West Vancouver’s mayor is promising to deal with a management crisis in his municipal police force after complaints of sexual and racial harassment, bullying, and punishment of whistleblowers.
The Province learned of serious concerns in the department after obtaining a damning 2013 employee survey report, and conducting extensive interviews with current and former officers and civilian employees.
The official survey, with dramatically worse results than a similar review in 2010, shows that confidence in West Van police brass has dropped to “critical” levels in need of immediate attention.
Mayor and police board chair Mike Smith told The Province the board is disturbed by the survey results and will make substantial changes starting this week.
“Inappropriate activity clearly has happened,” Smith said. “I can’t deny it. You have the facts and I have the facts. I can make sure it doesn’t happen again, and I can make sure the senior managers that we have in place will treat employees the way I want them to be treated.”
Smith said “serious concerns need to be addressed” so that “there is absolutely no hint of harassment or sexual bullying or inappropriate behaviour by supervisors.”
The employment report — and the current state of the department — is related to reform efforts by former chief Kash Heed. Heed was hired in 2007 following a scandal in which a female officer was promoted after she crashed a vehicle following a drinking party with supervisors at the department. Heed turned the department around — with forceful and sometimes arrogant methods according to his supporters — and then abruptly left for a political career in 2009. After Heed left, the department quickly reverted to an “old boys” management style, a number of officers attested.
Heed told The Province many of his former employees have been calling him with complaints. He believes the department should be taken over by an outside force, such as the Vancouver Police Department or the North Vancouver RCMP.
“An example of the broken culture within that department, is racial slurs, sexual innuendoes, bullying, and harassment taking place within the workplace,” Heed said. “Many people within the organization are afraid to go public with their concerns because there will be, and there has been, backlash from the leadership in the department.”
In interviews with The Province, some officers alleged that they had heard Heed referred to as a “Paki” by officers he clashed with.
An executive officer allegedly referred to one officer as “Buckwheat” in the past, officers alleged. Another officer in the past heard African Canadians in Vancouver referred to as “ball players and pimps.” Another officer said he overheard someone referred to as “just another nigger in the woodpile.”
Some officers said racially inappropriate language persists on the job. Other officers said harsh racial comments are not heard, but that “subtle racism” continues.
But inappropriate sexual innuendo in the workplace is common, according to a number of officers.
Mayor Smith confirmed that he received a complaint from a well-regarded employee who reportedly quit the force due to behaviour of superiors. The employee told The Province that she did not want to comment for this story.
“The sexual innuendo is a big problem,” said another former civilian employee. “It has to do with the culture in that building, and what is deemed appropriate behaviour at the highest level.
“If you are a woman in that building, and particularly a civilian woman, you are treated like a third-class citizen. There is a backlash, and the people who aren’t afraid to stand up and try to take a position to rectify the behaviour, are essentially shown the door.”
A number of officers claimed that when they complain against managers or other officers that are alleged to have made serious ethical breaches and even criminal acts, they are then turned on.
“They turn the tables on the accuser,” one officer said. “This [department shouldn’t be] some 1972 Serpico bullshit.”
Other officers alleged that management has unfairly skewed reports against them. One former civilian employee claimed she had witnessed this occur.
“I have been witness to incidents where the officer in charge of a performance appraisal has brought a [report] that he has signed off on to the executive, and the executive has ordered him to go back and change it,” the woman claimed.
This perceived unfairness is impacting families, the wife of one officer told The Province.
“Seeing what they have done to my husband is daunting,” she said. “It is sick, it gets to the point where my kids suffer because we have to deal with this. My husband stood up to them, and they didn’t like it.”
But Chief Const. Peter Lepine, who was hired to replace Heed in 2009 after a 30-year RCMP career, strongly rejected that racial and sexual harassment or unfair targeting of employees has worsened during his command.
“If that is the perception, all I can say is that when these things are brought to my attention, they are investigated totally,” Lepine said. “I can tell you unequivocally that harassment in this workplace, regardless of who is the harasser, including me or members of our police board, is absolutely not tolerated. Does it happen, yes it does, and I have launched investigations.”
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