Transit Police dog had to receive veterinary care to recover from cop’s poor treatment
Explosive-forgetting Transit Police officer faced dismissal for deceit, neglect of duty and corrupt practice for mistreating his dog, taking a police vehicle across the border and deception in his reports
VANCOUVER, B.C.: Two weeks after the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) brought attention to a Transit Police incident where an explosive was forgotten on a passenger jetliner during a dog training exercise, Transit Police have admitted that the officer didn’t leave the force because of that blunder – he left because he faced discipline for deceit, neglect of duty and corrupt practice.“This Transit Police officer not only forgot an explosive on a plane, he took his police vehicle across the U.S. border three times without permission, lied in his duty records, and, worst of all, mistreated his police dog,” said Jordan Bateman, CTF B.C. Director. “That police dog had to receive veterinary care to bring it back to proper health – a fact the Transit Police has kept from the public for more than two years. What else are they hiding from the taxpayers?”
During the media coverage of the original story, where a Transit Police officer forgot an explosive on an Air Canada jetliner for two full days, many inferred from Transit Police comments that the officer resigned due to that mistake shortly after the January 2011 incident. This was not the case; the officer did not resign until September 2011 when facing suspension and dismissal in a different investigation.
In its 2011 annual report, the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner (OPCC) noted that an officer from an unnamed force was ordered fired for deceit and suspended eight days for four other serious violations of police ethics (report excerpt below). The officer had taken a police vehicle to the United Stated three times without permission, mistreated his police service dog and was deceitful in a duty report.
A whistleblower tipped off both the CTF and CKNW reporter Janet Brown that this unnamed individual was the same Transit Police officer who left the explosive on the plane. Transit Police finally confirmed that fact late last week.
“Even with national media attention last month, the Transit Police still hushed up the whole sordid story around this officer and dog,” said Bateman. “The taxpayers paying for these Transit Police officers, equipment and dogs deserve to know all the facts when it comes to what we are receiving for the $27 million we pay every year.”The CTF has long been critical of the $27 million Transit Police force, which pays nearly 60 officers more than $100,000 a year. Two-thirds of Transit Police files are fare checks, and a Vancouver Police Department (VPD) audit showed the average transit cop works on less than ten serious or property crime files a year.“This is a police force that is gasping for relevancy,” said Bateman. “Many taxpayers and riders are realizing just how superfluous the Transit Police are, and how moving to cheaper, more effective transit security would save money and actually increase the number of safety personnel on the system. It’s time to scrap this expensive experiment.”
Jordan Bateman, BC Director
