Latest RCMP Misadventures - Watching Detainees Engage in Sex?

[Wetcoaster]

If we made a provincial police force, we should call it the Sûreté du British Columbia. That has a nice ring to it.

[Jarvis]

I'd probably watch that.

[canuckle_sandwich]

The RCMP is just like every other business, company, organization, group, team, etc. This is nothing different. There are always a few idiots who do stupid things, and then people take to calling the whole group idiots. There are a huge amount of good, honest cops out there. Just like there are lots of priests who dedicated their lives to helping people and have never done anything even the slightest bit inappropriate. We as people see one priest or one cop or one whatever do something awful and extrapolate it to mean the entire group of people they are associated with are scumbags, and it's just not the case.

However, yes, clearly the RCMP's leadership has serious problems. Just keep in mind that there are lots of good police officers out there just to trying to make an honest living and help people.

[Wetcoaster]

The RCMP is just like every other business, company, organization, group, team, etc. This is nothing different. There are always a few idiots who do stupid things, and then people take to calling the whole group idiots. There are a huge amount of good, honest cops out there. Just like there are lots of priests who dedicated their lives to helping people and have never done anything even the slightest bit inappropriate. We as people see one priest or one cop or one whatever do something awful and extrapolate it to mean the entire group of people they are associated with are scumbags, and it's just not the case.

However, yes, clearly the RCMP's leadership has serious problems. Just keep in mind that there are lots of good police officers out there just to trying to make an honest living and help people.

[Wetcoaster]

A criminal investigation has been opened against the 4 RCMP members on jail duty that nights as well as 3 civilian staff involved. The RCMP members are also facing Code of Conduct proceedings while the City is investigating the conduct of the civilian municpal employees.

Seven men working at the RCMP detachment in Kamloops, including a corporal, three constables and three civilian staff members, are under criminal investigation for watching video surveillance of two women engaging in sexual activity in a prison cell, the RCMP said Tuesday.

The men watched the video for about seven minutes without intervening when the women, one arrested for causing a disturbance and the other for being drunk in public, starting engaging in what appeared to be consensual sexual behavior, according to a press release.

The video system captured the entire incident in the cell.

“It also clearly depicts which RCMP and municipal employees were present, in what order they arrived, and the duration they remained,” according to the release.

The corporal, who has worked for the RCMP for 20 years, was in charge at the time. He has been placed on administrative duties.

All four RCMP members are also subject to an internal code-of-conduct investigation. A decision about the men's future with the RCMP has been made; however, it won't be made public until the men have been notified.

The City of Kamloops is conducting its own investigation into the behaviour of the two cell guards and the watch clerk.

A criminal investigation regarding the sexual activity between the two women has also been launched. However, the RCMP will neither provide any information on the investigation, nor comment on media reports of one of the women's health conditions, because of privacy concerns.

[Wetcoaster]

Three of the four RCMP have now been suspended and all three of the city employees (two jail guards and a watch clerk). The suspension decision on the fourth RCMP officer is pending.

Jail sex video scandal spurs 6 suspensions

01/09/2010 11:09:29 PM

Six of the seven men who allegedly watched on a security camera monitor while two women engaged in sex in a Kamloops, B.C., jail cell have been suspended.

CBC News

The RCMP said Wednesday that three officers have been suspended with pay, while the fourth will learn his status soon.

The City of Kamloops suspended two jail guards and a watch clerk.

In a news release issued on Tuesday, the RCMP alleged that, for seven minutes on Aug. 18, four RCMP officers, two civilian cell guards and the civilian watch clerk - all of them men - watched the two women engage in what appeared to be consensual sex without intervening.

The women had been arrested in two unrelated incidents for causing a disturbance and being drunk in public and were being held in a cell that is monitored by closed-circuit video.

Police later said they believed at least one of the women was too intoxicated to legally consent to sex, and the officers had a duty to ensure the women came to no harm while they were in custody.

[Shift-4]

I will have to review the video before I decide how bad their actions were.

:D

[avelanch]

i see no problem with it, why would they have to stop them? it's consensual, the guards were not forcing them to do it, and the women knew they were there. what were they going to do? arrest them?

[TheFleetwoodMack]

Heres a story from a couple of years ago from our local detachment here in Shawnigan Lake...

He called himself "goodguy4444," but the RCMP doesn't see it that way.

The head of the Mounties in B.C., Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass, is trying to dismiss Const. Trent Richards of the Shawnigan Lake detachment for having sex while on duty and using RCMP equipment -- police cruisers and computers -- to seek out sexual encounters as recently as 2006.

"This is a case that is over the line and warrants dismissal," said RCMP lawyer Tim Nixon, who told a disciplinary hearing this week that Mr. Richards used his position as a police officer to hook up and engage in sex while on the job.

While Mr. Richards, 34, doesn't dispute the RCMP's allegations of his conduct, he is fighting the dismissal.

The disciplinary hearing, which began Monday and continued yesterday at the Bear Mountain resort, heard that Mr. Richards had sex with four different women on 15 or 16 different occasions when he was working. Working alone at night in the small, rural detachment, Mr. Richards visited online dating sites such as plentyoffish.com, flirtbox.com and ratemybody.com to find dates.

