Allegations made against retired LPS inspector
CITY POLICE SAY CBC INACCURATE
Serious allegations of sexual assault and abuse of power went public on Wednesday after the CBC reported that retired Lethbridge Police Service Inspector Bill Kaye, who at the time worked as a victims advocate with the city’s Domestic Violence Action Team and sat as board member with the Chinook Sexual Assault Centre, carried on unwelcome sexual encounters with a local woman who had come to him for help as a victim of domestic violence.
According to the CBC article, the victim, known as Emma in the story, said she approached the LPS with her allegations, and they were dismissed as “regretful sex” by the investigator — named by the CBC as Sgt. Marc Smallbones — prompting her to approach the Coaldale RCMP with her allegations instead.
The LPS released a statement on Wednesday saying this amounted to inaccurate reporting on the part of the CBC.
“The Lethbridge Police Service would like to point out that a request has been made to CBC to correct several inaccuracies found in the article, dated Feb. 17, 2021,” the statement reads in part.
“Lethbridge Police never ’insisted’ on investigating the sexual complaint as stated in the article. In fact, the LPS encouraged (the) source to file a complaint and advised her she could do so with any law enforcement agency if she did not feel comfortable dealing with Lethbridge Police.
“When Coaldale RCMP indicated they would be forwarding the file back to Lethbridge Police, they were asked to confirm the complainant approved and were told that she had. Contrary to what has been reported, once LPS was advised a formal complaint was made to the RCMP Lethbridge Police took the position the RCMP should maintain carriage of the investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.
“Lethbridge Police never had formal possession of the file,” the statement explains further, “and at no time had the Service “insisted on investigating the sexual assault complaint internally until CBC News contacted the force’ as stated in the article.”
University of Alberta Landrex Distinguished Professor with the Women’s and Gender Studies program, and a specialist in sexual assault law, Lise Gotell, said, upon hearing who the allegations were leveled against, the Lethbridge Police Service should have immediately recused itself from the case.
“In this circumstance, this is a very small police service,” she said. “I live in Edmonton, and the Edmonton Police Service is about 10 times the size of the Lethbridge Police Service. When you have someone who is a 35-year veteran, who has risen to rank of inspector, in a very small police service like that — I really question the ability of a police service of that size to investigate a complaint against a former senior officer in an impartial and unbiased fashion. I just don’t think that is possible.”
While Gotell acknowledged these are only allegations at this point, she said if the woman’s story is reported accurately it would likely constitute sexual assault under the definition of the law.
“The definition of consent in the criminal code is voluntary agreement to the sexual activity in question,” she explained. “In this set of circumstances is someone able to actually provide their voluntary consent? There have been cases (in law) where drug dealers have been convicted of sexual assault because they abused a position of power over victims who were dependent on drugs. Under these circumstances, this is someone who is a victim advocate. She is his client, and she is quite vulnerable, and she is fearful of her children’s safety. She sees this person as someone who is able to help her through what sounds like some messy court proceedings … If these allegations are true, this is an egregious violation of trust.”
Gotell said the woman making these serious claims is owed a thorough and impartial investigation no matter who her accusations are leveled against.
“At the very least, these are serious allegations that deserve to be investigated in an impartial manner,” stated Gotell.
“From what I have read that’s all this woman wants — for her allegations to be impartially investigated. All she is requesting is what any citizen of Alberta would be entitled to expect when reporting a serious crime. And that is the police will fully and impartially investigate.”
The allegations have not been proven in court.