Alleged leak to media prompts B.C. police misconduct probe: OPCC

A Surrey police department logo is seen on an officer's jacket in Surrey, B.C., Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

An officer with the Surrey Police Service who shared a screenshot of internal communication warning of a staffing shortage may have committed misconduct, according to the provincial watchdog.

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has ordered a review of an investigation that cleared Const. Ryan Buhrig of misconduct and found the allegation of "improper disclosure of information" was unsubstantiated.

The Police Act defines this type of misconduct as "is intentionally or recklessly disclosing, or attempting to disclose, information that is acquired by the member in the performance of duties as a member."

The complaint dates back to nearly two years ago – before the contentious matter of whether the RCMP or the SPS would police the city was settled.

In November of 2022, Asst. Comm. Brian Edwards, the officer in charge of the Surrey RCMP informed his counterpart at the SPS, Chief Const. Norm Lipinski, that "an unknown SPS member captured a screenshot of a police mobile data terminal."

A "vetted" version of the screenshot was published by an unnamed media outlet and an "unvetted" version was posted to Twitter by the Surrey Police Union. The tweet from the union shows a message saying the RCMP was "shutting down" the non-emergency line because there were not enough people available to staff it.

Sharing the image, Edwards said, was – in his opinion – a violation of the federal Privacy Act as well as the RCMP's security policy.

The OPCC Ordered an investigation of the matter in January of 2023. At that time, the identity of the officer who allegedly shared the screenshot was unknown but Buhrig was later identified.

The watchdog judged an external police agency should be appointed to conduct the investigation, and the Metro Vancouver Transit Police was appointed as the "discipline authority."

The final report found that "insufficient clear, cogent, and convincing evidence to support substantiation" of the allegation against Buhrig.

On Tuesday, the OPCC published its decision to order a retired judge to review the findings of the investigation, citing "significant concerns with the legal analysis" used to arrive at its conclusion.

In addition, the OPCC found a review would be in the public interest given the nature of the alleged misconduct.

"If substantiated, it involves the intentional disclosure to the media by an SPS member of information pertaining to the operations of the Surrey Operations Communications Centre. That disclosure has potentially harmful implications for trust and cooperation between the Surrey RCMP and the SPS, and in turn, public confidence in policing," the notice of review said.

Retired provincial court judge Brian Neal will conduct the review.