Pubdate: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Mike Hager Cited: Report of Independent Counsel to the Commissioner of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry http://mapinc.org/url/Y7Z0AjqK REPORT TARGETS POLICE ATTITUDES Social, Legal, Judicial Framework Allowed for Murders, Author Says Giving the children of Vancouver's missing women financial compensation and decriminalizing sex work, heroin and cocaine are just some of 37 recommendations set out by a new missing women inquiry report from various Downtown Eastside groups. The Independent Counsel recommendations detail a comprehensive list aimed at stopping another serial killer from preying on marginalized sex workers, but most were aimed at police and Crown reform. "At the core of the difficulty is a set of police attitudes that are influenced by the unlawful status of sex work and drug use," said the report's author, lawyer Jason Gratl. "The police require some tools, at a policy level, to overcome the legislative requirement to treat our most unfortunate citizens as criminals and provide them with the protection from truly dangerous predators that they need." Gratl said the report, "Wouldn't Piss On Them If They Were on Fire": How Discrimination Against Sex Workers, Drug Users and Aboriginal Women Enabled a Serial Killer, offers a scathing critique of the social, legal and judicial framework he says allowed Robert Pickton to kill multiple women from the DTES. The report is non-binding, and its stated mission is to "persuade [ Commissioner Wally Oppal] to incorporate the perspectives and interests of the Downtown Eastside into his more comprehensive Inquiry Report." One of the strongest recommendations calls for training of senior police officials and an audit of both B. C. RCMP and Vancouver police attitudes toward DTES residents. "It would appear, based on the evidence given by many of the police officers, that even today the VPD and RCMP have a blind spot for their own discriminatory attitudes and beliefs," Gratl said. "An outside independent audit of police practices and procedures scrutinizing for discriminatory conduct and policies is absolutely necessary to overcome this blind spot. "The evidence revealed that sex workers and drug users are afraid to approach police because they fear persecution and arrest, even if they're victims of serious physical or sexual crimes." When investigating the missing women, police rarely interviewed victims' friends or family because of their discriminatory belief the sex workers didn't have friends or neighbours, Gratl said. Civilians should also be included in high levels of police management to break apart the "insular operational decision making" that reinforces police interests, the report said. It went on to say police should grant vulnerable DTES residents immunity from outstanding warrants in order to coax them to report crimes of physical or sexual violence. Other recommendations include increasing the supply of social housing and detoxication centres, as the report argues poor availability of drug treatment is linked to increased levels of violence against sex workers. The Independent Counsel was appointed by Oppal on Aug. 15, 2011, after then attorney-general Barry Penner refused the Inquiry Commissioner's recommendation to fund lawyers to represent four groups from the DTES, including sex workers, drug users and aboriginals. Oppal will take this report into consideration along with submissions from a variety of individuals and groups before tabling his final report by Oct. 31 of this year. The full Independent Counsel report can be found online at vancouversun. com . - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom