For three years, the Nelson police department was at the center of an investigation into alleged racist posts in a private Whatsapp cat.
Now, the office of the police commissioner has ordered three current agents and three retirees from the ministry to participate in a public hearing.
We first pointed out the allegations in 2022, when eight police officers were initially the subject of an investigation, which was carried out by the Vancouver police service.
He caused two officers to be authorized for reprehensible acts. Six were proven to have committed discreditable driving.
By ordering the hearing, the complaint commissioner, Prahbu Rajan, said: “There must be a clarity for the officers involved in this case, and for the police more generally, if group discussions between the police are protected and when they bring discredit to their police service or undermine a respectful work culture.”
Professor Arthur Schafer, founding director of the Center for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, commented on the case, saying: “It is important because when the police have racist or sexist attitudes, when they are harmful, when they predict their ability to act professionally.”
The case was faced with delays due to a constitutional challenge, certain officers arguing that their rights were contained when their cat newspapers were obtained.
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Schafer said that when the judgment of the case is finished, it will be an opportunity for reflection, “to think about how we will recruit new members of the police forces, how we form them, what attitudes and values that we instill when they learn to become police.”
The dates of the public hearing must still be determined. He will be supervised by the retirement judge Brent Hoy.
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