June 22/2021 IN 2007 SAANICH POLICE OPTED OUT OF JOINING VIIMCU
VANCOUVER ISLAND INTEGRATED MAJOR CRIME UNIT
In 2007 RCMP and Victoria Police joined forces to form a Vancouver Island Homicide Unit. The Saanich Police and Oak Bay opted out of the deal.
Why did the Saanich Police Department choose not to join the Vancouver island Integrated Major Crime Unit when given the opportunity in 2007?
According to Chief Mike Chadwick, Saanich was happy with their own homicide clearance rate and felt they were quite capable of solving their own homicides. He said Saanich already solves most of it’s homicides and does it alone on a cost effective basis. It also provides major crime services to Oak Bay on contract. A clearance rate is considered a “critical indicator” of the effectiveness of a police force” because it is often where a department puts its skilled investigators.
IN 2010 UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA Criminologist Benedict Fischer said,
“the first few days of a murder file can involve most of the officers in the force, thousands in approved overtime and a concentration of resources rarely seen in other files”.
In February 2010 former Police Chief Derek Egan was asked if Saanich should have joined VIIMCU.
Egan said he didn’t regret not joining the unit and didn’t think the choice had anything to do with why BUZIAK’S murder is yet unsolved.
RETIRED HOMICIDE INVESTIGATOR RAY KIELAN, who used to work for an RCMP Serious-Crime UniT
that provided long-term resources to smaller detachments working on homicide cases, said such integrated units can often provide help with unsolved files. He said, rather than err on the side of caution, you want to err on the side of having expended as much effort and done all that you possible can. But he said, it is up to the investigators to decide whether they need the help.
At one point in the Buziak homicide investigation nearly 30 investigators have been brought in from other areas of the force to replace officers who either retired or switched departments.
ARTICLE POSTED IN THE TIMES COLONIST MAY 11/2007
VIIMCU was established to serve Vancouver Island and the Greater Victoria area as an integrated major crime unit. The unit’s mandate includes homicides, missing persons where foul play is suspected, and unsolved homicides. The creation of VIIMCU is intended to gain the benefits of integration, where an effective case management system will enhance communication and cooperation between the agencies in order to optimize and ensure success of major crime investigations. The entire crew will be stationed at the RCMP’s Victoria headquarters on Nanaimo Street.
RCMP District Staff Sergeant Terry Miles is to lead the team. The team will run investigations for smaller detachments that may not have the experience or specialized resources to handle complex murder cases. We will be able to front-end load investigations in the initial 24-48 hours and will have more members available in the crucial time of an investigation. The team is responsible for the vast majority of Vancouver Island, but not Saanich or Oak Bay. Deputy Chief Mike Chadwick said Saanich already solves most of it’s homicides and does it alone on a cost effective basis. It also provides major crime services to Oak Bay on contract.
Though the numbers are not large, homicides can be expensive and time-consuming crimes to solve. Victoria Police faced a severe budget crisis in 2006 trying to pay more than $1.8 million in overtime from murder investigations. Typically, Vancouver Island sees about 10 murders a year. There were 13 island homicides in 2006, with some communities recording multiple cases. 4 in Duncan, 3 in Victoria and 2 in Port Alberni.
AN ARTICLE POSTED IN THE TIMES COLONIST OCTOBER 2007.
SEVEN SENIOR SAANICH POLICE OFFICERS SET TO RETIRE IN JANUARY 2008.
Inspector Rob McColl who runs the staff-development division and whose 147 officer department will need to replace 6 officers retiring in 2008. The staffing crunch has forced police departments to adjust the long-held view that the best officers seek out the force and not the other way around. Probably the days are gone when we can sit back and do nothing and expect recruitment to carry on.
