Prince George, B.C. – In a bid to keep up with its increasing case load, the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) has hired more staff.

Spokesperson Marten Youssef says the nine new hires have increased the number of investigators to 30.

“The increased case load has definitely been a factor. We have had some challenges with our timeliness and it really stems from a spike in the number of officer involved shootings,” he says.

“For instance since the IIO opened its doors in 2012 there has been 29 officer involved shootings. 17 of those were fatal and the other 12 resulted in serious harm.”

Youssef says the incidents require the “expenditure of enormous resources” making it “impossible to keep up with our timeliness goals.”