A Surrey Police Service officer could face more serious penalties after being caught driving impaired while off-duty and then trying to use his position to avoid the consequences.
The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has asked a retired B.C. Supreme Court judge to review that case, saying the penalty imposed by the police force did not go far enough in addressing the seriousness of the officer’s offences.
“Impaired driving continues to be one of the leading causes of death and serious injuries and societal expectations, as reflected in the laws of Canada, demonstrate the seriousness of the conduct,” said the police complaint commissioner, Clayton Pecknold.
…
Vancouver criminal lawyer Kyla Lee, who specializes in handling complex drinking and driving cases across B.C., said she is seeing more of these cases involving police officers “where they say, ‘give me a break, I’m a police officer,’ so I can see why they want to have consequences that are more severe.”
She pointed out that a longer suspension is likely and that “three days is the bare minimum when there is a good defence.”
Lee said that in some cases there can be mitigating factors such as a long term of service where an officer is turning to alcohol to deal with trauma.
“But here, you have a brand new officer doing something wrong.”
Read the full story here.