Matt Kieltyka, 24 hours
Advocates for civilian police oversight are taking a wait-and-see approach after the RCMP announced observers will be sitting in on internal investigations in B.C.Micheal Vonn, the policy director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said independent observers are a good step forward but only time will show whether the new program will be “sufficient enough.”
“We welcome more robust civilian oversight, but reserve the right to say this is ‘too little, too late’ if this proves to be merely cosmetic,” said Vonn, who added there has been a “loss of public faith” with the RCMP’s internal investigation process.
The biggest example of that was the 2005 death of 22-year-old Ian Bush, who was shot in the back of the head by an RCMP officer at the Houston, B.C. detachment.
No charges were laid after it was ruled the officer – the only witness – was acting in self-defence.
Effective immediately, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) will appoint an independent observer to oversee any RCMP investigation where “the actions of RCMP members have resulted in serious injury or death, and for other investigations that are high profile or sensitive in nature.”
2 responses so far ↓
1 RCMP Watch // Mar 22, 2007 at 22:02
Press Release
Establishment of the CPC/RCMP Independent Observer Pilot Project - March 21, 2007
OTTAWA, March 21 - Mr. Paul E. Kennedy, Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC), today announced that his organization and the RCMP have agreed to establish an Independent Observer Pilot Project: http://www.cpc-cpp.gc.ca/DefaultSite/Whatsnew/iopp
“I am pleased at this direct response to concerns raised in various quarters as to the impartiality of RCMP investigations into incidents where the actions of RCMP members have resulted in serious injury or death, and for other investigations that are high profile and sensitive in nature,” said Mr.
Kennedy.
He also indicated that, given the significant public interest in this issue, he has redirected the CPC’s limited resources to ensure the Pilot Project gets underway immediately.
The Independent Observer Pilot Project will initially involve only the RCMP’s Division in British Columbia (”E” Division), made up of 5,900 regular members and approximately 1,700 civilian members and public service employees.
It is modelled on the Public Safety Cooperation Protocol signed in 2005 between the RCMP and the Assembly of First Nations. The latter document commits the parties to work cooperatively to resolve disputes between the RCMP and First Nation peoples.
The CPC and the RCMP have agreed to conduct a review of the project in one year. Depending on the merits of the program and the outcome of the evaluation, the approach may be implemented nationally.
2 Clarence // Apr 20, 2007 at 11:08
Just a point of interest - What powers will this body have as the ones present with Public Complaints Against the RCMP is pretty weak. We don’t need more departments to cover their tracks and it seems the piolot project is what all these departments are set up to do - adding they only seem to gather information and keep the RCMP abrest… the Public Complaints Against the RCMP was formed in 1988 and what have they done to secure accountability in this country? Isn’t time that someone earned their pay and stopped creating departments to man former RCMP Officers…. Who’s really in charge of this police force if it’s not the governments?
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