A Victoria police officer who used office software to download "questionable" digital photos of teen girls and another who disclosed confidential information both resigned once the provincial police watchdog had its eye on them.
Allegations against those municipal officers and 15 others were investigated and found to be "substantiated" instances of police misconduct, according to the latest quarterly report by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
A total of 282 individual allegations of police misconduct were reviewed and concluded by the office between January and March 30, some dating back to 2007. Twenty-three were substantiated, 125 were not and the rest were withdrawn, dismissed or otherwise closed.
"I don't see anything in here that is cause for alarm. The numbers are fairly consistent even as far as the number of allegations," deputy complaint commissioner Bruce Brown said in an interview.
In the two cases involving Victoria officers who resigned, both left their jobs before facing disciplinary measures.
The officer who was keeping questionable electronic images was also found in April of 2009 to have conducted queries on police databases unrelated to his duties. He had been facing discipline related to two counts of improper off-duty conduct and two counts of corrupt practice.
The other officer, who released correspondence about internal police matters to a third party, was found to have committed discreditable conduct and improper disclosure of information in October of 2007. He resigned before the investigation was complete.
But Mr. Brown said changes to the Police Act, effective March 31, will mean officers will still be accountable for their actions and any disciplinary findings will go on their service records.
"There is the ability for those officers to be captured under the discipline process, for their actions to be dealt with even if they resign or retire," he said, noting several high-profile files in the past were put aside because the officers left willingly.
Among the officers who were disciplined, one was reduced in rank and suspended without pay for four days after crashing a police cruiser while driving impaired. The New Westminster officer, who was off duty when the incident occurred in October of 2008, was also directed to go to professional counselling.
Two other officers got written reprimands and remedial training for abuse of authority after they unlawfully detained and strip-searched a complainant in Vancouver in June of 2008.
Other substantiated allegations included an officer whose police dog bit a complainant's thigh and an officer who stopped an off-duty colleague who was driving erratically, but didn't demand a breath sample.
Another officer posted photos on his Facebook page showing an unknown man wearing his municipal police department dress jacket and pointing the muzzle of a handgun toward his head.
Mr. Brown said the organization hopes police departments will make use of another provision in the new Police Act that allows them to order an officer into mediation with a complainant on less serious matters.
"In many of these cases, people will walk away perhaps with a better understanding of each other's position," he said. "When you have a finding, either substantiated or not substantiated, someone is usually going to end up not satisfied with the process."
The organization began making quarterly reports on complaints in 2009. That year, 97 of 960 total allegations made were substantiated.
The commissioner monitors between 2,500 and 3,000 police officers from 11 municipal and two aboriginal police departments, a special crime unit and transportation police.