OFFICER FIRED AFTER BEING CHARGED

Cop accused of trafficking in marijuana, breach of trust, break-and-enter

By Jack Keating, The Province

A Vancouver police officer was fired within hours of being arrested
and charged with four criminal offences, including drug dealing while
on the job, said Chief Const. Jim Chu on Wednesday.

Calling Const. Peter Hodson a "rogue officer," Chu said Hodson was
arrested at police headquarters Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. and "charged
with trafficking in marijuana, two counts of breach of trust, one for
selling drugs and the other for the illegal use of a police database.
In addition, he was charged with break-and-enter with the intent to
commit extortion."

The police chief termed the allegations against Hodson "shocking,
highly disturbing and disgraceful."

"I can tell you that we observed behaviour that suggested Hodson was
trafficking street-level amounts of marijuana both on and off duty," he said.

"We have evidence that we've assembled that the criminal offences
occurred both on and off duty."

Chu said the 31-year-old officer will remain in jail until a court
appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court today.

Hodson was a constable with the VPD for close to five years and
worked in a patrol car as a general patrol officer in District 2,
which includes the Downtown Eastside.

"There will be no discussion here of discipline or suspension. I have
taken the step of firing Hodson as of today," said Chu at a hastily
called news conference at the same police headquarters on Cambie
Street where the officer was arrested 31/2 hours earlier.

Co-accused Oscar Lapitan is charged with trafficking marijuana. The
VPD released no further information on the co-accused.

Chu said the VPD received information regarding Hodson's alleged
illegal activities during the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February.

"We had to take immediate and thorough action to determine whether
the allegations were true and if they were, if the rot was confined
to this one officer," said Chu.

"This joint investigation revealed no evidence that this was anything
more than the actions of a single rogue officer," said Chu. "I want
to reassure the public that the integrity of the VPD, while shaken by
this abhorrent incident, has not been broken."

Chu said as many as 30 police officers were involved in the "covert"
operation that led to Hodson's arrest, including officers from the
major-crime section and other "experts" within the force, as well as
"specialized units" from the RCMP.

Chu said the investigation uncovered "disturbing and disgraceful"
behaviour by the police officer.

Chu noted that Hodson was arrested and charged with impaired driving
as well as driving with a blood-alcohol level exceeding 80 milligrams
of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood while off duty in November.
Those charges are still before the court.

As a teen, Hodson was a star high-school basketball player at White
Rock Christian and then played several years with the University of
B.C. Thunderbirds, including on the T-Birds team that won the Canada
West championship in 2003.

He also founded Under the Reading Tree, a registered charitable
organization for bringing libraries and literacy to East Africa.