Victoria’s top cop has filed a petition in BC Supreme Court to stop an external investigation into his conduct.
Chief Frank Elsner is looking to quash the investigation ordered by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner in December, after Elsner apologized for exchanging “inappropriate” messages on Twitter with the wife of a subordinate officer.
His petition argues that the OPCC had no authority to order an external investigation after internal disciplinary measures were already taken by the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board.
He said the external probe amounts to an abuse of process.
The chief only consented to the internal investigation after he was advised the matter would be kept confidential, the document says.
Elsner said he was never advised of preconditions that Lowe imposed on the initial investigation to keep it internal.
He also said Police Complaint Commissioner Stan Lowe relied on “irrelevant and/or extraneous considerations” in ordering the external probe, including media reports in regard to his conduct.
Lowe said in a report last December that the external probe was necessary after Elsner allegedly gave misleading information and contacted witnesses despite being told not to during the course of the internal investigation.
But in his petition, Elsner said he initally contacted the witnesses to have his Twitter account shut down, but then apologized for “putting them in a difficult position” in regards to his conduct.
He said contacting them did not affect the integrity of the investigation, and the internal probe backed that up.
After learning the preconditions were not met, Lowe stripped disciplinary authority from the police board, co-chaired by Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins and Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, and appointed RCMP and Vancouver Police members to head up the external investigation under the direction of RCMP Chief Supt. Sean Burrie.
In a statement released Tuesday, Helps and Desjardins said they would be seeking legal advice after being named as respondents in the petition because of their role in the internal disciplinary process.
"While the petition and the affidavit are in the public domain, this matter is now squarely before the Supreme Court, and is, therefore, highly inappriate to comment further," the statement said.
Elsner said in December he would step aside voluntarily during the course of the external investigation.
