Establish the Civilian Board of Police Oversight

Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of Justice David Lametti, provincial and territorial Attorney Generals:

Systemic Racism has plagued our justice system for far too long. The word of an officer is always valued more than that of a citizen. Only now is society finally beginning to question police tactics. As taxpayers, we shouldn’t have to wonder if police are doing their jobs or not. We should be able to see and verify it. As our nation’s finest, police should be held to an even higher standard than that of a civilian. We need an unbiased and transparent board to oversee such a mission.

We urge you to

1.    Draft legislation mandating that police officers must have their body camera devices recording whenever interacting with a civilian.

2.    Establish the Civilian Board of Police Oversight which oversees complaints made against police officers

Often times when an officer is about to do something they know they shouldn’t, they will simply turn off their camera. If a complaint is filed with the police station, quite often nothing will be done. In principle, this is the same reason why we established the SIU. We as Canadians feel a civilian board should investigate police matters resulting in injury or death. Why should it be limited to only those circumstances? We civilians should be able to request footage of an incident in the event a complaint is filed against an officer. If an officer is found to be in violation of protocol, we will keep a record of this, and suggest the officer be reprimanded accordingly. Please help us keep society civilized, and our officers accountable.

Sincerely,

Kyle Hinds

Jazmine Hinds

The Civil Party of Canada

www.civilparty.ca