Latest news with #PhilipDick
CBC
22-05-2025
- CBC
RCMP leader accused suspended Coquitlam officers of mounting 'campaign of hate'
The head of Coquitlam's RCMP detachment accused three of his officers of waging "a campaign of hate" in an email sent to staff earlier this year after one of the Mounties defended himself at a code of conduct hearing into allegations of homophobia, racism and sexism. In a detachment-wide message sent the morning after Const. Ian Solven appeared to blame the pressures of policing for his derogatory posts to chat groups, Supt. Darren Carr said he wanted to "share his feelings" about proceedings he said he found "extremely difficult to watch." In the email, titled 'MUST READ — CONDUCT HEARING,' Carr wrote that listening to "highly offensive, hurtful and degrading pejoratives used to belittle our colleagues and members of the public" brought on "a broad range of feelings." "But the most salient emotion has been anger, anger borne out of watching sworn members openly engage in racism, homophobia, sexism and misogyny," Carr wrote in the email, which CBC obtained through a federal Access to Information request. "What has been even more infuriating has been watching testimony that has attempted largely to justify their actions," he continued. "I want to be very clear that while we are all capable at times of being insensitive or clumsy, the actions of these members can only be characterized as a campaign of hate, designed to hurt and divide." 'Tasering unarmed Black people' Along with constables Philip Dick and Mersad Mesbah, Solven is facing dismissal for a series of posts to a private chat on the Signal app and messages sent over the RCMP's internal mobile data messaging system. All three have been suspended since June 2021. According to a copy of a search warrant obtained by CBC, the officers are accused of a wide variety of slurs and insults, including bragging about "Tasering unarmed Black people," calling a sexual assault investigation "stupid," and mocking the bodies of female colleagues. The hearing into the allegations broke abruptly after just a few days in early March following news of Carr's email — which Solven's lawyer called "inflammatory" — and the 11th-hour surfacing of a witness expected to contradict the impugned officer's testimony. At the time, Solven's lawyer called the email "highly problematic," accusing RCMP brass of intimidating defence witnesses who work at the Coquitlam detachment and had yet to testify. The email has since become part of the basis for an application to stay the proceedings due to abuse of process stemming from alleged interference in the proceedings. The code of conduct board has yet to rule on the application. While an RCMP spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that the code of conduct hearing is still active, no new dates have been posted, and there is no information about the progress of any proceedings out of public view. A 'crystal clear' followup email The initial email was sent from Carr's account but signed "warmly" from all seven members of the Coquitlam RCMP's senior leadership team. The documents released to the CBC include a followup email sent the following afternoon "to clarify" Carr's original missive. "I want to be crystal clear and leave no doubt that my email was in no way intended to influence or prejudge the outcome of the independent conduct hearing process," Carr wrote in the second email. "The subject members have the right to fully defend themselves, and no one should feel pressured or unduly influenced in any way in deciding whether to testify as a witness in the matter, or in the content of their testimony." According to court documents, the allegations against Solven, Dick and Mesbah came to light after one of their fellow officers complained about what he saw as "atrocious" and "racist and horrible" activity by his colleagues. Investigators reviewed posts to the Signal chat group as well as 600,000 messages posted to the RCMP's internal chat logs — finding evidence of "frequently offensive" usage by the three officers facing termination for "homophobic and racist slurs." "The reviewers had identified a variety of comments that were 'chauvinist in nature, with a strong air of superiority, and include flippant or insulting remarks about clients (including objectifying women), supervisors, colleagues, policy and the RCMP as a whole,'" the search warrant said. 'Not representative of the Coquitlam detachment' During his testimony, Solven became emotional, choking back tears as he described what he claimed were examples of management ignoring the concerns of front-line police officers who then took their frustrations to what they assumed would remain a private chat group. "It was definitely a space where we felt comfortable that we could vent our frustrations about our job and about our co-workers," he said. "In a space that was safe." Solven claimed the posts were taken out of context and "not who I am as a person." He also insisted he apologized to a female officer for joking about her weight — a claim she almost immediately challenged, contacting supervisors in the hours after Solven's testimony, claiming he "outright lied in his evidence," according to a lawyer for the RCMP. Carr's initial email said the proceedings and associated media coverage had "re-triggered" members of the detachment, noting that "being a police officer is a privilege, not a right, and it is vitally important that we maintain the trust of the public whom we serve."
