Chad Skelton, Vancouver, B.C. (Vancouver Sun) – A Richmond RCMP officer has been fired after a disciplinary board found he shoplifted from a grocery store and then lied about it to his commanding officer.
Const. Khomphet (Kam) Khamphoune was caught shoplifting $133 worth of over-the-counter drugs while off-duty on May 29, 2008, by a security guard at an Extra Foods in east Vancouver.
He pleaded guilty to theft a year later and was given a conditional discharge.
Following his sentencing, Khamphoune was ordered to appear before an RCMP disciplinary board. A copy of that board’s decision, recently obtained by The Vancouver Sun, concludes Khamphoune’s conduct was “disgraceful” and that he can no longer serve as a police officer.
“Unfortunately, Const. Khamphoune has proven he does not have the character to know where to draw the line between dealing with the truth and deception,” the decision states.
The board, made up of three senior Mounties, found Khamphoune’s theft alone was a firing offence. But it noted he made the situation even worse when, in trying to justify why he shouldn’t be suspended without pay, he lied to his superior.
After being notified by Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass that the force was considering not paying him during his suspension, Khamphoune wrote back that he never intended to steal anything and was actually trying to pay for the items at Extra Foods when he was nabbed by the security guard.
The disciplinary board noted surveillance footage from the store clearly contradicts Khamphoune’s account, showing the officer was on his way out of the store when he was stopped and made no visible attempt to return to the checkout counter.
In deciding how to discipline Khamphoune, the board noted there were some mitigating factors for his actions, including that he was suffering stress at the time due to the premature birth of his daughter. However, the board also noted Khamphoune had not shown remorse for his actions and engaged in “outright lying” after being caught — telling the Vancouver officers who arrested him that he had bought the stolen items at another store.
According to the decision, Khamphoune also sought special treatment from the Vancouver officers for being a cop, telling them, “I am one of you.”
The board’s decision also notes Khamphoune had been disciplined for theft once before, albeit a minor case — stealing water bottles from RCMP offices.
“The deceptive activities of Const. Khamphoune from shoplifting, uncooperative behaviour, lying to the investigating Vancouver police officers and submitting a false statement to the commanding officer … is so serious in nature that the sanction ought to be no less than dismissal,” the board found.
The decision to fire Khamphoune was made by the RCMP board in October 2009. However, a written copy of its decision was only recently released in response to a request from The Sun.
RCMP spokeswoman Const. Annie Linteau said Khamphoune tried to appeal the board’s decision to the RCMP’s external review committee, but was turned down because he missed the deadline.
Khamphoune’s lawyer James Straith said Khamphoune would not comment on the disciplinary case.
I am not sure what you are asking RMR, please rephrase.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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What country was this course in RMR?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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DT: Just look around and you will get the picture and I don’t believe thing have changed all that much.
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I guess what I am trying to say is that I am trying to attack the organization and their policies, and not the individual. That is what you once said to do, right?
JG
You are 100% right. I would also hold accountable the people (individuals) who draft and impose these political policies.
Calvin Lawrence
CGL Consulting
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Well JohnnyG, I think that we all are familiar with the lengthy and unwieldy processes that make up the “due process” as we know it exists today for even the RCMP.
However, I sometimes wonder if the organization should just take gun and badge, show them the door, and then worry about the civil suits and federal court process later. You know in the case of the noted moron in this story, it would probably have saved money in the long run, and I think that the public would rather hear that they were forced to keep somebody because of the prevailing laws rather than reading about the due process in totality. (After all if they would have given him the door in the “young women” debacle that preceded the other two issues, they would not have had this mess to deal with.)
I am sure, as in days past that some would just walk and never fight anything.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Yes I recall that debacle where one person was discharged at the outcome of the porn investigation, charged criminally, plead guilty, and soon left the province of BC. This individual had pictures but were not classified as child porn.
What I was referring to in the first post was 2 thumbs down on the statement: “Good person to divest themselves of.” Who could possibly think he was not a good candidate to get the proverbial boot? Methinks someone who just sees the author and hits the red button.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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“I hate to bring the subjects race into this”
JG.
Why do you feel that you have to bring race into the discussion if the RCMP Watch Article is not about Race? Please do not gloss over this question. Take a minute, and please answer the question. I ask it with interest and I am beyond being offended in this life.
But, if you are a caucasian that so much as sprains’ your ankle in the last week and can’t walk on it, they will kick you out.
JG.
So as I understand, minority groups who are engaged at Depot are given special treatment and are substandard? I think that you mentioned women in the mix in some of your past comments? Caucasians that attend Depot are all qualified and terminated for the slightest offence?
Interesting concept.
Calvin Lawrence
CGL Consulting
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Calvin, I never said all minorities and natives are substandard. Quite to the contrary. There are some very good members that work hard and are just all around great people. That is not what I am talking about. All I am saying is because of the urgency to fill quota’s, targets, percentages or benchmarks, there are too many people that being put into the system that are incompetent and should not be there. Yes, there are poor workers of all races, but the way the system is designed it ends up that some visible minorities get in the door where if they were a Caucasian they would never have even gotten past the written exam, let alone the interview stage.
Calvin this is the breakdown of hiring the precedence as it was once explained to me.
1. Native Female
2. Native Male
3. Visible Minority Female.
4 Visible Minority Male.
5.Francophone female
6. Francophone male
7. Anglo female
8 Anglo Male
This is the problem when you have benchmarks and make lists like this. One starts placing more value on the top.
By the time you get to the bottom, the applications are a dime a dozen. That is where the greatest pool of applications are. I am not saying if a cadet is a kleptomaniac of any race they are going to keep him or her. But, what I will say is that they will bend further when looking at a persons background, competence level and transgressions.
