Mounties in British Columbia say they have launched a code-of-conduct investigation after "graphic, staged photos" of an RCMP officer were posted on the Internet.
The photos include images of bondage and torture, and some are sexually explicit.
Assistant Commissioner Randy Beck, acting commanding officer of the B.C. RCMP, confirmed Thursday that the force has launched an investigation into the officer's actions, which will be led by the Richmond, B.C., RCMP.
"In keeping with the RCMP's commitment to hold our members to a higher standard, I am taking the unusual step of asking an external police agency to independently review our internal code-of-conduct investigation," Beck said in a statement.
Beck didn't say which independent police agency would later review the code-of-conduct investigation.
The officer in charge of the Coquitlam detachment, where the Mountie under investigation is based, was aware of the pictures as far back as December, 2010, but at the time believed the pictures existed only on the man's personal flash drive, Beck said.
After consultation, he did not believe it met the threshold for a code-of-conduct violation, Beck said.
"While we must strike a balance between an individual's rights and freedoms when off duty and the RCMP code of conduct, I am personally embarrassed and very disappointed that the RCMP would be, in any way, linked to photos of that nature."
The RCMP has not identified the officer but the CBC says Cpl. Jim Brown is the subject of the pictures, which show sexually explicit torture images, including one picture where the man is holding a large butcher knife to a naked woman's throat. Brown could not be reached for comment.
Several of the photos show a bald-headed man with a goatee, dressed in black, leather-like pants, with a large machete. In one, he is binding the hands and feet of a woman who is lying on grass and wearing a yellow dress. Nothing the man wears appears to connect him to the RCMP, although he does wear a pair of tall dark boots in some images.
The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, which is examining why it took police so long to catch convicted B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, was also asking questions Thursday because Brown played a minor role during the investigation.
The delay in the code-of-conduct investigation is being criticized by psychologist Mike Webster who counsels male and female Mounties who have faced harassment.
"What do you think this is going to do to the families of the missing women when they find out this guy was involved even minimally in this (Pickton) investigation?"
Copyright 2012 Toronto Star Newspapers Limited
