Stephen Rees's blog

The headline comes from the Georgia Straight. A lot of people – including some of the groups most immediately impacted – dismissed the process long before the report was even written.

However I am sure that they will endorse this summary

In a 1,448-page report released today (December 17), Wally Oppal writes that the police investigations included a failure to “consider and properly pursue all investigative strategies” and a “general systemic failure to address cross-jurisdictional issues and ineffective co-ordination between police forces and agencies”.

The official recommendations include a call for the B.C. government to establish a Greater Vancouver police force.

On this blog I have been making this plea for some time – and so have others, including some lo cal police chiefs.

If you were to design a policing structure for the region, would you design one like ours? Not in a million years.”

The opportunity to get rid of the RCMP seems to have been muffed. But this situation cannot be allowed to continue.

UPDATE Tuesday December 18

The following is taken from Mayor Gregor Robertson’s statement

On the specific issue of a regional police force, this is an approach I have supported in the past and believe is crucial to improving public safety and policing in the region. I am hopeful that the Province will quickly commit to establishing a Metro Vancouver police force as recommended in the report.