KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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1 SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 | Volume 27 No. 111
XMAS CHEER TODAY’S WEATHER
Showers, sunshine High 25 C Low 13 C
SCOT FREE?
Dale Bass on KTW’s W’s at adoption of a great charity cause
Residents of Scotland go to the polls today in the referendum on independence
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View footage from RCMP cellblock [video online]
See footage at kamloopsthisweek.com
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CELLSEX TRIAL OF RCMP CPL. RICK BROWN
TRIAL HEARS OF ‘BULLY’ HEADING ‘DYSFUNCTIONAL DETACHMENT TIM PETRUK STAFF REPORTER tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
KTW and CFJC-TV were successful in their bid to obtain copies of video introduced as evidence during the trial of Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Rick Brown. Video footage is now online at kamloopsthisweek.com. Follow the website for the latest developments in the trial.
The trial of an RCMP corporal who was at the helm of the Kamloops detachment when two drunk women engaged in hardcore sex acts in a jail cell four years ago has heard the office was “dysfunctional in the extreme” at the time — and that senior management took steps to keep the now-notorious incident a secret. RCMP Cpl. Rick Brown is standing trial in B.C. Supreme Court on one count of breach of trust by a public officer. He was watch commander in the early-morning hours of Aug. 18, 2010, when two intoxicated women engaged in explicit sex acts in a detachment jail cell. Court has heard Brown and other Mounties, as well as jail guards, watched the sex acts via closed-circuit video. At no point did anyone intervene. Retired Staff Sgt. Gary Kerr, who was head of the Kamloops detachment’s major-crimes unit at the time, described the local RCMP office in the summer of 2010 as an extremely toxic workplace headed by a man he described a “bully” — then-Insp. Yves Lacasse. Kerr said Brown, who he considered a friend as well as a colleague, became very emotional on Aug. 23, 2010, when Brown told Kerr what had happened five days earlier. According to Kerr, a sobbing Brown said he was too “intimidated” and “scared” to talk to Lacasse about the incident. “He said he couldn’t speak to the
Yves Lacasse was head of the Kamloops RCMP in August 2010, when the now-infamous incident involving two women having sex in the detachment’s jail cells occurred. Gary Kerr, a retired Mountie, was head of the Kamloops RCMP’s major-crimes unit at the time and has testified Lacasse, who Kerr deemed a “bully,” tried to prevent the incident from being made public.
inspector and I could feel for what he was saying,” Kerr said. “That’s how bad relations were at the time.” Kerr said Lacasse created an environment in which officers felt bullied. “I would describe the RCMP detachment at that time as dysfunctional in the extreme,” he said. “Simply stated, the officer in charge, Insp. Lacasse, was extremely, extremely difficult to work for. He was an extreme bully.” Kerr said he was the first investigator
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to look into what happened after the sexin-cells incident was first reported. He said he was under “extreme pressure” from Lacasse to keep from doing anything that could “embarrass the RCMP” — such as issuing a media release. “I wanted to put out a press release,” Kerr said. “I was very adamant something had to get out — and I was basically quashed on that idea in no uncertain terms.” News of the investigation was eventually leaked to the media and the RCMP then issued a vague, cryptic release about “an incident” in a jail cell. Only later did the RCMP provide more detail about the investigation. Earlier in his testimony, Kerr mentioned a sexual incident he witnessed in 1982, while working as a junior Mountie in Powell River. “It was two adult males in the cells and one was performing oral sex on the other,” he said. “I entered the cells and stopped what they were doing. In my mind, it was the wrong thing for them to be doing. It was just inappropriate. “It was just common sense, I suppose.” Lacasse left the RCMP in 2013 for a senior-management job with KGHM Ajax. Brown has been on paid administrative leave from the RCMP since August 2010. The Crown is expected to close its case against Brown on Friday, Sept. 19. It’s not yet known if the defence will call any evidence.
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