B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has recommended the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board take a hard look at the way it handles complaints after one was filed by a former member of the board.
In an email to the Times Colonist, deputy police complaint commissioner Andrea Spindler confirmed that the OPCC recommended the board review its procedures for processing complaints to ensure compliance with the Police Act.
Spindler noted that the police board, in asking Victoria Police Chief Del Manak to request external agencies to investigate a complaint brought by former director Paul Schachter, had not followed the guidance of the OPCC.
“The OPCC recommended that the board proceed under [subsection c of Section 171 of the Police Act] to initiate an investigation and that in initiating the investigation, they consider requesting an external agency, independent of the Victoria Police Department, to review and report back to the board directly,” Spindler wrote.
The OPCC also recommended that if there were any concerns identified during the investigation process that involved allegations of misconduct, the concerns should be provided to the OPCC for review.
Schachter said the letter and direction from the OPCC gives him hope.
“I’m very heartened by what they did,” he said. “It’s encouraging that the investigation of the service or policy complaint might actually get back on the right track.
“And I’m hoping that the police board will take this as an opportunity to work more collaboratively with me in terms of ensuring an unbiased procedure.”
Schachter said the OPCC’s recommendations align with his.
“VicPD should not be involved in this because this is an investigation into whether VicPD’s management acted properly,” he said.
“So, they should have nothing to do with how the investigation proceeds. They should be out of that loop entirely.”
Schachter said he remains concerned that the board has no director, other than representatives from Victoria police, who is an expert in police procedure and able to receive the information from the external review.
“In order to have a good investigation, they really need an expert to receive the information and interpret it for them,” he said.
The Delta Police Department and Surrey Police Service have agreed to investigate how Victoria police handled an investigation that led to charges being stayed against three men. In his complaint, Schachter, a lawyer, urged an investigation into how Victoria police may have contributed to the collapse of the major drug prosecution.
Charges were stayed against the three men in a fentanyl-trafficking case involving $30 million in seized evidence after a judge found that Victoria police allowed an officer under investigation by the RCMP’s anti-corruption unit to be involved in the case, then tried to hide the situation from the courts.
Schachter’s complaint included six points of concern, four of which will be reviewed by Delta police as they are related to an OPCC investigation Delta is already leading. The two others will be reviewed by Surrey.
Barb Desjardins, co-chair of the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board, said she would not comment until the board received the letter.
Spindler said the OPCC will continue to monitor the board’s response in accordance with the Police Act.
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