Ex-judge to review ‘insufficient’ sexual misconduct penalty for Vancouver officer

A retired judge has been tasked with reviewing a police disciplinary decision that British Columbia’s police complaint commissioner found insufficient given what he describes as the “serious” nature of the officer’s sexual misconduct.

A statement from Commissioner Prabhu Rajan said he was concerned the 10-day suspension without pay for Vancouver officer Keiron McConnell, who has since retired, “does not fit the seriousness” of his admitted sexualized misconduct.

Rajan said the public’s confidence in police and the disciplinary process is “likely to be undermined” without an independent review, and he has appointed Carol Baird Ellan, a former chief judge of the Provincial Court of B.C., to look at the decision.

Ellan had presided over a separate hearing called by Rajan’s office in May, during which McConnell admitted committing misconduct involving coworkers as well as former students from his time working as a university instructor.

The office’s statement on Thursday said McConnell admitted misconduct when he encountered a former student at a bar in 2005, while he was on duty, and had sex with her after his shift knowing that she was under the influence of alcohol.

McConnell 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, the statement said.

That hearing concluded with Ellan ordering that the now-retired police sergeant be demoted and suspended without pay for 20 days.

Rajan said McConnell’s misconduct is “likely to have caused the former student physical, emotional, or psychological harm, and to have violated her dignity.”

The commissioner said he was also concerned the penalty by the police discipline authority did not “appropriately consider” McConnell’s service record that includes “a demotion and lengthy suspension for past sexualized behaviour.”

The latest statement from Rajan’s office said Ellan has been tasked with reviewing the discipline authority’s decision handing McConnell a lesser penalty.

It said the only people who were allowed to participate in that proceeding were McConnell and a “discipline representative” appointed by the authority.

Together, it said they made joint submissions proposing the 10-day suspension without pay.

Under the Police Act, neither the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner nor the former student affected by McConnell’s misconduct were permitted to participate or propose a disciplinary outcome, said the statement issued Thursday.

It said McConnell has retired from the Vancouver Police Department, but his admitted misconduct occurred while he was an active member of the force.

If Ellan’s review results in different disciplinary or “corrective” measures, it would be recorded on his service record of discipline, the statement said.

“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,” Rajan said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2025.