Vancouver police commits to implement all recommendations from Const. Nicole Chan inquest

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

The Vancouver Police Department says it's committed to implementing all recommendations addressed to the force from the inquest into Const. Nicole Chan's suicide. 

The VPD has outlined how it will respond to the inquest in a report that's due to be presented to the Vancouver Police Board on Thursday.

The 10-day inquest into Chan's death, which concluded Feb. 1, made eight recommendations to the police focused on training, recruiting and human resources matters.

Chan, 30, took her own life hours after being released from the Vancouver General Hospital access and assessment centre, where she was taken after she was apprehended by VPD officers under the Mental Health Act as a suicide risk.

The inquest heard about Chan's history of mental health struggles and that she had been intimately involved with two superior VPD officers. 

Chan filed a complaint against one of those officers, Sgt. David Van Patten, alleging he had sexually assaulted and extorted her. Van Patten was Chan's supervisor in the force's human resources section.

Chan alleged in a WorkSafeBC claim that Van Patten told her not to report their relationship, or that she was feeling poorly, to the VPD psychologist. She alleged Van Patten warned her he had access to her human resources file, including reports from the psychologist.

Training about rumours and gossip

The inquest recommended that mandatory psychological clinical interviews be part of every potential police officer's recruitment process.

The force says such interviews occur on a "case-by-case basis" but that it has other tests and practices in consultation with experts and will now implement a two-test approach "with a structured follow-up psychological interview for police recruit candidates."

It also says it commits to seeking funding for annual psychological check-ins to all sworn officers, in line with another recommendation. 

Another recommendation is that the VPD update its respectful workplace policy to recognize rumours and gossip as examples of unprofessional behaviour.

The police says that will be included when the policy is amended later this year.

The force estimates it will cost between $433,000 and $543,000 yearly to implement all of the jury's recommendations. 

Here are the other recommendations the VPD says it will implement:

• Police officers in the human resources department should receive specific training relative to the duties of a human resources professional.
• Ensuring each section within the human resources department works interdependently rather than independently of each other.
• Have a human resource or peer support case representative in regular contact with all employees with mental health issues, and the family and/or support circle if permitted by the employee, to establish and build a relationship and provide continuity of care.
• Training specific to promotions should include formal administrative and management training.
• Ensuring respectful workplace training is mandatory, rigorous, in-person and regular for all ranks of police officers.

If you or someone you know is struggling, here's where to get help:

• Canada Suicide Prevention Service: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text).

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling on the website.

• Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.

This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you're worried about.