Vancouver, B.C. – B.C.’s new Solicitor General has introduced proposed changes to B.C.’s police act that, disappointingly, still have the police investigating themselves, even in cases of in custody deaths.

“Why are Ontario and Manitoba so far ahead of us in having the police not investigate themselves?” asked Jason Gratl, Vice-President of the BCCLA. “It’s like the Frank Paul inquiry never happened and the Dziekanski death didn’t destroy the public’s faith in police internal investigations. This tinkering with a broken system doesn’t deal with the dysfunction at the core.”

While the press release from the Solicitor Generals’ office says that the new legislative changes are in response to an audit done of the complaints process completed two years ago, two separate audits of the RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department’s complaints investigations since then have found the problems with the police investigating themselves require overhaul of the system.

“There’s only one person who appears to have any confidence left that the police can investigate themselves in B.C., and that’s our Solicitor General, a former police officer himself,” said Gratl. “For almost everyone else in B.C., the names Frank Paul, Ian Bush, Kevin St. Arnaud, Paul Boyd, and Robert Dziekanski represent the end of our tolerance for the police investigating themselves and this broken system.”

The Solicitor General’s press release does not mention either the RCMP police complaint commissioner’s recent report released last month excoriating the RCMP’s investigations, or the Frank Paul Inquiry which said the police complaints system in B.C. was a shambles when it came to in custody deaths and that police must not investigate themselves.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jason Gratl, Vice-President, (604) 317-1919
David Eby, Executive Director, (778) 865-7997