Rosenthal Will Not Seek Renewal of Term as Head of IIO
Prince George, B.C. – Richard Rosenthal, the Chief Civilian Director of the Independent Investigations Office, which probes incidents involving police in B.C., has served notice he will not seek to have his term extended once it ends a year from now.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton thanked Rosenthal for the lengthy notice “”With this announcement, the rigorous process of recruiting a new CCD will begin. In the months ahead, officials in my ministry will work
with Mr. Rosenthal and the IIO to ensure a seamless transition for all those involved. “In the meantime, the IIO will stay focused on meeting its challenging mandate, and continue with its excellent investigative work, which serves the citizens of B.C. well.”
Rosenthal joined the IIO as the inaugural CCD in January of 2012, and while several months were spent organizing the IIO it officially started accepting cases on September 10th of that year, and within hours was called to Prince George to investigate the police shooting of Gregory Matters.
Comments
Richard, please take your ego with you when you go.
For those who who are familiar with the Greg Matters incident, we know it was a total mismanagement by the RCMP at the scene. For some reason they employed their physical training, however they forgot to put their brains in gear. I thought police were to use all assistance available to them at the time. This certainly did not close to happening here.
Then to add salt to the wound the IIO did the family a great injustice finding the RCMP acted within their mandate.
Editor’s note:
portions of this comment have been removed because of legal concerns
Investgating our Scourge in Red …a joke…rite….
Editor’s note:
Portions of this comment have been removed because of legal concerns
ampm, there are some of us that know the real story but can’t tell it on this forum. You are totally wrong.
And how are we to know that those “some” really know the real story?
If there is no way of knowing that in the case of a homicide by the RCMP or any police force, then there is something wrong with the system at the very core.
Who bears responsibility for that?
1. The feds, since criminal law falls under their jurisdiction and since the RCMP is a federal police force which farms itself out to whoever is willing to pay.
2. The Province, since they are party to the “rent the RCMP” agreement.
I see Richmond is exploring creating their own police force. Why? Cost and governance (control) by City Council rather than the Province and Ottawa.
Out of all the cases the IIO has investigated how many cops have been found to have done something wrong that warranted charges?
Editor’s note:
several investigations were forwarded to Crown for possible charges. If charges were not laid it is because Crown believed it was not likely there would be a conviction.
gopg2015– And how are we to know that those “some” really know the real story?
The only way you will get the true story on Gregory is if someone had a video camera but they made sure that no family members were kept around to assist.Is it possible the police have a video and why not.
From the Vancouver Sun March 30, 2015 source = vancouversun.com/mobile/story.html?id=10933055
Since September 2012, when the IIO opened, these were the stats in March 30, 2015
124 cases opened with 94 completed by March 30, 2015
Sent 36 reports to Crown counsel – 6 reports resulted in officers facing charges with 4 pending by end of March 2015.
26 were not approved by Crown Counsel for laying charges.
Investigated 21 police shootings, 11 of them fatal.
Fatal and non-fatal police shooting investigations by the IIO:
– Sept 2012-March 2013: 5
– April 2013-March 2014: 5
– April 2014-March 2015: 11
As per editor’s note, it is the crown counsel’s decision of whether to lay charges.
A note of interest: private individuals can also recommend to lay charges. That will normally be heard by a judge who will make a decision to send it to crown counsel as well. That is normally used when police refuse to lay charges. Not sure what happens when crown counsel refuses to prosecute.
The IIO, by the way, cannot recommend to lay charges. Go to their site and read some of the reports they have sent to crown counsel over the years.
Sorry, an error in wording above …. crown counsel does not lay charges, crown counsel prosecutes.
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