West Vancouver mayor, police chief want change in Police Act

West Vancouver's mayor and police chief want to seea change in the B.C. Police Act so that officers ordered to attend disciplinary hearings cannot delay their appearances.

At issue are two West Vancouverofficers who are being accused of using their stress leave as excuses to dodge their disciplinary hearings.

Chief Const. Kash Heed said Tuesday he wants the Police Act to have to power to force officers to show up at disciplinary hearings orallow the hearings to proceed without their presence.

"I'm frustrated," Heed said. "If there is evidence or indications that these members can attend, I think they should attend so the matter can be heard once and for all, and a decision can be made on this."

Insp. Bob Fontaine was in charge of an internal investigation against Const. Lisa Alford three years ago. Alford was arrested and charged with drunk driving after she rear-ended a car in Burnaby in November 2005 following a party at the West Vancouver Police Department headquarters.

Alford, who was off-duty at the time of the crash, had pleaded guilty to driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than .08, and was sentenced to a one-year driving suspension. She remains in active duty with West Vancouver police now.

During the internal investigation, Fontaine called in Staff Sgt. Doug Bruce for assistance. But Bruce's son was at the party with Alford, leading to allegations of conflict of interest and that the two senior officers botched their investigation.

Fontaine and Bruce then took stress leave and have refused to attend a disciplinary hearing that had been re-scheduled twice.

West Vancouver Mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones said Tuesday that Fontaine and Bruce have been stalling and have cost the taxpayers $300,000 in pay and benefits since they took their stress leave.

"It's not fair to the taxpayer to have to foot the bill for this. It's not fair to the police chief who's got a department to run and needs to know the outcome of a very serious investigation," she said.

Fontaine said he is genuinely stressed after the allegations were made against him and he needed time to cope.

"I have never abused my sick time. In 31 years [of service], I have taken sick time twice," said Fontaine, who has been renovating his Downtown Eastside rooming house.

He said he has hired a lawyer to work out a compromise with the police department.

"I want to go out with a clean name. I don't want to go out making it look like I've done something wrong, and the only way I can get out of it is by retiring. I don't think that's fair for me," he said.

A disciplinary hearing for Fontaine and Bruce has been set for Nov. 14.

Bruce could not be reached for comment Tuesday.