Vancouver police officers failed missing woman Tatyanna Harrison, decision finds – BC
The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner has found that the Vancouver Police Department failed a woman who went missing in 2022.
Tatyanna Harrison was reported missing on May 3, 2022. Her remains were found on a drydocked yacht in Richmond the day prior, but were not identified until August.
Police initially said she died of a lethal dose of fentanyl, though a coroner subsequently said her death was a result of sepsis.
“Tatyanna was vulnerable and at high risk for harm; she needed to be considered high priority by law enforcement, she needed immediate action by law enforcement,” Tatyanna’s mother, Natasha, said in a statement.
“This was the beginning of the systemic failures in my daughter’s case. In order for things to change, truth and accountability is required. Every moment spent in delayed response is evidence lost in a proper investigation. Human life should always be your top priority. Not only did I lose my daughter, but I lost myself, having to simultaneously grieve and fight a system for basic justice for Tatyanna. She deserved so much more and she didn’t even get the bare minimum.”
Two Vancouver police officers committed misconduct for failing to conduct a missing person’s risk assessment in the initial investigation into Harrison’s disappearance, a disciplinary decision by retired judge Brian M. Neal for the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner found.
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A third Vancouver police officer took accountability for misconduct in the investigation of Harrison’s disappearance, the decision states.
According to the B.C. government, policing standards require departments to conduct risk assessments without delay in missing persons cases.
These standards were developed following the Wally Oppal-led Missing Women Commission of Inquiry in 2012 to ensure a consistent approach to missing persons’ cases is maintained and build on the lessons learned from the Pickton case and other missing and murdered women investigations.
The decision also questioned the Vancouver police’s development and use of its own Missing Person Risk Assessment Template as it says it uses different criteria than the template associated with the B.C. government.
Neal recommends that the provincial template also be adjusted to specify if a missing person is an Indigenous girl or young woman.
Both Vancouver police officers have been found in breach of public trust by way of neglect of duty.
Police misconduct investigations are also underway by the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner into the handling of the investigations into the deaths of 24-year-old Chelsea Poorman and 13-year-old Noelle O’Soup, who were both Indigenous and whose remains were found in Vancouver within weeks of Harrison’s, according to a release from Justice for Girls.
“Retired Judge Neal’s finding of misconduct on the part of VPD officers in Tatyanna’s case is both heartbreaking and validating,” Sue Brown, a staff lawyer at Justice For Girls, said in a statement.
“We knew this investigation was flawed from the beginning and Natasha Harrison watched in real time as her daughter was failed while she was alone searching for her daughter for months.”
Brown said it is shameful that more than a decade after the Oppal Inquiry, following the Pickton case, the most basic recommendations have not been effectively implemented.
“If the Vancouver police cannot muster the political will to implement fundamental case management and investigation standards, I find it hard to believe that they are paying anything more than lip service to the much harder work of addressing deeply rooted systemic discrimination and that contributes to an ongoing epidemic of violence against Indigenous girls and women,” she added in a statement.
The BC Coroner’s Office has called for an inquest into Harrison’s death, but no date has yet been set.
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