KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Three police officers and three civilian jail staff have been suspended from their jobs over allegations the men watched two women inmates have sex while in the "drunk tank" of the Kamloops, B.C., jail.
Following a duty status review, the RCMP announced Wednesday that the supervising officer, a 20-year member working in the Kamloops cell block on Aug. 18, was suspended with pay.
Two of three constables, who also allegedly watched the women on a video monitor for seven minutes without intervening, have also been suspended. They have been with the force ranging from one to seven years.
Police announced Mounties were conducting code-of-conduct and criminal investigations late last week.
At the same time, the southern Interior City of Kamloops suspended two prison guards and a watch clerk, after getting basic details of the suspected incident.
"I'm not going to make any decision or voice any opinions about this, other than get out of your jail block cell and out of your position until we know exactly what's happened, and then we'll treat you fairly," said Randy Diehl, the city's chief administrative officer.
Diehl said the city will wait for results of the RCMP investigation before taking further action towards the employees, based on their collective agreement.
He said he's particularly bothered by the incident because the RCMP detachment won some international awards last year based on its crime prevention strategies.
"It has a potential to taint the entire department and all of their very good public work that has been done gets put on the shelf, and that's the really unfortunate side of this whole thing," he said.
But he said he's "very pleased and proud" the department came clean.
"They haven't tried to hide anything, they've been doing their due diligence around it, they could have just as easily buried this thing and they're not doing that," he said.
About 45 city employees work in the Kamloops RCMP detachment, he added.
Gayle Nelson, president of the union representing the suspended workers, said she personally finds the incident upsetting.
"CUPE 900 does not condone the alleged behaviour in any way," she said. "Labour law dictates that we provide representation and we will ensure that they get the representation their collective agreement entitles them to."
After announcing the allegations, RCMP spokesman Insp. Tim Shields said that because both the women were picked up for public intoxication, the main concern for investigators was their level of consent.
The women were later released without charges related to their initial arrests.
Shields has said the criminal investigation is also looking at the sexual activity of the women. A police news release from last week indicates the investigation is targeting just one of the women in the cell.
