First shooting by transit police The Sunday shooting killed an unidentified man, shot by one or more transit police officers. It's the first time since the transit force's inception almost 10 years ago that a transit cop has been involved in a fatal shooting. Because the incident was taking place at a Safeway near the Surrey Central SkyTrain station it was the nearby transit police who were first on the scene. They attended and shot the man - he died later in hospital - and when speaking with the media about the shooting, Ms. Drennan said the man had a knife and was advancing on the officers when shot. Kellie Kilpatrick is the Executive Director for Public Accountability for the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), the police watchdog in the province that is conducting the investigation, and she said that Ms. Drennan should not have released details to the public. "While I understand why a police agency may want to get their version out sooner rather than later, we have an agreement with all B.C. police agencies to minimize any potential actions/sharing of information that may be viewed as self-serving, biased or may end up being inaccurate," she wrote in an email to the Globe and Mail. Ms. Kilpatrick is waiting on autopsy reports and on herself and her agency to conduct an investigation. But what good does it do the public to have no information released on the shooting? One of the things it would do is begin to sway some toward thinking that it was an unjustified shooting. Shooting statement helpful to public While Ms. Drennan's statement is not proof it was justified, it gives the public an early view of what may have happened. It allows us to reason there may have been justification. In this case witnesses spoke to media about the man having stolen the knife inside the store - he was shot outside of it - and that while inside he stabbed himself with it. In this case, it could lead members of the public to think "well, he was only hurting himself. Why would they shoot a man stabbing himself?' Such an event fuels that kind of speculation and muting the police would only give more space to the making of assumptions. Further, it could be the man was stabbing himself in a tragic effort to take his own life and then, on seeing police, felt it easier to ignore their commands and rush at them, getting them to do the job for him. If that was the case we are not likely to know with certainty. But knowing police say the man came at them with the knife, that provides members of the public who may have otherwise made assumptions, to recognize there are two sides to the event and that it is best to wait for the investigation to come to a close before drawing conclusions. The public is not stupid. Citizens are aware a statement from a spokesperson does not carry the weight of the results of an investigation. They can still be skeptical and will still have the right to advocate for the man who died should the investigation suggest the shooting should not have occurred. But now they can be skeptical on both sides of the coin. And the investigation can play out with less of a chance of there being the potential of false assumptions that impugn the good name of the transit police.
This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com
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