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Letter: A complaint against the complaint commish

Re: “VPD slammed for handling of shoving case,” Nov. 15.
shove
Police Complaint Commissioner Stan Lowe has ordered a public hearing into the case of a Vancouver cop shoving a woman with cerebral palsy to the ground in the Downtown Eastside in June 2010. A letter writer argues it's vital to scrutinize not only cases of police misconduct, but also the people who run our system of police accountability. Photo: screengrab

To the editor,

Re: “VPD slammed for handling of shoving case,” Nov. 15.

How about the way B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner handled it?

Vancouver Const. Taylor Robinson shoved a disabled woman to the ground on June 9, 2010. But that wasn’t publicly revealed until July 22, 2010, when the media acquired surveillance video, no thanks to police or the OPCC. Only then did the VPD and OPCC each publicly state that they learned about the incident soon after it happened. A few days after July 22, an investigation by an outside police force was ordered and Robinson was transferred to other duties. Until then he had still been walking a beat in the same poverty-stricken neighbourhood where he could encounter his victim again.

All that happened during that more than six-week period was the victim received some kind of written apology and a highly dubious excuse from police. The letter wasn’t even signed.

The lack of transparency, accountability and repercussions was fine with police complaint commissioner Stan Lowe—until the media found out. Could that indicate how he handles other cases? The only pretence of scrutiny that Lowe and his crew have ever faced was a sham inquiry that ended last March. Then-auditor general John Doyle praised the OPCC but didn’t divulge how he conducted his audit or came to his conclusions. He did state: “Excluded from the scope of the audit was providing an opinion about the validity of investigation decisions.”

Another part of that cynical process was a legislative committee made up of seven B.C. Liberal and NDP MLAs. They heard only from police interests, flatly refusing to consider the written submissions they received from the public. One of those submissions concerned the OPCC’s handling of the Robinson case.

It’s vital to scrutinize not only cases of police misconduct, but also the people who run our system of police accountability.

Greg Klein,

Vancouver

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