SALT LAKE CITY -- Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen yesterday ruled out an inquiry into the Vancouver Police Department's investigation of the missing women.

"No I don't think so," he said when asked if the Vancouver Police Board should call an inquiry.

The Vancouver Police Department has admitted it was slow to act, and relatives of some of the victims have complained that they told police about the Pickton brothers' Port Coquitlam pig farm, but no action was taken.

"I don't think there's been any major criticism of the police department," said Owen, in Salt Lake City with the Vancouver 2010 bid team. "Of course, you always need more resources, [want to] go faster and find a solution quicker but it doesn't always turn out that way."

He said Vancouver police have been working with a co-ordinated RCMP provincial task force for about a year and a half.

"We've put a lot of resources in because these women are not all from Vancouver, they live in other communities and they lost their lives in other communities, so it's a joint regional and provincial event," he said.

Owen said Vancouver police put "assigned constables" on to the case at the start.

"They've been working on a co-ordinated basis for a long time," he said. "I think the chief of police right away recognized this and they deployed people and were anxious to put this on a very high level with all law enforcement agencies. That's the only way we can really do it.

"I think it's been handled in an expeditious, very serious way, and I don't think there's any intention or effort to ever duck it or avoid it."

Libby Davies, the NDP MP for Vancouver East, demanded Owen investigate.

"I am calling on the mayor [as chairman of the police board] to conduct an inquiry into police investigations of the missing women to determine what happened," she said. "I am also calling on the federal minister of justice to begin an immediate review of federal laws pertaining to soliciting that put many of these women at risk on the street. It is vital to improve safety in the community."

dinwood@pacpress.southam.ca

An RCMP dog searches a mound of dirt Saturday on a Port Coquitlam farm looking for evidence linking the farm to the 50 missing women from Vancouver's downtown eastside.

PORT COQUITLAM -- Family and friends lit candles in memory of their lost ones Saturday as the missing women's task force continued its around-the-clock search of a Port Coquitlam pig farm.

Dawn Sangret lit a candle for her friend Elaine Dumba, who disappeared in 1998, and placed her picture at the gate to the farm at 953 Dominion Ave.

"I'm here for her today and just want to find out what happened to these poor women," said Sangret.

More than 1,200 metres of metal fencing has been placed around the farm to keep out the curious.

They lined up along Dominion Avenue to watch search dogs comb huge mounds of dirt and investigators stake out plots in advance of excavating in their search for 50 Vancouver prostitutes from the Downtown Eastside.

Investigators are looking for bodies and tiny body fragments -- with forensic specialists behind the scenes saying the bodies may have been put through a wood chipper and fed to the pigs.

Some of the farm animals were being moved Saturday. Robert William Pickton, 52, and his brother David had 30 sheep, 12 pigs, 12 goats, a couple of llamas and cows.

Police said the animals were not being quarantined for evidence.

Lawyer Peter Ritchie, representing the Picktons, said they were "shocked" to find their farm at the centre of the massive police investigation.

Ritchie was Robert Pickton's lawyer in 1997 when Pickton was charged with unlawful confinement, attempted murder and aggravated assault in an attack on a woman who alleged that he had slashed her with a knife at the farm.

The charges were stayed.

Ritchie said his clients are assisting police, though he said Robert Pickton was "flabbergasted" to find hear police describe him as a "person of interest."

Robert Pickton faces firearms charges stemming from a search of the farm last Tuesday.

Police would not confirm reports that officers found identification belonging to two of the missing women as well as an inhaler -- possibly for asthma -- with instructions bearing the name of one of the missing prostitutes.

But those discoveries apparently led the task force to get its own warrant on Wednesday. Up to 40 investigators have been combing the 11-hectare site since.

The Picktons are well-known characters in the area, colourful operators of a demolition business in Surrey, a used building supply company and owners of properties in Port Coquitlam and Maple Ridge assessed in the millions.

The brothers inherited the farm from their parents. Their sister is a co-owner.

An aunt of one of the missing women said she told police three years ago about suspicious activities on the farm, but they dismissed the tip.

