The B.C. government has hired Denvers former police watchdog to lead the provinces new agency responsible for investigating police incidents resulting in serious harm and death.
Richard Rosenthal will earn about $200,000 a year as chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office. The agency is expected to be operational in six months with an estimated annual budget of $10 million.
My first priority is going to be making sure that the investigations that are done are complete, thorough, have integrity and will withstand public scrutiny, Rosenthal said Wednesday at a press conference in which he was introduced by Premier Christy Clark. The goal is to be part of a solution that reduces the risk to officers for the need to use lethal force or use of force at all.
Rosenthal will lead a team that will have the power to recommend criminal charges against municipal and RCMP officers in B.C. involved in shootings and serious use-of-force incidents.
Currently, that responsibility falls to police departments, which have been criticized by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and other advocacy groups for perceived bias in police investigating police.
Rosenthal acknowledged that people likely with police experience will be involved in the start-up of the office and teach civilians about investigations.
I still have to pick the staff, so its early on to figure out who will be the most qualified people to do this work, he said, noting his background is not in policing. This agency is going to follow my expectations and its going to be a civilian led agency and, over time, were going to work on the goal of making sure that it is purely civilian.
Rosenthal was most recently head of an independent agency in Denver, Colo. that monitored all officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths. He was also a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles for 15 years and created Portlands first professional police oversight agency.
As far as I know, I am the first person in the civilian law enforcement profession to have ever had the opportunity to create three different oversight agencies, he said.
Members of the RCMP and Vancouver Police Department flanked Rosenthal at the press conference in the B.C. governments offices at Canada Place.
VPD Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke said after the press conference the VPD supported the new agency and hoped it will give the public confidence in outcomes of investigations.
Because today the public has concerns when police investigate themselves in serious incidents, said Lemcke, adding that the VPD still wants the new agency to handle all police complaints. I understand you build this slowly. But down the road, if there was an office that took everything from the allegation of rudeness of a police officer to a police-involved shooting, and it was all handled by one place, we would be supportive of that.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association welcomed the creation of the new agency but the associations executive director David Eby said he wished Rosenthal and his new team would review previous serious cases involving police.
Rosenthal made it clear at the press conference that his agency wont be investigating historical police-involved shootings or serious incidents.
I hope that Mr. Rosenthal does keep an open mind about the possibility of reviewing some historical files, said Eby, referring to the police shooting deaths of Kevin St. Arnaud in 2004 in Vanderhoof and of Ian Bush in 2005 in Prince George.
The B.C. Coroners Service announced Tuesday it will hold a public inquest next July into the death of Darrell Elroy Barnes, who was shot and killed by police July 22, 2011 following a confrontation involving a machete in the Downtown Eastside.
A coroners jury cannot recommend criminal charges but can make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances in the future.
Twitter: @Howellings
