Longtime WPS officer facing long list of charges remains in custody after bail hearing adjourned

A veteran city police officer accused of a raft of crimes dating back nearly a decade will spend at least two more weeks in custody before learning whether he will be released on bail.

Const. Elston Bostock, 48, sat in the prisoner’s box wearing grey jail-issue sweats as his lawyer, Richard Wolson, requested an adjournment before provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson Monday morning.

Crown lawyers had been set to argue against Bostock’s release at a daylong bail hearing.

Details of Monday’s proceedings, which included related bail-hearing discussions, cannot be disclosed because of a publication ban.

Twenty people, including at least one member of the Winnipeg Police Service’s professional standards unit, filled the small courtroom to capacity for the 90-minute hearing.

Professional standards investigators re-arrested Bostock last week. His charges include breach of trust, obstruction of justice, drug trafficking, theft, indignity to human remains, break-and-enter and knowingly distributing an intimate image.

Bostock was held in custody ahead of the expected bail hearing.

The constable is accused of conducting more than 80 drug deals while on and off duty over the course of nearly nine years, among many other allegations. He has also been accused of taking an intimate photo of a half-naked dead woman at a sudden-death call, then texting the picture to another officer.

Given Bostock’s status as a police officer, he is likely to be held in some form of segregated custody while in the remand centre or another provincial jail, University of Winnipeg criminal justice Prof. Michael Weinrath said.

“Usually, putting a police officer even on a (protective custody) unit — and this guy, the officers, are obviously fairly famous — would be difficult,” said Weinrath, who has researched Manitoba’s provincial jails extensively.

Protective custody units have historically largely housed sex offenders and informants, but are now often also used for inmates who are incompatible with others because of gang ties or other conflicts, Weinrath said.

“It would be hard to place a police officer there because there would be other inmates there who would want to assault him,” he said.

“It’s a tough one, he’s not necessarily going to fit in well with an inmate population. It’s another good reason not to become a corrupt cop.”–Michael Weinrath

An officer such as Bostock would likely be placed in a form of segregation within a protective custody unit, said the researcher.

Corrections officers will likely attempt to limit his contact with other inmates for his protection, he said.

“For police officers, not to feel sorry for the person, but your life is over and now you’re in with all these people you arrested. It’s a pretty humiliating experience,” said Weinrath.

“It’s a tough one, he’s not necessarily going to fit in well with an inmate population. It’s another good reason not to become a corrupt cop.”

Const. Vernon Strutinsky, 44, Const. Jonathan Kiazyk, 46, and Const. Matthew Kadyniuk, 32, are also facing charges stemming from the WPS probe. All three have been placed on leave.

Investigators believe the officers committed offences while partnered with Bostock.

“In general, I would say people knew this was going on,” said Kelly Donovan, a former Waterloo Regional Police Service officer who now researches, writes and provides recommendations to address police corruption.

“Going back nine years, you are telling me people didn’t know about it? It’s either that, or people knew and didn’t want to make themselves a target so they said nothing, because that’s what happens in policing.”

Police corruption can begin with something as minor as accepting a free cup of coffee, Donovan said.

She described a concept called “progressive rationalization” in which people repeatedly justify minor ethics breaches until they eventually escalate.

“Early on, your brain starts to realize, ‘OK, there are a lot of rules, but some rules we don’t have to follow.’ So then, as you go through your career, you start to change the narrative in your brain,” she said.

If rookie officers witness more senior or higher-ranking officers cross ethical or legal boundaries, they can come to believe those rules do not matter — leading to a wider-spread cultural issues, Donovan said.

Some police avoid speaking out against their colleagues or superiors, fearing that doing so will negatively affect their professional reputation or ability to advance within their respective agency, she said.

City police Chief Gene Bowers said last week, after announcing the new charges, that the investigation began after other members reported concerns regarding breach of trust in early 2024.

He asked the province to consider legislative changes to allow the service to make public disciplinary actions taken against officers. Bowers also wants the Manitoba government to develop a uniform code of conduct for law-enforcement personnel, he said.

Publishing police discipline records is the “very least that the province and the city should be looking at,” said University of Winnipeg criminal justice professor Kevin Walby.

“Going back nine years, you are telling me people didn’t know about it? It’s either that, or people knew and didn’t want to make themselves a target so they said nothing, because that’s what happens in policing.”–Kelly Donovan

Walby argued the charges against the group of officers could be a bellwether for larger issues within the WPS. He called for an independent, third-party review of the agency, suggesting the province and city could partner to lead such a probe.

“I think that this deserves the maximum attention of the justice minister,” Walby said by phone.

“I don’t think Winnipeggers should trust the WPS to clean this up or to change their culture, I think it needs to come from outside.”

Speaking to the Free Press last week, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe did not say whether his government would consider an external review.

“I know that there was a lot of work that was done in the investigation and we’re going to see how this process works its way through the courts,” Wiebe said.

Bostock was removed from his duties as a police officer — a job he’s held for 22 years — last fall after he was first arrested, but remains a WPS member.

He was initially charged with a total of four counts of breach of trust, two counts of obstructing justice and one count each of being unlawfully in a dwelling house, obstructing a police officer and theft under $5,000.

Some of the initial charges were laid again by Crown prosecutors last week.

Bostock’s next court date is scheduled for Aug. 25.

Kadyniuk’s next court appearance is Sept 4. Strutinsky and Kiazyk do not have court dates set.

— With files from Erik Pindera

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca