B.C.’s police watchdog wants a review of how prosecutors handle cases in which officers kill or seriously harm members of the public, saying low rates of charges and convictions are casting doubt on the accountability system. of accounts of the province.
Ronald MacDonald, head of British Columbia’s Independent Investigations Office, notes that recent decisions not to prosecute any of the officers involved in the deaths of Indigenous victims Jared Lowndes and Dale Culver have been met with public outcry and demands for change. by those who are still grieving. families.
Before retiring early next month, MacDonald will submit a report to the province’s attorney general requesting a review not only of these two cases, but also of the way cases referred to the British Columbia Prosecution Service by the IIO.
“When you see trends, where the charge clearance rate is low and where the conviction rate in controversial matters is non-existent, I think it’s fair to say that those trends raise real concern in the public’s mind,” he said. saying.
The IIO is called upon to investigate all incidents involving officers that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.
Less than half of cases end in charges
Over the past five years, Crown has reached a decision in 39 cases where the Independent Investigations Office has submitted a report for consideration of charges against police officers. Charges were approved in only 18, which is a rate of 46 percent, MacDonald tells CTV News.
That rate is “quite a bit lower” than the overall BCPS rate, MacDonald said.
Data of the BCPS 2022-23 Annual Report shows an average position approval rate of 77.6 percent over the last five years.
A BCPS spokeswoman, in a statement, said she could not confirm the position approval rate for IIO files.
“BCPS agrees that the rate may be different than other types of files submitted by other law enforcement agencies. Several factors may contribute to any variation,” communications consultant Damienne Darby said in an email. A list of these factors included a “lower standard for referral of charges,” as well as the legal and factual complexity of the cases.
Zero convictions in contested cases
Since the IIO was founded in 2012, MacDonald said, no officer who has contested a charge has been convicted.
“With numbers like that over a period of time – not just one case, not just two cases, but over a period of time – it’s understandable that the public might have issues,” MacDonald said.
“To maintain the public’s faith in our accountability system, when necessary, we believe it is important to be transparent and acknowledge that there could be a problem.”
The police officers have been convicted following IIO investigations. There are cases where charges were approved and guilty pleas were made. However, MacDonald says that in his experience, those cases have been “almost exclusively” related to driving violations or violations of the Motor Vehicle Act.
MacDonald points out that the majority of cases reviewed by the IIO do not result in a report being sent to Crown.
“It is a fact that most of the time we say that the police do not need to be held accountable because their actions were justified. But in that small percentage of cases where they should be held accountable, we have to make sure that we have the best system possible to address those situations,” he says.
One of the problems MacDonald says he has found is that the BCPS often requires the IIO to provide information or evidence from a “use of force expert” as part of its report. Those experts, he says, are almost always current or former police officers.
“Given that the idea behind civilian oversight is that decisions are made, in the case of the IIO, by someone who has never worked as a police officer, it seems somewhat ironic in the minds of some members of the public that the Crown would be dependent on a police to help them make that decision,” he said.
Police Involved Shootings
The review request comes after the end of the IIO’s fiscal year, a year in which there were 16 police-involved shootings in the province (up from 27 the previous year, but still more than double the historical average).
“With such increased numbers of the most serious types of use of force, there may be increased urgency to consider questions about how effective the overall accountability system is,” MacDonald said.
In the 16 cases reported last year, five of the victims were indigenous, equivalent to 31 percent. In British Columbia, Indigenous people make up about six percent of the population.
“It’s quite an overrepresentation,” MacDonald said, adding that this overrepresentation is consistent with data from other years and is concerning.
Consultation calls
He First Nations Leadership Council is calling for an inquiry into police killings of Indigenous people in the province, citing recent decisions in the Lowndes and Culver cases as examples of why an inquiry is necessary.
“We will seek an urgent meeting with the Attorney General of British Columbia and the Attorney General of British Columbia to demand answers and a public inquiry. We are shocked and angry, and we will not back down in the pursuit of justice,” Hugh Braker, Political Summit of the First Nations. Representative, he said in a statement Monday.
The call for an investigation first came from Lowndes’ mother, Laura Holland, after learning that the RCMP officers in her son’s case would not be charged or prosecuted.
“For too long, BCPS has been allowed to hide behind these unjust policies, procedures and laws to protect police officers who commit crimes and inflict pain and punishment on Indigenous people. It is time for transformative change. It is now enough”. he said in the FNLC’s Monday statement.
BCPS silent on review
MacDonald says he has not yet submitted his report to the attorney general, but will do so in the “near future.” The report will not be publicly available but will be submitted directly to the attorney general.
MacDonald’s last day on the job is May 8 and he acknowledges that the response to his report will be “out of his hands.” However, she says she will continue to speak and write about the police oversight system in Canada to “ensure that it works as effectively as possible to ensure that the public can have confidence in its police services,” she said. .
The BCPS – despite being asked directly – has not provided any comment on MacDonald’s call for a review of its decisions.