The mayors of Victoria and Esquimalt appeared to go out of their way to keep Frank Elsner in his job as Victoria police chief, despite allegations of harassment and bullying against him, says B.C.’s police complaint commissioner.
A strong case can be made that Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps and Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins “set about navigating a course to allow the former chief to remain in his post,” says a report from commissioner Stan Lowe.
Two retired judges working for the commissioner found Elsner engaged in workplace harassment and other offences, including having an inappropriate relationship with the wife of one of his officers, and that his misconduct was grounds for dismissal. That verdict will appear on Elsner’s police service record, even though he has already resigned.
The mayors, as co-chairs of the police board, hired an investigator after hearing complaints about Elsner’s behaviour.
In October 2015, the investigator reported to the mayors that numerous witnesses had made allegations of bullying and harassment against Elsner, wrote Lowe.
The witnesses complained about inappropriate comments and behaviour by Elsner, including inappropriate physical contact with women.
“Despite receiving this information, the mayors chose not to expand the investigator’s mandate to include these allegations. On the contrary, the correspondence indicates that they instructed the investigator not to pursue these allegations or consider them in any respect in drafting the investigation report because they were outside the scope of the investigator’s mandate,” Lowe wrote.
The commissioner learned of the bullying and harassment allegations from the Victoria City Police Union.
The mayors ended up placing a discipline letter on Elsner’s file for having an inappropriate relationship with the wife of one of his officers.
In contrast, the retired judges found that Elsner’s behaviour was severe enough to warrant dismissal, Lowe noted.
That difference is glaring, said Lowe, who wrote: “This gulf exposes the pitfalls associated with the inherent conflict of interest between the mayors and their relationship with the former chief.”
The mayors rushed to conclude their investigation because rumours were beginning to circulate about the chief, Lowe found. In an email exchange beginning at 2:32 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2015, Desjardins told Helps they had to make a decision “asap and then call the board to inform them.”
On Dec. 4, 2015, the media started calling the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner to ask if there was an investigation into Elsner. The office directed the media to call the mayors, who denied there was any investigation, even though there was one.
Lowe instructed deputy police complaint commissioner Rollie Woods to tell Desjardins he was very concerned about the mayors’ response, and would not tolerate the media and the public being misled.
Lowe wants retired judges, not mayors, to act as discipline authorities in cases involving chiefs and deputy chiefs. It’s often the case that the mayor and police chief are allied in interest and the potential for conflict of interest has been recognized, Lowe wrote.
Helps said she wholeheartedly agrees with Lowe’s recommendation to change the Police Act so that mayors are no longer the discipline authorities for police chiefs.
She said her support for Elsner changed when she saw the evidence of his misconduct.
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said his staff is reviewing Lowe’s report and recommendations. “I appreciate this is an issue and the commissioner makes some valid points that require careful consideration, so we’ll be looking at this in a broader context and take time to do it right.”
Victoria Police Chief Del Manak plans to hold a news conference today to answer questions about the police complaint commissioner’s investigation of Elsner.
