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Author: Bryce J. Casavant, Associate lecturer, School of Humanitarian Studies, Royal Roads University
Original article: https://theconversation.com/why-the-british-columbia-conservation-officer-service-should-be-designated-as-a-provincial-police-service-227545
British Columbia’s proposed new police law, Bill 17, has excluded provincial armed environmental law enforcement from its legal definition of “police.” Why does this matter?
At the heart of this issue lies a fundamental legal question. Should environmental police services be treated in the law as regular police and, crucially, subject to the same regulatory oversight?
For many officers, academics and members of the general public alike, the answer is a resounding yes. Especially as a means to curtail the unnecessary use of lethal force on wildlife, the para-militarization of environmental police services and a history of questionable arrests. This is in addition to media scrutiny of investigative practices involving both human deaths and the death of domestic animals.
However, in Bill 17 the B.C. government has so far resisted calls for change.
If armed provincial officers are going to dress like police, carry police weapons and related equipment, drive police-like vehicles and be appointed like police then they should have the same independent oversight as the police. Modern accountability and transparency mechanisms provide a model and structure for individual officer restraint and broader agency accountability for the public.
More transparency and accountability for policing actions and officer conduct could lead to less lethal force on wildlife and a reduction in negative public interactions.
British Columbia Conservation Officer Service
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) is the province’s formal, and fully armed, frontline environmental police service which specializes in “public safety as it relates to human/wildlife conflict” — with an additional mandate to manage “complex commercial environmental and industrial investigations and compliance and enforcement services”.
Individual officers of the BCCOS are designated as special provincial constables under section 9 of the current Police Act. However, the BCCOS as an agency is not designated as a police service in current law.
This creates a legal conflict between officers acting like police in the public sphere but not held as accountable as other police services because they work for a non-policing agency. I experienced this conflict first-hand during my time as an officer with the BCCOS.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The BCCOS was formerly a part of the B.C. Provincial Police Force and provided an armed environmental police service since 1871.
Since 2003, however, the BCCOS has been structured under Section 106 of the Environmental Management Act. This legislation was written primarily for pollution control and waste management and was never intended to take the place of the Police Act or allow a police-like service to operate in the province.
This cumbersome legal arrangement — where a police-like force is controlled by a piece of legislation not intended for policing — has directly inhibited attempts at greater independent oversight, accountability, and review of police actions.
Bill 17 had an opportunity to correct this by properly designating the BCCOS as a provincial police service, as it once was, and as it now should be.
Contentious debates
The record of debate in the B.C. legislature for April 11, 2024 is a revealing insight into the ongoing debates over the future of the province’s environmental police services.
Bill 17 sought to reform municipal policing legislation province-wide and increase accountability for constables, jail guards and police oversight boards. However, the bill glossed over the province’s own armed environmental police services who work as police despite not being recognized as such.
(Shutterstock)
This loophole was called into question by a member of the legislative assembly, Adam Olsen, who highlighted the similarities between standard police and environmental police services in the province.
Olsen asked why oversight of these armed environmental police services was not included in Bill 17 to which the Deputy Premier — and Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General — Mike Farnworth replied “the work on that oversight is very much part and parcel of phase 2.” No such second phase has currently been agreed upon by the B.C. government and Farnworth’s subsequent responses showed a clear misunderstanding of the role of the BCCOS and the appointments they hold under the Police Act.
This is far too serious an issue to be left in the shadows of ambiguity.
A new model
It is essential that Bill 17 defines the BCCOS as a “police service” within Section 1.1 of the newly proposed police reform law. Bringing the BCCOS within police reform law would help keep environmental policing services in line with the oversight and accountability requirements expected of all police forces under the Police Act.
By historical design and modern operational practice, BCCOS officers are full police officers under provincial law acting on behalf of a body which is not technically a police service. This creates a confusing situation where an armed officer who looks like a police officer, and is acting like a police officer, is then not a police officer if something goes wrong.
This is a problem with a straightforward legislative answer: repeal Section 106 of the Environmental Management Act and designate the BCCOS as a police service in Bill 17.
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Environmental policing stands at the forefront of wildlife protection, climate change and the intersection of urban expansion and broad social tensions.
The public, the courts, elected officials and individual police officers need unquestionable clarity on the appointments they carry and their authorities to exercise them.
Designating The BCCOS as a police service would provide much needed clarity and realign B.C.’s environmental policing services with modern expectations.
The job officers perform is critical to the conservation and preservation of our environment. Bill 17 should not ignore the BCCOS.