Police should not be investigating cases of police-involved deaths, according to former coroner Jeanine Robinson, former Chief Coroner Larry Campbell and current Chief Coroner Terry Smith. They were testifying at the Frank Paul Inquiry when they confirmed that the public is not being well-served by the present system.

Evidence supporting the proposition was then offered in the person of Insp. Robert Rothwell of the VPD, who found “no credible evidence” that Frank Paul’s family was misled about the circumstances of his death. The Inquiry heard that the VPD did not notify the next of kin until January 11, 1999, more than a month after Frank Paul succumbed to hypothermia on December 6, 1998. He had been dumped there, soaking wet and incapacitated, by a Vancouver police wagon driver a few hours before. The family reportedly was told he had been a victim of a hit and run accident.