Charging Someone with a Criminal Offense (Script 215)

Procedure in Vancouver: other places may differ

The procedure for charging someone with a criminal offence or making a report to the police varies slightly from place to place in BC. This script describes the procedure in Vancouver. If you live elsewhere in BC, contact the Justice of the Peace at your local provincial courthouse or the local police station for the procedure there.

What is the purpose of the criminal justice system?

The main purpose of the criminal justice system is to bring to justice a person who has committed a criminal offence. It is not to compensate people financially for something wrong done to them. So you should not say or allege, that someone committed an assault, for example, if you just want him to pay you for your broken glasses. Instead, you should consider suing him civilly in small claims court.

Where do you start if you want someone to be charged with an offence?

Go to the police station, speak to an officer on duty, and file a police report or make a statement with your allegations. Make a note of the police officer's name and number and, if possible, the police report number. An police officer will investigate your case and report to you.

If the officer thinks that the person should be charged, they will write a report to the prosecutor (also called Crown Counsel) with the suggested charges. Follow up on your report by contacting the officer who took the complaint if you want an update on it.

If the officer thinks the person should not be charged, they will tell you so. And they won’t send a report to the prosecutor. If this happens and you disagree, you can ask to speak to the officer’s boss. You can also file a complaint with either the Police Complaint Commissioner (check script 221) or the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (check script 220). It depends on whether your complaint is against a municipal police force or the RCMP. You can also charge the person yourself, as explained below.

What is a prosecutor and what do they do?

Prosecutors are lawyers employed by the government to prosecute, or present, criminal cases in court. A prosecutor will review the police report and may charge the person with an offence. You may have to testify as a witness (tell the court what you know) if the case goes to court. If you suffered financial loss, you may be able to get compensation, so you should give this information to the police or prosecutor. If you don’t hear whether the person has been charged, you should contact the police officer who took the report.

What if the prosecutor won’t charge the person?

Talk with the prosecutor—if the police send a report to the prosecutor, who decides not to charge the person, you can call the prosecutor, who may speak with you. Listen carefully to the prosecutor because they are experts in criminal law. If you have new information, the prosecutor may send you back to the police. In that case, what happens next will depend on what the police do. If you disagree with the police decision at this point, you can follow the police complaint process described above.

Charge the person yourself—if the police won’t investigate or the prosecutor won’t charge the person and you still disagree with their decisions, you can ask a Justice of the Peace (a JP) to charge the person based on a “private information”. If the offence is in the Criminal Code, a JP has to accept the charge. Even if the JP accepts the charge, in a typical case, unless there is strong evidence of a criminal offence, the prosecutor will likely end it (or “stay the prosecution”). That’s because a prosecutor has to meet a higher standard of proof than a JP needs to accept a charge.

If the prosecutor does not stay the charge, you still have to convince a Provincial Court judge to order the person charged to come to court. The judge can issue an arrest warrant or a summons to do this. You have to convince the judge there is evidence to prove the crime. But if you do that, the prosecutor may ask the judge to wait (adjourn or postpone the case) before issuing a warrant or a summons so the police can investigate the case. After the police investigate, if the prosecutor decides there is strong evidence of a criminal offence, the prosecutor will take over. If the prosecutor decides the case lacks merit and stays it, you can call the Crown Counsel office and speak to the prosecutor’s boss.

Summary

The first step in charging someone with a criminal offence is to file a police report. If the police decide to proceed, they will send a report to the prosecutor, who may charge the person with an offence (after reading the police report and witness statements).

If the police do not send a report to the prosecutor, you can discuss it with the police and file a complaint if you still disagree. Or you can try charging the person yourself before a Justice of the Peace.

If the prosecutor decides not to prosecute the person, you can call the prosecutor. If that doesn't work, you can try charging the person yourself, before a justice of the peace. Lastly, you can ask to speak to the prosecutor’s boss.

[updated August 2014]

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