The police did not take my driving complaint seriously, what is my step? I know for a fact my wife and I had the offending vehicle, driver’s description and B.C. license number correct. After reporting this incident I received a call from a constable telling me that the plate number I gave them was registered to a Hyundai and not the Pontiac I reported. They told me there was nothing else they could do.
I can respond to this reader’s question from both sides of the fence as I have been both an investigator and a dissatisfied complainant with regard to a driving complaint. As an investigator, I can say that having the license plate number reported identify a different vehicle than the type complained about happens fairly regularly.
Most often it is a mistake in reading the plate which can be very difficult now that some B.C. license plates are designed for decoration rather than legibility.
If it is not an error reading the licence plate of the offending vehicle, it is most likely to be a stolen licence plate or one that has recently been transferred and the records have not been updated yet. In all of these cases, a telephone call or a visit to the registered owner can clear up any discrepancy.
The information gained from the follow up investigation can either confirm that it is the wrong licence plate number or that the correct licence plate and the wrong vehicle description. With the former, there is nothing further to be done and with the latter appropriate action may be taken.
In my recent experience, it is obvious to me that there is a very low priority assigned to driving complaints where a collision has not occurred. The outcome of your complaint depends on whether the investigator assigned to it does a thorough job of the investigation and whether their supervisor allows it to be concluded with only superficial treatment.
If you have made a detailed complaint and are willing to follow it up, there are circumstances where it is not possible for the police to do so, but these should be rare. These reasons should also make sense when the officer contacts you to update you on the outcome of your complaint.
Make sure that you ask for and record the file number of your complaint if you wish to pursue the matter further.
You can follow up by requesting a copy of your file to see what was done about your complaint. For the RCMP you would use the federal Access to Information and for municipal police forces in BC you would use the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
A formal complaint may be made to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP or Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner for municipal police.
Story URL: https://www.drivesmartbc.ca/police/police-did-not-take-my-driving-complaint-seriously
-- Tim Schewe Road Safety Advocate DriveSmartBC.ca
