This OPCC cover-up
was just temporary

Why did Stan T. Lowe and his crew of ex-cops
take so long to issue their 2011 annual report?

November 17, 2012

 

It wasn’t until November 13, 10 and a half months into 2012, that B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner finally got around to releasing its 2011 annual report. Why such a delay?

There’s no saying for certain because Stan T. Lowe and his crooked crew of ex-cops answer to no one. They don’t have to explain this delay any more than they have to explain why they deleted their online archive of news releases. Nor do they have to explain their attempted cover-up of the VPD assault on a disabled woman, their continuing cover-up of the Sukhwinder “Vinnie” Singh Dosanjh case or their decision to use a self-proclaimed “police psychologist” as an expert witness in the Paul Boyd shooting death, knowing in advance that the “expert” always sides with the police. The delayed annual report is just another indication that the OPCC operates in secrecy and goes to extraordinary lengths to support police.

Now, with an unprecedented audit into the OPCC about to begin, cover-up king Lowe and his crew might have decided to release the report after all — just a token gesture, an exceptionally minor token gesture, towards transparency.

The report hardly instils confidence. Of 1,151 cases, the OPCC chose just 12 to summarize. The summaries, of course, consist of whatever the OPCC has chosen to divulge. In almost all cases, the summaries rely on anonymity. They’re replete with cop jargon. For example, men and women are always referred to as “males” and “females,” except for cops, who are always referred to as “members.” Only cops talk like that — cops and their buddies at the OPCC. The OPCC’s use of cop jargon is just another reflection of the OPCC’s cop culture.

Meanwhile the BC Liberal/NDP committee that will conduct the OPCC’s first-ever audit has had almost no publicity so far. That’s one of several reasons for cynicism about these MLAs and their work.

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