VANCOUVER— Fourteen Vancouver police officers, aka Perverts, ranging in rank from constable to inspector and one civilian employee are facing internal disciplinary reviews for viewing pornography and other inappropriate and offensive images while at work.
The images ranged from photos that would only be found by searching the Internet for pornography to those that could be seen in a daily newspaper, Superintendent Jeff Sim, who headed the internal investigation, told reporters Thursday. He declined to provide further details, reported the Globe and Mail newspaperr .
The police department employees had each looked at roughly “a dozen” still and video images, although some viewed “a significantly higher” number, he said.
The employees, who continue on the job, were first caught during an unrelated internal investigation in August, Supt Sim said. In response to questioning, Supt. Sim refused to identify where the officers worked. “We don’t want any employees regardless of where they work to distribute material that is inappropriate,” he said.
All the officers were male.
None of the images were considered to be illegal and neither the public nor staff within the Vancouver police department have lodged a complaint related to the e-mails or Internet viewings.
However viewing the images and sending them in e-mail was considered to be inappropriate use of police department equipment and their time, Supt. Sim said. Police Chief James Chu later said the focus of the officers should be on their work and they should not use the equipment at work for viewing these images.
Both Chief Chu and Supt. Sim said they had not seen the images.
Some officers have already been disciplined while the investigation continues into the activities of others. The disciplinary measures range from a written reprimand to demotion and include suspensions, transfers and temporary restrictions from the promotion process, he said.
As a result of the incident, the police department now plans to install software that will automatically track and identify e-mail and internet activity that involves “inappropriate images,” Supt. Sim also said.
