Williams Lake RCMP officer, Constable Wilhelm Scheepers was reprimanded back in 2020 due to allegations against him in 2019.
The RCMP released the document detailing the allegations and what transpired in February 2021. There were three allegations that were filed against Scheepers, which lead to hearings with the Conduct Board.
In the first allegation, RCMP say Scheepers engaged in discreditable conduct. Over 100 text messages were sent to a family in Prince George that were insulting, threatening and harassing. This caused the family to fear for their safety. The text messages progressed to other members of the family days after the original texts. The text messages were sent between February 19th and the 23rd, 2019.
The second allegation took place on July 20th, 2019, where Scheepers is accused of driving alongside two young women for several minutes at slow speeds. This also lead to the obstruction of traffic on Oliver Street. He continued by asking for one of their names, phone number, and invited her into his vehicle. 9-1-1 was then called.
The third allegation took place on July 20th, 2019, shorty after the second allegation. In that case he was accused of driving under the influence. RCMP say this lead to driving erratically, which ended in him crashing into a ditch. RCMP attended the scene, where he was uncooperative and argumentative with the officer, that involved disrespectful comments. Police say Scheepers was then taken to the Williams Lake Detachment, where he threw the audio recorder at a wall.
Scheepers was charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle, and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
The document went on to say that the allegations placed Scheepers moral character in doubt, and cause the public to lose confidence in the Force. This lead the Force to have interest in disciplining him.
Scheepers was charged with one count of criminal harassment, and 2 counts of harassing communications. This was for the first allegation.
The document noted that at the time of his misconduct, he was facing personal stressors, cultural and familial isolation, work stress, and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and Alcohol Use Disorder.
Scheepers was given a financial penalty of 45 days without pay, and ineligibility for promotion for three years.
He also agreed that he would also be in communication with his monitoring company at a frequency determined by the company, and also provide written and verbal reports to the Health Services Officer at least once a month. He would also need to provide urine, blood, hair or breath samples on request of the monitoring company within the given time frame.
This aftercare treatment began in September of 2020, and will conclude in September 2022.
You can find the full document on the RCMP’s website here.