(Prince George Citizen) – The relationship between Prince George’s top cop and the the city’s top civilian employee at the local RCMP detachment has been termed a conflict of interest in a report commissioned by the City of Prince George.
The Citizen has learned the report about RCMP Supt. Dahl Chambers and civilian employee Ann Bailey has not been acted upon since it was completed more than six weeks ago, nor had city councillors been made aware of its existence.
Chambers said the reason he believes it hasn’t been acted upon is because the report’s author, lawyer Kitty Heller of K.J. Heller Law Corp. in Vancouver, does not understand the levels of professional hierarchy that separate him and Bailey, his live-in partner.
Bailey declined to comment.
Chambers also said city administrators were made aware of the relationship long ago and it has been scrutinized for any crossing of lines and none was found.
Heller’s report states, “(the relationship) has been, in truth, in a conflict of interest since fall 2004, and most especially, since September 2006, when (Bailey and Chambers) moved in together. There is little doubt that a reasonable person would conclude that this person could benefit from the relationship.”
“Pick a point of collusion,” Chambers said. “I couldn’t do that (advance a personal agenda in concert with Bailey) without a number of people interceding. There are too many checks and balances.”
Although they do attend certain meetings together and their jobs are in the same building, Chambers said they do not report to each other — Bailey is a city employee while Chambers is an RCMP employee — nor does Bailey report to any RCMP officer, nor does Chambers report to any city employee.
Chambers said there are many other officer-to-officer relationships and officer-to-municipal relationships and municipal-to-municipal relationships that are much closer and more intersecting than his.
However, there are some at the Prince George RCMP detachment who say the relationship between Chambers and Bailey at the very least has an effect on the morale around the building. One such employee, Ken Corrigan, lost his job as top civilian at the detachment during a recent City of Prince George personnel reorganization. Bailey was his replacement, along with another civilian, as the former job was split in two.
Corrigan has formally complained about the conditions of the workplace leading up to his departure in September 2007.
Within days of Corrigan’s exit from the detachment, two others who worked closely with both Corrigan and Chambers, Sheri McLean-Smith (Chambers’ confidential assistant) and Linda Thompson (Chambers’ executive assistant), took a leave of absence from their civilian posts. They told The Citizen they acted under the city’s whistleblower policy and it was their initiative that prompted Heller’s report.
“We believe it was wrongful dismissal (of Corrigan),” said McLean-Smith.
They have also filed a grievance with City of Prince George over its perceived lack of action on the issue. They say they are disturbed that it has taken more than six months to reach this point since their formal complaints were filed, and even longer since informal complaints were raised with the administrative services department.
“I think this is all a message designed to keep other potential whistleblowers from ever coming forward,” McLean-Smith said.
“It is unfortunate that you do the right thing and you pay the price,” said Thompson.
Recent Comments