VICTORIA - Incidents in which police officers kill or injure someone in B.C. will be subjected to independent reviews starting Sept. 10.
The provincial government says that's when the new Independent Investigations Office will become fully operational.
The government announced the office in 2010 after years of complaints about police investigating themselves, and after recommendations for such an agency by public inquiries into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski and First Nations man Frank Paul in Vancouver.
Justice Minister Shirley Bond says the office will strengthen the public's faith in police by ensuring that incidents of death or serious harm are investigated in an impartial way.
The office's civilian director is Richard Rosenthal, who headed similar police oversight offices in Oregon and Colorado.
The government says in order to keep the office impartial, none of its investigators can have served as a police officer in B.C. within the past five years.
