Victoria police misconduct fuels appeal for convicted drug dealer
A man who trafficked drugs in Victoria is trying to overturn his conviction by arguing the police officer who was a key witness at his trial cannot be trusted.
On Wednesday, news broke that charges were stayed in a separate case where three men were accused of trafficking millions of dollars in drugs. Those legal proceedings came to a halt after Crown prosecutors learned one of the officers “may have been involved in corrupt practice,” VicPD said in a news release.
The officer at the centre of both controversies is now-retired Victoria Police Const. Robb Ferris. He has not responded to a request for comment. This story will be updated if a response is received.
Ferris was arrested by the RCMP anti-corruption unit in June of 2020.
An investigation determined “19 findings of misconduct,” substantiating claims that Ferris shared details of investigations and covert operation techniques with his wife, mother and another civilian, according to a B.C. Court of Appeal decision by Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten.
Prior to Ferris’s arrest and suspension from the department, he was part of VicPD’s Strike Force, which focuses largely on fentanyl and firearms.
“My understanding is that there’s no other files currently before the courts that are being impacted as a result of Const. Ferris’s misconduct,” Victoria police Chief Del Manak said Wednesday.
That’s incorrect. CTV News has confirmed there’s at least one ongoing appeal, in which a drug trafficker is trying to overturn his conviction by questioning Ferris’s credibility.
‘A miscarriage of justice’
Ferris was part of an investigation that led to the 2017 arrest of Horst Schirmer, who was sentenced to six years behind bars for drug trafficking. Schirmer was convicted before Ferris’s alleged misconduct, which occurred between February 2020 and August 2021, DeWitt-Van Oosten wrote.
Schirmer’s lawyer said he has already served his time.
Police found the drugs that led to his conviction while executing a search warrant at a Victoria apartment in early 2017, according to an earlier decision from Dewitt-Van Oosten. A large supply was found in a safe.
The safe was opened by a key that Ferris had found while conducting a warranted search of Schirmer’s bedroom.
“Const. Ferris was the only witness who could link the … key that opened the safe to Mr. Schirmer’s bedroom,” DeWitt-Van Oosten wrote.
The appeal seeks to target the credibility of Ferris’s testimony about when and where he found the key, bolstered by the misconduct allegations that came years after Schirmer’s arrest.
“Mr. Schirmer alleges his conviction was the product of a miscarriage of justice,” his lawyer, Brent Anderson, told CTV News in an email.
“He was convicted largely on the strength of Const. Ferris's testimony. Mr. Schirmer is tendering fresh evidence on appeal that he says would have affected the assessment of Ferris's credibility and therefore the verdict if it had been available at trial.”
The appeal hearing is scheduled for early December.
‘People in jail that may get released’
A CTV News public safety analyst said all cases Ferris worked on are tainted.
“Every case that this officer has touched now, given the allegations against him, will be under a microscope and there’s people in jail that may get released as a result,” Chris Lewis said in an interview on Wednesday.
After Ferris was arrested, VicPD and the RCMP’s anti-corruption unit conducted an audit of all of his files, Manak said.
“I’m confident that was done appropriately,” Manak said.
The police chief said he’s disappointed cases have unravelled as a result of the misconduct.
“The outcome is far less than ideal and … I’m committed to making sure that we don’t make those mistakes again,” he said.
Schirmer’s lawyer said police officers are given extraordinary powers to uphold the law.
“When they engage in misconduct, they shatter the public's trust in the rule of law and in turn the public's confidence in the administration of justice,” Anderson said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than half of Canadians say freedom of speech is under threat, new poll suggests
A new poll suggests a majority of Canadians feel their right to freedom of speech is in danger.
NEW Kim Kardashian brand kids' sleepwear and more: Here are some recalls to watch out for
Here are the latest recalls Canadians should watch out for, according to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Is your password 123456? Here's why you should make it stronger
With the sheer number of passwords needed today, it may come as no surprise that over 60 per cent of Canadians feel overwhelmed, and over a third reportedly forget their passwords monthly.
Britney Spears and Sam Asghari are officially divorced and single
Britney Spears and Sam Asghari are officially divorced and single.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.