BC Policing and Community Safety Plan - Ministry of Justice ...

community members and the First Nations culture. This is necessary to deliver effective responses to criminalactivity and crime prevention strategies, as well as to promote positive police-community relationships.Participants wanted strategies that could be useful in promoting bias-free policing.CHALLENGE: In his MWCI Report, Commissioner Oppal concludes that systemic bias and negative stereotypeson the part of police about the missing women, rather than overt or intentional discrimination, contributed toa failure to appropriately prioritize and effectively carry out investigations. Commissioner Oppal recommendsthat the Ministry of Justice conduct equality-in-policing audits to identify potential bias in the delivery ofpolicing in British Columbia. He also recommends the creation of a provincial policing standard that creates anexplicit duty for police to deliver policing in a non-discriminatory manner, to help ensure that this obligationis integrated into policing operations. The obligation is broader than providing services in the same way to allpeople; it includes adjusting service delivery as needed to remove barriers and ensure that services are accessibleto vulnerable persons.NEXT STEPS: The Ministry of Justice will review the current practices and policies of police agencies relatedto ensuring bias-free policing with a target completion date of March 2015. The review will involve externalexperts and ensure meaningful community input in the process. Where identified in the review, and withinthree years of its completion, the ministry will ensure that appropriate audits are completed of policeagencies operating in British Columbia related to bias-free policing and the equitable treatment of all persons.Subsequent to the completion of the audits, the ministry will develop policing standards that ensurebias-free policing.•¡Develop provincial policing standardsACTION ITEM #7: The Ministry of Justice will continue developing provincial standards for police agencies inthe province. Priority will be given to standards consistent with those recommended by Commissioner Oppalin his MWCI Report governing the investigation of missing persons, complex investigations involving seriouscrime and inter-agency cooperation.CHALLENGE: One way police are held accountable is through provincial policing standards. Amendments tothe Police Act in 2010 and 2012 gave the director of police services, with the approval of the Minister, the authorityto set legally binding provincial standards for all police in the province. Standards provide guidance onaspects of policing that raise important questions of public policy. This principle is discussed by CommissionerOppal in his 1994 inquiry into policing in British Columbia and by Justice Braidwood in his 2009 study commissionon the use of conducted energy weapons. 26 Binding provincial policing standards are applicable to allpolice agencies in the province, including the RCMP.The provincial government, the Vancouver Police Department, the RCMP and other police agencies haveundertaken a number of initiatives to improve the standard and capacity of investigations since the 2002 arrestof Robert William Pickton. However, in his MWCI Report, Commissioner Oppal identifies three key issues to beaddressed through provincial policing standards: 27The investigation of missing persons – Commissioner Oppal identifies a number of critical failures in thepolice investigations of the missing women. These include aspects of departmental policies which delayedthe investigations, poor risk assessment, and variations in missing person policies between police agencieswhich created confusion as to which agency was responsible for an investigation. He identifies 15 componentsto be addressed ranging from initial report taking through to file conclusion.26 Braidwood, 2009, 61.27 An overview of relevant reforms is provided in Volume III of Commissioner Oppal’s report (Oppal, 2012, Vol. 3).THEMES AND ACTION ITEMS 31