I guess it provides some comfort.
Most people will remember that back in the fall of 2014 a Delta police officer was charged with second-degree murder for his role in the death of a man during an armed stand-off outside the Starlight Casino in New Westminster. The charge against Const. Jordan MacWilliams, who had responded to the 2012 incident as a member of the Municipal Integrated Emergency Response Team, was stayed nine harrowing months later after the Crown determined it didn’t have sufficient evidence to prosecute.
It’s hard to imagine what MacWilliams and his family had to endure, a saga that started with the Independent Investigations Office, the police oversight organization that was in its infancy when the Starlight shooting took place. After concerns were raised inside and outside the policing community that the initial IIO investigation was flawed, a review of that probe was made public last week that shows, not surprisingly, it was indeed faulty.
Undertaken by retired police officer Doug Kiloh, the review found the IIO lacked clear policies, processes and training for its investigators which resulted in a number of shortcomings with the investigation. His report reads as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when the foundation of a new organization is inadequate.
When you combine a lack of internal structure with investigators of varied backgrounds and skill levels you get a recipe for disaster, so it was really only a matter of time before that combination botched an investigation and an innocent officer paid the price. MacWilliams had the unfortunate timing to be that officer.
Significant changes have already been made to the way things are done at the IIO and the review has identified other areas in need of improvement. IIO management has embraced the recommendations, so the organization that still hasn’t reached its sixth birthday should continue to evolve in its role of police oversight.
This all comes too late for MacWilliams, whose life likely never would have been turned upside down had the proper investigative procedures been in place at that time, but if this case prevents such a travesty from ever happening again, it has provided the proverbial silver lining.
