Latest news with #Solven
CBC
11-03-2025
- CBC
RCMP brass accused of sending 'inflammatory' email about officers in code of conduct hearing
Social Sharing A lawyer for one of three B.C. Mounties facing code of conduct proceedings for making racist and sexist comments in online group chats accused the leadership of their detachment of sending out an "inflammatory" email Tuesday commenting on the officers' evidence. The allegation came a day after Const. Ian Solven testified at length about what he described as a toxic workplace and a failure by RCMP leadership to respond to the stresses and concerns of front-line officers. "I'm not going to get into the whole content of the email," Solven's lawyer, Brad Kielmann, told the three-person code of conduct board. "It's an email from the entire leadership team of the Coquitlam detachment — detachment-wide — making what I can only describe as highly inflammatory comments about the subject members, commenting about their evidence and making other editorialisms about them." CBC News has not seen the letter. A second revelation The RCMP wants Solven, Const. Philip Dick and Const. Mersad Mesbah fired over posts to a private chat group on the Signal app and messages sent over the RCMP's internal mobile data messaging system. The existence of the email — which Kielmann described as "highly problematic" — was one of two revelations to rock the proceedings Tuesday, with a lawyer for the RCMP's conduct authority telling the board a new witness had also come forward to challenge Solven's evidence. According to the RCMP lawyers, a fellow officer who Solven and the others had mocked using the epithet "Big" to make fun of her size contacted an inspector with the RCMP on Monday night to take issue with Solven's characterization of their relationship. On Monday, Solven claimed he approached the woman to apologize shortly after realizing comments made on the RCMP's internal messaging system were about to be the subject of a complaint. "I told her that I made some comments about her size and we had a good talk and I just apologized to her," Solven told his lawyer in direct testimony. "I just said, 'Some of the things you've done at work have frustrated me, and I made it personal and I made some comments about your weight. She said, 'You've frustrated me too at work, and I've made some comments about you,' and we kind of just laughed it off. And we moved on and I still talk to her regularly." On Tuesday, a lawyer for the RCMP told the board the female officer gave a statement to the RCMP giving her take on events. "[She] ultimately made disclosure to the effect that Const. Solven lied in his testimony," he said. "And over and above that, I think it's fair to say based on the preliminary information that [she] takes a very different view of the relationship that she had/has with Constable Solven." The conduct board hearing broke early on Tuesday morning to give lawyers on both sides time to decide how to proceed with the information. The hearing — which has already faced multiple delays — was expected to hear from Dick on Tuesday. 'Penis touching team' During his testimony, Solven apologized for what he claimed were uncharacteristic comments in some of the messages he posted, but sought to explain the context around others — including one in which he appeared to joke about Tasering an unarmed Black suspect. The officer said he was referring to an incident in which he was called to a scene where he used his conducted energy weapon to take down a Black suspect threatening people with a syringe in front of a crowd of several hundred. Solven said he worried a "three-second clip" of the interaction would make the news. "I know the RCMP is not the best at defending its members publicly," he said. "And I was concerned I was going to be thrown under the bus for this situation where I was just doing my job." During his testimony, Solven spoke extensively of conflicts between general duty members and the members of special units, including major crime and the prolific offender targeting team — who he referred to as the "penis touching team" in one message. He also gave an example of what he claimed was "management not really caring about what happened to us" when he said they refused to take action against an officer who clocked out during a detachment-wide call for help from two officers who feared for their lives. Toward the end of his testimony Monday, Solven said he resorted to "dark humour" to deal with the stress of policing.
