WARNING: This story contains offensive language.
A Coquitlam, B.C., RCMP constable testified on his own behalf at a hearing Wednesday for whether he should be dismissed from the force for derogatory comments he made in group chats with other officers.
In November, RCMP adjudicator Louise Morel found Coquitlam constables Philip Dick, Ian Solven and Mersad Mesbah failed to treat people with respect and courtesy when speaking in an online group chat and on police computer terminals.
The adjudication board hearing Wednesday was specifically around Mesbah’s conduct.
The lawyer for the RCMP’s conduct authority John MacLaughlan said Mesbah should be dismissed immediately or directed to resign in 14 days.
But Mesbah’s lawyer Allison Tremblay said his relationship with the RCMP could be rehabilitated with stringent measures, but not dismissal.
MacLaughlin said Mesbah’s misconduct is “fundamentally incompatible with the role of a police officer” and said dismissal is the only reasonable measure.
He noted the board is responsible to maintain public confidence in the RCMP and its disciplinary process.
MacLaughlin noted Mesbah has now been suspended for longer than he served as a regular member.
He said Mesbah shirked accountability for denying he understood the the meaning of the alleged racial slur “goldfish” despite his repeated uses of that term, and the “unpalatable term g-u-n-t” for a woman’s stomach that he used to describe a female colleague’s body while saying he was unable to look away from it while on duty.
MacLaughlin also said Mesbah, while he was on duty, expressed hope that a woman be murdered by a man, and also said he would have pepper-sprayed a woman.
Mesbah said he regretted using those words and would not have acted on them.
Mesbah said he grew up in Iran and came to Canada when he was 15, knowing zero English.
He said he received a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Simon Fraser University in 2016, became a police officer in 2017 and was posted to the Coquitlam detachment.
Mesbah’s lawyer Allison Tremblay cited reports supporting Mesbah’s professionalism, particularly his work with the Iranian community.
Mesbah said “something changed” in the Coquitlam detachment in 2018, when he started noticing patternable sickness and “file-dodging” from colleagues and the work environment eventually made him resentful.
He said he coped through the group chats, which he described as “a place where I could just unload this level of animosity and anger because I was watching these same things happen over and over.”
“[It] almost felt like a landfill: just go and dump this terrible thing that you have in your head so you don’t carry it into your next file.”
Mesbah said having two daughters changed his perspective on “body issues” and he learned internal anger management through counselling.
He said he still hopes to be a police officer and said he had handled thousands of files without any issues.
Tremblay said serious consequences would be appropriate such as a loss of pay for 45 days or training.
All three Coquitlam constables were suspended with pay, according to a B.C. RCMP spokesperson in November.
Morel will make her decision on Jan. 13.
