Head of B.C. police watchdog wants agency to investigate sexual assault allegations
CBC
WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse and intimate partner violence.
The director of B.C.'s police watchdog says her agency's mandate should be expanded to include investigating sexual assault allegations.
B.C. is the only province with a civilian-led police oversight agency that doesn't investigate sexual assault allegations levelled against officers.
"I believe [it] would lead to the public having a greater faith that these incidents are being fully and transparently investigated," Jessica Berglund, civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), told CBC News.
The IIO investigates any incident involving police that results in serious harm or death. If the agency has reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence, it will then refer the matter to the B.C. Prosecution Service for consideration of charges.
If a municipal police officer is accused of sexual misconduct in B.C., they're disciplined not by an independent body, but by senior police officers from their own departments or from external police departments. Those decisions are then reviewed by an outside agency, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC), which can appoint a retired judge to reexamine the evidence if it disagrees with a police department's findings.
Police watchdog agencies in every other province are mandated to investigate sexual assault, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, which doesn't have its own oversight agency yet and is working with the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick governments to finalize an agreement for one.
In March, the OPCC published a database of substantiated misconduct and disciplinary measures against officers employed by B.C.'s 12 municipal police departments.
The database doesn't track RCMP officers. B.C. has about 2,600 municipal police officers, according to the latest provincial figures from 2023, which don't include the recently created Surrey Police Service.
A review of all of the cases by CBC News found that in those involving sexual misconduct or gender-based violence, the officer involved was fired in one out of four cases.
The offences range from sexual harassment to sexual and physical assault. Most of the victims were female police officers or officers' current and former partners.
From 2009 to 2025, there were 40 instances of sexual misconduct or gender-based violence. In ten cases, officers were fired. In the other cases, officers received penalties including unpaid suspensions or training.
Fellow police officers decided the penalties in over 80 per cent of the cases reviewed by CBC.
Six of the officers resigned from the force before the misconduct process was complete. In each of those cases, the OPCC said their records show the officers were fired.
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