Probe clears Victoria police chief of misconduct

By Katie DeRosa, timescolonist.com

 

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is dismissing an investigation that cleared Victoria’s police chief of misconduct, after Jamie Graham joked about an undercover officer spying on a busload of anti-Olympic protesters last year.

 

The association is calling for a more thorough probe by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.

 

Meanwhile, the man who filed the complaint is demanding a full public hearing, saying the investigation focused on discrediting him rather than looking into whether Graham’s comments put anyone at risk.

 

Freelance photographer and activist Bruce Dean filed a complaint with the police complaint commissioner in December, accusing Graham of jeopardizing an undercover officer’s safety by telling a room full of people that the officer had infiltrated Olympic protesters by driving their bus from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal to downtown Victoria for the torch relay.

 

Graham offered the observation during a speech at the annual Vancouver International Security Conference on Nov. 30.

 

Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin, who is the discipline authority as chairman of the police board, found Graham’s actions were not a breach of public trust and deemed the complaint unsubstantiated.

 

The report said the Victoria Police Department wasn’t running any undercover investigations leading up to or during the torch relay and that Graham had no knowledge of any undercover operation in effect, so it’s unclear whether there really was an undercover cop on the bus.

 

The investigation was handled by Kelowna RCMP Chief Supt. Don Harrison, who interviewed three people — Dean, Graham and the Victoria police inspector in charge intelligence operations — and listened to a tape of Graham’s remarks.

 

In a letter to the police complaint commissioner, Civil Liberties Association president Robert Holmes said Harrison’s investigation included glaring omissions.

 

Those included neglecting to interview the body that ran all undercover operations during the Olympics, the RCMP’s Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, to determine whether any undercover investigations were compromised because of the remarks.

 

Most troubling for Dean is that the investigation seemed to focus more on his tense relationship with the Victoria Police Department and his medical marijuana use.

 

“The investigator focus[ed] on irrelevancies and distractions pertaining to [Dean] and his background, giving rise to questions as to the investigator’s objectivity and seriousness,” Holmes wrote.

 

Dean called the investigation “a bad joke” and said he wants a public inquiry to probe the matter.

 

Deputy police complaint commissioner Bruce Brown said the office is reviewing the decision and has yet to decide whether to accept it or to recommend further investigation.

 

Victoria police say they will not comment until the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner finishes its review.

 

kderosa@tc.canwest.com