Last month, Deputy Chief Constable Doug LePard released the VPD Missing Women Report on the investigation that eventually led to the arrest of Robert Pickton.
Dep. LePard wrote the report after repeated complaints that leads weren’t being followed and police hadn’t devoted enough resources into investigating reports of missing women. It was completed in 2005 but remained under wraps as Mr. Pickton went through a trial and a failed appeal.
The 400-page document said mistakes prevented police from arresting Mr. Pickton until 2002 – years after officers first started looking at him as they investigated reports of missing sex workers – and that he could have been caught earlier.
Thirteen women disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside after the city’s police force first forwarded information about Mr. Pickton to the RCMP, according to the police review.
Deputy Chief LePard took questions on the investigation, the VPD report and calls for a public inquiry in a live discussion on Wednesday, September 8.
Read the transcript.
