B.C. transit cop board complaint dismissed

Citing lack of jurisdiction, the B.C. office of the police complaint commissioner has dismissed a complaint about the appointment of police officers to the board that governs pistol- and Taser-packing transit cops.

Bruce Brown, deputy commissioner at the OPCC, told the Straight that the agency has no authority over the composition of municipal police boards, including the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority police board. Brown noted that the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General has jurisdiction.

In a February 8 letter to complainants Tara Ivanochko and Paul Keeling, Brown noted that two members of the six-member panel are civilians, and that it’s his understanding that another civilian will be appointed to the board in July.

Ivanochko and Keeling, who are members of the Civil Society Development Project, filed the complaint with the OPCC on January 4.

Keeling told the Straight that the appointment of civilian representatives isn’t an issue.

“The issue that’s important is the fact there’s any police on the board at all,” Keeling said. “It’s not standard practice for municipal police boards to have any police on them at all. There’s always exclusively civilian representation. The transit police appears to be a category on its own, in a way that nobody seems to have examined or questioned.”

Comments

3 Comments

Grumpy

Feb 21, 2008 at 10:32am

Police watching police, so what else is new. TransLink's private armed police force of VPD 'wanabe's' is nothing more than TransLink's private little gestapo, who now seem to have no public oversight at all. How cute; how so TransLink.

Outragee

Sep 30, 2009 at 8:03am

BC Translink you suck big time! We are encouraged to ride the bus and yet most of the buses have been removed going down Granville Street except for the 10 Hastings. I had to wait 55 minutes this morning. In the meantime, several "not in service" buses drove by. What the hell is BC Translink thingking?! The Canada line isn't convenient for everyone. Translink should bring back the B-Line 98 buses, not to mention the 351 going to white rock.

Jackson Nem

May 29, 2015 at 1:56pm

Bruce Shipley and Alfred Wong are the 2 Transit Police officers who have been convicted of assaulting a 27-year-old man at the Granville SkyTrain Station three years ago.

Both officers have been on paid leave since 2013

Really?

a 2 year holiday. Are these two goons going to be made to pay back all that money now that they're found guilty? They should but I would be surprised of they had to.

It seems like those in 'authority' are almost always let off more easily than the people they're supposed to keep in line ... when i reality their punishment should be double since they chose to take on jobs that put them in a position of power and trust of the law but did not obey it themselves.