Outgoing chief of B.C.'s police watchdog says low charge rate a 'real issue'
There are two sides to this job. One is to look at the actions of police and if you find that the actions were justified, to be very public about your decision. And to to let the public know that no, this is 1 where the actions were justified. But the other equally important part of the job is in those cases, and they’re not that many. But in those cases where police ought to be held accountable, that they are in fact held accountable. And our role is to refer the matters to the Crown. But I’ve spoken about the the low charge rate from the Crown Office on our files, less than 50% lower than what the police see. And the fact that of all the contested matters, so all those matters are an officer hasn’t pled guilty or charges were laid. There’s never been a conviction over the 12 years that the IIO has been in existence. And I raised those with the media last week and with the attorney general to say these raise questions. And I did that publicly because it was time for the public to understand that we recognize that this is an issue in order to maintain faith with them, to let them know that we’re doing something. To try to get to the bottom of it to see what the issue, if there are issues, what those issues are. So that is a real issue and a real problem and one that will continue to evolve even after I go.