should apply for intervener standing at the RCMP Code-of-Conduct Inquiry into the actions of Corporal Jim Brown after all we can legitimately claim expertise on the matter.
As a failed intervener at the Douglas Inquiry, even Junior Counsel to Associate Chief Justice Lori Douglas (Molly Reynolds
- Toronto) acknowledged our research on kink by distributing a copy to the Inquiry Committee of an article
Christie Blatchford had to admit in one of her articles after our failed attempt we're a "pleasant character."
So Commissioner Robert Paulson, you know where you can find us we're not hiding out in The Witness Protection Program. We'll be awaiting your call.
Clare L. Pieuk
An RCMP code-of-conduct inquiry is underway into a Mountie who played a big part in the investigation into serial killer Robert Pickton and appeared on an Internet website posing in sexually explicit torture images reminiscent of the pig-farmer's crimes.
In some of the graphic pictures obtained by
The Vancouver Sun, Coquitlam Corporal Jim Brown appears to wear only his regulation-issue Mountie boots and an
erection as he wields a huge knife and a bound naked woman cringes in
terror.
The narrative of the still photographs, posted on an S&M website,
progresses from an apparent street scene of the woman walking past Brown sitting
on a wall; he overpowers her; he hog-ties her, he imprisons her in a cage, he
threatens her with a large butcher knife and he slashes her.
His detachment commander, Superintendent Claude Wilcott, said that when he became
aware of the material on the Web earlier this year, he discussed the issue with
the force's legal services to determine if there was a violation of the Mountie
code of conduct.
"The alleged issue was deemed to be off-duty, non-criminal, adult consensual
activity during which the individual was not representing himself as a member of
the RCMP and thus it did not appear to legal services to meet the threshold for
a code-of-conduct violation," he said.
"Despite this legal opinion, a code-of-conduct investigation is under-way to
determine if there are any additional facts and ensure the fullest review
possible. While I agree the staged images are graphic, it's important to note
that they appear only on an adult site catering to those who seek them out."
Mike Webster, who has had a career counselling police officers and advising
departments, including the RCMP, said the sexual degradation of women in the
images raises serious concerns.
And he thought the initial response of the national force cavalier.
"The fact that Mr. Brown could engage in these activities without considering
current attitudes toward this type of behaviour indicates to me that his
empathetic abilities are impaired," Webster said.
During a brief telephone call Wednesday at the detachment, Brown declined to
comment about the pictures and the "Kilted Knight" persona featured in them.
He acknowledged being aware of the material.
"I am familiar with an internal investigation that was conducted," Brown said
tersely. "It concluded in March or April and it was decided it was a non-issue -
There was no victim."
Lawyer Jason Gratl was astounded by the images and said Brown's even
peripheral involvement in the missing women investigation was troubling.
Gratl, who represented Down-town Eastside community groups at the public
inquiry into the Pickton police investigation, wondered why Commissioner Wally
Oppal wasn't informed when he was conducting hearings at the very moment the
RCMP learned of the material.
"This pictorial enactment of a kid-napping and torture by an RCMP
investigator crystallizes the ethical nexus between the detachment and the
farm," Gratl said.
"Investigators from the detachment informed Pickton he was a suspect while he
was still under investigation.
While the enactment of the kidnapping of a young
woman from a place that resembles Strathcona to a dimly lit rural setting where
she is put in an animal cage and tortured may have occurred after the terms of
reference [of the inquiry], its relevance ... is indisputable."
But Superintendent Wilcott maintained in an email that to "associate this to a more
than decade old investigation into a serial killer ... is an incredible leap. If
you would like to check back with me in a couple weeks I may be in a better
position to provide more information as I expect the investigation to be
submitted to me in the near future."
Art Vertlieb, counsel for the inquiry, said he only learned about the
situation late Wednesday and would be seeking an explanation.
Brown did not appear at the Missing Women's Inquiry or at the Pickton
trial.
His name, however, appears on the "Key Events Chronology" exhibit filed for
one of the policing panels.
In an entry dated July 16, 1999, it reads: "[Vancouver Police officer Geramy]
Field receives call from Constable Jim Brown (Coquitlam RCMP) re [source Ross]
Caldwell; assigns tip to [officer Mark Chernoff."
Chernoff and his partner were assigned the task of interviewing Caldwell, the
second tipster to contact authorities and finger Pickton nearly three years
before he was arrested.
Caldwell lived on Pickton's farm and provided key information about the
killer, but the inquiry was told the RCMP questioned his credibility.
imulgrew@vancouversun.com
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