Richard Rosenthal, chief civilian director for the Independent Investigations Office, is based in Surrey, B.C.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
British Columbia's Independent Investigations Office, the police watchdog borne out of the Robert Dziekanski and Frank Paul public inquiries, opened its doors on the morning of Sept. 10, 2012. Greg Matters was shot and killed by RCMP near Prince George approximately 10 hours later.
The IIO's first investigation has also proved to be its most criticized. An independent review found the office's director deployed two former police officers who were not eligible to serve as investigators due to their recent work with the RCMP. The complaint that prompted the review was lodged by a former IIO employee and the office was found to have a "culture problem."
But observers say the office has been largely successful in its core mission – carrying out competent investigations of police-related incidents. The IIO has won the support of politicians, police departments, civil liberties experts, advocacy groups and some victims' families.
Investigations into serious harm or death caused by police appear to be moving much more quickly, with more transparency, observers say. Six officers have been charged since the office opened, and it was an IIO investigation that led to a second-degree murder charge against an officer last fall – the first such charge against a B.C. officer in recent memory despite a long list of tragic deaths.
A government committee that conducted a separate IIO review released its report last month. The report looked at the work the office has done, but also explored where the IIO may be headed: its path to 100-per-cent civilian membership, a potential broadening of its mandate to include more cases, and the use of body cameras by police – a move that would make the IIO's files easier to investigate.
Tracey Matters, the sister of Greg Matters, said the office's handling of her brother's case has prompted her to lose faith in the justice system. She took particular issue with the director's decision to have former police officers work on the file, and with the office mistakenly reporting that Mr. Matters was shot in the chest when he was hit in the back.
But the mother of another high-profile victim of a police shooting said the office gives her hope. Linda Bush, whose son Ian was killed by an RCMP officer in 2005, told a government committee: "I have a great deal invested in the success of the IIO and reform of policing: the life of my son. So it may be that I am seeing what I want to see. However, I have spent enough time talking about this with RCMP, B.C. Civil Liberties Association, IIO and media that I think there is real progress."
Richard Rosenthal, the IIO's chief civilian director, sits in his 12th-floor office, a short walk from the Surrey Central SkyTrain station. From his window, Mr. Rosenthal can see the Safeway where Naverone Woods was shot and killed by transit police in December. That investigation is ongoing.
Mr. Rosenthal was named the IIO head in January, 2012. The former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney has also held police oversight roles in Portland and Denver. He says his office has been successful in keeping up with its case load: Files have turned around within four to eight months, whereas before the IIO opened it could take one to two years. He says the public reports the IIO has issued have also provided far greater detail on police-related incidents than was previously available.
But it's difficult to say if more officers have been charged since the IIO began operations.
Neil MacKenzie, spokesman for the Criminal Justice Branch, said it did not previously track allegations involving police in a systematic way. Mr. MacKenzie also noted the IIO only investigates police incidents involving death or serious harm. For instance, an officer who was accused of drug trafficking or a non-violent offence would not fall under the office's purview and could be investigated by an outside police agency or the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
The IIO has taken up 121 cases, with 28 files of those files ongoing. Thirty-five have resulted in reports to the Crown, which decided to lay charges in six cases.
Ron MacDonald is director of Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team, which began operations in April, 2012, and also investigates police-related incidents. Mr. MacDonald said his agency has conducted 79 investigations to date. Charges have been laid in 13 cases – Mr. MacDonald said one officer has been charged three times, while two of the charges relate to breaches of court orders.
The comparison between B.C. and Nova Scotia is not perfect. The Serious Incident Response Team can investigate matters involving sexual assault, domestic violence or "other matters of significant public interest," while the IIO cannot. Mr. MacDonald can also directly lay a charge. And B.C., of course, has four times the population of Nova Scotia.
Douglas King, a lawyer with the advocacy group Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver, said it appears anecdotally as though more officers are being charged in B.C.
"It's largely perception. Before the IIO, it just seemed like charges hardly ever got laid. It was very much a rarity," he said in an interview.
One of the areas observers have called for reform in is mandate – they think the IIO should take on more cases. Mr. King, in a letter, told the committee the exclusion of "sexual assault and domestic violence from the mandate of the IIO is a serious oversight."
