(Thanks to William Gibbens for passing this on to me.)

Justice Ministry, Coroners Service
complicit with cop lobbyists

Why the hell do they take part in a police lobby group?

December 2, 2012

 

Journalist/blogger Rob Wipond has dug up important info about B.C.’s murky police lobby. In his Web site and the online journal Focus, he brings to light previously unpublished facts about the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police and the B.C. Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police. Among other questions, Wipond asked West Vancouver police chief and BCACP president Peter Lepine to reveal who’s involved in his “private” group:

BCACP members, says Lepine, include the BCAMCP municipal police chiefs plus senior representatives from the RCMP, BC Coroners Service, and provincial Ministry of Justice. (All apparently participate as part of their public service jobs.)

What the hell is the Ministry of Justice doing in a group that lobbies the ministry — an unregistered lobby group at that, which uses tax-funded police resources to push its agenda? Why is the Coroners Service involved, when it supposedly scrutinizes police-involved deaths?

Wipond’s efforts have so far brought an investigation into the BCACP by the provincial Registrar of Lobbyists. The involvement of the Justice Ministry and Coroners Service also needs scrutiny. (More on the Coroners Service here, here and, to be updated later, here.)

Wipond has unearthed a story that deserves much wider attention. Don’t count on that happening, though.

Do cop lobbyists account for the BC Liberal/NDP
coalition against police accountability?
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