Wendy Stueck and Justine Hunter, Victoria and Vancouver, B.C. (Globe and Mail) – British Columbia will launch a public review into the botched police investigation of Robert Pickton, says acting B.C. solicitor general Rich Coleman.
The provincial cabinet is expected to meet Sept. 8 to decide what form that will take, but it will likely be either a public inquiry or a judicial review.
“We will do something with regard to Pickton that is open to the public,” Mr. Coleman told The Globe and Mail. “It has to be able to have people give input into the investigation. It has to be something that is not hidden away. It will be transparent.”
Mr. Coleman stressed that the internal Vancouver Police report released Friday which shed light on the Pickton investigation does not offer a complete picture of how the case was handled.
“My concern about a report like this, I don’t think we should take it as a complete description of this case and what went on. The reality this is a report written by an officer of the Vancouver police. And they did not provide a copy to the RCMP for comment and review until a week ago.”
The police review states that, despite having ample evidence that a serial killer was preying on women who worked in the sex trade in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, police refused to commit to the serial killer theory and dismissed an “uncannily accurate” report by former VPD officer and geographic profiler Kim Rossmo.
Mr. Rossmo’s work was discounted for a variety of reasons, including personality conflicts with Mr. Rossmo, the report says, “despite the compelling circumstantial evidence that supported the statistical analysis.”
The failure to commit to the serial killer theory is just one failing outlined in the 450-page document, which said the shortcomings meant serial killer Robert Pickton could have been arrested sooner than he was, in 2002.
“There was justification to aggressively pursue the information in the summer of 1999,” said VPD Deputy Chief Doug LePard, who wrote the report, told reporters at a press conference Friday. “After that at least 13 more women went missing and DNA links 11 of them to the Pickton farm.”
The VPD had planned to release the report in September, but moved up the date after a copy was leaked. The report, which outlines a series of systemic failures and communication gaps involving the VPD and the Coquitlam RCMP, is likely to fuel calls for a public inquiry in to the investigation.
The report says the investigation was “intensely pursued” until mid-1999, but was thereafter essentially abandoned by the RCMP.
The RCMP says the release Friday of the VVPD report caught the force by surprise, and that they were informed only shortly before the media. “An agreement had been in place whereby their would be no comment made until the 9th of Sept. Unfortunately, the report was leaked, forcing everyone involved to rapidly change plans,” said a prepared statement attributed to RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass.
Responding to the criticism from Vancouver police, RCMP Superintendent Russ Nash said the Mounties involved had not been interviewed and had not had the chance to present their version of events. The RCMP is not yet commenting on the VPD report in detail. Supt. Nash said the force would support a public inquiry into the Pickton investigation, if the provincial government decides to take such a step.
The prepared statement said the force is sorry that it could not arrest Mr. Pickton sooner. “The RCMP deeply regrets that we weren’t able to gather the evidence necessary to lay a charge sooner, and we welcome independent insight into our actions at that time,” said the statement.
Robert Pickton was finally arrested in February, 2002. The Crown originally indicted Mr. Pickton on 26 murder charges, but those were subsequently divided into two groups of six and 20. He was convicted on six counts of second-degree murder in 2007. After the Supreme Court of Canada in July rejected Mr. Pickton’s appeal for a new trial, 20 other charges were stayed. He is believed to have murdered 33 and possibly as many as 49 women who circulated in the Downtown Eastside. Many worked as prostitutes and were addicted to drugs.
He lured them to his farm in Port Coquitlam where he killed them and disposed of their bodies, sometimes dismembering the women.
Before publicly releasing its report this week, the Vancouver Police Department offered to provide copies to the provincial government. However, Liberal premier Gordon Campbell said this week that he and other senior government officials had not read the report.
Aboriginal groups, the Vancouver police, former investigators on the case and some victims’ families have called for a public inquiry into the botched investigation.
Read the full 450 page report. Please note it contains graphic descriptions of violence: VPD Missing Women Report
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I hear that the RCMP moral is bad right now in the force and they are talking about the good old days when things were better.
Listen to what I’ve been saying to some of those sniffling police officers. If you have 23,000 + police officers and lets say that 1/2 are thrown out to save the force, THAT’S GOOD at least you’ll have a force when your done not the rubbish we see right now.
I hope Commissioner Elliot gets tough on some of these cry babies and I hope he will not baby them anymore and cover their messes and bad smells but expect them to shape up or ship out.
Police work is not for kids and idiots but for grown men that actually have an IQ. Manipulators and trouble makers that team up in a club mentality to club their fellow officers to get promoted should be released from duty immediately because they don’t have what it takes to work as a team.
The days of surrounding your pray (musical ride) should be considered out of date and brute force like what happen at the BC airport to Robert should not be tolerated anymore.
There are times yes when its necessary but not all the time. Police officers are hired to enforce a law that was based on COMMON LAW or COMMON SENSE but now we see that common sense is no longer used anymore. Maybe they are being paid to much for what they are worth and that to should be reviewed.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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