(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kelowna RCMP officer was docked 15 days pay and transferred after pointing her gun at a colleague.

On March 6, 2019, at roughly 3 a.m. Const. Kristine Roesler, an RCMP officer at Kelowna’s detachment, was sitting at her desk writing a "stressful" report when she was approached by her co-worker Const. Kevin Hess. That's when Hess began teasing her about her work, according to an RCMP code of conduct decision dated July 27, 2020.

Const. Roesler asked him to stop and told him to “f*** off.” When he continued to tease her, she stood up and removed her gun from its holster and pointed it at Hess, according to the documents.

“After a few moments, she returned the gun to her holster and Hess made comments about the size of her firearm and prowess,” according to the decision documents.

In his statement, Hess recalled the gun being pointed at him and looking at the circle of the barrel. Const. Roesler said she did not point the gun directly at Hess and held the gun “in a safe manner, without her finger on the trigger, and at waist height.”

Const. Roesler said “she was not angry and that her action was done in the spirit of 'dark humour',” but inspector Colin Miller who issued the code of conduct decision said otherwise.

“A small error on her part could have resulted in serious injury to Const. Hess or any other member who may have been in the bullpen area,” Miller wrote.

“In handling her firearm in the manner that she did, after becoming upset and potentially endangering other members who were in the detachment, Const. Roesler’s conduct was a significant departure from the standard expected of a member of the RCMP.”

Miller wrote that Const. Roesler is remorseful and has written an apology letter to Const. Hess, her co-workers who were present, the members of Kelowna Detachment, the Conduct Authority, the Conduct Board, the RCMP as a whole and the community of Kelowna.

She has received no prior discipline and had significant personal stressors in her life at the time, including the dissolution of her marriage, financial concerns, being distant from her family and starting a new career.

She has also sought out psychological treatment and has positive performance evaluations, good reference letters and cooperated with the internal investigation.

In addition to deducting pay from Roesler, the conduct board had her transfer to another work location, to work under a supervisor and to receive additional counselling.

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