Veteran Vancouver officer arrested on sex-related charges
VETERAN: James Fisher, a member of counter-exploitation unit, has received unit and individual citations
A veteran officer who helped put a pimp behind bars in 2014 has been arrested and now faces several sex-related charges, the Vancouver Police Department announced Thursday.
James Fisher, who was a detective constable with the VPD’s counter-exploitation unit, was arrested Wednesday. He faces three charges of sexual exploitation, one count of sexual assault, one count of breach of trust and one count of attempting to obstruct justice.
Fisher, a 29-year veteran of the force, has been suspended.
The charges come as part of an ongoing investigation that began in March 2016 after police received a tip from one of their members. Police looked at evidence from August 2015 through November of this year.
Chief Const. Adam Palmer shared the news Thursday during an afternoon news conference.
“It is rare for a VPD officer to be charged with offences such as these, and it is not reflective of other members of our police department,” Palmer said.
The sexual exploitation and breach of trust charges against Fisher are related to incidents that allegedly took place between August and December 2015, in which Fisher is alleged to have sexually touched a witness in a criminal prosecution. The charge of sexual assault is related to an alleged incident in December 2015, while the charge of obstructing justice is related to Fisher’s interactions with a Burnaby RCMP officer in November 2016.
Palmer said there are no indications anyone else from the department was involved. There are two alleged victims: one underage and one adult.
“I don’t know of any other victims at this point, but anything’s possible. If there are, I’d ask people to come forward,” Palmer said.
Asked what he would say to the alleged victims, Palmer said: “It’s a very unfortunate set of circumstances and it’s a difficult thing for me to come here and stand before you today and talk about this. But it’s one of those things that when we heard about it, we got on to it quickly and we did the right thing.”
Last year, Fisher was awarded a Chief Constable Unit Citation as part of a team that spent 3½ years investigating an operation that forced girls and women into prostitution. That investigation resulted in the 2014 conviction of Reza Moazami on 30 counts of prostitution and sexual offences against 11 victims.
In 2014, Fisher also received an award for his work as lead investigator on that case. Fisher was among 19 British Columbians that year recognized by the provincial government for their contribution to community safety and crime prevention.
Previously, Fisher had served as a gang expert for the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada and had testified in various trials against Asian organized crime groups. He has also been invited to speak as a crime expert on various panels.
Off the clock, Fisher served as manager for Vancouver Fusion Female Hockey Program.
The VPD’s counter-exploitation unit investigates cases relating to prostitution, criminal exploitation and human trafficking. The unit also includes officers dedicated to investigating online exploitation of children, cases of child luring and child pornography.
Fisher has been released on bail with conditions and is to appear in Surrey court on Jan. 24, 2017. Palmer noted that Fisher wasn’t aware of the VPD-led investigation.
Palmer said he was not aware of any previous concerns regarding Fisher. He also didn’t know if the charges would affect any of Fisher’s other investigations.
“That’s forming part of the investigation between the police department and Crown counsel,” he said.