A trial date has been set for an Abbotsford Police officer accused, among other things, of leaking information to a drug dealer so that person could avoid arrest.
Christopher Nicholson is slated to begin his trial on May 9 in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
Nicholson, who first began working with the Abbotsford Police Department (APD) in 2005, was charged in May 2013 with six counts of obstructing justice, three counts of breach of trust and one count of conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance.
He remains on suspension without pay from his job as the case proceeds through the courts.
In addition to allegedly leaking information, Nicholson is accused of providing false information to other officers, who used the details to obtain search warrants for drugs in private residences.
He is also alleged to have conspired with an informant to have drugs delivered to a residence and have other police officers execute a search warrant soon after.
The APD asked the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) to conduct an investigation after two APD members informed an inspector of Nicholson’s alleged misconduct in July 2012.
The VPD began an eight-month investigation in September of that year.
In February 2015, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) announced it was looking into 148 allegations of misconduct against Nicholson and 16 other APD officers.
The OPCC said the matter stemmed from the investigation into Nicholson, and the allegations included corrupt practice, deceit and neglect of duty.
A number of the accusations related to the “integrity of statements sworn or affirmed before judicial officers in which authorizations for search warrants were obtained,” the OPCC said at the time.
Further information has not been released.
The OPCC does not lay criminal charges, but looks for infractions under the Police Act, and officers deemed to have committed wrongdoing face disciplinary measures ranging from a written reprimand to a suspension or firing.
