B.C.'s police complaint commissioner has ordered public hearings into the actions of two West Vancouver city police officers for their handling of an internal drunk driving investigation.
Insp. Bob Fontaine and Staff Sgt. Doug Bruce were scheduled to appear at a disciplinary hearing last month over their investigation into the allegations against fellow officer Lisa Alford.
But rather than appear before the hearing, both Fontaine and Bruce opted to retire, effective Dec. 31, and the hearing was then cancelled.
Alford was convicted of impaired driving after she crashed her car into another vehicle in 2005.
In their report to the police complaint commissioner, Fontaine and Bruce failed to mention that Alford had been drinking at the police station the night of the crash.
The case is one of several involving police officers accused of driving drunk that have embarrassed B.C. police forces, including an RCMP officer arrested last month for drunk driving causing death in a crash that killed a 21-year-old man in Delta, B.C.
