Mountie told to resign over texts to teenager
A Calgary RCMP officer has been told to resign after he was found to have sent inappropriate text messages to a 16-year-old girl while coaching youth lacrosse.
Alberta RCMP spokesman Fraser Logan said allegations of discreditable misconduct against Const. Daniel Martin were established through a conduct hearing.
“He has been suspended with pay since May 2020. Once he has been given the written decision of the hearing, he'll have 14 days to decide whether he wants to voluntarily resign from the RCMP or not,” said Logan in an email Friday. “After those 14 days, the RCMP would move to dismiss him from the RCMP. Of course, he is still afforded a window for appeal.”
Logan said RCMP could not comment further as they are now within that 14-day appeal period.
The hearing was launched after allegations were made that Martin had sent inappropriate text messages in 2019 to a 16-year-old girl who was the assistant coach of a lacrosse team within the Rockyview Lacrosse Association. Martin was a coach of a bantam team.
John Kilbride, a spokesperson for the Alberta Lacrosse Association, said the communications could be considered “grooming” messages.
He said the victim of the messages was getting a ride home during a 2019 Canada Day tournament when she showed an adult the messages, thinking they were inappropriate. That individual alerted the girl's parents, who in turn told the Rockyview Lacrosse Association.
The association then brought the complaint to RCMP, who suggested the family file an official report, said Kilbride. A little more than a day elapsed between the family's initial report and contact with the RCMP, said Kilbride.
“Also, we did issue an immediate suspension of that individual.”
Kilbride said he was mortified by the situation and felt for the victim.
He said the league has begun to look at its policies in the wake of the text messages to ensure that they are doing everything they can to ensure their players are protected.
He said coaches go through ethics training in preparation for such interactions as text messages.