FILE PHOTO - A member of the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) speaks to other investigators at the scene of a police involved shooting in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on Saturday, July 30, 2022.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
February 08, 2024 - 4:30 PM
BC's police watchdog has suffered from a shortage of staff causing some investigations to take years, now it has new funding and says investigations will be more efficient.
After an Independent Investigations Office of BC investigation into a death in Prince George took years, British Columbians cried out for improvement, according to the civilian group that oversees and investigates police incidents in the province.
“While in the first few years after I arrived at the IIO we were able to show greatly improved timelines in our investigations, an almost doubling of our caseload, together with our inability to attract and retain enough qualified and experienced investigators to fully and properly staff the IIO led to longer investigative timeframes and suffering morale,” Ronald J. MacDonald, KC, chief civilian director of the IIO said in the a media release issued today, Feb. 8.
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The government heard the calls for more money, both overall funding for the organization and better compensation for investigators. As a result, it's now almost fully staffed.
"The IIO has been able to increase investigator staffing and improve the competitiveness of our salaries," MacDonald said. "We are now better positioned to hire and retain the best people to do this essential job.
He said they still have work to do but the changes have significantly improved their staffing situation.
Employees were leaving police watchdog in droves prior to the new funding.
In 2022, 16% of all employees had left the office, the number of investigators leaving was much higher with 27 per cent leaving the job. The attrition rate improved in 2023, just 6% of its employees quit.
He said they are no longer at crisis staffing levels.
“We have moved to a four-team investigator on-call model. This helps reduce the toll the job takes on them personally, ensuring their well-being and allowing the IIO to continue delivering fair and thorough investigations to the standard required in a timely fashion that British Columbians both expect and deserve from our office,” MacDonald said.
The IIO is the independent civilian oversight agency of the police in BC. It investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.
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