British Columbia’s first police watchdog is resigning from his post at the end of his term.
Richard Rosenthal has informed the provincial government that he won’t seek reappointment next January as the chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office.
Rosenthal has led the agency since it was established in 2012 as a police oversight body looking into incidents of serious injury or death involving B.C. police officers.
Attorney General Suzanne Anton said Wednesday that Rosenthal has been instrumental in establishing the agency and advancing its mandate to ensure that investigations are dealt with promptly, appropriately and independently.
The office was created to eliminate the perception of bias of police investigating other officers.
The IIO was set up after separate inquiries into the deaths of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport and Frank Paul, who was dropped off in an alley by a Vancouver officer and later found dead of hypothermia.
Rosenthal, a former American prosecutor, has found himself under the microscope for an allegedly abrasive management style during his time in B.C.
Reports of high staff turnover within the office, low morale and complaints of bullying prompted an all-party committee of the legislature last year to urge “urgent and decisive action” to fix the IIO’s internal problems.
An investigation by B.C.’s Public Service Agency, which interviewed 44 current and former employees, concluded in December “that the chief civilian director did not engage in any bullying or harassment.”
— With a file from the Vancouver Sun
