Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham facing protestors at an anti-Olympic demonstration protest on the front lawn of the BC Legislature during an Olympic flame celebration October 30, 2009.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
A police complaints investigation into comments Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham made last fall about an undercover officer infiltrating a bus full of Olympic protesters has found that the remarks were nothing more than an ill-advised attempt at humour.
But the B.C. Civil Liberties Association isn't laughing.
In a report submitted late last week, Kelowna RCMP Chief Superintendent Don Harrison said Mr. Graham admitted telling a security conference in Vancouver on Nov. 30 that an undercover officer spied on protesters by driving their rented bus from Vancouver to the Olympic Torch Relay in Victoria.
However, "the comments made were spur of the moment and meant to be entertaining and humorous, nothing more," Chief Supt. Harrison wrote.
"Chief Graham has clearly taken full responsibility for his action … and agrees that the comments in retrospect were inappropriate."
The decision brought a swift reaction from Robert Holmes, president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, who wrote a scathing letter to the B.C. Police Complaints Commission demanding a public inquiry.
"In our view the investigation and decision are so flawed that it is appropriate to start anew, investigate what actually happened … and all that has transpired with the current investigation," Mr. Holmes wrote.
In a follow-up interview, Mr. Holmes criticized Chief Supt. Harrison for failing to determine whether police placed an undercover officer on the protesters' bus and neglecting to interview members of the RCMP's 2010 Integrated Security Unit as part of his probe.
"We don't think this complaint was investigated properly," Mr. Holmes said. "There are a whole bunch of angles that were not dealt with."
The investigation began in December when Victoria resident Bruce Dean filed a complaint with the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner alleging that Chief Graham breached the public trust by "disclosing the identity of an undercover officer."
Chief Supt. Harrison concluded that Chief Graham had "no knowledge of any undercover operations either internally or externally" at the time and therefore could not have knowingly compromised officer safety.
At least half of the report is devoted to Mr. Dean's personal background, his activities as a protester over the years and a number of previous encounters with police that "seem to stem from his use of cannabis marijuana."
Mr. Dean has a federal licence to use marijuana as treatment for chronic pain. A photographer and activist, he has filed a half-dozen complaints against Victoria police over the years, starting in 2003 when police seized his camera for allegedly taking pictures of undercover officers.
On Monday, he accused police of using the latest investigation to attack his integrity and avoid the issues raised by his complaint.
"The whole decision focused on trying to discredit me and gave all this credit to the chief, even though he admitted he was doing wrong," Mr. Dean said. "It was ridiculous."
Chief Supt. Harrison, who was appointed to investigate the complaint, interviewed three people for his report -Chief Graham, Mr. Dean and the Victoria police officer in charge of Olympic security.
Mr. Dean said has already notified the B.C. Police Complaints Commission he plans to appeal.
The undercover bus driver controversy isn't the first time Mr. Graham's sense of humour has landed him in hot water.
In 2006, when he was chief of the Vancouver Police Department, he left a bullet-riddled shooting range target on the desk of city manager Judy Rogers accompanied by the words, "a bad day at the range is better than the best day at work."
Mr. Graham later apologized for the incident and said it was only a joke.
Special to The Globe and Mail