Newspaper reports also said that another woman told police in 1998 that she saw bags of bloodied clothing in a trailer of Robert Pickton's.

Police maintain they are interested in the property, not the owners.

TIP LINE

To contact the missing women task force, call 1-877-687-3377.

Jon Murray, The Province / Police dogs and their handlers looking for missing prostitutes search huge mounds of earth on a Port Coquitlam pig farm yesterday.

(Dr. Mark) Skinner

(Mike) Eastham

Dr. Mark Skinner well knows the potentially grisly road that lies ahead for police searching the ramshackle grounds of a Port Coquitlam pig farm.

Skinner, a professor of forensic anthropology at Simon Fraser university, has investigated mass grave sites in the former Yugoslavia, East Timor and Afghanistan and has worked with local police for 25 years.

He took The Province through the steps the 30-member team of police officers and forensic experts will likely take as they look for evidence in the disappearance of 50 women.

The first thing is to record everything they see, down to the smallest object. Everything will be photographed and mapped, possibly using aerial photography, video cameras and still cameras.

"They want to try and record everything that is on that site," said Skinner. "The better job they do at the beginning, the happier they'll be at the end if they actually find something.

"There may be body parts on the surface, they may be at depth. They are just going to have to go very slowly."

Investigators will be looking for freshly disturbed earth, and evidence of historic movements of land.

"You look for anything that suggests the land has been disturbed," he said.

They might bring in botanists to look for clues in vegetation, such as lush growth where bodies may be buried, or tree rings to gauge time frames when the disturbance occurred.

Ground-penetrating radar may be used to pinpoint any bodies. And long metal probes might be used, looking for differences in textures below the surface.

Skinner speculated that investigators may have to move a lot of earth. They may run a series of trenches, looking for grave sites.

"It is worrisome to me that there is large earth-moving equipment there. This means whatever is there could be very deep."

The deepest graves he has worked on were three and a half metres deep. Typically, most mass graves are about a metre and a half, he said.

The deeper the remains are buried, the better the preservation will be.

"Certainly you'd expect soft tissue preservation for five to 10 years at the bottom of a deep grave," he said, adding that wet ground will help the preservation.

DNA would be in good enough shape to help identify any bodies.

Skinner said the fact there are pigs on the site could make the investigation more difficult, especially if they were used to scavenge any remains. But he witnessed a similar scenario in East Timor, where useful evidence was recovered.

He also witnessed a site in B.C. where animal remains were mixed with human remains in an attempt to confuse investigators.

"If there's commingling of human remains and pig, it's going to be challenging," said Skinner.

Clothing will supply clues and will help hold the body together as investigators delicately retrieve any remains.

The wet earth will make the job that much more difficult.

"I could see it being very difficult to remove sticky earth from around bodies," he said, adding that tents or portable buildings will likely be brought in to shelter any digs from the rain.

Skinner said police are capable of running the investigation at this point without outside experts.

"The police are very experienced at looking for evidence. They should have no trouble observing essential evidence," he said. "They don't need other experts at this stage, but they will eventually if they have to process a lot of remains."

Retired RCMP Staff Sgt Mike Eastham, who worked many involved and long cases, said police are facing a "monumental task."

And even if they do find evidence of the missing women, they will still have to make a case.

"It's no different than finding a body in downtown Surrey," said Eastham. "You've got a dead body, but it doesn't lead you to who did it. It's step number one."

Eastham speculated that police are confident they will find what they are after and might have an informant.

"They obviously have something that's triggered the possibility that there may be one or more of these women on the grounds," he said. "They're not just fishing."

If they do find remains, they will precisely record the scene which will give clues to how the women were murdered, said Skinner.

"How those remains were treated -- with reverence or in a cavalier manner -- can tell you a lot about the manner of their death," he said.

Skinner said he was "very encouraged" to hear police say the investigation could take months.

"The idea is, slow but sure," he said. "It's very demanding. You don't know what's important."

sberry@pacpress.southam.ca