Abbotsford police officer disciplined for paying for sex

Massage parlour visit revealed in annual report

An off- duty Abbotsford police officer was suspended for two days without pay for attending a “common bawdy house” and paying for sex, according to the B. C. police watchdog’s annual report.

The officer — not named in the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner’s 2011 report released Tuesday — committed the transgression on June 25, 2010.

The investigation into the offence was instigated at the request of the Abbotsford Police Department, the report said.

The officer was also ordered to attend john school, a program that educates those who purchase sex about the effects of exploiting females engaged in prostitution. The officer also had to take additional ethics training and work under close supervision for a year.

Const. Ian MacDonald said the APD received a report of the off- duty officer visiting a massage parlour in a different community in August 2010.

“As soon as we learned of it, we initiated the investigation and contacted the OPCC to oversee it and determine if there was any misconduct,” said MacDonald. The officer can’t be named for privacy reasons because no criminal charge was laid, he said.

“It’s a disconcerting incident,” said MacDonald. “It’s something as an agency we struggle with, but the reality is there were no criminal charges laid.”