The Victoria police chief who admitted to sending inappropriate messages to a subordinate officer’s wife is crying foul about the investigations into his conduct.
Frank Elsner says parts of B.C.’s Police Act that give internal investigators the authority to seize items like electronic devices are “unconstitutional,” and should not apply to him – or anyone else.
Elsner and his lawyer would not respond to CTV News’ requests for comment Wednesday, but Deputy Police Complaint Commissioner Rollie Woods confirmed the chief has filed an amendment contesting parts of the Police Act.
“Investigators…are given powers to conduct searches of police premises, to obtain records, to review records, to obtain documents, electronic devices,” Woods said. “They have very broad powers under section 100 and it looks like this application is challenging those powers, and of course it’ll be up to the court to decide whether the argument has merit or not.”
The amendment was made on a petition Elsner launched in March in an attempt to stop the external probe ordered by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, saying an internal investigation conducted within the force should have sufficed.
He said he only consented to an internal probe because he was assured it would be kept confidential, and that the external investigation amounted to an “abuse of process.”
In April, he was suspended with pay after investigators came forward with new allegations that the police chief tried to delete data related to the investigations, and attempted to coerce a witness to do the same.
Those allegations have not been proven or tested in court.
Amendments to the Police Act that gave the OPCC its investigatory powers were passed by all parties and signed off on by police forces and unions across B.C. in 2010.
Woods said without its current investigatory powers, the watchdog agency would have a much tougher time doing its work.
“You could imagine if you did not have access to records that you need to be able to gather evidence or information to either prove or disprove an allegation that’s been made by a member of the public, the oversight that would be provided by this office would be partial oversight,” he said.
Meanwhile, Victoria Police Acting Chief Del Manak said the department is soldiering on despite the scandal.
“The morale’s good at the Victoria Police Department. We have a professional staff, we have great leaders in the organization and we’re moving forward with what needs to be done, which is serving the communities of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt,” Manak said. “As for the investigation itself, it rests now with external investigators and the OPCC and we’re following the process and have confidence in the process that’s been put in place.”
The OPCC will review Elsner’s new amendment but notes it has not yet completed an official response to the original petition filed in March.
Elsner has also applied for a publication ban on documents containing personal information about his alleged conduct on the OPCC’s website, according to Woods.
The ordeal began in December when Elsner made a public apology for exchanging “inappropriate” messages with a fellow officer’s wife on social media.