CBC
10-03-2025
- CBC
'It's not who I am': B.C. RCMP officer defends allegedly offensive chat messages at hearing
Social Sharing One of three B.C. Mounties accused of making racist and sexist comments in group chats apologized for some of the comments Monday — blaming the pressures of policing and frustration with supervisors and co-workers for what he said was uncharacteristic behaviour. But Const. Ian Solven also defended many of his posts — including one about Tasering a Black suspect — by saying he was simply describing events as they happened and the dark humour of front-line officers had been taken out of context. "Some of [the messages], I'm definitely not proud of," he said. "Some messages, I'm clearly joking with my friends. I'm not trying to be offensive to people. It's an unfortunate situation. Policing's so stressful. Any first responders just gravitate to a different type of humour. It's unfortunate it's come out this way." 'A space that was safe' The two other Mounties before the code of conduct board watched as Solven took the stand Monday — the first of the three Mounties to testify on their own behalf at the proceeding, which has taken weeks to unfold. The RCMP wants Solven, Const. Philip Dick and Const. Mersad Mesbah fired over posts to a private chat group on the Signal app and messages sent over the RCMP's internal mobile data messaging system. Solven said he became an officer in 2018 after being accepted to the RCMP the year before. He became emotional, choking back tears as a lawyer took him through a variety of situations he encountered in his first few years of policing, including an incident in which two fellow members sent out a code to say their lives were in danger. Solven claimed one of the officers broke her back and the other broke his shoulder confronting a suspect who was in a state of delirium. "They were screaming for their life," Solven said as he described rushing to the scene along with every other available member of his watch — except for one officer who clocked out. Solven said the rest of the team wanted the officer who went home reported, but management failed to do anything about it: "It was just an example of management not really caring about what happened to us." The officer said he and the others took those concerns to the private group chat. "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." 'Thrown under the bus' Solven's lawyer took him methodically through messages posted on both the Signal app and the mobile messaging system — drawing lengthy explanations for some comments and regret for others. Solven said he had apologized to one female officer for joking about her weight, and he said he showed a "severe lack of judgment" for a comment in which he joked about "getting preggo" as part of an RCMP "vacation plan." "I fully support everyone having the ability to take time off work," he said. But Solven implied that other posts had to be viewed in context to be understood, including one in which he appeared to have been joking about about Tasering an "unarmed Black" suspect. The officer said he was referring to an incident in which he was called to a scene where he used his conducted energy weapon to take down a Black suspect threatening people with a syringe in front of a crowd of several hundred. "I remember when I looked up, I think it was the first time I noticed people filming me while I was doing my job," he said. "This was all around when Black Lives Matter started, so there was a lot of scrutiny on police about our interactions." Solven said he worried a "three-second clip" of the interaction would make the news, claiming he had Tasered an unarmed Black man when "actually, he wasn't unarmed; he was threatening people with a syringe." "I know the RCMP is not the best at defending its members publicly," he said. "And I was concerned I was going to be thrown under the bus for this situation where I was just doing my job." Solven's lawyer asked the officer how he looks back on the posts that could cost him his career. "It's not who I am as a person. It's not who that person was then or today. It was a bad way for me to cope with what was going on at work and in my personal life," Solven told an RCMP code of conduct hearing.
CBC
26-02-2025
- CBC
Whistleblower in RCMP probe says he participated in group chats to 'fit in'
The whistleblower who sparked a police conduct investigation into three officers accused of participating in racist group chats has admitted to sending offensive messages of his own to fit in. During cross-examination on Tuesday, defence lawyers zeroed in on Const. Sam Sodhi's contributions to group chats at the centre of the police misconduct investigation against officers Philip Dick, Ian Solven and Mersad Mesbah, who were working in the Coquitlam detachment. The police conduct board was presented message exchanges between Sodhi and Dick in which Sodhi referred to himself as "Simran Singh Baljinder Preet," with defence lawyers suggesting he was mocking a Punjabi name. Other messages included jokes about Punjabi accents and Sodhi referencing that he was "white-washed." During his cross-examination, Sodhi said he seldom sent messages like that, but when he did, it was only because he felt the pressure to fit in. "I'm trying to fit in a very toxic environment, and I'm degrading myself to do that," he said. "The reason I came forward was because I could not take this anymore." "I know why I did it. I'm not a racist," he added. "That is wrong what I did, but what these people did was far worse." Sodhi's complaints about his experiences working for the Coquitlam RCMP sparked an internal investigation that reviewed more than 600,000 messages posted to the police agency's internal mobile data chat logs and officer group chats on WhatsApp and Signal. According to the search warrant, investigators found "frequently offensive" language used by officers, including "homophobic and racist slurs." Sodhi has alleged he was systemically bullied and harassed, which took a negative toll on his mental and physical health and his career trajectory. Dick, Solven and Mesbah are accused of harassment and discreditable conduct. Relationships questioned On Tuesday, defence lawyer Brad Kielmann suggested Sodhi could "dish it out but couldn't take it." He suggested Sodhi hurled insults at Dick, Solven, and Mesbah, which Sodhi denied. Kielmann also brought up a phone call between Sodhi and another officer, during which Sodhi began speaking negatively about Solven, who had overheard the call. "On that call, you called officer Solven a piece of shit, is that correct?" said Kielmann. "He was being a piece of shit, and he is a piece of shit," Sodhi responded. "What you didn't know was you were on speaker phone, did you?" said Kielmann. "If I was or wasn't, it doesn't matter," said Sodhi. In his testimony on Monday, Sodhi alleged he was overtly bullied and ridiculed by Solven in person, over police radios in front of other officers, and in group chats during his time at the detachment. Kielmann also referenced performance reviews that Sodhi read and signed off on during his two years there, which said he was "well-liked" by his peers. Sodhi said he was too afraid to add to his evaluation that he had any issues or conflicts with co-workers, nor did he make any requests to move watches, because he was afraid it would hurt his standing within the RCMP.
