Court says officers should co-operate with police watchdog

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s highest court says seven police officers were required to co-operate with an investigation into the shooting death of a robbery suspect in 2016.

The B.C. Appeal Court decision released Monday is the latest legal fight involving the provincial police watchdog over the interpretation of the duty of a police officer to co-operate with its investigations.

The dispute stems from the fatal shooting of a man outside a Canadian Tire store in Vancouver by one of several officers who attended the scene of the robbery.

All of the officers were cleared of wrongdoing by the Independent Investigations Office last February.

When the watchdog asked officers who witnessed what happened to appear for compulsory interviews, they asked for audio, video and other evidence before and during the incident, but the civilian-led agency declined to give them the information before an interview.

The officers co-operated with the investigation after a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled they had an obligation to do so, but that judgment was challenged at the Court of Appeal.

Writing for the three-member Appeal Court panel in a unanimous ruling, Justice David Harris says it’s the officers’ legal duty to co-operate under the law.

“It is common ground that an important objective of an independent and transparent investigative body is the maintenance of public confidence in the police and the justice system as a whole,” the ruling says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 6, 2020.

Note to readers: This story has been clarified from a previous version to include information about the officers being cleared of wrongdoing.