CBC
22-02-2025
- CBC
RCMP's discipline board refuses to step aside for referring to impugned Mounties as 'Three Amigos'
Social Sharing The members of an RCMP disciplinary tribunal tasked with hearing allegations of sexism and racism against a trio of Coquitlam Mounties say they don't need to step aside for having referred to the men as the 'Three Amigos.' A lawyer for Constables Philip Dick, Ian Solven and Mersad Mesbah had argued that by referring to his clients as the 'Three Amigos' in a handful of emails and a file name, the three-member conduct board had tainted the proceedings with an appearance of "real or perceived bias." But board chair Sara Novell told the impugned officers Friday that while the use of the term may have been "inappropriate and regrettable" — it was hardly grounds for recusal. Novell said the 'Three Amigos' term showed up on a file folder and about 10 administrative emails referring to the folder, something she said may have appeared "unprofessional," but that would not lead a regular person to conclude that the board was biased against the three men. 'A strong air of superiority' The decision means a code of conduct hearing against Dick, Mesbah and Solven will now move ahead, with testimony slated Monday morning from the whistleblower who launched the complaint in 2021. The RCMP wants all three Mounties fired for their alleged involvement in private chat group conversations in which officers are accused of bragging about "Tasering unarmed Black people," calling a sexual assault investigation "stupid," and mocking the body of a new female employee. Those allegations came to light last fall after the release of a search warrant detailing the circumstances which allegedly led the officer who sparked the investigation to complain to RCMP brass about what he saw as "atrocious" and "racist and horrible" activity by his colleagues. The court documents claim investigators also reviewed 600,000 messages posted to the RCMP's internal mobile data chat logs — finding evidence of "frequently offensive" usage by the three officers facing termination for "homophobic and racist slurs." "The reviewers had identified a variety of comments that were 'chauvinist in nature, with a strong air of superiority, and include flippant or insulting remarks about clients (including objectifying women), supervisors, colleagues, policy and the RCMP as a whole,'" the search warrant said. The hearing against the men was supposed to have started last Monday but was derailed by the last-minute challenge to the board's credibility — which arose after the disclosure of internal board documents referring to the case as the 'The Amigos.' A lawyer for the men claimed the use of the term gave rise to concerns the board viewed the men as friends who would stick together to protect each other despite facing individual accusations — separate from each other. But Novell rejected those concerns, pointing to the fact the board chose to disclose the internal documentation that gave rise to the 'Three Amigos' allegations as proof of a dedication to transparency and a lack of bias. 'Constant negativity' According to the search warrant, the whistleblower — Const. Sam Sodhi — was posted to Coquitlam in 2019. Sodhi claimed there were two chat groups for members of the Coquitlam detachment assigned to Port Coquitlam — one for all members of the watch and a second private group that began on WhatsApp but then moved to Signal. He said he was told once he was "worthy" of the private chat group, "we'll add you to it." The officer claimed he was admitted to the private chat group in March 2021 but left after a few days because of the "constant negativity." He said he was then accused of "not being a team member" and encouraged to return. The warrant says Sodhi claimed that outside of the private chat group, members of the group also "belittled Indigenous people, talking about how they were 'stupid' or 'drunk' and saying they have 'unfortunate bodies' and all have fetal alcohol syndrome." According to the search warrant, Sodhi complained to his superiors in May 2021. Dick, Solven and Mesbah have all denied the allegations against them.
CBC
17-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
3 B.C. RCMP members seek recusal of conduct board over 'disparaging' email
Social Sharing Three RCMP officers stationed in Coquitlam, B.C., who face possible dismissal over their participation in allegedly racist and derogatory group chats, want a code of conduct board panel replaced over an email referring to the Mounties as the "three amigos." At an RCMP code of conduct hearing that began in Surrey, B.C., Monday, a lawyer for constables Ian Solven, Philip Dick and Mersad Mesbah said they want the three panel members to recuse themselves for using the Spanish word for friends in a "disparaging" way. Wes Dutcher-Walls told the panel that defence lawyers had obtained a screenshot of the email, and claimed the conduct board has shown "a consistent pattern of skepticism, disparagement [and] dismissiveness" toward the three officers and their lawyers. Solven, Dick and Mesbah face allegations of workplace harassment and discreditable conduct for comments made in private group chats on their personal cellphones, and on police data terminals. WATCH | Search warrant obtained by CBC claims officers joked about sexual assault and Tasering Black people: RCMP officers made 'atrocious' racist, sexist comments, internal probe claims 5 months ago Duration 2:55 A search warrant obtained by CBC News reveals racist and sexist comments allegedly made by several Coquitlam, B.C., RCMP officers in private chats. A lawyer for the RCMP conduct authority said the term "amigos" was used by the officers themselves in their communications over the police force's mobile data terminals. The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday when arguments will be made for and against having the panel members recuse themselves. Chats between the officers on their personal cellphones over encrypted messaging applications WhatsApp and Signal, and on internal RCMP communications terminals, came under investigation when a fellow officer complained about the "atrocious" nature of the discussions. The officer, Const. Sam Sodhi, blew the whistle on the chats in May 2021, and told a professional standards investigator that he was told he needed to be part of the group chat for "operational purposes." A search warrant application details comments made in the chats by the three officers, including homophobic and racist remarks about "Tasering unarmed black people," and insults directed at women, including a victim of sexual assault. The officers had sought to exclude evidence obtained from their private phones claiming its use was against their Charter rights, but the conduct board rejected that argument last June. Dutcher-Walls said Monday that there are "serious concerns" that the board's use of the "disparaging term" indicates its decisions are "predetermined," telling one of the panel members that she began shaking her head as he spoke about privilege and disclosure issues. "Everybody in the room, including the subject members, saw that," he said. "In the eyes of the public writ large, that is exactly the kind of conduct that raises serious concerns about fairness and impartiality." He said conduct boards that sit in judgment and make decisions that could affect the lives and careers of RCMP members "need to be above reproach." "This hearing will be unfair if we proceed with this current board," he said. Mesbah, Solven and Dick all denied allegations of workplace harassment and discreditable conduct that is alleged to have occurred between January 2019 and May 2021.
