Officer who admitted to breach of trust gets 17-month sentence
An Abbotsford police officer who pleaded guilty to breach of trust following an investigation into corruption has received an 17-month conditional sentence.
In imposing sentence on Const. Christopher Nicholson, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown noted that while there was no evidence he had gained personally from his actions, he was in a position of trust and had undermined the public’s confidence in the police department.
Nicholson was found to have counselled an informant to provide false information and to have falsified informant information and passed it on to another officer who was preparing a search warrant.
In a third incident, Nicholson counselled a drug suspect to destroy evidence.
“His conduct reflects on his fellow officers. He has betrayed them as well. It was not a crime of the moment. These were calculated actions.”
Another impact of the charges being laid against Nicholson is that the federal Crown has had to stay 12 prosecutions in cases where his name came up.
Crown counsel Peter Hogg told the judge that there was no suggestion that Nicholson was engaged in criminal conduct in the 12 cases.
In May 2013, after the Abbotsford police asked the Vancouver police to investigate information that a member of the department had committed a serious offence, Nicholson was arrested and charged with 10 counts of obstruction of justice and breach of trust charges.
He pleaded guilty to one count of breach of trust related to three incidents that occurred in early 2013 when he was back on patrol after a stint with the drug enforcement unit but still involved in registering and handling a number of confidential informers.