KPU instructor faces sexual misconduct allegations towards 7 women

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Kwantlen Polytechnic University criminology instructor Keiron McConnell has been accused of seven accounts of sexual misconduct, and the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) has called a public hearing for the allegations.

McConnell is also a Vancouver police officer and has worked as a sergeant for about 18 years. The allegations against him regard sexual misconduct towards seven women, including fellow police officers and past students at KPU and Royal Roads University (RRU), reads a news release published by the OPCC.  

After considering public interest, the police complaint commissioner decided a public hearing was necessary as the allegations of sexualized behaviour are in work and school environments, which “is a critical issue in society,” the news release reads.

This is the first-ever public hearing the OPCC has called. A hearing date has yet to be scheduled, but the OPCC said it will be held as soon as possible and dates will be posted to its website.

The allegations against McConnell haven’t been proven, and it will be up to the appointed adjudicator, retired provincial court judge Carol Baird Ellan, to determine whether he is guilty and which disciplinary or corrective measures should be taken.

In an email statement, KPU told The Runner McConnell is currently an instructor at the university but cannot comment more because of privacy legislation.

“KPU expects employees to follow its code of conduct and policies, including its sexual misconduct policy. The university follows its related procedures in the event an allegation is made of an employee breaching its code of conduct or policies,” KPU wrote.

The notice of the hearing details the beginning of the investigation, in which the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) sent information to the OPCC in March 2022 about the misconduct.

In December 2021, a photo of McConnell was posted on social media, after which unknown people commented he was a “sexual predator” and has “a history of sexually assaulting his students” at RRU. The following month, a female colleague of McConnell’s came forward with Facebook messages from him in 2018, which she alleged started out friendly but became inappropriate and sexual.

After receiving this information from the VPD, the OPCC issued an order for investigation into McConnell’s conduct, in which they received information about McConnell allegedly sending inappropriate and/or sexual electronic messages to three students at RRU between 2015 and 2017.

One student alleged McConnell had invited her out to drinks, and when she felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave, he followed her into the taxi, prevented her from exiting the car, and attempted to kiss her.

Another student alleged during a class with McConnell, he started texting her on her personal cellphone and sent her emails from his personal accounts, which made her uncomfortable. The third student alleged she received Facebook messages from McConnell with sexual euphemisms. 

The OPCC later received more information from a female KPU student who alleged McConnell sent her sexually inappropriate messages during 2017 and 2018 and continued to do so after she graduated, which she interpreted as him looking for a sexual act. The student said these messages “concerned and upset her” because she knew McConnell was connected in the policing field and didn’t want to jeopardize her academic status or future as a police officer.

Two female subordinate officers also alleged McConnell had been sexually inappropriate towards them. One said he made sexualized comments about her and other female officers in person and through text message between 2015 and 2018, and the other said McConnell had repeatedly made sexualized and inappropriate comments to her between 2017 and 2019.

The Runner reached out to McConnell for a comment but didn’t hear back before publication.