Globe: Gary Mason - B.C. police must answer to public
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B.C. police must answer to public, Gary Mason, Globe and Mail, Tuesday, May 9, 2006
VANCOUVER -- If someone you know has been killed at the hands of police in this province, you'd better be prepared to wait a long time for answers.
"From the various cases I've been involved with," says Cameron Ward, a Vancouver lawyer who often represents the families of those who have died in police custody, "the families of the victims are not being treated fairly or humanely by authorities.
"The way in which cases of police-involved sudden death are being handled by authorities in this province is outrageous and ultimately brings the administration of justice into disrepute."
Ian Bush is just another example of that, he says.
Mr. Bush, a mill worker from Houston, B.C., was killed while in RCMP custody last fall. He had been arrested on Oct. 29, 2005, for having an open beer outside a hockey game and giving an RCMP officer a phony name when questioned about it.
Twenty minutes after his arrest, Mr. Bush lay dead on the floor of the Houston RCMP detachment with a bullet in the back of his head. The RCMP has said it could be months yet before its internal report into the matter is made public. Linda Bush, meantime, doesn't understand why it has to take so long to find out what happened to her son.
"It makes no sense," she has said.
Mr. Ward currently represents the families of six people who have died while in police custody. He said six months is nothing in British Columbia when it comes to waiting for any information in cases where civilians have been killed by police.
Jeffrey Berg met his death at the hands of police in a Vancouver alley in October, 2000. He was unarmed and an autopsy report showed that he sustained at least 10 injuries to his face and body that were consistent with blows and kicks.
The Berg family, represented by Mr. Ward, had to wait until December, 2002, to be told by the Crown that there would not be any criminal charges laid against the police officers involved in Mr. Berg's arrest. Family members didn't get a chance to look at the autopsy report until February, 2004. They still haven't seen a complete police report into the matter.
Kevin St. Arnaud was killed by police in Vanderhoof, B.C., on Dec. 19, 2004.
He had been chased into a field by an RCMP officer investigating a report of a break-in at a local mall. Mr. St. Arnaud, too, was unarmed. He was shot three times by the RCMP officer making the arrest.
It took more than a year for the Crown to decide no charges would be laid in the St. Arnaud case. No date yet has been fixed for a coroner's inquest.
The RCMP, meantime, has not released its own report into the matter, so the family of Kevin St. Arnaud still has no idea how or why the young man ended up dead after he had heeded the officer's call to put his hands in the air.
Want a shocking statistic? According to Mr. Ward, 22 people have died while detained by, or in the custody of, municipal and RCMP police officers in British Columbia in the past four years. Twenty-two.
And to the best of Mr. Ward's knowledge, there has not been a criminal charge laid in any one of these deaths.
All the dead people's fault, apparently.
It shouldn't come as any great surprise, really. The system seems set up to ensure the police don't get charged.
In a typical case of sudden, in-custody death involving police, the officer involved is immediately told to speak to a union representative.
According to Mr. Ward, who knows the police routine intimately, thanks to years of dealing with such cases, the officer usually is advised to get trauma counselling (which, granted, is often necessary). The union then gives the officer the name of a good lawyer to call.
Because police investigate police in this province, the lead investigator into an in-custody death typically would contact the lawyer requesting the officer's official statement as soon as it's ready. In some cases, this can be three to four weeks after the incident.
"The lawyer sits down with the officer and they come up with a statement," Mr. Ward says.
"The lawyer is often being fed the results of the police's own investigation so the officer can create with the lawyer a statement that is plausible and matches the investigator's results."
In other words, a police officer who shoots a civilian in suspicious circumstances is afforded benefits and treatments that no civilian would be afforded in similar circumstances.
"The bottom line," says Mr. Ward, "is the current system lends itself to protecting and shielding police officers from accountability and ultimately raises the question in the public's mind, and in the mind of the victim's family, of a whitewash."
As I've said before, the police in this country have an incredibly difficult job. It is one we applaud on a daily basis. But if we are to have complete faith and trust in our police forces, we have to be confident they are held accountable for their actions.
To that end, we must ensure that the system we have in place to investigate the conduct of police officers is completely transparent and recognizes the rights of the public every bit as much as it does the rights of the police officers themselves.
Police should not be investigating themselves. And in the course of those investigations, police should not be afforded privileges the rest of us aren't. Finally, the families of those killed by police should not have to wait years to find out what happened.