Josh Paterson, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said: "With respect, this was a mistake of the legislature and government in the beginning and it is something that must be corrected at the earliest possible opportunity."
Mr. Rosenthal believes the office's mandate should also include "no-hit shootings," in which an officer opens fire but misses.
The committee, however, did not recommend any immediate changes involving mandate. It said the IIO would need additional expertise and resources to take on sexual assault and domestic violence files, and is still facing "administrative and operational challenges."
"That's an area that has to be proceeded with with caution," Mike Morris, the committee's chair and MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie, said in an interview. Mr. Morris was an RCMP officer for more than three decades.
Staffing the office – and finding the proper balance between former police and civilian investigators – has always been a challenge.
Justice Thomas Braidwood and Justice William Davies, who led public inquiries into the police-involved deaths of Robert Dziekanski and Frank Paul respectively, recommended the IIO be staffed by civilians. It was widely acknowledged, however, that this might not be feasible in the IIO's early years, given the need to conduct competent criminal investigations.
As of March 1, according to the IIO's website, 15 of 25 investigators were civilians, or 60 per cent.
The committee recommended the continued civilianization of the office, but also said Mr. Rosenthal should have the discretion in "exceptional cases" to relax what's known as the five-year rule. The rule bars those who have served as police officers in the last five years from serving as IIO investigators.
Mr. Rosenthal said he remains committed to the 100-per-cent civilianization goal but sometimes it's necessary to "take one step back to take three steps forward."
"The goal of civilianization is really goal two, because everyone agrees that a 100 per cent civilian organization that's not competent is not successful. So we have to ensure competency first, and then we move in the direction of civilianization," he said.
Mr. King said one way to get to 100-per-cent civilianization could be to create a specialized training system. He said such training could run through a postsecondary school, or the Justice Institute of B.C. The committee did not adopt his recommendation.
Mr. Rosenthal said none of the investigators had specific experience in conducting critical incident investigations when the office opened. In some cases, he said, he would have to send them back to the scene.
He said the hiring of the first permanent chief of investigations last year has allowed him to view the IIO more holistically and plan its long-term development.
The government committee, citing morale issues, recommended the Ministry of Justice continue to carefully review IIO human-resource practices.
Mr. Rosenthal said morale is typically "the bane of the existence of the first chief" and pointed to Ontario, where the first director of the Special Investigations Unit resigned after a tumultuous two years on the job. (Nova Scotia does not appear to have had such issues.)
"The reality is the work we do is really difficult and I have to be very demanding of my people," Mr. Rosenthal said. "I demand timely investigations that are competently done."
Mr. Rosenthal's five-year term runs through 2016. When asked if he'd like to be reappointed, he said he's still focusing on this five years, not the next five.
The government committee made seven recommendations in all. Perhaps the most surprising was that involving body cameras for police. The committee said the province should pursue the steps necessary to implement their use.
Mr. Morris said the more evidence IIO investigators have the better, a point with which Mr. Rosenthal agreed.
"There are many cases that are difficult to resolve without some kind of objective evidence," Mr. Rosenthal said.
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In the years before the Independent Investigations Office was established, B.C. experienced several police-related deaths that prompted calls for reform:
- Robert Dziekanski died at Vancouver airport in October, 2007. Mr. Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant who did not speak English, was moving to Canada to live with his mother. He spent several hours lost in the airport and began throwing furniture. Four RCMP officers arrived soon after and Mr. Dziekanski was repeatedly stunned with a taser.
- Frank Paul died in a Vancouver alley in December, 1998. Mr. Paul succumbed to hypothermia after he was dragged out of a police drunk tank and propped up against a wall in the cold rain.
- Ian Bush was shot and killed by an RCMP officer in the town of Houston in November, 2005. He had been arrested for having an open beer outside a local hockey rink.
- Paul Boyd was shot and killed by Vancouver police in August, 2007. Mr. Boyd suffered from bipolar disorder and had been acting erratically, eventually striking two officers with a bicycle chain. He was shot eight times, and video shows he was on his hands and knees before the final shot was fired.
- Kevin St. Arnaud was shot and killed by an RCMP officer in Vanderhoof in December, 2004. The Mountie had pursued Mr. St. Arnaud after he broke into a drugstore.