Prince George RCMP Respond To Civil Liberties Report

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Prince George, B.C. - The Superintendent of the Prince George RCMP detachment has responded to specific claims made against her, personally, and the overall issues raised about policing in the city in a report released by the BC Civil Liberties Association.

Prince George was one of three communities singled out following the BCCLA's tour of 14 rural and northern communities for a 'temperature-taking' of relations with the RCMP. Among the concerns raised here about excessive force, and a lack of trust over self-investigation, details are given on five specific cases, including:

• the 2003 death of Clayton Willey who was tasered several times and died while in police custody
• the 2002 "Mr. McDonald" case where, the BCCLA report states, an officer was sentenced to 18-months probation for assault causing bodily harm,
• and, the most recent 2010 "J.A." case, where an external investigation is underway by the Vancouver Police Department into the arrest of an aboriginal woman. (click here for a link to the full, 104-page report)

With respect to the "J.A." case, the BCCLA report says the RCMP, "refuse to confirm or deny that the force provided intentionally inaccurate information to watchdog group (the BCCLA) to influence media." The association says it's been unable to get confirmation from Prince George Superintendent Brenda Butterworth-Carr on whether she met with local aboriginal leaders over calls for an independent inquiry.

Today, Butterworth-Carr says she's disappointed by those assertions. She says told the BC Civil Liberties Association such a meeting had taken place, but says BCLA Executive Director, David Eby, was concerned about whether the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council had been consulted. Butterworth-Carr says "From my perspective, who my advisory members are is something that is held in confidence, and that I need to have that relationship with them, and that they feel confident and comfortable in interacting with me -- so they know who they are, I know who they are and a meeting did, in fact, take place." In addition, she says, she did extend an invitation to meet specifically with the CSTC and a meeting, so far, has not been requested.

Three of the five cases singled out locally in the Association's report involve the same unnamed police officer. When asked whether she could say if that person was still on active duty, Superintendent Butterworth-Carr's response was that she could only say that the person was no longer at the detachment. But she says, "If there's a recurring theme with any particular officer then an assessment will be made and if there's underlying issues then those are addressed.

The Superintendent points out local RCMP handled 35-thousand calls for service last year. She says she'd be surprised if all those interactions with the public didn't generate complaints.

"The bigger thing for me is that the public actually has the confidence to come forward and make those complaints and that's where I would focus the energies," says Butterworth-Carr. "Is that they felt comfortable and confident that when they made a complaint - whether it's through the CPC (Comission for Public Complaints) or directly at the detachment that it would be dealt with in a timely and reasonable manner."

Butterworth-Carr says she would welcome independent oversight of the RCMP. "I don't see that as an issue and, quite frankly, it would certainly alleviate some of the pressures of my resources...I currently have two people dedicated to investigating public complaints, so if there was a civilian oversight, I think that would be certainly very well supported by the detachment."

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