IN the public interest, B.C.’s Police Complaint Commissioner Prabhu Rajan has appointed a retired judge to independently review a disciplinary decision concerning the conduct of former Vancouver Police Department member Keiron McConnell and determine the appropriate disciplinary outcome, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) announced on Wednesday.
Following an investigation, the police discipline authority had imposed a 10-day suspension without pay – a penalty the Commissioner considers insufficient given the serious nature of the misconduct.
During a May 2025 discipline proceeding, McConnell admitted he’d committed police misconduct when he encountered a former female student of his at a bar in 2005 when he was on duty and had sex with her after his shift while aware she was under the influence of alcohol. He also admitted exchanging messages with the former student, including inappropriate sexual content, and failing to document his reason for querying the former student’s name in a police database. McConnell had secondary employment teaching policing-related courses at B.C. universities.
The only people who were allowed to participate at the discipline proceeding were McConnell and a discipline representative appointed by the police discipline authority. Together, they made joint submissions proposing a 10-day unpaid suspension. Under the Police Act, neither the affected former student nor the OPCC were permitted to participate or propose a discipline outcome at the proceedings.
“The full range of disciplinary and corrective measures, up to and including dismissal, should be independently considered given the former member’s admission of misconduct coupled with previous admissions of sexualized discreditable conduct made during a public hearing earlier this year,” said Rajan.
“The admitted misconduct in this case is serious in nature and is likely to have caused the former student physical, emotional, or psychological harm, and to have violated her dignity,” said Rajan. “I am concerned that the discipline imposed does not fit the seriousness of the admitted sexualized conduct or appropriately consider the member’s service record, which includes a demotion and lengthy suspension for past sexualized behaviour. The public’s confidence in police and the disciplinary process is likely to be undermined without an independent review.”
The Commissioner has appointed former chief judge of the Provincial Court, Carol Baird Ellan, to preside as adjudicator in these proceedings. A review on the record will allow Ellan to determine the appropriate disciplinary or corrective measures to be imposed and make necessary policy and practice recommendations.
At a separate public hearing presided over by Ellan earlier this year, McConnell admitted to sexualized misconduct involving five co-workers and former students for which he received, among other things, a demotion and a 20-day suspension. Ellan is best placed to conduct this review given that McConnell and the discipline representative connected this case with the public hearing, according to the OPCC.
Although McConnell has retired from the VPD, the conduct admitted in this case occurred while he was an active member. If the review on the record results in different disciplinary or corrective measures, it will be recorded on McConnell’s service record of discipline.
Further details are in the Notice of a Review on the Record which can be found here.
