April 7, 2020 Via Email:
[email protected] [email protected] His Worship Mayor Kennedy Stewart Chair, Vancouver Police Board City Hall 3rd Floor, 453 W 12th Avenue Vancouver, BC V5Y 1V4 Dear Mayor Stewart: Re: Service or Policy Complaint – Vancouver Police Department OPCC File No. 2019-16623 On May 19, 2019, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) received the attached complaint from the Pivot Legal Society (“Pivot”). The complaint outlined aspects of a Service or Policy complaint and was therefore forwarded to the Vancouver Police Board (the Board) on July 24, 2019. By way of letter dated July 29, 2019, the OPCC and Pivot were advised that the Vancouver Police Board would formally consider this complaint at their Service and Policy Complaint Committee meeting on October 17, 2019. This letter did not specify what, if any, decision the Board had made pursuant to section 171(1) of the Police Act. Section 171(1) of the Act states that upon receiving a copy of the complaint, the Board, having authority over the municipal police department to which the complaint relates, must promptly do one or more of the following: (a) Request that the chief constable of that municipal police department investigate and report on the complaint; (b) Initiate a study concerning the complaint; (c) Initiate an investigation into the complaint; (d) Dismiss the complaint with reasons; and/or (e) Take any other course of action the board considers necessary to respond adequately to the complaint. In a letter dated August 28, 2019, and authored by Stephanie Johanssen, Executive Director of the Vancouver Police Board, the relevant parties were advised that the complaint was “still under investigation” and would not be completed in time for the meeting scheduled for October 17, 2019.