Prince George city councillor Brian Skakun is firing back at the Safe Surrey Coalition after it accused Prince George RCMP officers of murder.
The Safe Surrey Coalition made the accusation in a now-deleted post on its Twitter account. The accusation is in reference to the Independent Investigations Office recommending charges against five officers stemming from a July 18, 2017 arrest during which the suspect died.
The tweet stated: “Poorly trained RCMP murder a defenceless man and then delete video evidence to cover up the crime.”
Surrey is in the process of removing the RCMP from the community and forming its own municipal police force.
“The Surrey Safe Coalition needs to look in the mirror and see how they have failed their own RCMP and general public in their rushed decision to replace them with a municipal force in my opinion,” said Skakun in a Facebook post. “For any elected official to suggest murder of anyone by anybody without knowing all the facts is totally irresponsible and will only continue to harm the relationships between law enforcement and the public anywhere. This not to say that the RCMP don’t’ have their own issues to work on as they do. I do feel there needs to be better oversight and public reporting on serious issues like this.”
The BC Prosecution Service will examine the case and decide if there will be any charges to any member of the local RCMP.
“As far as the Surrey Safe Coalition goes, clean up your own backyard before you go after any other community that is facing its own crime-related challenges,” Skakun posted.