As a public hearing wrapped up this week into the death of a woman shot in the head with plastic bullets by a Victoria police officer, the victim’s mother says she doesn’t expect any recommendations from the adjudicator for months.
Audrey Rauch, whose daughter was killed on Christmas Day 2019, said adjudicator Wally Oppal will have to wade through a huge volume of material accumulated during the lengthy hearing, which began in April.
“It’s an onerous task, I’m sure,” she said. “We’ve waited this long so we’re quite happy to wait until Wally Oppal’s given it enough time to make his decision.”
Audrey Rauch and other family members were in attendance every day of the hearing, which wrapped up Thursday in front of Oppal, a retired judge and former B.C. attorney general.
Lisa Rauch was 43 when she was shot with the “less lethal” ARWEN weapon — designed to cause pain and to incapacitate a person — by then-Const. Ron Kirkwood, who is now a sergeant.
Kirkwood told the hearing that when he fired into the smoky room at the Pandora Avenue supportive-housing facility, he thought he was aiming at Lisa Rauch’s torso. She died in hospital four days later.
At the hearing, Kirkwood faced allegations of abuse of authority with respect to the force used and neglect of duty linked to lack of documentation of what happened.
The Rauch family asked for the hearing after Kirkwood was cleared of wrongdoing by the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. and the Vancouver Police Department, on behalf of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
Police complaint commissioner Clayton Pecknold ordered the hearing.
This week, the Rauch family called for a ban on using plastic bullets at close range, better de-escalation policies for police, improved treatment for mental health and addictions, better documentation procedures by police during investigations, and ending the “catch-and-release” process that saw Lisa Rauch brought to jail for intoxication and then released on Christmas morning, hours before she was shot.
Chris Considine, counsel for the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, said after the hearing that Oppal will decide if any discipline will result from the allegations against Kirkwood, as well as make recommendations stemming from the evidence presented and case law.
Considine said his recommendations to Oppal include that Victoria Police Chief Del Manak and the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board be advised that police officers should make “comprehensive, accurate and timely notes” after an incident in order to have good public oversight.
He also recommended that body cameras for on-duty officers be considered, that direction be given to issuing warnings before a weapon like an ARWEN is used, and that better emotional supports be available for victims, their families and officers involved in a case.
Considine noted that Lisa Rauch’s family was initially given incorrect information about what happened and should have been dealt with in a more professional way, while Kirkwood was informed about her death via text.
Kirkwood’s lawyer, Kevin Woodall, said Friday that his main recommendation is that when police officers are under criminal investigation, they prepare the same records and notes as other officers, but the notes don’t go to the Independent Investigations Office.
He said the notes should go just to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, “based on the fact there’s a large body of law that says when police officers are under criminal investigation, they have the right to silence like everyone else.”
“There’s still a duty to account to the public,” he said. “And the duty to account to the public is accomplished by having their notes and records go to the OPCC.”
The IIO investigates police-related incidents involving serious harm or death but does not look into complaints of misconduct. Reviewing complaints about the conduct of municipal police officers is the responsibility of the Officer of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
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