The BC Prosecution Service says no charges are being approved in response to a Surrey-based police watchdog having recommended a “consideration” of charges related to a police dog incident in Surrey in 2021.
The Surrey-based Independent Investigations Office (IIO) of BC stepped in after, on the evening of May 29, 2021, officers from the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Service attempted to arrest two people near Kettle Crescent and 154 Street in Sullivan.
“While following one person down Kettle Crescent with the assistance of a police service dog, police encountered an uninvolved man who sustained a serious dog bite injury,” the IIO reported. The bite victim was treated at a local hospital.
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Chief Civilian Director Ronald J. MacDonald, KC, determined that “reasonable grounds exist to believe” that two officers may have committed an offence related to the use of a police service dog and “as a result, and pursuant to Section 38.11 of the Police Act, the IIO has forwarded a report to the BC Prosecution Service for consideration of charge.”
But on Nov. 22 the prosecution service revealed no charges have been approved against members of the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Services in connection with the May 29, 2021 incident.
“In this case, the BCPS has concluded that the available evidence does not meet the BCPS charge assessment standard,” Dan McLaughlin, communications counsel for the BCPS, noted in a press release.
“The BCPS is not able to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officers committed any offence in relation to the incident. As a result, no charges have been approved.”
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