Close X
Friday, November 22, 2024
ADVT 
National

Vancouver officer sexually assaulted colleague, but police group chat targeted victim

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 13 Nov, 2024 01:02 PM
  • Vancouver officer sexually assaulted colleague, but police group chat targeted victim

A disciplinary investigation has found a former Vancouver police sergeant shared "disrespectful" commentary on a fellow officer's court testimony about being sexually assaulted by a colleague.

The decision against Narinder Dosanjh, obtained by The Canadian Press, includes the running commentary on the woman's testimony — apparently written by someone inside the courtroom — that calls her a "bad drunk" and says there was "no way" her case would be proved.

Former New Westminster police chief Dave Jansen, the external officer who rendered the decision against Dosanjh, says his assessment accounts for a culture of treating officers who testify against each other as "rats."

Former Vancouver constable Jagraj Roger Berar was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to a year in jail for assaulting the woman, who can't be identified because of a publication ban on her name. 

Jansen says in his ruling, dated Oct. 11, that the comments in a Vancouver police group chat appear "supportive" of Berar and reflect "all-too-common myths" about women who make sexual assault allegations.

While Jansen found Dosanjh committed discreditable conduct by sharing the chats, a complaint against a more-senior Vancouver officer who was inside the courtroom, and who the victim and other officers believed wrote the commentary, were not substantiated.

The ruling says Jansen, who retired as New Westminster's chief constable, would accept submissions before deciding how Dosanjh should be punished.

The woman who was assaulted was the complainant in the disciplinary investigation, and said in an interview she felt "vindicated" by Jansen's decision because it "truly paints what I've been through," after reporting a fellow officer for sexual assault. 

She said many other women in municipal policing fear speaking out about ill-treatment at work, and some have told her about being assaulted and harassed but feared ruining their careers if they complained. 

"This decision is important for those women to see," she said. "It shows the tides are changing. Like, this is the first win I've had."

A spokesman for the Surrey Police Service, where Dosanjh now works, did not immediately answer a question about how he was penalized, and said Dosanjh declined an interview request with The Canadian Press.

In his decision, Jansen said there was an "unfortunate but often pervasive" culture of treating officers who complain as "'rats', who betrayed their colleagues." 

"In terms of the messages themselves, Sergeant Dosanjh alleges that they are not degrading, humiliating or derogatory and do not attack the personal character of the complainant. I disagree," Jansen wrote.

The decision includes a screenshot of the commentary about the complainant, who said the order of the messages appeared to refer to her evidence while she was being cross-examined and suggested the comments were written by someone listening to her testimony. 

The commentary on a Vancouver police chat group on the Signal messaging app said the victim "wore a wire twice," and "admitted in cross to possibly drinking way more alcohol than she originally claimed."

"Her memory is super hazy and there's no way you can prove beyond reasonable doubt," the person wrote.

"And she admitted that she is really bad drunk," they added.

Another message said it was a "nail in the coffin" of the case that video showed the complainant "cuddling, holding hands" with Berar.

The victim, who became aware of the commentary when a friend in the department showed them to her, was distressed by the messages and disputed their accuracy, said Jansen.

"The comments also appear to reflect some of the all-too-common myths around women making allegations of sexual assault. Some of these myths include the belief that because a victim socialized with the perpetrator, or engaged in some consensual activity with him, therefore she must have consented to the assault," he wrote.

Jansen's decision said Dosanjh shared the messages with a fellow officer after getting them from a "VPD chat group that he claims he knew little about, from a co-worker he claims not to be able to identify." 

The decision said other officers believed the commentary was written by a more-senior officer in the department who had been present at the trial, but Jansen said the discreditable conduct complaint against that person was unsubstantiated.

The decision said Dosanjh claimed he was the "fall guy" and "a pawn in a broader game."

Jansen's decision said Dosanjh was a senior officer and supervisor who was aware of the "vulnerability of victims of sexual crimes and of the myths that surround sexual assault victims." 

It said Dosanjh's "distribution of these messages that were disrespectful of an alleged victim of sexual violence who was also a co-worker, should they become public, would likely discredit the reputation of the police force." 

The Vancouver Police Department did not immediately provide comment on Jansen's decision. 

MORE National ARTICLES

3 charged in a drug operation in Richmond

3 charged in a drug operation in Richmond
Police in Metro Vancouver say three people have been charged after a multi-year investigation into an alleged drug trafficking operation in Richmond. R-C-M-P say the probe began in November 2021, and searches at multiple properties in that city, as well as Vancouver, turned up some 15-hundred tablets of alleged M-D-M-A as well as 3.6 kilograms of methamphetamine.

3 charged in a drug operation in Richmond

Report details anti-Black racism in the public service, calls for commissioner

Report details anti-Black racism in the public service, calls for commissioner
A government-funded report says Black executives within the public service are subjected to harassment and intimidation, career stagnation, unjust workloads and, as one executive wrote, a "cesspool of racism." Lawyer Rachel Zellars, who authored the report for the Black Executives Network, wrote that the interviews she conducted with 73 participants were the "most distressing" she has witnessed and recorded. Of the 73 people she interviewed, 63 are current employees.

Report details anti-Black racism in the public service, calls for commissioner

Feds launching research institute for AI safety

Feds launching research institute for AI safety
The federal government is opening a research centre that will study the dangers posed by artificial intelligence technology. Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the launch of the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute in Montreal on Tuesday. He said the centre will be important for building public trust in artificial intelligence technology.

Feds launching research institute for AI safety

2 dozen tires slashed in Nanaimo

2 dozen tires slashed in Nanaimo
A man has been arrested in connection to dozens of tires being slashed overnight in two Nanaimo parking lots. R-C-M-P say officers located 20 vehicles with their tires slashed in a parking lot in the 200 block of Franklyn Street, while another three vehicles with slashed tires were found a short time later in the 300 block of Selby Street.

2 dozen tires slashed in Nanaimo

Canada's privacy commissioner opens investigation into World Anti-Doping Agency

Canada's privacy commissioner opens investigation into World Anti-Doping Agency
The federal privacy watchdog has opened an investigation into the World Anti-Doping Agency's handling of biological samples collected from athletes. The office of privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne says the investigation will examine whether the collection, use and disclosure practices of the organization respect Canada's personal information law for the private sector.

Canada's privacy commissioner opens investigation into World Anti-Doping Agency

Union says it will challenge Ottawa's intervention in B.C. port work stoppages

Union says it will challenge Ottawa's intervention in B.C. port work stoppages
The union representing locked-out port workers in British Columbia says it plans to challenge the federal government's intervention in the ongoing labour dispute. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514 called the government's move an insult to the union and to workers' bargaining rights. 

Union says it will challenge Ottawa's intervention in B.C. port work stoppages