Rollie Woods’ legacy
He encouraged people to hate cops.
But his departure, like that of Stan Lowe,
relieves the OPCC of considerable baggage
June 9, 2019
Nine double-dipping years and a second pension
comprise Rollie Woods’ reward for, among other things,
supporting inexplicable police brutality against a disabled native woman.
This project has been highly critical of specific cop actions, specific cops and specific aspects of cop culture, and for having taken a stand I’ve been subject to some especially underhanded bullshit from some especially asshole Vancouver cops. But I’ve never advocated hatred against cops.
One guy who has, though, is Rollie Woods. He’s made a career of it. Through his example, he’s a living, breathing, nauseating hate crime against police. Now the deputy police complaint commissioner has retired, according to a sycophantic OPCC tribute (routine for the Victoria Times Colonist) by Katie DeRosa.
A gullible ditz even by B.C. journalistic standards, DeRosa plays up Woods’ newly professed support for civilian investigation. That’s pretty rich coming from such a cover-up enthusiast but actually reflects an apparently status quo decision that’s already been suggested by new police complaint commissioner Clayton Pecknold and even Josh Paterson, the salaried BCCLA SJW who apparently considers opportunism the better part of activism.
From personal experience and what I’ve heard from others, Woods demonstrated obvious ethical corruption while heading the oddly named Vancouver Police Professional Standards unit. Under his direction, VPD investigators set out in advance to find the police 100-per-cent right and complainants or victims 100-per-cent wrong. His crew smeared complainants, interviewed complainants only at the end of investigations and tried to intimidate complainants into changing their statements. Woods himself lied through obvious misinterpretations of straightforward sections of the Police Act and Criminal Code.
The lies and overall ethical corruption continued after police complaint commissioner Stan Lowe hired and promoted this character. Throughout his double-dipping sinecure, Woods continued to take part in cover-ups and lie to the media.
Interestingly, he did so without finesse. Such is B.C.’s state of politics and public discourse—not to mention tolerance of corruption—that such a brazen liar and socially awkward goof of an ex-cop could get away with so much.
Again, not all cops are like this. But Woods personifies the worst aspects of police culture while abjuring the positive side. His career includes participation in the VPD/OPCC cover-up of Vancouver cop Taylor Robinson’s gratuitous assault on a disabled indigenous woman, praise for New Westminster police while they rewarded a possible sex offender of a cop, a lying excuse for covering up Saanich cop Brent Wray’s vicious assault on Don Lapshinoff, and his lies to the Georgia Straight and Times Colonist.
He and Lowe made quite a team. Now they’re gone.
Good cops should be glad. Bad cops should ask themselves whether these guys were, in the long run, really their benefactors.
But Lowe’s replacement turns out to be a guy whose background smacks of repetitive cop syndrome. A cynic might say that was predictable. An optimist, on the other hand, might quote the American saying: “Only Nixon could go to China.”
A few examples of Rollie Woods’ whoppers
The first highlighted paragraph in the above letter from Rollie Woods to the OPCC-sycophantic Times Colonist
is highly misleading. Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson rejected Stan Lowe’s excuses for his four-month delay
in ordering an investigation into Victoria police chief Frank Elsner. The second is, typically of Woods,
an outright lie. The public hearing into VPD constable Taylor Robinson’s assault on a
disabled native woman didn’t even address how Vancouver police handled the matter.
Woods also lied—again, very blatantly—in the above letter to the Georgia Straight. Apart from
Woods’ usual obfuscation and misleading remarks, there’s absolutely no truth to his claim
that Stan Lowe ordered an inquiry into the way Vancouver police handled Taylor Robinson’s
assault on Sandy Davidsen.
Read about the legacy of Woods’ recently retired boss, Stan Lowe
Read more about B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner
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