Independent Agency Investigating Police Officers - A Tall Order

By Ben Meisner

Time and time again we are hearing at inquests, judicial hearings, and trials that police investigating police simply cannot continue to be the norm in this country.

There has been much controversy in police investigating police and many recent cases would have  many believe investigations have been slanted towards the police at the expense of the victim.

There is a hitch however in trying to change the system.

It is the police at present who arrive on the scene first, those first few moments are very important in the investigation as is shown in the Robert Dziekanski death video. What we actually saw on the video and what police officers tried to suggest to us took place, are very different to the point that these same officers have had to recant their earlier testimony.

Those precious first minutes give not only a perpetrator of a crime an opportunity to get the story right, it does the same for police officers who, fearing for what they have done and the consequences flowing from those actions, conjure up a story that is more acceptable to their interests.

There also is that unwritten code which protects their own and that has been the main spike in the drop in the trust of police officers in Canada.

The province of Ontario has its own independent group investigating police officers but it is fraught with problems, such as trying to obtain evidence from the police who did the initial investigation. Trying to interview those involved as quickly as possible and above all trying to tear down the "protect each other at all costs" mentality.

We may establish a new investigating force that investigates police officers but it will face the same problems as the inquest into the St Arnaud, Bush and now Dziekanski deaths. Trying to get a truthful picture,  not tainted to ones advantage for that investigating group,  is a tall order.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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