The Delta Police Department has responded to questions raised this week about funds used to pay an outside public relations firm to manage communications following an incident last summer involving Chief Neil Dubord’s wife.
In a statement issued by the department late Wednesday afternoon, DPD Deputy Chief Harj Sidhu said recently the department received a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from media for its contract with a communications consulting firm.
In compliance with restrictions set out in the FOI Act, the DPD did not release the contract, as it involved a third party – the consulting firm, he said.
“In the interests of transparency however, I can disclose that the full value of the contract was approximately $42,000 – including funds paid after the FOI request was received,” said Sidhu. “Like other police departments and municipalities, the DPD regularly hires external subject matter experts in a variety of areas – cybersecurity, strategic planning, web design, legal services and more. For example, the DPD paid $61,000 to a consultant to help create a strategic plan.
“The DPD works hard to be fiscally responsible and is continuously looking for efficiencies and costs savings while maintaining safe communities. In 2020 the DPD had a budget surplus of approximately $975,000 which will be returned to the City and ultimately the taxpayers of Delta.”
He said anyone interested in learning more about the DPD’s budget can find a detailed accounting of the department’s expenditures, which is included in every Police Board agenda package, available on the DPD website at: https://deltapolice.ca/delta-police-board/agendas/.
“The cost of the consulting firm, as indicated above, was managed within the DPD’s 2020 budget,” he added. “No additional funds were sought from the City. The contract with the firm was set up by former Deputy Chief Norm Lipinski, and he consulted directly with the firm. The terms of the contract were to assist the DPD with communications regarding a complex and unusual set of circumstances.
“The DPD and its officers and staff continue to be fully cooperative and transparent with the ongoing external Vancouver Police Department (VPD) investigation into related matters concerning Lorraine Dubord. As previously reported, this investigation has civilian oversight through the Office of the Police Complaints Commission (OPCC).”
The OPCC last month announced that it was extending the timeline for its investigation. It is expected that the OPCC investigation report will be released sometime in March.
On Wednesday morning, Coun. Lois Jackson told the Optimist that she planned to bring forward a notice of motion at next Monday’s council meeting, adding she does not want to comment on the case itself, but instead questions whether the hiring of a public relations firm is something over-and-above what a department would do for anyone.
“Is this over-and-above and, if so, should we be doing over-and-above things for special people? I don’t know. I support our police, having been chair of the police board for 20 years, and the chief is not even involved. As an elected councillor, I want to know more about this and just want answers,” Jackson said.
The incident in question took place on June 6, 2020 when Richmond teacher and Surrey resident Kiran Sidhu was making her way back to her parked car after a socially-distanced picnic with friends at Centennial Beach in Boundary Bay.
Unfamiliar with the beach area, and with the tide coming in, Sidhu said she was forced to climb onto rocks, which are on public property, to get to where her car was parked.
As Sidhu walked across the rocks, which were along the Dubord’s fence line, she said Lorraine Dubord yelled at her over the fence from her back yard to get down, but with the tide coming in, Sidhu said she was unable to do so.
Both Dubord and Sidhu exchanged words and Dubord left their altercation only to return moments later where she allegedly sprayed Sidhu with a garden hose.
Surrey RCMP investigated the incident and recommended charges against Dubord of one count of uttering threats for allegedly threatening to push Sidhu off the rocks and one count of assault for spraying her with the hose.
An RCMP investigation was initiated after Sidhu was not happy with how DPD handled her case and after she logged a formal complaint with the department.
The BC Prosecution Service in September announced that rather than charges, Dubord would face alternative measures.
“If the person alleged to have committed an offence in this case enters into and successfully completes an Alternative Measures agreement there will be no prosecution,” spokesperson Dan McLaughlin told the Optimist last September. “Under the terms of this policy, subject to certain limitations, Crown Counsel are encouraged to consider alternative measures in every case where the successful completion of an alternative measures program can achieve the most important objectives of a court prosecution.”
Lorraine Dubord did issue an apology when the story broke late last June, provided exclusively to the Optimist, for “the way the situation was handled.”
