The first recommendation (page 5 of report above) was to “Continue unification efforts of the various police departments”.
The Province and the local mayors (as police board chairs) did not act on the Coroner's recommendation after this crime.
The only significant change was the formation of a Domestic Violence Unit, which initially had two Victoria Police members, one Saanich Police member and one RCMP member. Victoria Police later reduced their commitment to one member.
Now there are virtually no remnants of this regional unit remaining. See Capital's regional police to be disbanded after Saanich pulls funding.
Pages 2 to 4 of the report are a recap of the evidence given to the Coroner’s Inquest about the events leading up to the murder/suicide. This includes the misrouting of the 9-1-1 call to Victoria Police Dispatch, transfer to Saanich Police Dispatch and the subsequent dispatching of an Oak Bay Police member to the scene. This convoluted communication would be eliminated if Greater Victoria had one regional police department with one dispatch centre.
Page 2 lists Saanich and Victoria Police as participants/counsel. Yet the Oak Bay Police, in the municipality where the murders/suicide occurred, are not mentioned. This is because the Oak Bay Police are not a full service department. They provide only basic first response/patrol, community services and some traffic functions. Oak Bay has no major crimes unit, no forensics unit, no canine unit, and no communications unit. Those services are provided via contracts with Saanich Police and by the goodwill of Victoria Police. A single unified regional police force would provide consistent, coordinated services across the region.
