An off-duty Abbotsford Police officer who attended a “bawdy house” and paid for sex was among the more than 1,100 files closed last year by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC).
The OPCC’s annual report, released last week for the 2011 calendar year, lists statistics for 14 municipal police departments in B.C.
Abbotsford had a total of 104 files closed in 2011 – the third highest among the 14 departments, behind Vancouver with 553 and Victoria with 116.
Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald said that’s about where the city should be, when the size of its population is taken into account.
The OPCC provides civilian oversight of complaints by the public, or police agencies, regarding municipal police.
The officer who attended the bawdy house was suspended without pay for two days for discreditable conduct and was ordered to complete “john school” – a program that educates offenders about the impacts of exploiting women through prostitution.
The officer was also ordered to complete ethics training and to work under close supervision for one year.
The incident occurred in June 2010 in another Lower Mainland community, MacDonald said.
MacDonald said the Abbotsford Police Department (APD) found out about the matter a month later, when “word got around” that a local officer had been among those at the bawdy house when a city bylaw inspection was conducted.
MacDonald said the names of those on the premises were recorded but, because it wasn’t a police investigation in the jurisdiction involved, a criminal investigation did not follow.
When the APD found out about the matter, they launched a discreditable conduct investigation to see whether any disciplinary measures should follow, and the OPCC was notified as the agency that oversees such issues.
Other APD-related files closed by the OPCC in 2011 included an officer who was found to have abused his authority when he kicked a handcuffed suspect in September 2009.
That officer was ordered to be reassigned, transferred/reassigned to other duties, and to work under close supervision for a “two-block module” on the road.
The OPCC reports states that there were 92 Abbotsford files opened in 2011. So far this year, 70 Abbotsford files have been opened.
