B.C.’s Officer of the Police Complaint Commissioner said Tuesday it has launched an investigation into allegations of misconduct in connection with the Delta Police Department’s handling of a case involving the wife of Chief Const. Neil Dubord.
The municipal police watchdog said it learned of the June 6 incident through media reports and received a “misconduct complaint” from “an affected person.”
After reviewing the complaint and further information provided by the Delta Police Department at its request, the commissioner deemed the complaint admissible and assigned the Vancouver Police Department to carry out an external disciplinary investigation.
Last week, Kiran Sidhu told Global News that she had climbed the rocks in front of a home to escape a rising tide at Centennial Beach in Delta.
When she touched a fence, she alleges Chief Const. Neil Dubord’s wife Lorraine yelled at her, compared her to a beached whale, and sprayed her in the face with a hose.
Surrey RCMP are investigating the incident as an external police agency.
Lorraine Dubord did not respond to multiple requests for interviews, but issued an apology in a local newspaper for “the way the situation was handled.”
The watchdog said its investigation will focus on whether any Delta police officer committed misconduct, and is entirely separate from RCMP’s criminal investigation into the same incident.
Sidhu says there is a lot of community interest in the case.
“I think that that’s an important thing for the Delta PD and for the city officials to see — folks are watching, folks are listening and people care and they want to take some kind of action,” she said.
“They expect a response here.”
Earlier in the day, Chief Const. Dubord answered questions from the public at a Delta Police Board meeting.
He began the meeting by reiterating sections of his statement released Monday on the Delta Police Department’s website, which included stating “the matter at hand in no way reflects the values and commitment to the community of the officers of the Delta Police Department, nor my own values.”
— With files from Srushti Gangdev and Emily Lazatin