[Update: The auditor general’s praise was widely reported in B.C.’s media on Dec. 3 and 4, 2012. This press release, which went out the same evening (Dec. 3) that online news sources starting running those stories, was ignored. As far as I’ve seen, no media outlet looked closely at the auditor general’s statement or asked questions about how he conducted his audit. He released only a very brief, vague summary of his report.]

 

Media release
from Greg Klein
December 3, 2012

B.C.’s auditor general
praises the OPCC.
But how was the
audit conducted?

The auditor general and a committee of MLAs
seem to have evaded public input into the audit
of B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner

 

Auditor General John Doyle announced on December 3 that B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner is doing a good job. But there’s no indication that Doyle considered four cases of OPCC cover-ups that I submitted to the legislative committee that supposedly was conducting the audit. Several questions arise.

If Doyle’s department, and not the legislative committee, was conducting the audit, why is the legislative committee called the “Special Committee to Inquire into the Use of Conducted Energy Weapons and to Audit Selected Police Complaints”?

If the committee isn’t conducting the audit, why didn’t it inform me that I was wasting my time with my submissions? The committee acknowledged receiving them.

Why did the committee’s Website ask for submissions?

Why didn’t Doyle publicize in advance that he would be conducting this audit?

Who chose the OPCC cases that were audited?

What kind of info, from what sources, did the auditor general consider?

One of several serious problems with the OPCC is its lack of transparency. How is an audit like this supposed to inspire confidence in either the OPCC or the auditor general?

Greg Klein

 

BACKGROUNDER:
Brief summaries of four OPCC cases
that I submitted to the legislative committee

The OPCC hired an “expert witness” knowing in advance
that he always testifies in favour of the police

The OPCC hired self-proclaimed “police psychologist” Bill Lewinski as an expert witness in its inquiry into the Vancouver police shooting death of Paul Boyd. The OPCC already knew that Lewinski always testifies in favour of police. The OPCC cited Lewinski in its March 2012 report exonerating VPD constable Lee Chipperfield.

The OPCC covered up very serious charges against
New Westminster police constable Sukhwinder “Vinnie” Singh Dosanjh

The charges against Dosanjh prompted a judge to bar him from possessing firearms when off duty and to order Dosanjh to get psychological treatment. Dosanjh returned to work early this year with a temporary demotion following a three-year, seven-month paid suspension. New Westminster’s Royal City Record learned about this despite the OPCC/New Westminster police/Port Moody police cover-up. A New West police spokesperson told the Record that the OPCC “signed off” on the police self-investigation.

The OPCC helped Vancouver police cover up
a June 2010 assault on a disabled woman

VPD constable Taylor Robinson shoved Sandy Davidsen to the sidewalk for no apparent reason. The media learned about the assault when they obtained surveillance video more than six weeks later. The VPD and OPCC then stated that they learned about the assault soon after it happened. But there’s no indication an investigation took place until after the media learned about the assault, over six weeks after it happened.

The OPCC used obviously dishonest tactics to dismiss a complaint
I made against three Vancouver police officers in June 2006

Among other problems, the OPCC lied about the Criminal Code, refused to act on a VPD breach of the Privacy Act, used highly subjective reasoning and held wildly contradictory statements against me. These problems are not a “he said/she said” matter. They come through clearly in the OPCC’s own correspondence.

And in addition…

The OPCC deleted its online archive of news releases prior to February 2012, when the Sukhwinder Singh Dosanjh case came to light. The OPCC also stalled for 10 and a half months before releasing its 2011 annual report. The report summarizes just 12 out of 1,151 cases and is written in cop jargon.

Read more about this sham inquiry into the OPCC
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