Bob Mackin
The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) said it will not release the report “redacted or otherwise” that cleared Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim of drunk driving.
But the deputy commissioner confirmed in a statement to theBreaker.news that Sim was not the target of the probe it ordered.
“For clarity, the OPCC’s jurisdiction is limited to that of municipal police in British Columbia. As such, the scope of the investigation under the Police Act focused on the conduct of Vancouver Police officers, not the Mayor’s,” Andrea Spindler said in a Feb. 25 statement to theBreaker.news.
When contacted Feb. 21, Spindler originally refused to comment, citing privacy provisions of the Police Act.
Deputy Police Complaint Commissioner Andrea Spindler (LinkedIn)
Spindler said that, upon request from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), OPCC opened the file regarding an alleged traffic stop of Sim. The Commissioner assigned the RCMP to conduct the investigation of alleged police misconduct and assigned another municipal chief, Abbotsford’s Colin Watson, to act as the discipline authority.
Watson found the investigation “revealed no objective evidence of an interaction between members of VPD and Mayor Sim” relevant to the misconduct allegations, which he considered “baseless.”
“The investigation concluded that there was no evidence that the Mayor of Vancouver was stopped in the manner alleged,” Spindler said. “The investigation revealed that police searched a license plate associated with the Mayor of Vancouver and Chief Constable Watson determined that those police officers were ‘performing ordinary policing duties at the time of [those] queries.”
The OPCC was satisfied the investigation was thorough and Watson’s decision sound, before concluding no further action was required, Spindler said.
Sim, who chaired the VPD board until last June, had publicly called for the report to be released. But the OPCC flatly refused.
“The OPCC will not be releasing any further information publicly in relation this matter. The OPCC has responded directly to the Mayor of Vancouver respecting his public letter to the Commissioner,” Spindler said.
Abbotsford Police chief Colin Watson (AbbyPD)
News about the allegations against Sim came three days after VPD chief Adam Palmer announced he would retire at the end of April. The previous week, Sim and Palmer announced the VPD’s $5 million “Task Force Barrage” to crack down on gangs and chronic offenders in the Downtown Eastside.
A source said Palmer is being courted to run for the Conservative Party in the upcoming federal election.
One of Palmer’s subordinates, Terry Yung, retired as an inspector last summer and was elected in October’s provincial election to represent Yaletown for the NDP. Premier David Eby subsequently named Yung the minister of state for community safety. In 2022, Yung supported Sim’s campaign for mayor and is the husband of ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung.
Ralph Kaisers, the boss of the Vancouver Police Union, was announced Feb. 20 as an ABC candidate in the April 5 by-election.
In December, theBreaker.news spotted Sim under a plainclothes police escort, being chauffeured away from an event in an unmarked sport utility vehicle. Vancouver Police said that was because Sim is under a temporary security escort due to personal threats.
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