A concluded charge against a Port Moody Police officer is included in the 2015/’16 annual report of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC).
The civilian, independent office of the B.C. legislature oversees and handles complaints and investigations involving municipal police (not the RCMP). The office determines the admissibility of complaints and forwards them to the necessary police department for investigation, and can also order an investigation independently.
The Port Moody file was an ordered investigation initiated by the Police Complaint Commissioner (PCC), as opposed to a complaint submitted by a member of the public, in June 2014 when "the police member used unnecessary force to control a male being placed into a jail cell," the report states.
It was one of 10 investigations initiated by the PCC last year, which represents 1% of all the files opened. Of the 13 types of police misconduct the PoMo file was listed as abuse of authority/excessive force/empty hand.
The officer received a verbal reprimand and remedial training with the departmental use-of-force instructor in "force options theory" and the choice of control options when dealing with a resistant subject in the cellblock.
The commissioner then referred the matter to Crown counsel, which approved a charge of assault causing bodily harm. The officer pleaded guilty to a lesser offence and received a conditional discharge.
Chief Const. Chris Rattenbury said the officer has 19 years of experience, 11 of them with the PMPD, and has remained with the department.
Between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 the OPCC opened 1,230 files, the highest number since its first year of investigations in 2011/’12; 31 were opened in connection with the Port Moody Police, an increase from the 24 opened the previous year.
"Every year, we receive complaints about our officers; however, overall, the number of complaints stays relatively consistent," Rattenbury stated in an email to The Tri-City News. "All complaint files opened are thoroughly investigated and the allegation is either substantiated or unsubstantiated.
"For the files that are substantiated, corrective action is imposed on the officer with the goal to educate the officer — in other words, to make the officer understand the mistake and not repeat it."
By comparison, there were 62 files opened for the New Westminster Police, 120 in Saanich and 37 in West Vancouver. The larger city police forces in Vancouver and Victoria registered 600 and 132, respectively.
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