VPD Chief: ‘We could have and should have caught Pickton sooner’

The head of the VPD released a statement in response to Commissioner Oppal’s report on the Missing Women Inquiry that was made public on Monday.

Jim Chu said they admit they could have and should have caught Robert Pickton sooner. Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder involving women missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and sentenced to life in prison.

Oppal was critical of the Vancouver police in his report, stating there was a systemic bias and lack of urgency in police response to the missing women investigations.

“On behalf of the Vancouver police department, we are sorry to the families and friends of the missing and murdered women,” said Chu.

“We are committed as police officers to doing anything we can to ensure a similar tragedy never happens again.”

Chu said the VPD is in the process of studying the findings of the report.

One of the key recommendations in Wally Oppal’s report was the creation of a regional police force for Greater Vancouver.

Chu says Vancouver and Victoria are currently the only two jurisdictions in Canada that do not have a regional police force.

The VPD Chief says the existing police force is operating with economies of scale and has a successful homicide unit, but there is room for improvement.

“If we were to design an ideal policing structure for the greater Vancouver region, I don’t think we would design what we have now,” said Chu.

Chu says for now they have to do the best they can within the existing structure.