The Victoria Police Department is to be audited by the provincial government.
Solicitor General John van Dongen has asked his ministry's police services division to conduct the audit, with the aim of looking at the quality of policing and law enforcement services in Victoria and Esquimalt.
Some of the issues looked at will include: public confidence in the force, service delivery, a survey of officers, and an analysis of the police department's effectiveness.
Several well-publicized controversies have plagued the force in the past year.
On January 16, 2009, Victoria's new police chief, Jamie Graham, ordered a criminal investigation into an allegation of excessive use of force by one of his officers.
The force's deputy police chief John Ducker faced a conflict-of-interest investigation in August 2008 and was cleared of any wrongdoing on December 8, and its former police chief Paul Battershill officially resigned, also in August, 10 months after he was suspended over a "personnel matter".
The audit will take around one year to complete.
