What
Dr. Michael Geist
When
October 1, 2009, 7:00 pm
Where
Wise Hall

BCCLA hosts Dr. Michael Geist for evening lecture

The BCCLA, in partnership with the UBC School of Journalism and the Tyee, will be hosting renowned copyright and internet law expert Dr. Michael Geist at the Wise Hall in Vancouver on October 1, 2009 for a unique evening lecture.

Dr. Geist is Canada's leading technology law expert and the guru of the Canadian movement to prevent copyright restrictions from infringing on key free speech principles including parody, artistic use, fair use, and device transferability.

A national innovator in using Web 2.0 tools like blogs and Facebook for campaigns for law reform and policy change, Dr. Geist's advocacy, in partnership with Cory Doctorow, resulted in more than 30,000 people joining a Facebook group opposing proposed Canadian copyright law changes and ended in the tabling of the proposed changes by then Industry Minister Jim Prentice.

To learn more about Dr. Geist's work, visit his website at www.michaelgeist.ca.

The time of the lecture and Dr. Geist's topic will be announced by the BCCLA in coming days, stay tuned to www.bccla.org for details!

Police Chiefs and BCCLA agree that police accountability system broken, call on Solicitor General for action

In a surprising about face yesterday, B.C.’s municipal police chiefs along with representatives from the RCMP joined in a press conference to declare that the current system for investigating criminal allegations against police officers, and in custody deaths, is broken and needs provincial intervention to restore public confidence in the police.

“We are pleased to see that the police chiefs now agree with us that something must be done to reform our police accountability system and take it out of the hands of police,” says Jason Gratl, Vice-President of the BCCLA. “Now we need to decide how to reform the system. Do we move to police investigating themselves with civilians watching from the sidelines, or do we introduce a civilian investigator model like Ontario and Manitoba?”

Under the current system, in custody deaths and criminal investigations of police officers are conducted by police, under the supervision of police, often, but not always, from the same force. The Chief’s proposal would maintain that system of police investigating themselves, but would introduce a new civilian body that would oversee the investigations.

“The system of police investigating themselves, both with and without civilian oversight, has been discredited in B.C. in many different audits and investigations,” said Gratl. “We need a system that is completely independent from police. We hope the Solicitor General, when examining the chiefs’ proposal, also takes note of the very clear, unambiguous recommendations of the Frank Paul Inquiry that we end the system of police investigating themselves.”

Backgrounder: Police accountability

When a police-involved death or serious injury occurs, two types of investigations typically result: A criminal investigation, to determine whether the officer’s action or inaction constitutes a criminal offence; and, a professional standards investigation to determine whether a police officer’s action or inaction constituted a breach of professional duty. The Chiefs’ proposal focuses on the criminal investigation side.

Current system
	Criminal investigations of police (all forces)	Prof. Standards Investigation (Municipal forces)	Prof. Standards Investigation (RCMP)
Oversight	Police, reporting to police	Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) (civilian)	Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP (CPC) (civilian)
Investigators	Police – Either same or outside force	Police – same force	RCMP
Decision on charges or discipline	Police – Either same or outside force	Police – same force	RCMP
Critiques	Frank Paul Inquiry (2008) “wholesale restructuring” required, where civilians investigate	Josiah Wood, Q.C. audit (2007), “lack of complete acceptance by the police of the concept of . . . civilian oversight.”	Paul Kennedy, CPC (2009), found serious flaws in 68% of 28 RCMP investigations audited.

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