B.C. Mountie tells discipline hearing group chats used ‘dark humour’

A British Columbia RCMP officer says he and fellow officers used “dark humour” as a way to vent their frustrations, but he’s not proud of his statements and thinks it’s unfortunate that the police group chats were revealed through a complaint.

Port Coquitlam RCMP Const. Ian Solven testified Monday in Surrey, B.C., at a code of conduct hearing involving him and two other officers.

The code of conduct hearing against the officers began last month.

The three men denied allegations of workplace harassment and discreditable conduct alleged by a fellow officer who was the subject of some of their group chat comments.

“It’s just not something I’m super proud of,” Solven told the hearing.

Solven said he showed a “lack of judgment” and regrets comments he made in the police group chats, but added that using “dark humour” was a way to vent frustrations about the stressful job of policing.

Solven said he had “negative interactions” and a poor relationship with Const. Sam Sodhi, who complained about comments made in private group chats and on police data terminals in May 2021 by Solven, Const. Mersad Mesbah and Const. Philip Dick.

Solven said some of the language he used toward Sodhi was “totally inappropriate,” looking back years later on how his troubled relationship unfolded.

“I shouldn’t have made things personal when it came to my frustration with Sam,” he said.

Solven said he was frustrated by Sodhi, believing he’d returned from an injury leave and would avoid complex investigative files and not sufficiently backup his fellow officers, including during a violent takedown of a suspect.

Solven said it was “inappropriate” to talk poorly to co-workers behind Sodhi’s back, and the right thing to do would’ve been to talk to him directly about his concerns.

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But there were also other comments made about a fellow officer’s weight and about a woman who was at a transitional housing shelter during an investigation, although Solven said he couldn’t recall exactly what he was referring to when questioned by his lawyer.

The officer said policing is a stressful job and first responders often use “different” humour that he’s not proud of, “and it’s unfortunate that it’s come out in this way.”

A superior spoke to him about comments made on RCMP mobile data terminals, with the officer hinting about using personal phones rather than the terminals, Solven said.

He testified that there was a running joke about new group chats being created regularly between members using encrypted messaging applications on officers’ personal phones, and he had believed the chats were a “private space” where officers talked about work, beer, sports and news events.

He testified that a message about Tasering unarmed black people he made in a group chat was after an incident at a SkyTrain station where a man was threatening people with a syringe.

Solven said a crowd had gathered and was filming him and yelling at officers, and he was kept awake that night by the prospect of the video becoming “massive news.”

“I know the RCMP is not the best at defending its members publicly, and I was concerned that I was just going to be thrown under the bus for this situation where I was just doing my job really,” he said.

Solven also testified about the financial stress of joining the police force after leaving a well-paying job, requiring him to work a lot of overtime to pay his bills.

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