WARNING: This story contains offensive language.
In one private chat group conversation, a Canadian Constable is accused of saying a new female employee was “overweight and implied that her vagina was visible through her clothing.”
Elsewhere, a second RCMP officer allegedly bragged about “tasting unarmed black people with a taser” and called a sexual assault investigation “stupid” — prompting comments from other online group members who “made fun of the victim” and said, “she’s a stupid Mexican.”
An investigator with the RCMP's professional standards unit detailed those allegations and more in a sworn search warrant to obtain evidence that is now being used to call for the firing of three Coquitlam police officers for violating the police code of conduct.
The CBC has obtained a copy of the search warrant — which chronicles the behaviour that led the officer who initiated the investigation to complain to RCMP leadership about what he saw as “horrific” and “racist and egregious” activity in a private group operating on the messaging app Signal.
The documents reveal that investigators also reviewed 600,000 messages uploaded to the RCMP's internal cellular data chat logs — and found evidence of “frequently offensive” use by three officers facing dismissal for “homophobic and racist slurs.”
“The reviewers identified a variety of comments that were 'chauvinistic in nature, with a strong air of superiority, and included disrespectful or insulting comments about clients (including objectification of women), superiors, colleagues, policies, and the RCMP as a whole,'” the warrant said.
“We are not going to the nature reserve”
The code of conduct hearing against Const. Philip Dick, Const. Ian Solven and Const. Mersad Mesbah had been scheduled to begin in Surrey this week but has been postponed until March next year. The three officers have been suspended since June 2021.
While Dick, Solven and Mesbah appear to be the only Mounted Police members currently facing a code of conduct hearing, court documents say seven other officers were also part of the private chat group — including two supervisors.
Among the details contained in the search warrant was an allegation that one of the officers facing charges joked about a domestic violence victim, calling her a “stupid bitch, she should wear a mouth guard.”
The complainant — Const. Sam Sodhi — claims that outside of the private chat group, members of the group also “disparaged Indigenous people, talking about how they were ‘stupid’ or ‘drunk’ and saying they had ‘poor bodies’ and all had fetal alcohol syndrome.”
“They would say, 'We're not going to the reserve,'” the search warrant affidavit that Sodhi provided to investigators claims.
“We're not going there because we're not going to help those people.”
'Are you a cool brown skinned guy?'
According to court documents, Sodhi was assigned to Coquitlam in 2019.
“As part of that process, he wrote a letter about his desire to work downtown and help at-risk youth who lack role models,” the warrant claims.
But Sodhi claims that on his second day on the job, Dick — his coach — asked him: “Are you a cool brown guy, or are you a brown guy from Surrey? Because in the letter, you're being whiny, like, 'Wow, I want to help brown people.'”
Sodhi claims there are two chat groups for members of the Coquitlam detachment assigned to Port Coquitlam — one for all squad members and a second private group that started on WhatsApp but later moved to Signal. He said he was told once he was “eligible” to be in the private chat group, “we will add you to it.”
The officer claimed he was accepted into the private chat group in March 2021, but left after a few days due to “constant negativity.” He said he was then accused of being “not a team player” and encouraged to return.
Based on a search warrant, Sodhi complained to his superiors in May 2021, and a chief watchdog ordered an investigation into five Canadian police officers — including a corporal accused of failing to take action to prevent the abuse.
'I just committed a racial act by stopping a car'
The investigation initially focused on text communications between RCMP laptops — known as Mobile Data Terminals. Investigators reviewed messages between the five men from January 2019 to May 2021.
“When members [Signal] “The chat group was aware of the investigation, they argued that the investigation was likely about 'MDT chat' … because the private chat group was kept 'among trusted people' and 'there was no way this would get discovered,'” the warrant said.
Examples cited from the RCMP computer include statements such as, “Why do brown men have such high-pitched voices?” “As the idiot woman said… 'toxic,'” and, “I just committed a racial slur by pulling over a car.”
A review of chat logs also allegedly found that the three officers threatened with termination “appeared to use the word ‘goldfish’ as a slur against Asians.”
“For example, they talked about how 'goldfish' had 'bulging eyes' that 'couldn't see anything,' how the Korean church in the detachment was a 'goldfish church' and how 'goldfish' were bad drivers (a common stereotype of Asians),” the warrant said.
A search warrant was obtained so investigators with the Coquitlam RCMP's professional standards unit could access recordings of the Signal chat group by seizing the contents of Sodhi's phone.
To convince the judge to approve the search, investigators asked Sodhi not to read the messages directly from the chats, but to “detail the chats to the best of his recollection and only refer to them as necessary to aid his recollection.”
A judge granted a search warrant in April 2022, nearly a year after Sodhi spoke to investigators.
“My contribution 'won't look good'”
The three-plus years that have passed since Sodhi first raised concerns have had an impact on the disciplinary process.
In May, the RCMP's conduct board deny the accusation against the fourth Coquitlam Police Officer who admitted his involvement in the Signal group because the process had exceeded the 12-month time limit set out by the RCMP Act.
According to the termination order, Const. Cameron Lang “self-reported his participation in the chat” in May 2021.
“I conveyed to the Superintendent that some of the content contributed by other members was highly offensive, and I also wanted to do my part to report it to him,” Const. Cameron Lang said in a statement.
“I said that I believed my contribution was not as offensive as others had said, but that it 'wouldn't look good.'”
According to a study provincial court decision In connection with the search warrants made public this week, the conduct board has suspended one charge against three members, as well as a second charge against Mesbah, because the charges were filed outside the one-year statute of limitations.
A 'problematic' omission?
The legal process underlying the ethics hearing may still play a role in deciding the outcome of Sodhi's charges.
A provincial court judge was asked to rule on a request to exclude evidence seized from Sodhi's cellphone because an RCMP officer “forgot” to file a so-called “Report to the Judge” related to the data — as mandated by law.
Filing a “Report to Judge” form allows the judge to oversee the length of time police can hold items seized through a search warrant.
The RCMP's failure to comply with search and seizure rules has had dramatic consequences in recent years — most notably in a murder trial in B.C. that resulted in an acquittal after a judge threw out key evidence due to repeated policy violations.
The RCMP did not file a report with the Magistrate regarding Sodhi’s phone until this July — nearly 27 months after police seized the data related to the Signal chats.
In a recent provincial court ruling, a judge allowed the RCMP to preserve the data for a disciplinary hearing — but said the three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers may have a strong case to argue their rights were violated when the hearing eventually takes place.
“As explained by the subject members, the RCMP not only failed to file the Report with the Judge 'promptly,' they continued to fail in their duty to file the report for over two years, despite being repeatedly advised that the omission was problematic,” the judge wrote.
“However, that is a matter that is not within my jurisdiction, but rather it is for the Conduct Council to consider.”
Solven's attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment, and other officials could not be reached.
An RCMP spokesman declined to comment on the allegations while they are undergoing a conduct board hearing.