Meanwhile, concerns at not enough scalps being taken ...
B.C. police are rarely charged for killing or harming civilians. A watchdog wants prosecutors' choices reviewed.
B.C.'s police watchdog wants a review of how prosecutors handle cases where officers kill or seriously harm members of the public, saying low rates of charges and convictions are casting doubt on the province's system of accountability.
Ronald MacDonald, the head of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., 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 from still-grieving families.
Zero convictions in contested cases
Since the IIO was founded in 2012, MacDonald said, no officer who has contested a charge has ever 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.
"In order to maintain the public's faith in our system of accountability, where necessary, we think it's important to be transparent that we recognize there might be a problem."
Police officers have been convicted after IIO investigations. There are cases in which charges have been approved and guilty pleas have been entered. However, MacDonald says those cases have in his experience, been "almost exclusively" related to driving offences or violations of the Motor Vehicle Act.
B.C.'s police watchdog wants a review of how prosecutors handle cases where officers kill or seriously harm members of the public, saying low rates of charges and convictions are casting doubt on the province's system of accountability.
bc.ctvnews.ca