Officer seeks public ban on sex hearing

A Victoria police officer who is alleged to have engaged in sexual misconduct with a woman at a Vancouver hotel while off-duty is seeking to quash a public hearing into his actions.

In February, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) appointed former judge Wally Oppal to preside over the hearing following a lengthy and tangled police complaint process.

The officer and the woman, neither of whom can be identified due to a publication ban imposed by Oppal, had travelled separately to the Vancouver area in May 2018, with the officer attending a stag party and the woman enjoying a weekend with a female friend.

The two eventually ended up partying together with others in Vancouver. After a night of drinking, the woman and her friend decided to go to the officer’s hotel room.

At the hotel room, they engaged in sexual activity, the nature of which is in dispute. The officer says it was consensual while the woman claims that it was non-consensual and that she was sexually assaulted.

In June 2018, based on information provided by the Victoria Police Department and at their request, the OPCC ordered an external investigation to be conducted by Vancouver police.

Around the same time as the external investigation, a criminal investigation was underway which resulted in no charges being laid.

The officer doing the external investigation determined that an allegation of discreditable conduct did not appear to be substantiated, but the OPCC appointed former judge James Threlfall to review the matter.

Threlfall determined that the officer appeared to have committed discreditable conduct and held a discipline proceeding, not held in public, that cleared the officer.

But the complainant sought a public hearing and the OPCC deemed a hearing was needed for a number of reasons that are being challenged in a petition filed by the officer in B.C. Supreme Court.