In his online dating profile, Mr. Richards, who was engaged at the time, used pseudonyms and a false age and said he worked in Duncan. He identified himself as a good looking, athletic police officer who was interested in having sex with women.

"I have a great, well paying, well respected job," he wrote under the name goodguy4444. "I wouldn't change what I do for the world."

In one posting, Mr. Richards displayed a picture of himself in his red serge RCMP uniform.

In another, he asked, "Up for sex with a hot cop?"

In one e-mail read aloud at the hearing, Mr. Richards wrote: "Anytime I'm working nightshift, I'd be willing to meet you somewhere. I'd be willing to use my cuffs."

He suggested having sex on the hood of the police car. On two occasions, he used the police cruiser with flashing lights to pull over the car of a woman he was interested in.

Mr. Nixon told the three-member disciplinary board that Mr. Richards's conduct is inappropriate, and that he betrayed the public trust and discredited the RCMP.

Mr. Richards's lawyer, Richard Grounds, told the board the sex was consensual and didn't involve alcohol. The women sought him out after seeing his profile, Mr. Grounds said. It also didn't affect Mr. Richards's work, he said. "There was no evidence he wasn't available to answer calls."

The investigation into Mr. Richards's conduct began when a woman thought she might be dealing with a man passing himself off as an officer and contacted the RCMP.

Even though Mr. Richards was notified he was the centre of a code of conduct investigation, he continued to have on-duty sex, a seriously aggravating circumstance, Mr. Nixon said.

On Monday, Mr. Richards's former supervisors, Staff Sgt. Doug Pack and Cpl. Scott Braes, testified they felt betrayed.

"Personally, I was disappointed, surprised and shocked," Cpl. Braes said. "Professionally, I was hurt and somewhat embarrassed, by the fact that I was his immediate supervisor and had no knowledge or even a glint this was ongoing."

In emotional testimony, Mr. Richards's father, Thomas, a retired RCMP officer, called the situation his worst nightmare.

"His mother and I are sadly disappointed, shocked and ashamed of his behaviour," said Thomas Richards, who asked the board to give his son a second chance.

His voice breaking, Thomas Richards said he always brought his son up to be proud of the force. "And I'm very heartbroken, literally and figuratively. I had a heart attack last year."

Mr. Richards himself apologized tearfully to the force, his detachment co-workers and his supervisors "for letting them down." He also apologized to "all the women I've deceived."

Mr. Richards said he was in counselling and wouldn't repeat his actions.

The board has adjourned until 1 p.m. today.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=338824#ixzz0xyzkuKXM

[Hobble]

The officers made it seven minutes?!?

[Wetcoaster]

i see no problem with it, why would they have to stop them? it's consensual, the guards were not forcing them to do it, and the women knew they were there. what were they going to do? arrest them?

[Wetcoaster]

According to Global news, he still suspended WITH pay

[avelanch]

You do not see a problem? There are all sorts of problems - involving criminal and professional conduct from the seven men who watched the video feed as well as criminal issues regarding the actions of the woman who is reported to be HIV positive.

Consensual? There are two issues that mitigate against informed consent. As noted in the last link provided:

And the law is clear you cannot be consenting to sex with a person who is HIV positive if that condition is not disclosed - no informed consent. Therefore a sexual assault. From reports it seems the jail staff were aware of the HIV status of one of the detainees - whether through previous interactions with the woman or as a result of the jail intake process where such questions are now always asked.

Also engaging in sex while HIV positive without informing your partner has been found to be criminal conduct by Canadian courts and in one case where a victim died of AIDS from the contact the perpetrator was convicted of murder. Hence A criminal investigation regarding the sexual activity between the two women has also been launched which will not only focus on the woman who is alleged to be HIV positive but this investigation will encompass the role of the jail staff and their possible criminal complicity.

The police and jail authorities also have a duty to maintain order in the detention area.

This is why there is both a criminal investigation (being conducted by Calgary Police) of on-duty jail staff as well as code of conduct investigations ongoing of the RCMP members and an investigation by the city in regards to the actions of its workers.

There are a number of things that could have been done by jail staff - immediately intervene and stop the behaviour, separate the detainees, restraints if they were not compliant, etc. What you do not do is stand watching 7 minutes of a video feed.

You have to be trolling with such a comment - you cannot possibly be serious can you?

[Perfect From Now On]

We need some somebody to be doing investigations into police conduct besides other members of the same force. police investigating themselves is a joke and cops are rarely held accountable for their actions. Officers know how much leniency they get and until that changes police both rcmp and local will continue to act as if they are above the law because history has shown that they essentially are.

[Wetcoaster]

[Wetcoaster]

We need some somebody to be doing investigations into police conduct besides other members of the same force. police investigating themselves is a joke and cops are rarely held accountable for their actions. Officers know how much leniency they get and until that changes police both rcmp and local will continue to act as if they are above the law because history has shown that they essentially are.

[AllHailSmyl]

Even spraying them with a hose would've been better off at this point.

