The RCMP’s ‘bad apples’
run the force
A heavy-handed police raid on the home
of a dissident Mountie shows powerful support
for the RCMP’s most despicable characters
September 22, 2012
Senior RCMP officers covered up corporal Jim Brown’s
perverse on-the-job activities for years. But when another officer
tipped off the media, cops came down strong on the critic.
RCMP sergeant Donald Ray used his position as a police officer
to commit indecent exposure while propositioning a female subordinate,
just one of several admitted acts of “disgraceful conduct.” But Mountie brass
stuck up for him. One RCMP employee told the Vancouver Province
that Ray’s RCMP connections swung the sweet deal.
Dziekanski death squad leader, drunken driver, two-time killer
and all-around liar Benjamin Montgomery Monty Robinson has been an
ongoing disgrace to the RCMP. But when he finally faced a watered-down
criminal charge, some of his fellow officers wrote letters of support.
In a statement presented to Robinson’s sentencing hearing, Supt. Rendall Nesset,
head of the Richmond RCMP detachment, called Robinson a “well-respected
member of this detachment” as well as “a stellar performer
and an asset to the organization.”
Coquitlam RCMP Corporal Jim Brown is a sexual sadist who used his position as a police officer to indulge fantasies of kidnapping, raping and murdering women. For years, RCMP brass covered up for him. But after one Mountie tipped off the media, cops raided the whistle-blower’s house.
The RCMP knew about Brown’s activities since at least December 2010. When media found out last July, senior Mounties stuck up for the creep. Supt. Ray Bernoties and Supt. Claude Wilcott referred to a decision from RCMP Legal Services which falsely stated that it was an “off-duty” matter and that Brown was not representing himself as a Mountie when portraying himself as a sexual sadist.
Wrong on both counts. Brown used his position as a police officer, police time, police computers and other police resources to indulge his sick misogyny.
But while senior Mounties were willing to lie on Brown’s behalf, they targeted the guy who tipped off the media.
He did so in July. The following month he started the Re-Sergeance Alliance blog, which stated that over 500 other RCMP officers support a reform movement to uproot the force’s “orchard of bad apples.” Just a few days after his first post, 10 cops burst into his home, confiscated computers and cellphones and, he says, mouthed off at his wife. The aggressive tactics are part of a criminal libel investigation, itself a rarely used approach. Most libel cases are dealt with in civil courts.
RCMP fought media attempts to obtain information used to justify the raid. When a court finally released documents on September 21, key info was blacked out.
The secrecy and cover-ups have long been routine. But this unusual criminal investigation and aggressive raid mark a frightening new development in the ongoing disgrace of the RCMP. And because some New Westminster police were involved in the raid, it reflects on cop culture overall.
Where’s our politicians? Exceptionally rigid party discipline, probably at the behest of police lobbyists, prevents both the BC Liberals and NDP from speaking out, let alone acting. The same goes for the federal Liberals and NDP. The federal Conservative government appoints one ineffectual RCMP commissioner after another. The Conservatives say they intend, at some unspecified time in the future, to make unspecified changes to the RCMP Act, the legislation that makes it all but impossible to fire or even seriously discipline any Mountie. (More on that here, here, here and here.)
I think the feds will fiddle around with a few legislative changes to placate female officers. But it’s hard to believe the force will ever become accountable. Disgrace notwithstanding, too many powerful cops like things just the way they are.
How this came about is a mystery. Is the police lobby really that strong? Do too many politicians have Laytonesque skeletons lurking in their closets? Have they compromised themselves by having cops conduct illegal activities on their behalf?
Who knows? But if there’s any hope for the force, it’ll come from dissidents who are brave enough to speak out. I think senior Mounties recognize that — and have responded with exceptionally aggressive tactics.
Update: Allegations go way back that sexual-sadist-Mountie-in-good-standing Jim Brown
capered with the Picktons. But senior RCMP officers are using extraordinary,
intimidating powers to stick up for the creep. More...
Another update: RCMP sexual sadist Jim Brown is now under suspension,
but of course with full pay. It’s highly likely that he will stay on full pay,
with benefits and annual pay raises, until he retires on full pension. Meanwhile
he’s spending his idle time launching lawsuits against people who dared
criticize him and his RCMP supporters for their disgraceful conduct. More...
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