(File photo)

Dale Boyd

Osoyoos Times

The RCMP are providing no explanation as to why the disciplinary hearing for an officer facing criminal charges for an allegedly lewd act in Penticton in 2018 has moved behind closed doors.

Const. Ryan Fulcher, who worked with the Federal Serious and Organized Crime unit based in Osoyoos, is charged with one count of committing an indecent act, RCMP media personnel and court documents confirmed in December.

The charges have not been proven in a court of law. The RCMP told the Osoyoos Times in December that Fulcher was suspended with pay.

Read more: Osoyoos-based RCMP officer suspended, faces charges for alleged indecent act

The publicly posted code of conduct hearing scheduled for mid-January in Penticton was removed from the RCMP website days prior to the hearing, and the RCMP would not confirm a date or time for the now closed-door meeting.

“While subsection 45.1(2) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act provides that hearings be held in public, it also provides that a conduct board may order that the hearing be held in camera,” said Cpl. Caroline Duval.

The RCMP National Communications Services said a code of conduct board ruled the hearing be conducted in-camera.

“Therefore, we would like to advise you that the re-scheduled hearing will not be accessible to the public or the media,” Duval said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act provides the following reasons for a board to rule a code of conduct hearing is conducted without public access:

    • (a) that information, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the defence of Canada or any state allied or associated with Canada or to the detection, prevention or suppression of subversive or hostile activities, will likely be disclosed during the course of the hearing;

    • (b) that information, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to be injurious to law enforcement, will likely be disclosed during the course of the hearing;

    • (c) that information respecting a person’s financial or personal affairs, if that person’s interest or security outweighs the public’s interest in the information, will likely be disclosed during the course of the hearing; or

    • (d) that it is otherwise required by the circumstances of the case.

Fulcher is still scheduled to appear in court in Penticton at a later date.