Police watchdog finds misconduct by two VPD officers in Tatyanna Harrison case

B.C.’s police watchdog has found two VPD officers failed in their response to the disappearance of a 20-year-old Indigenous woman.

B.C.’s police watchdog has found two Vancouver officers committed misconduct in their response to the disappearance of Tatyanna Harrison, a 20-year-old Indigenous woman who was reported missing on May 3, 2022.

Her remains were found on a dry-docked yacht in Richmond on May 2, but would not be identified until months later.

The officers are identified as “Sgt. N,” then a constable, and “Sgt. W,” his supervisor, in a redacted decision by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, dated Oct. 20, 2025.

When Harrison’s mother, Natasha Harrison, called the Vancouver Police Department to report her daughter was missing, Sgt. N became the first-conduct officer for the initial investigation and the risk assessment.

The OPCC found Sgt. N failed to diligently complete this initial assessment, as he omitted several known risk factors—including Harrison’s Indigenous identity, the fact that she was only 20 years old, her transient lifestyle and illicit drug use, mental health history and the five-week communication gap with her family.

He also incorrectly marked her as not a chronic missing person, despite previous reports.

Sgt. W was found to have failed to review, or document a review of, the investigator’s risk-assessment template before recording the file as “not high risk.”

“The officers concerned took a restricted view of the vulnerability of young Indigenous women with health and stability challenges. I am not satisfied that such a position is reasonable considering the totality of the circumstances affecting (Harrison),” the decision reads.

Because the file was not classified as high-risk, the OPCC says the downplaying of Harrison’s vulnerability affected “the scope, quality and timeliness” of the investigation—from how it was resourced and which leads were pursued, to early liaison with the BC Coroners Service on potential unidentified remains.

The delay also impacted jurisdiction. VPD initially transferred the file to Surrey RCMP on the belief that Harrison’s last confirmed police contact was in Surrey.

Surrey RCMP asked the VPD to retake the case on May 9, 2022, after learning Harrison had stayed at a Vancouver shelter that February, but the VPD declined.

It wasn’t until May 24, 2022—three weeks after Harrison was reported missing—that the VPD agreed to take conduct of the investigation again, based on information that she had last used a bank machine in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, Harrison’s remains were found on May 2 but not identified at the time. On Aug. 5, 2022, the BCCS confirmed the “Jane Doe” in Richmond was Harrison following DNA testing.

Consequences for the officers

In a follow-up decision on Nov. 20, 2025, the OPCC ordered corrective measures rather than suspension. Sgt. N faces mandatory training on provincial Missing Persons Standards—first established in 2016 in direct response to the 2012 Oppal Inquiry—which explicitly direct police to approach new files as high risk until assessed and to recognize Indigenous women and girls are at increased risk of harm.

The OPCC also issued Advice as to Future Conduct to both officers. It is the lowest-level consequence, used when the focus is on education and preventing future misconduct rather than punishment.

“The fact that I have disagreed with the approach taken does not detract from the conclusion that both members subjectively believed they had completed their assigned duties in good faith,” the OPCC adjudicator wrote.

Response from advocates

Sue Brown, a staff lawyer for Justice For Girls who worked on Harrison’s case, says the decision highlights the need for more effective enforcement of existing policies.

“It’s quite significant that more than a decade since that commission of inquiry, and a decade after those missing person standards were created, police are failing to properly follow those guidelines and they’re failing to do some of the most basic steps that we think they have to do to ensure that investigations are thorough and effective,” Brown told CTV News Monday.

She says she struggles to understand why the VPD operates its own Missing Persons Unit and protocols directly rather than through the BC Police Missing Persons Centre.

“I think it merits a real hard think on what continues to go wrong, what is it within policing culture in the VPD, what is it with the lack of political will on the part of the leadership of the VPD and potentially on the province to make sure that these cases are treated with the attention and urgency that they require?” Brown said.

Coroner’s inquest to come

B.C.’s chief coroner has ordered an inquest into Harrison’s death, which was initially linked to fentanyl toxicity. A 2023 coroner’s report concluded her death was the result of sepsis.

“An inquest will provide an opportunity for a broad, open and transparent review of the circumstances related to Tatyanna’s death, and my hope is that the jury will be able to make meaningful recommendations that will prevent similar deaths from occurring in the future,” Dr. Jatinder Baidwan said in a statement last May.

The inquest has not been called yet, but Brown and Harrison’s mother hope it will happen sometime within the next year.

“Four years is a long time to wait to get basic answers on the death of your child,” Natasha Harrison told CTV News, adding she hasn’t been able to start the grieving process yet.

She says she hopes the OPCC decision will make things easier for the next family who endures a similar tragedy.

“I have a hard time stomaching that someone else is going through this right now,” Harrison told CTV News. “It’s baffling that we’re in 2026 and still having this discussion—it’s embarrassing as a country I believe. We put ourselves on this moral high ground, but we can’t even do proper investigations when human life is supposed to be a priority.”

She and Brown are behind calls for inquests into the deaths of 24-year-old Chelsea Poorman, and 13-year-old Noelle O’Soup, who were both Indigenous. The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner is investigating police officer conduct on both files.

The VPD provided a statement in response to CTV News’ interview request.

“The Police Act prevents us from commenting on any Police Act process whether ongoing or concluded. For privacy reasons, only the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner can release information,” the statement reads.