RCMP members are not the only police officers who are paid by taxpayers to stay away from the job…it happens in every British Columbia police force.  Here are the first few paragraphs from a recent story about New Westminster Police Service constable Vinnie Dosanjh, written by Brent Richter of the New Westminster Record:

“A New Westminster police officer returned to work this week after being suspended with pay from his job for nearly four years.

Const. Sukhwinder “Vinnie” Dosanjh is back on duty after being disciplined for several incidents of police misconduct.

Dosanjh was suspended from active duty in July 2008 after he was charged with assault and being unlawfully in a dwelling house, stemming from an incident at the home of a fellow New Westminster officer.”

The article continues…

“Rollie Woods, deputy police complaint commissioner [and former VPD Inspector], recently told The Record, that he has seen New Westminster Police Service become one of the better forces in the province when it comes to transparency, discipline and accountability.”

…

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner routinely endorses this sort of nonsense.  Cases like this reinforce my longstanding view that the OPCC actually does a disservice to the public by creating the illusion of police accountability when in fact none exists.  The government needs to take a hard look at whether the OPCC is a clubby group of ex-cops drawing pensions from their former police departments while pretending to pass judgment on the conduct of their former colleagues.