Police chief unveils anti-corruption plan following high-profile case

Winnipeg’s top cop hopes enhanced oversight of officers will help the service regain public trust after its reputation was tarnished by the corruption of a disgraced officer and his co-accused colleagues.

“The trust that the public has in the police is paramount. Without it, we can’t do our job,” Chief Gene Bowers said Friday after meeting with the Winnipeg Police Board.

Among other things, the Winnipeg Police Service has added three investigators to its professional standards unit and the top brass have met with all members to reaffirm the service’s standards and expectations of professionalism and integrity, the chief said.

“The vast majority of our members work with integrity and they’re dedicated, but when somebody does step out of line… I want the public to trust in the fact that we will hold members accountable.”

Former constable Elston Bostock was sentenced to seven years in prison on Jan. 23, in connection to an internal investigation into corruption. For at least the last eight years of his career, he sold drugs, voided traffic tickets and gave confidential police information to underworld associates.

“Today is a dark day for public confidence in the administration of justice,” said Court of King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne when sentencing Bostock.

Three other officers were also charged: Matthew Kadyniuk has pleaded guilty to crimes he committed with Bostock while Vernon Strutinsky and Jonathan Kiazyk will go on trial in November.

At Friday’s meeting, the first since Bostock was sent to prison, Bowers outlined 10 steps taken by the police service to root out bad cops, including improvements to leadership training and officer accountability.

The WPS has held meetings with its executive management team to clarify leadership roles, responsibilities and performance expectations. Some executive portfolios have been reassigned to “strengthen oversight and operational focus,” the chief said.

Police brass outlined those expectations to members at every level of the organization, including using key performance indicators to track calls for service and policy compliance. Performance data is collected in monthly reports presented directly to Bowers and others.

“We can go right down to each individual member on what type of calls they’re going to, what their productivity is,” Bowers said. “The difference is we really have a full picture of what the membership is doing.”

The data accounts for the size of each officer’s case load and the amount of overtime they work to ensure officers are not burning out, he said.

During his trial, Bostock revealed he was burned out and depressed during his 22 year policing career, leading him to develop feelings of apathy that he said contributed to his criminal behaviour.

The WPS has added a second mental health clinician to its behavioural health support unit, and is prioritizing early intervention and check-ins with officers following high-stress calls, the police chief said.

Boosting the number of professional standards unit investigators, who investigate allegations of wrongdoing by members, has reinforced the expectation that staff who fail to meet police standards will be held accountable, Bowers said.

Before the end of the month, all members of the traffic division will be trained on a new electronic system for traffic tickets, which will reduce instances of tampering or human error.

Among his more serious crimes, Bostock was found to have voided traffic tickets for friends and associates. He alleged that doing so was common practice among police officers.

He also admitted to using internal police databases to look up confidential information.

The service is reviewing software that’s capable of conducting automatic audits of police databases, which would flag irregularities related to access, Bowers said.

“Before I became chief, some of these issues were known to myself, and I realized we had to do something different and this is the reason for the 10 steps,” he said about the overall plan.

In August, the chief wrote a letter to the provincial government in which he requested changes to the Police Services Act to allow the service to release public reports on officers facing discipline.

“We’re in discussions and it would be premature for me to comment on that any further,” he said Friday.

The chief said he is still committed to having such reports released.

“That is to be transparent and so that the public knows that when our members are alleged to have done something wrong, that we do act on it, and that they see those results,” he said.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe did not respond to a request for comment.

Police board chairperson Colleen Mayer said she’s pleased with Bower’s efforts.

“I think our chief has taken the initiative to get on this right away. I think the work that he’s done thus far has been very well-received, and it should be well-received in the community,” she said.

“The public holds the service to a higher standard, a higher accountability, and I think the chief has demonstrated that. I think that he will continue to work with his teams to make that available to us and the public.”

—With files from Joyanne Pursaga

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca