Press Release - For Immediate Release, April
1, 2005
Vancouver Police Chief refuses
to release RCMP report
VANCOUVER - Pivot Legal Society is calling for the release of the investigation report and records written by the RCMP as part of their year-long investigation into systemic problems in the Vancouver Police Department. The records were used by Chief Jamie Graham to write his summary of the investigation, released by the Vancouver Police Department today.
SEE: RCMP INVESTIGATION: BACKGROUND
The summary written by the Police Chief deals with 56 complaints investigated by the RCMP during 2003 and 2004. The complaints were ordered investigated by the RCMP after Pivot Legal Society successfully argued that there were grounds for believing that the Vancouver Police could not investigate themselves fairly.
Pivot will be holding a press conference to respond to the substance of the Police Chief's report on Monday, April 4th, 2005. However, Pivot Legal Society director John Conroy, Q.C., who has taken over the file during an absence by executive director John Richardson, is hesitant to accept the Police Chief's summary without further disclosure.
"We are looking forward to supporting the Vancouver Police in any steps they take towards institutional change," said Conroy. "However, we can't accept the Police Chief's summary as accurate without seeing the RCMP documents, and particularly the RCMP final report. This is a case where transparency is particularly important, given the evidence of internal accountability problems and the Chief's prior statements."
Documents provided to Pivot Legal Society show high-levels of non-cooperation by Vancouver Police with the RCMP investigation. Sixty-percent of the more than 100 Vancouver officers identified in the investigation broke complaint regulations by failing to cooperate with the RCMP investigators. Despite missing police evidence, the RCMP investigation found systemic problems with handling of personal property by the VPD, and the Complaint Commissioner has recommended an audit be done into the VPD Property Department. Widespread problems were also found inside the Internal Investigations department, including policies subject to misinterpretation; a lack of supervision, stalled investigations, and investigations where the required reports were not written or provided.
SEE: RCMP INVESTIGATION: ISSUES AND CONCERNS
Former YWCA Woman of Distinction Jill Weiss states: "I deeply hope something constructive happens from this, and that it is not swept under the carpet. I and a friend saw three Vancouver police officers beating an unarmed man in 2002. It's important to know what the RCMP found - if this process is hidden, then how can we know that this will not keep happening?"
VANCOUVER - Pivot Legal Society is calling for the release of the investigation report and records written by the RCMP as part of their year-long investigation into systemic problems in the Vancouver Police Department. The records were used by Chief Jamie Graham to write his summary of the investigation, released by the Vancouver Police Department today.
SEE: RCMP INVESTIGATION: BACKGROUND
The summary written by the Police Chief deals with 56 complaints investigated by the RCMP during 2003 and 2004. The complaints were ordered investigated by the RCMP after Pivot Legal Society successfully argued that there were grounds for believing that the Vancouver Police could not investigate themselves fairly.
Pivot will be holding a press conference to respond to the substance of the Police Chief's report on Monday, April 4th, 2005. However, Pivot Legal Society director John Conroy, Q.C., who has taken over the file during an absence by executive director John Richardson, is hesitant to accept the Police Chief's summary without further disclosure.
"We are looking forward to supporting the Vancouver Police in any steps they take towards institutional change," said Conroy. "However, we can't accept the Police Chief's summary as accurate without seeing the RCMP documents, and particularly the RCMP final report. This is a case where transparency is particularly important, given the evidence of internal accountability problems and the Chief's prior statements."
Documents provided to Pivot Legal Society show high-levels of non-cooperation by Vancouver Police with the RCMP investigation. Sixty-percent of the more than 100 Vancouver officers identified in the investigation broke complaint regulations by failing to cooperate with the RCMP investigators. Despite missing police evidence, the RCMP investigation found systemic problems with handling of personal property by the VPD, and the Complaint Commissioner has recommended an audit be done into the VPD Property Department. Widespread problems were also found inside the Internal Investigations department, including policies subject to misinterpretation; a lack of supervision, stalled investigations, and investigations where the required reports were not written or provided.
SEE: RCMP INVESTIGATION: ISSUES AND CONCERNS
Former YWCA Woman of Distinction Jill Weiss states: "I deeply hope something constructive happens from this, and that it is not swept under the carpet. I and a friend saw three Vancouver police officers beating an unarmed man in 2002. It's important to know what the RCMP found - if this process is hidden, then how can we know that this will not keep happening?"
Note the VPD Chief was involved in this "independent"
investigation, done [you guessed it] by another corrupted to the core police
Department - none other than the 'Methamphetamine drug dealer' friendly RCMP.
[See CTV Video]
Do you care enough for your country, and your right to justice, to put an end to this systemic corruption? Or have they convinced you that you are a helpless cowardly victim without strict adherence to their polluted monopoly?