4 days ago
Vancouver police officer retires after suspension, demotion for sexual harassment
Keiron McConnell was demoted and suspended without pay for 20 days after admitting that he sent inappropriate sexualized messages to female students and fellow officers.
A Vancouver police sergeant, who was demoted and suspended without pay in May after admitting to sexually harassing female students and fellow officers, has retired from the force.
Keiron McConnell had served with the Vancouver Police Department for more than three decades, including 18 years as a sergeant, before B.C.'s police complaint commissioner opened an investigation into his conduct last year.
'McConnell has retired and is no longer a serving member of the Vancouver Police Department,' a VPD spokesperson said in an emailed statement Thursday.
In May, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner ordered McConnell demoted to constable and suspended for 20 days after he admitted to sending inappropriate sexualized messages to the victims.
The OPCC adjudicator also recommended the department adopt a 'standalone' policy and training to eradicate workplace sexual harassment.
Retired judge Carol Baird Ellan also ordered McConnell to undertake counselling and training on proper workplace boundaries with women.
Ellan's ruling said the 35-year police veteran 'had issues respecting or recognizing reasonable boundaries.'
'His behaviour capitalized on his superior position, which afforded him access to these younger individuals for whom, with respect, he might not otherwise reasonably be considered age appropriate, or eligible,' the adjudicator said.
McConnell admitted to sending unwanted texts and Facebook messages to colleagues and criminology students he taught in B.C. universities between 2015 and 2019.
McConnell engaged in 'a pattern of inappropriate behaviour with multiple women,' and claimed to be 'oblivious' of its impact, despite some of his messages indicating he was aware that they crossed boundaries.
Read more: Veteran Vancouver police sergeant demoted, suspended for sexual harassment
Lawyers from the commissioner's office claimed McConnell's conduct had 'a clear complexion of grooming' and that he was 'either oblivious to social boundaries, or contemptuous of them.'
The allegations against McConnell first came to light in December 2021, when a photo of the sergeant with two senior VPD officers was posted on social media. The OPCC said the photo drew comments calling McConnell a 'sexual predator' with a 'history of sexually assaulting his students' at Royal Roads University.
The following month, a Vancouver police colleague went to the department's professional standards section with a series of Facebook messages she had allegedly exchanged with the sergeant, which she felt were sexually inappropriate, according to the commissioner's notice announcing the hearing in June 2024.
Ellan said the Vancouver Police Department should work with experts to develop training and a policy on sexual harassment, and ensure complainants are protected from 'negative consequences' for speaking out.
'We must seek to address any officer behaviour that causes victims not to come forward due to fear of intimidation and retaliation,' he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
