North Island Mountie resigned before he could be punished in misconduct investigation

A former Vancouver Island Mountie harassed a subordinate and abused his authority, but resigned from the force before he could be punished for it, according to a recently published disciplinary decision.

The discipline arose from an RCMP Code of Conduct investigation against Cpl. Bartholomew Doerr, which was launched after a complaint from his subordinate, identified in the decision as "Const. T.N."

RCMP Conduct Board member Gerald Annetts issued the decision in May, but it was posted online last week. 

According to the document, the conduct authority accused Doerr of "a pattern of repeated improper and offensive conduct including objectionable acts(s), comment(s) or display(s) that demeaned, belittled and caused personal humiliation and embarrassment" to T.N.

The officers worked together in the North Island Integrated Road Safety Unit, based in the Comox Valley, according to the decision.

Doerr was a corporal supervisor for the unit, in which T.N. began a three-month assignment in March 2019. In February 2020, she transferred to the unit on a permanent basis.

There were two misconduct allegations against Doerr. First, he was accused of "(failing) to treat every person with respect and courtesy and (engaging) in harassment." Second, he was accused of "(failing) to act with integrity, fairness and impartiality, and (compromising) or (abusing) his authority, power or position."

The first allegation stemmed from Doerr's communication with and treatment of T.N., with the conduct authority highlighting alleged inappropriate comments about her appearance, "repeated unreasonable text and telephone communications," "personalized and expensive gifts," and sending "inappropriate and sexualized videos and photos," among other things.

The second allegation stemmed from Doerr's alleged threatening of T.N.'s wife – a fellow RCMP officer identified as Const. S.F. – with a code of conduct investigation when S.F. confronted him about his communications with T.N.