(Victoria Times Colonist) – The RCMP announcement that the force will no longer investigate its own members involved in cases of death and serious injury is a belated but welcome step.
The RCMP refusal to accept independent investigations in cases like Robert Dziekanski’s Taser death at Vancouver airport became a symbol of the force’s arrogance and intransigence.
The conflict in having RCMP officers investigate each other is obvious, particularly under the watchful eyes of senior managers concerned about the force’s image.
Even the most competent, impartial investigations would be viewed with suspicion.The Dziekanski case, as well as the shooting death of Ian Bush in the Houston RCMP detachment, show that the RCMP investigations of their own have been neither competent nor impartial.
The accountability issues go far beyond investigation of serious incidents involving officers. The RCMP has refused to accept the B.C. police complaints process and dragged its feet on improved Taser policies.
And the force’s problems go far beyond accountability. A 2007 independent review of the RCMP found a “horribly broken” management and governance structure. Officers who raised irregularities internally were punished with demotions or poor postings. Officers responsible for mismanagement were rewarded with soft landings.
The review by lawyer David A. Brown found the RCMP operates with a top-down military structure with inadequate controls and oversight. There has been little evidence of significant change since then.
Perhaps Commissioner William Elliott’s announcement that the RCMP will no longer investigate its own officers in serious cases reflects a welcome awareness of the need for change.
B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed, a former police officer, welcomed the RCMP announcement. Heed has called for greater accountability if the province is to renew the policing contract with the force, which expires in 2012. He has not ruled out creating a provincial police force if the RCMP refuses to accept the province’s position.
The change in RCMP policy should also clear the way for Heed to improve accountability in all such cases, whether they involve the RCMP or one of the province’s 15 municipal police forces.
Investigations of potential wrongdoing are usually handled by another police force in an effort to provide some independence.
Unlike Alberta and Ontario, B.C. does not have an independent civilian investigation unit to handle such cases. In part, the cost was difficult to justify given the RCMP refusal to accept such oversight. (The force is responsible for about 70 per cent of policing in the province.)
That barrier has been removed with the RCMP announcement. All police forces would benefit from a truly independent review in such cases. So would the public.
Police officers do difficult and dangerous work every day on our behalf. They deserve our support.
But we give them great power and responsibility and along with that must come true, effective accountability.
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