Commissioner: Lloyd G. McKenzie, Q.C.

Report submitted to the Ministry of Attorney General, March 1994

Commissioner Lloyd McKenzie was appointed to inquire into an incident ten years previous in the Vancouver City Jail on November 16, 1983. William (Bill) Marshall was the senior duty officer in charge of the Vancouver City Jail in 1983 when Constable Peter Parlevliet struck a drunken prisoner, Alfred Richard Mountain, with a baton. The incident was never properly recorded or passed on to Internal Investigations, in accordance with departmental procedures. McKenzie heard from more than 40 witnesses during the Inquiry's public hearings. Testimony at the inquiry suggested a cover-up. Parlevliet was found not guilty in January 1994 on criminal charges in connection with the assault after testifying he struck the man to subdue him but did not intend to hurt him. Early in 1994 Vancouver's police chief, Bill Marshall, submitted his resignation after the McKenzie Inquiry found that he had ultimate responsibility that night in 1983,and that he was negligent in his duties and clearly responsible for the failure of police to investigate properly the assault allegation. The police board allowed Marshall to take early retirement rather than leave the police force in limbo, without a police chief, until the Inquiry report was completed. McKenzie also found that Sergeant Linde and Acting Staff Sergeant Smith defaulted in their responsibilities, though to a lesser degree. Alfred Mountain died in 1993 of alcohol and heroin poisoning, before the final report was completed. As a result of the McKenzie Inquiry findings the Attorney General asked David Edgar, Chair of the British Columbia Police Commission, to undertake a follow-up audit of the Vancouver Police Department. The Police Commission's initial audit, conducted in May - June 1993, was published in 1994.