Lawyer to probe handling of VPD street check study
A former deputy B.C. attorney general has been tapped to investigate the Vancouver police board's handling of a review of police street checks, after concerns were raised about the deletion of allegations of police racism and misconduct.
The provincial government has asked David Loukidelis to investigate, among other things, the roles of the Vancouver police board and police department in the production of a review released in February.
Loukidelis, a lawyer, was B.C.'s information and privacy commissioner from 1999 until 2010 and then became a deputy attorney general.
The police board, a civilian oversight body, commissioned the review by Pyxis Consulting Group, a third-party contractor run by a former Edmonton police superintendent, after the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs complained that the VPD's use of street checks — the practice of police stopping someone in public outside of an investigation — was racist.
But after Pyxis' final report was released, it came to light that an earlier draft included descriptions of one VPD officer engaging in aggressive conduct and another making racist comments. Last month, Postmedia reported that emails obtained through freedom of information revealed Pyxis deleted the racism allegations, after sharing the draft with senior VPD management, because Pyxis considered them “outlier information.”
The terms of reference for the review, which were approved this week by the province's director of police services, state that Loukidelis' final report should be delivered in the first quarter of 2021.
Loukidelis said by phone on Wednesday that he planned to start work on the project this week.
“I am going to do my best to diligently, conscientiously get this work done as soon as possible,” Loukidelis said. “Obviously, there's a balance between timeliness and conscientiousness, and I'll try to bring both to bear.”
Loukidelis declined to discuss details of his review, but said he plans to draw from his background in public service and law enforcement oversight. From 2012-18, he served as the chairman of Alberta's Law Enforcement Review Board, that province's independent civilian oversight agency for policing.
In a letter on Tuesday, B.C.'s director of police services, Brenda
Butterworth-Carr, informed Vancouver police Chief Adam Palmer and Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who chairs the police board, that Loukidelis was the preferred candidate for both parts of a two-part review. He was selected for one part through a competitive process, while the ministry intends to award the other consulting contract through a direct award.
On Wednesday, Butterworth-Carr announced her intent to resign in the new year to spend more time with family.
One part of Loukidelis' review will look at the street checks review conducted last year by Pyxis, and “assess any gaps.” The review's second part will focus on the board's role in that review, including in “the draft report(s) and recommending or making changes to the final report, and in particular the decision to remove information relevant to the scope of the complaint from the final report.”
The terms of reference dictate that the consultant responsible for the review “must not be a former police officer.”
Harsha Walia, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director, has questioned the need for “another bureaucratic review of a review,” but said Wednesday she's glad Loukidelis will be looking beyond the street checks review itself to assess the broader issue of the police board's independence from the VPD.
The new review, Walia said, “really only happened because of the BCCLA and the UBCIC and the hard work of many journalists following this story.”
Police board vice-chair Barj Dahan said the board will co-operate fully with Loukidelis, adding that such independent reviews “are an important tool in public sector accountability,” because they “show when appropriate steps were taken by an organization, and also provide insight on where there can be positive change.”