Round Table: Today’s Hot-Button Topics

November 20, 2014 2:00pm

Steven Boorne
Barrister & Solicitor

Lorena Harris
Partner
Dentons Canada LLP, Edmonton

-Douglas King
Lawyer
Pivot Legal Society

  • Harassment of citizens outside the workplace
  • The Auditor General’s Report on First Nation Policing
  • An update on use of police dogs
    • The Pivot Legal report
    • Proposed new regulations in B.C.: how far will they go?
  • Can police boards and forces delegate policy-making authority to an association of police chiefs?
    • Administrative law issues
  • An update on the RCMP investigation into activities of the RCMP members of the BCACP, on orders of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP
  • Disclosure in disciplinary proceedings: is it the same as Stinchcombe?
    • What disclosure should an officer get before being asked for a statement or interview? His or her report? Radio transmissions? Should the officer be allowed to refresh his or her memory?
  • Reconciling conflicting recommendations from coroners’ juries
  • McNeil: The unofficial consequences
    • Practical developments at ground level
    • Are prosecutors not approving charges because of who the investigator is?
    • Are members with poor records not being assigned to cases or moved off them?
    • Are police with poor records attempting to stay out of court to avoid disclosure
    • The consequences of over-reporting minor transgressions without notice of formal discipline
    • Is deceit becoming less of a career-ender?
  • Any follow-up on the RCMP corruption study
  • Mental health issues in the police workplace
  • Accommodation: how many non-operational people can a force support?
  • The intersection between mental health/accommodation and human rights
  • Safe and respectful workplace
    • Holding people accountable
    • WorkSafe BC requirements
    • Supervisor liability/accountability for failure to address bullying and harassment issues
  • ADR in police discipline
    • How has the OIPRD’s new ADR program been working?
  • Dealing with officers who have retired a step ahead of disciplinary proceedings, where there is no jurisdiction to discipline retired police
    • What can you say to prospective employers from other forces
    • What can you say to non-police prospective employers?
    • What can you say publicly?
    • Use of consents when hiring
    • Dealing with unresolved matters that won’t go away.
  • Lacunae in the amended BC Police Act
    • When the Police Complaint Commission refers a matter to a public hearing, is the appointed external lawyer independent or taking instructions from the PCC? Can the lawyer drop some allegations if they are not borne out by evidence?
    • Consequences of the statute’s lack of a requirement that there be evidence of misconduct before a hearing is ordered