Voyeurism charge against Brandon police officer will not go to trial

A criminal charge of voyeurism against a Brandon police officer will not be going to trial after the Crown entered a stay of proceedings.

The officer was accused of surreptitiously recording images of someone for a sexual purpose, contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada.

The Crown stayed the charge in June, about a month before a trial was set to begin in Brandon. 

Manitoba's Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) of Manitoba, which is mandated to investigate all serious incidents involving police officers, filed the charge in May 2020.

Both the IIU and Brandon Police Service said at the time the officer will not be identified to protect the identity of the complainant. 

"While Manitoba Prosecutions Service cannot speak to the specifics of this matter, generally speaking, for the Crown to proceed, two criteria must be met throughout the prosecution," said a spokesperson for the prosecution. 

"First, there must be sufficient evidence to support a reasonable likelihood of conviction. The second consideration is whether charges are in the public interest, which is considered only if the first standard is also met," the spokesperson said in an email.

When the charge was laid in 2020, Brandon police Chief Wayne Balcaen told CBC the police officer remained employed in a non-operational role, meaning he would not be working "in an investigational capacity."

Chief Balcaen now says the officer "remains employed with the Brandon Police Service and has returned to an operational position. I have spoken with the officer involved and they do not wish to comment."

On the same day in May last year, the IIU announced another police officer had been charged with two counts of publication of an intimate image without consent.

That case involved an officer with the Manitoba First Nations Police Service and is scheduled for trial in Brandon in September.