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Police officer found guilty of misconduct accuses New Westminster's top cop of abusing office

Sgt. Felipe Correa was found guilty of misconduct in July after complaints of unwanted off-duty sexual advances towards women in the department in 2019
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New Westminster Police Department car

A New Westminster Police Department sergeant in the process of being disciplined for making unwanted off-duty sexual advances towards women in the department is now accusing the city’s top cop of an abuse of power.

The police department and the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner got complaints about Sgt. Felipe Correa in May 2019, according to a petition filed by him in Vancouver Supreme Court Monday. 

On July 30, 2021, after an external investigation by Vancouver Police Department Deputy Chief Const. Fiona Wilson, Correa was found guilty of the “misconduct alleged,” the petition states.

As per the Police Act, officers facing potentially serious disciplinary or corrective measures can submit letters of reference from colleagues ahead of their penalty hearings – where those disciplinary or corrective measures are decided.

So Correa sent a letter, with Wilson’s decision attached, to a number of coworkers – both men and women, according to the petition.

Back in May 2019, however, when NWPD Chief Const. Dave Jansen suspended Correa, he had ordered him “not to initiate any contact of any form with any female employee or volunteer” of the department.

And Jansen has now launched new misconduct proceedings against Correa, alleging he committed misconduct when he sent Wilson’s decision and his letter to female colleagues, according to the petition.

But Correa is calling on the court to quash the top cop’s new order of investigation.

He is also petitioning the court to quash Jansen’s May 2019 notice of suspension and declare that his May 2019 order doesn’t prevent him from contacting potential female witnesses now.

Correa argues Jansen’s order not to contact female coworkers was “time-limited,” for “the purpose of protecting the integrity of the investigation and the well-being of potential complainants and witnesses.”

Now that the investigation is complete, Correa argues the order shouldn’t prevent him from contacting female coworkers to get letters of recommendation for his penalty hearing.

He further argues Jansen doesn’t have jurisdiction under the Police Act to ban him from contacting female coworkers at this stage of the discipline proceedings, and he describes Jansen’s continuation of the new misconduct investigation as an “abuse of his office as chief constable.”

“Chief Jansen has unconscionably, and in bad faith, placed (Correa) in an unfair dilemma,” states the petition. “On one hand, if (Correa) continues his efforts to approach female witnesses, he is at risk that Chief Jansen will impose serious punishment, up to and including dismissal from his employment and career. On the other hand, if (Correa) refrains from exercising his right to approach witnesses for fear that Chief Jansen will punish him, he will not have a fair hearing and, should it become necessary, a fair appeal.”

Neither Jansen nor Wilson have filed a response to Correa’s petition.

His allegations have not been tested in court.