B.C.’s municipal police watchdog has ordered a review into a disciplinary decision regarding an Abbotsford officer who assaulted and harassed their estranged spouse.
The officer, who has not been named to protect the victim, admitted to five allegations of misconduct under the Police Act, which also include the installation of GPS tracking devices and inappropriate use of police databases, from January to June 2017.
The Abbotsford Police Department recommended the officer be suspended without pay for one to five days for each allegation of misconduct, resulting in a total of 16 days.
A separate criminal investigation by Vancouver police resulted in the officer pleading guilty to assault in relation to the same matter and receiving a year of probation.
However, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has now found the proposed punishment did not reflect the “serious, sustained and deliberate nature of this behaviour which spanned a number of months.”
A notice of review, issued Tuesday, said the Abbotsford review emphasized the seriousness of domestic violence and that law enforcement not engage in it themselves, but that those principles were not “sufficiently reflected” in the recommended suspension.
“The discipline penalty imposed does not sufficiently acknowledge the trauma and erosion of public trust among victims of relationship violence caused by this officer’s actions and the potential chilling effect on future reporting of intimate-partner violence given that the officer remains employed),” Commissioner Clayton Pecknold wrote.
A date for the review has yet to be scheduled.
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