BC’s IIO walks a fine line

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC’s new Independent Investigations Office has reached a deal with police forces in BC on how they’ll work together without compromising any cases. They have to walk a thin line to avoid the perception of bias.

The IIO is supposed to be completely independent from the police officers it will be investigating in serious cases like police shootings.

But Office Director Richard Rosenthal says there are some grey areas where investigators will have to rely on the police forces they’re tasked with probing.

“There are 10,000 police officers, there are 35 IIO investigators to be at the scene prior to a police agency responding,” he says. “Unless we work together, we work collaboratively in that regard, it would be very difficult for there to be any competency in investigations.”

Rosenthal says his team won’t be armed, so they’ll also have to rely on police for security in certain cases. They’re currently being trained  and the office will be an up-and-running by September 10th.

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