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(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kamloops cab driver says he watched potential fares climb into a police cruiser as four attractive young women got a ride from a downtown bar with a Kamloops RCMP officer this week.

Rick MacGregor was waiting in his taxi outside The Commodore after the bar closed when he first saw two young women emerge and walk toward a police officer across the street.

"All of a sudden there were seven girls outside his cruiser," he said. "He hugged at least two of them."

He was working the night shift beginning Wednesday and he watched as the officer eventually left with four women in the cruiser around 2:30 a.m., April 27.

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The behaviour was unprofessional, in MacGregor's view, but he didn't contact anyone at the detachment to make them aware what he saw.

Before the officer drove off with his four passengers, MacGregor managed to collect one fare and return while the officer was still on Victoria Street.

When he got back, there were two officers facing each other, with one facing the wrong way in a Victoria Street parking spot.

"The other fellow wasn't quite as engaging with the girls. He was off to the back of them," MacGregor said.

Meanwhile, the group of young women surrounded the officer with another man who accompanied them.

MacGregor guessed they were all in their early-20s. The officer who was speaking with them was a Caucasian man, MacGregor said appeared to be in his early-30s with a trimmed beard. He was either bald or had very short hair, MacGregor said.

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"I saw them come out of The Commodore. One of them was really drunk. She punched my cab and all he did was laugh about it," MacGregor said.

While he waited for more passengers, he watched as the officer had four women pile into his cruiser and they took off.

"Last I saw him he was heading up West Columbia, nowhere near the detachment," MacGregor said, adding the officer didn't drive home the man who was with them. He eventually got into MacGregor's cab . They didn't speak about the cop who drove the women from the scene.

MacGregor suggested it was likely because they were young, attractive women that they were given a ride from the bar by RCMP after closing.

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"It was definitely the young girls that had an influence on that deal," he said. "The thing that was annoying was there were four taxi cabs there and he took off with four potential fares. They obviously needed a ride."

While the other officer at the bar was barely involved, he called the display on Victoria Street "unprofessional."

MacGregor was concerned that an officer would let someone who appeared to be a stranger so close to the firearm on his waist.

"Allowing somebody that close to a service (firearm) is one of the things that really bothered me," he said. "And they're basically taking away from my livelihood, using a vehicle that I pay taxes to provide for them. My taxes provide that vehicle for them, then I've got to compete with them for my livelihood? It smells bad to me."

It's not clear where he took the four bar-goers or for what reason, but some officers have used their position to pursue sexual relationships in the past.

Kelowna RCMP officer Brian Burkett was given a nine-month conditional sentence in 2021 when he was found to be sending sexually explicit texts to women he met on the job. He met them through various service calls like domestic abuse investigations, traffic stops and shoplifting.

He was charged with seven counts of breach of trust, which was later reduced to a single charge.

Kamloops RCMP did not respond to a request for comment and it's not clear whether the detachment is aware of the downtown incident.

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