I have told stories of special treatment for minorities that I know of and talked about in the past, and here is one example that nobody can deny exists. When Bishop was the CO of H division, he had a rule that cadets from there couldn’t go back there. Funny how this rule didn’t include visible minorities. Also funny how they were never even sent to Cole Harbour detachment where they could have effected community policing in the racially tense Preston’s or Cherry Brook. Now, I agree with you that blacks shouldn’t be made to police only other blacks, but if you are going to send one group over another back to their home province, atleast have a reason… In a article I recently posted by SK MP Garry Breitkreuz it discussed this type of preferential treatment.
I know of a Tribal police force cadet that failed her midterm twice, and was subsequently kicked out of Depot. When you fail your midterm twice, the rule is that you never come back. But, this person then turned around and applied to the RCMP and was told that failing the midterm didn’t matter as it wasn’t with the RCMP. What am I to deduce from this? Does anyone think the force would have been as welcoming had this been a Caucasian male? Seriously?
The problem when you have special treatment in one capacity, the perception is that there is special treatment in most capacities. When I see what Mr. Khamphoune’s past is like, I wonder if this is just the tip of the iceburg.This is where race get brought up. One starts to wonder if Mr. Khamphoune has been dealt with less harshly in regard to past transgressions because of being a visible minority. Did the same rules apply to him?
If the rules aren’t applied equally, this breeds resentment and harassment. People don’t openly talks about such problems for fear of racism. This breeds frustration and where where there is no constructive outlet, it then becomes an attack on the individual. This is where harassment comes into the equation. The system is seen as hiring less competent people, so individuals take it upon them selves to hound that person out. In some circles where I have seen visible minorities that should never have been ever recruited, the whites go around harassing them saying “this useless person is of this or that race and speaks three languages, we are going to be saluting this person someday”. But, Calvin, I also abhor this kind of behavior and the blood thirsty mob mentality that goes with it. My attitude is let the system deal with it, but because these people see a breakdown in the system they are unrelenting.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I am trying to attack the organization and their policies, and not the individual. That is what you once said to do, right?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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RMR, I hate to bring the subjects race into this and I am not suggesting that any one group is more succeptable to bad behaviour than another. But, what I will say is that there are some double standards in the force on how harshley they deal with mistakes that happen.
I know of one example in Depot where a member of a minority group got intoxicated the night of his pass out parade, and went AWOL. They let him graduate, take time to dry out then start work. But, if you are a caucasian that so much as spraigns your ankle in the last week and can’t walk on it, they will kick you out, make you reapply and do training over from day one. Pretty harsh, but true.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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JohnnyG; I would hope this is not the case because if this is so, that there are apparent double standards working for some and against others, it will no dough cause division in the ranks and file, decrease morals and flare up some resentments towards the upper management, especially if this individual climbs the ranks faster that the others. Some might even quit doing their jobs as they use too.
I remember taking a course with a bunch of police officers years ago at a police academy but in this bunch we had a few that thought going out every night on the town drinking and running around with the local married woman was better and more fun than taking the course seriously, so one of them flat out failed.
Guess what happen to this defunct police officer? The academy wanted their records to show that all of them passed so he got his certificate just like all of us. We didn’t think that was fair but what can you do?
So he went back home to his wife and his family with a certificate he didn’t pass with his head hanging down low.
The people who sent him there to better this man thought he did so good he was promoted and rose to the top job.
I’m sure he’s not the only one out there like this.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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That’s interesting, who would think this is a good guy to keep?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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DT, it gets better. If you remember he had been investigated for Child porn as well. Makes you wonder who did the background on this guy.
When I was in Depot, there was a ring of thefts in the locker rooms. The administration was running around pointing the finger at the custodial staff. It wasn’t them, never thought it was….
RMR, at first I thought the Colonel should be put before a firing squad, but quickly changed my mind when it occured to me that he doesn’t deserve to die a soldiers honorable death. Just like the Nurenburg boys, he should be strung up.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Like I said; can it get darker for the Mounties?
I would think that it might be appropriate to review the decisions that were made to keep this police officer instead of giving him the brown boot.
It’s not normal to have 1 strike, 2 strikes and 3 strikes you are out and to comment that he was stressed because of the birth of his daughter.
I think this force is much to lenient on it’s members and this is why they promote into doing more serious things.
About the lockers, if they had the gal to do something about these guys/girls who act like thieves instead of police officers no one would be reading about this right now.
So I guess the training is the pits in Regina because they are not enforcing the laws at ground level. Maybe they can hire the guy who caught the RCMP officer stealing in the store and he will get them if the force is unable to detect and catch the ones stealing from those lockers.
It would actually cost allot less in the end as well.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Today is a dark day;
A Military Commander sentenced to two 25 year prison terms for killing two woman in Ontario and an RCMP member who is paid reasonably well to uphold the law, who is caught instead shoplifting not once but twice and lies about the whole matter and ask for special favor when police are called.
Those days are over I hope….
Then we have the turmoil within the RCMP at the top level. Priminister Steven Harper must be really discouraged that all of this happened on his shift and you could see how he was down trotted today on the news.
If only he had of moved when it all bagan with the former Commissioner Zarcardelli, then he did nothing when the Polish visitor was killed in BC at the airport, then we had that suspended RCMP member who killed in cold blood that Polish police officer in his cruiser at the hospital and how many other killings have taken place in between. He should have called a serious Inquiry into the operations of the RCMP and handled the Mulroney and Shriber affair more honestly so now what will happen, this country is in a mess and no one seems to be able to get a grip on things and probably until they do things right, they won’t.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Good person to divest themselves of.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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