BCCLA doubts fair investigation on recent RCMP assault in WL

From the Rush:

David Eby , Executive Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, says he has little confidence the Abbotsford Police Department will conduct a fair investigation into the alleged assault of 17 year old Williams Lake teenager Jamie Haller last month.

Eby says if past investigations are taken into account, there’s little hope for fairness this time around: “Retired Judge named Josiah Wood did a review of the complaints process in BC. And what he found was the more serious the complaint gets, the worse the investigation gets. In other words, material witnesses are not interviewed, evidence is not collected, difficult questions are not asked of officers.”

Eby says he’ll continue to have low confidence in the process until the province creates a new independent body to do their investigations.
Williams Lake Staff Sergeant and Detachment Commander Warren Brown disagrees with Eby and says he considers the Abbotsford police to be an outside investigating agency.In addition to that, Brown says an independent observer will take part in the process at his detachment’s request.

He refused to name the individual but says it’s an area First Nations chief. The investigation kicked off last week.