A civilian-led agency that oversees complaints against municipal police officers in B.C. now has the power to order investigations into systemic misconduct issues.
The change officially came into effect on Tuesday (July 16) alongside to B.C.'s Police Act.
Prabhu Rajan, who was appointed the new head of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) in February, told Black Press Media he doesn't yet have any particular investigations in mind. He pointed to issues other agencies in Canada have probed, though, including the treatment of Indigenous people and people in mental distress, excessive use of force, the overuse of strip searches and sexual harassment.
Just last month, Rajan called for a public hearing into a Vancouver police sergeant who is accused of sexual misconduct in relation to his interactions with seven women, including fellow officers and former female students of his.
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A public hearing is one of three options already available to the OPCC. More commonly, the office assigns complaints to a police department to investigate and then reviews their decision. If the commissioner, now Rajan, disagrees with it, he can order a retired judge to re-examine the case.
In each of those options, every complaint is treated as an individual issue. Systemic investigations, by comparison, will allow the OPCC to consider what misconduct may be cropping up time and time again, Rajan said.
To identify those more pervasive problems, his office will be both conducting a data analysis of past complaints 害羞草研究所� of which there are hundreds a year 害羞草研究所� and consulting with police agencies, Indigenous communities, advocacy groups and the public.
Rajan said it will likely take some time to do this and to secure the resources needed to expand their investigations team. In the best case scenario, Rajan estimated it could be three to six months before they are ready to take on a systemic investigation.
Once started, an investigation may then last anywhere from months to years, depending on its complexity. Rajan said they're still working out what the process will look like, but that it will likely involve reviewing police reports and other relevant documents and interviewing anyone involved in the identified issue.
At the investigation's end, the OPCC will release a public report with their findings and, if they choose, recommendations on what to change. The recommendations won't be mandatory, but Rajan said he "would hope that they are persuasive."
Beyond digging into the issues themselves, Rajan said the goal of the investigations is to increase transparency and build trust between the public and police.
, 65.1 per cent of Canadians report a high level of confidence in police, while 12.7 per cent report little to no confidence and a further 22.2 per cent land somewhere in the middle. Those who are Indigenous or members of a visible minority report slightly lower confidence rates.
In B.C., several rights groups and families recently called for a public inquiry into the police killings of Indigenous people. High levels of tension have also risen in recent years around police handling of some protesters, such as those blocking old-growth logging and pipeline work, and people suffering from mental health episodes, such as Myles Gray.
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The OPCC itself has been criticized for the fact that is has police investigating police, instead of an independent third party. Rajan, who has no policing background himself, said this is counteracted by the fact that he reviews and has the final say on every investigation.
A trained lawyer, Rajan moved to B.C. from Ontario at the beginning of the year, where he most recently worked as chief counsel to the province's chief coroner. He has also held a number of government management roles and was counsel for the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Rajan noted that the systemic investigations will be conducted by employees of the OPCC, not police departments. He said the investigators will be a mix of people with past policing experience and those with no personal connection to it.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, like Rajan, told Black Press Media he hopes the new investigatory power increases people's confidence in police.
害羞草研究所淭he public, I think, is very supportive of the police, but at the same time they also want to know that if there are issues being identified, that they are addressed.害羞草研究所�
He noted that the change is just one of many the province is looking to make over the coming years as it reviews numerous reports on policing and police oversight and considers what other amendments to make to the Police Act. Farnworth said they plan to have the full review process complete by 2027.
