VANCOUVER — Corporal Jim Brown has worked from the RCMP’s Coquitlam detachment for decades. He played a small but important role in the Mounties’ investigation of Robert (Willie) Pickton, the serial killer who murdered women and disposed of their bodies on a pig farm just a few kilometres from the same Coquitlam detachment.
Cpl. Brown had an alter ego: A boot-wearing, knife-wielding sadomasochist. In a shocking story published Thursday, Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew described several photographs made available for public viewing on Internet websites catering to bondage and sadomasochism enthusiasts. There is Cpl. Brown, “posing in sexually explicit torture images reminiscent of [Pickton’s] crimes.”
The veteran Mountie “appears to wear only his regulation-issue Mountie boots and an erection as he wields a huge knife and a bound naked woman cringes in terror,” writes Mr. Mulgrew, referring to just some of the photos in existence. The Mountie is also depicted grappling with the naked woman, and slashing at her with his knife.
Hundreds more photos of Cpl. Brown in various S&M positions continue to circulate on the Internet. It’s wretched stuff. Just as disturbing, Cpl. Brown’s RCMP superiors have known about the photos since December 2010. An internal investigation was initiated then, and a decision was made to let the matter slide.
In an email exchange Thursday with the National Post, RCMP Supt. Ray Bernoties explained that “[RCMP] Legal Services deemed this to be off duty, non-criminal, adult consensual activity during which the individual was not representing himself as a member of the RCMP and thus did not appear to them to meet the threshold for a Code of Conduct violation.
“While I agree the staged images are very graphic, they appear only on an adult site catering to those that seek them out,” Supt. Bernoties continued. “Having said that, I am very concerned and frankly embarrassed that the RCMP would, in any way, be linked to photos of this nature.”
The Post has learned that other sexually explicit photographs depicting Cpl. Brown were discovered inside the Coquitlam detachment itself. The digitally rendered photos were stored in a small USB device, which was left inserted in a computer and found by other RCMP members.
Supt. Bernoties confirmed the existence of the USB device and its sexually explicit file contents. He added that “the RCMP first learned of the graphic staged photos around December 2010. This activity was investigated at that time and legal opinion sought. In March 2012, the issue of the member’s life style was again investigated. Following that, Cpl. Brown’s personal website was terminated.”
According to sources, Cpl. Brown is now working in an administrative capacity inside the Coquitlam detachment.
Something — media scrutiny, perhaps — has triggered the Mounties to take another, more thorough look at Cpl. Brown’s off-duty, adult consensual activities. They have launched a formal Code of Conduct review, “examining all the events,” to be conducted by RCMP members in Richmond.
“We have also taken the unusual step of requesting an external police agency to conduct an independent review of the internal investigation,” Supt. Bernoties told the Post.
A number of Code of Conduct reviews have been launched lately. Some involve officers convicted of crimes such as assault, theft, and drunk driving. Other officers have admitted to inappropriate sexual behaviour. The list of offences is lengthy.
The reviews are part of the RCMP’s discipline process and performed by “impartial” Mounties, usually drawn from a Professional Standards Unit. They rarely end with a dismissal order against an offending officer. Usually, an offender is docked some pay. Officers can appeal decisions, which can add years to the lengthy and cumbersome process. In many cases, officers retire before disciplinary procedures are completed.
Based on appearances in his sadomasochism photos, Cpl. Brown looks to be at the typical retirement age for an RCMP member.
We have also taken the unusual step of requesting an external police agency to conduct an independent review of the internal investigation
His name and his Internet nickname — Kilted Knight — were discussed during hearings at the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, formed to examine why police bungled their investigations of Robert Pickton.
The inquiry heard that in 1999, Cpl. Brown “produced” a key Pickton informant for the Vancouver Police Department. The source had knowledge about criminal activities — including murder — on the Pickton farm. Sadly, three more years passed before RCMP arrested Pickton. He was eventually charged with 26 counts of murder, and tried in 2007. He was convicted on six counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In May, an inquiry lawyer representing the families of Pickton’s victims suggested to two sworn witnesses — both former Coquitlam detachment members — that Cpl. Brown and other RCMP officers had, in the 1990s, attended social functions at Piggy’s Palace, a local booze can run by Pickton and his brother David, and popular with Hells Angels gang members.
Both of the former Coquitlam officers denied any knowledge of RCMP social visits to Piggy’s Palace.
Inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal said in a statement late Thursday that he has “no evidence to support reopening” the inquiry hearings, which concluded in June; however, he has asked his commission counsel to look into the Brown-sadomasochism revelations, and B.C.’s Ministry of Justice has been notified. Mr. Oppal has until the end of October to submit his inquiry report to B.C.’s justice minister, Shirley Bond.
