BC Mountie docked pay after harassing rookie

CONTENT ADVISORY

A BC Mountie, who harassed a rookie officer while joking about using his penis as a battering ram and discussing the best way to take photographs of testicles in the sunset, has had his pay docked for a year.

According to a recently published July 23 RCMP Conduct Board decision, RCMP Const. Kalan Gillmann failed to treat his trainee colleague with respect and courtesy, and engaged in harassment and sexual harassment towards her.

The decision says Const. Gillmann was a field coach at a training program at the Kitimat Detachment, where new RCMP recruits undergo a six-month posting, with the guidance of an experienced officer.

However, things didn’t start well when the newbie Mountie started working under Const. Gillman in early 2021.

Const. Gillman told the rookie that his wife had the same name as hers, and he would try not to call her “babe.”

Then, when Const. Gillman had the rookie and her boyfriend over for dinner, talked about inequalities at the RCMP, saying women and people of colour got more opportunities, grants and scholarships.

A month later, he said he knew it was her walking up the stairs because it sounded “big, slow, and depressed.”

Another incident occurred when the rookie officer suggested she do LGBTQ2S+ outreach, and Const. Gillman said she couldn’t as she wasn’t part of that community.

When she told him she was part of “that community” he asked her what she identified as.

“This question offended and disgusted (her), as she felt that Const. Gillmann’s tone was ‘making fun’ of the situation. She replied that she did not have to tell him how she identified,” the decision reads.

On one occasion, the rookie was working on a Facebook fraud file and asked Const. Gillman for advice but he told her it was “bottom-of-the-barrel stuff” and that it was “unimportant.”

Another incident transpired when the rookie officer went to the detachment on her day off. The officer told her she would have to restart the training program and gave her some forms to sign.

He’d written “mental difficulties” on one of the forms, and the rookie questioned what this meant.

“Gillmann explained that he perceived (her) to be struggling with not liking Kitimat and its weather, her boyfriend not having a job, (and) stressors on her police files,” the decision reads.

The form was changed to “issues with stress” but the newbie officer wasn’t happy.

“(She) was upset at the meeting and could not articulate how she felt, but she felt pressure to sign the forms,” the decision says.

The next day, she asked him to shred the forms, but it wasn’t done.

Staff Sgt. Morgan got involved and told Const. Gillmann not to submit the forms and not to have any contact with the rookie officer.

The decision lists other incidents where Const. Gillmann joked with his colleagues about using his “dick” as a battering ram after he forgot to take the actual battering ram while conducting a search warrant at a residence.

On another occasion, the officer joked with his colleagues about the best way to take pictures of testicles in the sunset, and mimicked the action. On another occasion, he joked with his colleagues about a sexually explicit scene from the TV show The Boys.

The RCMP Conduct Board said that while the sexual comments weren’t directed at the rookie, the “cumulative result” was that she was “offended, belittled and humiliated.”

The RCMP Conduct Board found that Const. Gillmann had “engaged in an overall pattern” of “discourteous or disrespectful conduct, harassment and sexual harassment.”

The decision says Const. Gillmann has been in the RCMP since 2018 and had advanced beyond his years of service.

He’d established good relationships with the local Indigenous community, become a school liaison officer, and become heavily involved in the community.

A joint proposal between the Mountie’s lawyer and the Conduct Board put forward a penalty that the officer would see his salary reduced for 12 months, and be made to complete numerous training courses, and wouldn’t be able to coach new staff for two years. He also had to write the rookie a letter of apology.

“This significant financial penalty provides a clear message that the RCMP will not tolerate harassment of any kind,” the Conduct Board said in the decision. “It will ensure that (Const. Gillmann) is fully aware of his obligations in maintaining a respectful workplace in the future.”

The Conduct Board said the RCMP will not tolerate this type of behaviour.

“The RCMP’s reputation has been significantly tarnished in recent years over allegations of a toxic culture,” the Board said. “The public has a right to expect that RCMP members, whom they trust to uphold and enforce the law, will always demonstrate courtesy and respect for others and refrain from harassing co-workers. (Const. Gillmann) behaviour breached that trust in significant ways.”