AN ARTICLE POSTED IN THE TIMES COLONIST FEBRUARY 1 2008
Retirees take 210 years of experience with them Times Colonist
1 Feb 2008
ROB SHAW
Seven of Saanich’s most senior cops, including the head of its detective division and its two top interrogators, retired from the force yesterday, taking with them a combined total of more than 210 years of policing experience. The municipal department said it should be able to fill the holes with trained constables and sergeants, but Insp. Rob McColl, head of human resources, acknowledged a wealth of experience has left the force. “We’ve been planning for this for pretty much the whole calendar year,” he said. “We’ve spent a significant amount of time pre-hiring and preparing.”
Seven officers retiring at the same time is more than normal, said McColl. But, as police departments across Canada wrestle with an aging workforce, it is hardly a surprise. Another four to five officers are expected to retire in Saanich next year. The officers who retired were: Insp. John Charlton, in charge of the detective division; Staff Sgt. Mike Irwin, traffic unit supervisor; Sgts. Bob Wall and Don Wiebe, senior interrogators; Sgt. Keith Hanson, former traffic and telecommunications supervisor; Const. Tim Motts, financial crimes detective; and Staff Sgt. Barry McLachlan, a platoon commander and former dive team commander.
Charlton, who started his 38-year policing career with the RCMP, said he’s had a career of extraordinary cases and opportunities stretching from Toronto to Saanich. Coincidentally, his replacement to head the detective division is McColl, who served as a detective before switching to human resources. “He was the natural choice to come back and take my spot,” said Charlton. “It’s where my heart is,” added McColl.“
Veteran detectives Wiebe and Wall, started together as rookie partners in the 1970s and spent the last two years before retirement as partners again.
The skills for a good interrogation — tenacity and patience — remain the same, but they say the philosophy of an interview has changed since the 1970s, before the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and when the “good cop, bad cop” routine was still in use. “People don’t get bullied anymore, you have to be smarter,” said Wiebe, 51, who is retiring as Saanich’s most experienced detective. “Generally, people aren’t going to tell you their deepest, darkest, secrets unless they like you.” Both say they’ll miss the rush of working a breaking case. “We’ve been here 30 years, it’s hard to get up and walk out and say this is not part of my life,” said Wiebe. “But it’s been a great career.”
2021 – 13 YEARS LATER AND LINDSAY BUZIAK’S MURDER STILL REMAINS UNSOLVED.
So if the question were to be put to the Saanich Police Department today would their answer be any different? Does Saanich regret not joining VIIMCU in 2007? Was there a likelihood that this murder could have been solved if VIIMCU BOOTS had been on the grounds? Maybe yes, maybe no! Saanich finally made the decision to join a few years later it was too late – Lindsay’s murder did not meet the requirements needed for VIIMCU to take over the case.
BECAUSE THE SPECCIALIZED UNIT DOES NOT TAKE ON “OLD” CASES SO LINDSAY’S FILE HAS TO STAY WITH THE SAANICH POLICE.
WAS SAANICH DELIBERATELY CHOSEN AS THE JURISDICTION FOR THE CRIME?
Saanich does seem to be deliberately chosen as the jurisdiction for the crime. Whoever planned this conspiracy may have had a level of sophistication to understand that the RCMP would not have jurisdiction over the crime.
PERHAPS THE JANUARY 2008 RETIREMENT OF TWO LEAD DETECTIVES PLAYED INTO THE PLANNING OF THE MURDER TOO
THIS LEVEL OF SOPHISTICATION?
Was it the conspirators who planned Lindsay Buziak’s murder – or was it the main informant who threw Lindsay Buziak under the bus to save herself and her close associates? There certainly is NO level of sophistication within the Delalcazar/Vid group because they didn’t have the brains or the knowledge of what’s going on around them to think at this level!
who had the sophistication/brains to pull this heinous crime off and get away with it for 13 years? THIS MURDER WAS EMOTIONALLY CHARGED AND VERY PERSONAL.
Who has the skills of strategic thinking planning executive level execution inner knowledge of the workings of the real estate industry and its intricacies. It comes back to that lingering smoking gun …the real estate scene was the stage and this is all about theatrics.. not a random dark alley and a junky robbery.. Real estate industry players and drug money investors. D.
EMAIL ADDRESS: murderondesousa@gmail.com