Looks like yet another two
Stan Lowe/OPCC cover-ups
The case of Saanich cop Brent Wray
shows additional evidence of corruption at
B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner
February 22, 2019
Laughing all the way to a well-funded retirement
or double-dipping sinecure, Stan Lowe took advantage
of the OPCC’s lack of transparency and accountability
to cover up for cops.
Just how many more examples exist of this agency’s corruption? We’ll likely never know. Part of the problem with B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner is its lack of transparency and accountability. But just as Stan Lowe was nearing retirement or promotion to a rewarding sinecure, more evidence arose of the commissioner’s rampant corruption.
This case concerns Don Lapshinoff, who was severely injured by Saanich cop Brent Wray during a traffic stop. Although the events pose a number of concerns, this post focuses on the performance—or more accurately, non-performance—of Lowe and his crew of ex-cops. The story comes from the Sooke News Mirror, in an exceptionally rare example of any media casting a critical eye on the OPCC.
The Lapshinoff incident happened prior to the creation of B.C.’s Independent Investigations Office, which now investigates serious injuries inflicted by police. At the time cops investigated such incidents themselves, with oversight from the OPCC.
As the News Mirror stated, Wray injured Lapshinoff in 2010, yet the Saanich force withheld the info from the OPCC until 2012, when Lapshinoff filed a lawsuit. Here’s an excerpt from Black Press reporter Keri Coles, whose account shows exceptional fortitude for a B.C. journalist:
“Section 89 of the amended Police Act made it a responsibility of the Chief Constable of the Municipal Department to immediately report to our office if there is a death, a serious harm or a reportable injury,” said Deputy Police Complaint Commissioner Rollie Woods.
Police footage from the holding room, where Lapshinoff was held after his arrest, shows him expressing concern about his shoulder multiple times to multiple officers, receiving cold packs on a couple of occasions. But [Supreme Court Justice Ian Meiklem] noted in his ruling there was no evidence of any documentation by the police of the injuries sustained during his arrest.
Saanich police didn’t notify the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner until Lapshinoff launched his suit in 2012.
When asked why an investigation wasn’t launched in 2012 when they became aware of the case, the OPCC said it was because it did not receive a complaint from Lapshinoff.
The Police Act states the OPCC has the independent power to order an investigation, whether a complaint is made or not.
Actually the OPCC had not just the power, but the obligation to order an investigation. Two, in fact: One into Lapshinoff’s treatment and another into the Saanich cops who previously withheld the info from Lowe, contrary to the Police Act.
Not surprisingly, not for the first time, and sure as hell not uncharacteristically, Lowe carried out neither of those responsibilities.
These two cover-ups parallel the OPCC/Vancouver police cover-up of the Taylor Robinson incident. In that case, the VPD covered up the constable’s gratuitous assault on a disabled woman. When the OPCC eventually found out, Lowe refused to order investigations into Robinson’s actions and into the VPD Professional Standards officers who covered them up. Instead, Lowe and his crew joined the cover-up.
It took a sudden barrage of publicity to push Lowe into ordering a Police Act investigation into Robinson. Lowe finally did so nearly seven weeks after the VPD learned of Robinson’s actions and over four weeks after the OPCC learned about the incident but just days after the media found out.
Lowe never did order a Police Act investigation into the VPD officers who withheld the incident from his office.
Despite the OPCC’s veil of secrecy, a few more cover-ups have come to light.
Lowe refused to carry out his Police Act responsibility to order a Public Hearing into New Westminster police officer Sukhwinder “Vinnie” Singh Dosanjh, who benefited from extraordinary leniency despite very serious charges including off-duty firearms offences, entering a woman’s home illegally and assaulting her. No media coverage, no problem, the OPCC seems to think. But now Dosanjh faces new Criminal Code charges of sexual assault.
In the Frank Elsner case, media coverage again was the key to Lowe finally ordering an investigation, four months after he learned about allegations against the now-disgraced former Victoria police chief. But Lowe knew enough to order the investigation right at the beginning, according to B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson.
Saanich cop Wray joins Vancouver cop Robinson, New Westminster cop Dosanjh, ex-Victoria cop Elsner and for all we know several other cops who benefited from Lowe’s cover-ups. And, as in the case of the VPD Professional Standards cops who broke the Police Act by shielding Robinson, the Saanich cops who protected Wray also benefit from Lowe’s cover-ups.
Lowe has retired but current OPCC staff remain heavily implicated. That’s especially true for liar-in-chief Rollie Woods but also Andrea Spindler and Anthony Parker. The rest of the OPCC crew distinguishes itself for a lack of whistleblowers.
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