B.C. police who are involved in an incident involving death or serious harm will no longer be investigated by fellow officers, the province's attorney general announced Wednesday.
Shirley Bond said the government is creating a civilian-led body to conduct criminal investigations into incidents resulting in death or serious injuries involving municipal police and RCMP.
The chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office will be in place by the end of the year and the team will begin investigations in the first half of 2012, added David Loukidelis, deputy attorney-general.
Three cheers. Now that's better than another stat holiday. There is irony in a civilian body conducting a criminal investigation but I think the public's intent is to have police misconduct allegations reviewed by civilians not by more police.
Now for the impossible dream and get the intelligence agencies publicly accountable and subject to the law. Like that's ever going to happen.
This is definitely a positive step although I would like to see the people tasked with it be as aggressive pursuing cases against the police as the police are against the public. For to long the loss of a few days pay or being fired was considered reasonable for actions that would merit a prison sentence for anyone else. The rare times a charge is brought particularly against an RCMP member the case is quietly dropped for delays after the heat dies down.
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