟ for serious rights violations, that we wouldn‟t recommend anybody else subject themselves to this broken process. Go to court instead.”
The BCCLA has been engaged in a boycott of the police complaints process since 2008 and advocates that the reforms recommended in the Frank Paul Inquiry be implemented immediately to restore public confidence in the process. The BCCLA recommends that people file small claims actions instead of police complaints.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jesse Lobdell, Caseworker, BCCLA 778-228-8698
