Civil liberties groups often say police shouldn’t investigate other police.
That point was driven home recently in the case of New Westminster Police Department special municipal Const. Leanne Keith.
In 2017, Keith was pulled over at a Coquitlam checkstop just before midnight, according to a public notice from the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC).
She told officers she had had one glass of wine about an hour earlier, but then blew over the legal limit. She was handed a 90-day driving suspension, and her vehicle was impounded for 30 days.
New West police reported the matter to the OPCC, who ordered an investigation.
NWPD investigated the incident, and the department’s top cop Chief Const. Dave Jones eventually substantiated one allegation of “discreditable conduct” for impaired driving against Keith.
He offered her a pre-hearing conference and a written reprimand.
Now imagine the consequences at your place of work if you were convicted of impaired driving. At the NWPD, you get a written reprimand.
Seems like a bit of a slap on the wrist, especially considering it involves the agency discharged with keeping impaired drivers off of our roads.
B.C.’s police watchdog – Stan Lowe – agrees. He says Jones was too easy on the special constable.
Lowe actually rejected his decision, saying the proposed measures “did not address the seriousness of the misconduct.” Lowe then handed the case over to Supt. Marcie Flamand of the Vancouver Police Department.
She reviewed the case and recommended a one-day suspension without pay. But Lowe took issue with Flamand’s decision as well, especially her reasons for not handing out a bigger penalty.
Flamand noted that Keith’s duties were not as police-like as other constables and special constables, and she didn’t wear a uniform.
Lowe called that distinction “artificial” and said making a distinction based on constables’ duties is “not consistent with the public expectation that sworn officers be held to a higher standard.”
Lowe has ordered a review into the matter, and we agree. Police should be held to a higher standard.
