Law Society of British Columbia
supports corrupt lawyer
Stanley Thomas Lowe
With arrogance matching her dishonesty,
Law Society liar Beverly Gallagher ignores evidence
against B.C.’s disgraceful police complaint commissioner
Heard any lawyer jokes lately? Here’s one—the Law Society of British Columbia.
And another—Law Society staff lawyer Beverly Gallagher.
On behalf of the Law Society, Gallagher refused to investigate my complaint against B.C. police complaint commissioner Stan T. Lowe because, she claimed, he’s outside the society’s jurisdiction and I provided “no evidence” against him.
Liar Gallagher doesn’t dispute the evidence. She pretends it doesn’t exist.
My complaint mostly focused on the way Lowe and his Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner handled the case of Vancouver police constable Taylor Robinson, who pushed a disabled woman to the ground in June 2010. New information has recently come to light reinforcing the fact that the OPCC knew about the assault but declined to act until after the media publicized it.
I informed the Law Society that when Lowe and his staff learned about the incident they had a duty to order and monitor a Police Act investigation into Robinson and his two fellow officers, and another investigation into the Vancouver Police Professional Standards officers who failed to follow Police Act procedures regarding Robinson’s actions.
No investigation into the Robinson incident was ordered until after the media found out and publicized it extensively. That took place more than six weeks after VPD Professional Standards learned about the assault and nearly four weeks after the OPCC learned about it (no thanks to the VPD). No investigation has ever been ordered into the VPD Professional Standards officers. In fact Lowe and his staff refuse to investigate them.
Gallagher stated the Law Society will take no action because the matter is outside its jurisdiction. However the Law Society’s website states the society can “review the conduct of a lawyer outside the practice of law if the conduct reflects badly on the legal profession.”
Additionally, Gallagher claimed that I “have provided no evidence to support these allegations” of a cover-up. Her statement is complete rubbish. I presented evidence that Lowe and his staff failed to do their duty in this case, very strongly suggesting a cover-up. The dates and events that I related haven’t been explained by Lowe or anyone else at the OPCC. The information warrants an investigation.
Gallagher also claims that Lowe has ordered an inquiry into the way VPD Professional Standards officers handled the Robinson incident. Liar Gallagher is repeating a line of deceit begun by deputy police complaint commissioner Rollie Woods in a letter to the Georgia Straight.
Apart from issues arising out of the Robinson case, Gallagher entirely ignored another aspect of my complaint regarding Lowe’s refusal to call a public hearing into New Westminster officer Sukhwinder “Vinnie” Singh Dosanjh.
Astonishingly arrogant as well as dishonest, Gallagher demonstrates the untouchable status of B.C.’s establishment bigshots and is herself a disgrace to the law profession—not that that’s likely to hinder her career.
Here’s the information that liar Gallagher
dismissed as “no evidence”
The dates prior to July 22, 2010, were taken from Stan Lowe’s November 12, 2013, Notice of Public Hearing into Taylor Robinson.
On June 9, 2010, Vancouver police constable Taylor Robinson shoved a disabled woman, Sandy Davidsen, to the sidewalk for no apparent reason.
VPD Professional Standards officers learned of the incident by June 11, 2010, when they interviewed the victim. But they did not order a Criminal Code investigation, order a Police Act investigation, or inform the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, as they were required to do by law. Instead they covered up the incident.
The OPCC learned about the assault on June 28, 2010, but from the victim, not the police. At that point police complaint commissioner Stan Lowe and his staff were legally required to order a Police Act investigation into Robinson’s actions and another Police Act investigation into the VPD Professional Standards officers who covered up Robinson’s actions. Additionally Lowe and his staff were required to monitor the investigations while they were taking place and provide instructions if the OPCC believed the investigations were conducted inadequately. Lowe and his staff did none of those things. They colluded in the Vancouver police cover-up.
Media learned about Robinson’s actions on July 22, 2010, when the BCCLA released surveillance video. It was only after the extensive publicity that began on July 22, 2010, that the OPCC and VPD agreed to have Robinson investigated. Until then Robinson had still been walking a beat in the same neighbourhood, according to media accounts (for example Ethan Baron in the Vancouver Province on July 22, 2010).
No investigation has ever been ordered into the VPD cover-up, in which the OPCC colluded.
Further evidence of the OPCC’s dishonest handling of this case comes from a letter by deputy police complaint commissioner Rollie Woods that was posted on the Georgia Straight website on December 5, 2013. In the letter Woods, a former head of VPD Professional Standards, claims that Lowe has ordered a public hearing “in particular to look into why the police did not notify this office of the pushing incident and instead undertook some type of informal resolution process that is outside of the Police Act.”
That statement is completely false. Lowe has not ordered a public hearing into anything regarding this case other than Robinson’s actions. A public hearing into the VPD Professional Standards officers would have to be preceded by a Police Act investigation into those officers and, if deemed justified, disciplinary action. Only then could Lowe order a public hearing into the VPD Professional Standards officers. Lowe would have to issue a Notice of Public Hearing that names the officers and details the allegations against them. Lowe has done none of those things, despite his duty to do so.
Even if the Robinson hearing does discuss the pre-publicity conduct of VPD Professional Standards, the topic can play only a peripheral role in the hearing. Lowe called the hearing solely into Robinson’s actions and the post-publicity disciplinary proceeding. Anything else is beyond the hearing’s scope.
Woods had no excuse for thinking his statement was in any way accurate. Even if Woods did somehow get his info completely wrong by accident, the OPCC was required to issue a public correction. The fact that the OPCC didn’t issue a correction further indicates the agency’s dishonesty regarding this case.
Read more about the Stan Lowe/Bruce Brown/Rollie Woods/OPCC cover-up
of VPD constable Taylor Robinson’s assault on a disabled woman
Read more about B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner
Read more news and comment about police accountability in B.C.