Victoria's police chief apologized Sunday for engaging in inappropriate social media communication with a fellow officer’s wife.
The police board confirmed with CTV News that Chief Frank Elsner had exchanged direct Twitter messages with the woman, and was the subject of a recent internal investigation after allegations emerged in August.
“I am truly, truly, sorry,” said Elsner, who is married and has two daughters. “I take full responsibility for sending the tweets I did. It was a lapse in judgement, and I wish it had never happened.”
Neither Elsner – who became chief in January 2014 - nor the police board will discuss when the conversations began or how long they lasted, but say the communication ended months ago.
“I feel terrible…I shut this down when it occurred because I knew it was getting to a place where I was not prepared to go,” Elsner says, adding that he did not initiate the conversation. At that point I informed my wife.”
Esquimalt Mayor Barbara Desjardins, lead co-chair of the civilian police board, says the board received notice of the issue at the end of August and launched an investigation, which concluded a few weeks ago.
The investigation and subsequent report were done by an external party, she adds, to ensure confidentiality and thoroughness.
“There was no indication of an inappropriate relationship but there was indication of inappropriate use of direct messaging and Twitter,” Desjardins says. “Our chief is embarrassed, and very remorseful for engaging on Twitter in the manner that he did.”
The board says an agreement on disciplinary action against the chief has been reached but won’t disclose it, citing confidentiality.
The report will now be sent to the office of the police complaints commissioner. As for the board, it says it still has “full confidence in the chief’s ability".
“Of course you can imagine the pain all of this is putting on both parties, and it’s really unfortunate,” Desjardins says. “In our mind this is now wrapped up…we’re hopeful that our force can move on now, and this is now concluded.”
As for Elsner, he says he has learned his lesson and is moving forward.
“This doesn’t meet the standard that is expected of me, or that I expect from myself,” he says. “This will never happen again…It’s over, it’s done with, and the matter is complete.”
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Scott Roberts and CTV Vancouver Island
