Police Complaint Commissioner’s annual report
A New Westminster police officer’s argument with a girlfriend, while off duty, escalated into assault. A Port Moody cop was found to have used excessive force placing a man into a jail cell. A Vancouver officer made a derogatory comment on Facebook. These are some of the cases involving B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which provides oversight of complaints involving municipal police. In 2015-2016, the independent civilian agency saw the number of complaints hit a record high — but also the lowest percentage of substantiated allegations in five years: 1,230 Complaints filed
The OPCC opened 1,230 files between April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 — a 14 per cent increase over last year’s 1,076, according to its annual report. Commissioner Stan Lowe attributed the increase to the number of “monitor files,” or files held open while police determined whether an investigation is required. The majority of complaints are formal complaints from the public, making up 43 per cent (or 530 files), this year.
50 Number of investigations
Out of 777 allegations concluded in 2015-2016, only 50 — or about six per cent — were considered substantiated. More than half (52 per cent) were considered unsubstantiated. The remainder were either discontinued, informally resolved, or withdrawn.
180 Dog bites
Out of 408 notifications in 20152016 for “reportable injuries” where a person in the custody or care of police suffers an injury requiring medical treatment, dog bites were the most common, making up 37 per cent. These cases are opened as monitor files, which jumped 31 per cent this year compared to last year.
400 More Constables
The OPCC has jurisdiction over municipal police forces, including in Vancouver, Abbotsford, Victoria and Delta, as well as over transit police and the provincial anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. Since Aug. 1, it expanded its jurisdiction to “special municipal constables,” which include traffic authority members, municipal jail guards and auxiliary and reserve constables.
5 Potential dismissals
Out of all substantiated allegations in 2015-2016, five involved cases where officers faced dismissal as the disciplinary action. These include a case in Abbotsford where an officer falsely claimed his rain jacket and winter jacket were lost in order to get new ones (the officer resigned), and a case in New Westminster where an officer stole money from a jar with funds donated by the Street Crime Unit (the officer was charged with theft and breach of trust).