The head of the RCMP in Kelowna has retired amid an independent police investigation into his detachment.
Staff Sgt. Rob Vermeulen confirmed in an email that Supt. Nick Romanchuk had taken time off since early September and that he decided to retire from the force on Monday.
Insp. Brent Mundle is taking his place in the interim, Vermeulen said in an email on Tuesday.
Abbotsford police began an investigation of allegations against the Kelowna RCMP detachment in September, around the same time Romanchuk took time off, but Vermeulen would not disclose the nature of the investigation. He also did not comment on whether there was an internal Code of Conduct investigation under way involving Romanchuk or anyone else in the detachment.
He said he would provide no further comment or information, and did not give a reason for that decision.
Const. Ian MacDonald, a spokesman for the Abbotsford police, confirmed that the department is looking into a series of allegations involving the Kelowna detachment, but also would not provide any details.
“I don’t want to unduly influence this investigation,” he said, adding that investigators were in the process of gathering evidence to support the allegations.
MacDonald couldn’t say how long the investigation was expected to take.
“One of the challenges is, when you are looking at a series of allegations, as opposed to a single stand-alone, sometimes those things can connect through to other witnesses and other evidence, and so I don’t want to put a definitive timeline on it.”
According to Rob Mayne, the City of Kelowna’s director of corporate and protective services, the revelation that the detachment was being investigated came as a surprise to the city.
“We’ve had a good working relationship with the RCMP,” Mayne said.
Mayne, who liaises with the RCMP as part of the city contract, said he is not aware of the nature of the allegations or the status of the Abbotsford police investigation and was unable to comment on either subject.
Mayne said the city learned of Romanchuk’s retirement only just before it was made public. Romanchuk became superintendent in 2013.
There have been other cases in which police officers have retired or quit in the midst of investigations or prior to disciplinary hearings:
• West Vancouver’s former police chief, Peter Lepine, announced his retirement in February 2014 as the B.C. government prepared to investigate allegations of harassment, racism and bullying within the department. Lepine said his plans to retire were not related to the controversy.
• Former B.C. RCMP assistant commissioner Dan Malo quit in May, two months after it was revealed that he had been investigated several years ago for allegedly using his authority to get out of a driving infraction. Malo said his name was cleared and that his departure had nothing to do with the incident.
• Ridge Meadows Const. Hirdaypal Singh Gill quit the force in July, shortly before he was scheduled to appear before a disciplinary panel to face four allegations of misconduct.
• Jim Brown, a former corporal with the Coquitlam RCMP, was on paid suspension for four years before he resigned from the force in April. He was supposed to have a disciplinary hearing related to his appearance on a sexual fetish website.
— with a file from The Canadian Press