Even if no women were around (which is the first option to stop this act is by getting as many women officers around as possible to break this up) with someone who is knowingly HIV positive you need to break that up. It still may not have looked good on camera initially when a bunch of guys run into a cell to break up 2 women having sex, but when the facts come out about the HIV positive women justification will be there to back you up.

A big to Kamloops.

[FireGillis]

Were they hot?

[Wetcoaster]

The Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP is convening a public inquiry to look into the alleged RCMP misconduct.

Canada’s RCMP watchdog has launched a public inquiry into the conduct of four Kamloops Mounties who allegedly watched two women have sex in a jail cell in August.

The Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP will appoint an independent civilian to investigate the Aug. 18 incident, which involve four RCMP officers, two civilian jail guards and a third civilian employee.

Commission interim chair Ian McPhail said the investigation was triggered by a formal complaint.

“In light of this, and the ongoing expressions of public concern as they relate to this matter, I am satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to investigate the circumstances surrounding this incident,” he said.

Insp. Yves Lacasse, acting commander of the Kamloops detachment, said the investigation will provide an independent review of the incident: “[W]e feel this is in the public’s best interest.”

The inquiry will examine the conduct of the seven RCMP members and civilian employees — all men — who allegedly watched two women, detained in cells over separate incidents, engage in what appears to be consensual sex captured on surveillance cameras.

The men watched the encounter through a video monitor for about seven minutes.

The four Mounties, including a corporal with 20 years experience, have been suspended without pay and face an internal code of conduct investigation.

The three civilian employees are also the subject of an investigation by the City of Kamloops.

All seven face possible criminal charges.

The inquiry is expected to take a year to complete.

Two other Kamloops Mounties are also under investigation by the Calgary Police Service for the police-involved shooting of Wilbert Bartley near a Kamloops gas station in July.

[Wetcoaster]

The latest on this incident.

One of the women involved (the non-HIV positive one) has filed a lawsuit (the provincial and federal governments, the City of Kamloops, seven John Does and one Jane Doe) and she claims she did not consent in that she was so drunk she would have been unable to consent.

The three city workers who watched the show have been cleared and have returned to work while the four RCMP members remain under suspension.

There was nothing consensual about a sexual incident in a Kamloops jail cell caught on video and viewed by police and jail guards, one of the two women involved said Monday.

The woman, who spoke with The Kamloops Daily News on condition of anonymity, said she never willingly engaged in any sexual activity with her cellmate — a stranger she has since learned may be infected with HIV — over night on Aug. 18.

In fact, the woman said she was so drunk that night she doesn't even remember being taken to the detachment, let alone saying yes to whatever might have happened in the cell.

And she is horrified and angry the incident was watched by seven men — four officers and three civilian jail guards — for at least seven minutes before someone intervened.

The woman has filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court seeking damages. The action names the provincial and federal governments, the City of Kamloops, seven John Does and one Jane Doe.

The woman conceded to The Daily News she was arrested for being drunk. She was at a party at a friend's house and had been drinking all day. There was a fight and police showed up. She was arrested and taken to the detachment, but released the next day without charges.

It was not until five days later she was told by RCMP officers something was amiss and five more days after that before she learned she might have been exposed to HIV.

"I was horrified and scared and mad," she said.

The RCMP, in its press releases, has described only an allegation that seven men watched an act of consensual sex between two women.

Members of the RCMP's serious crimes squad investigated the case. A report has been forwarded to Crown prosecutors for consideration of criminal charges. A decision on charges is not expected for several more weeks.

Victoria lawyer Erik Magraken, who has filed the lawsuit on the woman's behalf, said he can't comment on the specifics of the case.

Generally, however, the courts have recognized it is not always possible for intoxicated individuals to give consent to sexual activity, he said. As well, the law also recognizes there can be no consent between individuals if one of them has HIV and fails to disclose that to his or her sexual partner.

"If they fail to disclose they have HIV, that is an aggravated assault and there can be no consent in those circumstances," Magraken said.

"This is all about the duty to protect. If the RCMP has someone in their custody, they have a duty to protect that individual from harm.

"If harm comes from ignoring that duty, damages can follow."

Insp. Yves Lacasse, Kamloops RCMP detachment commander, said he could not comment because the matter is in the hands of Crown counsel for review.

"It's important to let that review take its course," Lacasse said.

Meanwhile, the woman said she didn't learn the seven officers and jail guards watched without immediately intervening until after news stories appeared in the media.

"I asked them what did they see, and (investigators) didn't tell me anything," she said. "They only said it was on video."

She also worries for her health and the long-term impact of possibly being exposed to a life-threatening disease.

"It was the worst thing in the world that could have possibly happened to me. It's been stressful. Every day is a struggle. I'm very upset they let that happen."

The RCMP will be expected to file a statement of defence in the weeks to come.

The four officers involved, including a long-time veteran who was the acting watch commander the night in question, remain suspended from duty pending the outcome of the criminal investigation and internal proceedings.

The City has cleared its three workers of wrongdoing and allowed them to return to work.

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Woman+says+never+consented+Kamloops+jail+cell/3832025/story.html#ixzz15TK4gLUR