All of these issues eat away at the public's faith in not just the police but our politicians as well. How can those we elect not see that something is terribly wrong here? How can they not do anything about it?
VANCOUVER -- If someone you know has been killed at the hands of police in this province, you'd better be prepared to wait a long time for answers.
"From the various cases I've been involved with," says Cameron Ward, a Vancouver lawyer who often represents the families of those who have died in police custody, "the families of the victims are not being treated fairly or humanely by authorities.
"The way in which cases of police-involved sudden death are being handled by authorities in this province is outrageous and ultimately brings the administration of justice into disrepute."
Ian Bush is just another example of that, he says.
Mr. Bush, a mill worker from Houston, B.C., was killed while in RCMP custody last fall. He had been arrested on Oct. 29, 2005, for having an open beer outside a hockey game and giving an RCMP officer a phony name when questioned about it.
Twenty minutes after his arrest, Mr. Bush lay dead on the floor of the Houston RCMP detachment with a bullet in the back of his head. The RCMP has said it could be months yet before its internal report into the matter is made public. Linda Bush, meantime, doesn't understand why it has to take so long to find out what happened to her son.
"It makes no sense," she has said.
Mr. Ward currently represents the families of six people who have died while in police custody. He said six months is nothing in British Columbia when it comes to waiting for any information in cases where civilians have been killed by police.
Jeffrey Berg met his death at the hands of police in a Vancouver alley in October, 2000. He was unarmed and an autopsy report showed that he sustained at least 10 injuries to his face and body that were consistent with blows and kicks.
The Berg family, represented by Mr. Ward, had to wait until December, 2002, to be told by the Crown that there would not be any criminal charges laid against the police officers involved in Mr. Berg's arrest. Family members didn't get a chance to look at the autopsy report until February, 2004. They still haven't seen a complete police report into the matter.
Kevin St. Arnaud was killed by police in Vanderhoof, B.C., on Dec. 19, 2004.
He had been chased into a field by an RCMP officer investigating a report of a break-in at a local mall. Mr. St. Arnaud, too, was unarmed. He was shot three times by the RCMP officer making the arrest.
It took more than a year for the Crown to decide no charges would be laid in the St. Arnaud case. No date yet has been fixed for a coroner's inquest.
The RCMP, meantime, has not released its own report into the matter, so the family of Kevin St. Arnaud still has no idea how or why the young man ended up dead after he had heeded the officer's call to put his hands in the air.
Want a shocking statistic? According to Mr. Ward, 22 people have died while detained by, or in the custody of, municipal and RCMP police officers in British Columbia in the past four years. Twenty-two.
And to the best of Mr. Ward's knowledge, there has not been a criminal charge laid in any one of these deaths.
All the dead people's fault, apparently.
It shouldn't come as any great surprise, really. The system seems set up to ensure the police don't get charged.
In a typical case of sudden, in-custody death involving police, the officer involved is immediately told to speak to a union representative.
According to Mr. Ward, who knows the police routine intimately, thanks to years of dealing with such cases, the officer usually is advised to get trauma counselling (which, granted, is often necessary). The union then gives the officer the name of a good lawyer to call.
Because police investigate police in this province, the lead investigator into an in-custody death typically would contact the lawyer requesting the officer's official statement as soon as it's ready. In some cases, this can be three to four weeks after the incident.
"The lawyer sits down with the officer and they come up with a statement," Mr. Ward says.
"The lawyer is often being fed the results of the police's own investigation so the officer can create with the lawyer a statement that is plausible and matches the investigator's results."
In other words, a police officer who shoots a civilian in suspicious circumstances is afforded benefits and treatments that no civilian would be afforded in similar circumstances.
"The bottom line," says Mr. Ward, "is the current system lends itself to protecting and shielding police officers from accountability and ultimately raises the question in the public's mind, and in the mind of the victim's family, of a whitewash."
As I've said before, the police in this country have an incredibly difficult job. It is one we applaud on a daily basis. But if we are to have complete faith and trust in our police forces, we have to be confident they are held accountable for their actions.
To that end, we must ensure that the system we have in place to investigate the conduct of police officers is completely transparent and recognizes the rights of the public every bit as much as it does the rights of the police officers themselves.
Police should not be investigating themselves. And in the course of those investigations, police should not be afforded privileges the rest of us aren't. Finally, the families of those killed by police should not have to wait years to find out what happened.
All of these issues eat away at the public's faith in not just the police but our politicians as well. How can those we elect not see that something is terribly wrong here? How can they not do anything about it?
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