ManitobaThe guilty plea of a Winnipeg police officer is exposing how corruption influenced others in the force and the importance of the service improving the supervision of its members to regain public trust, says the former civilian director of Manitoba’s police watchdog. Experts suggest changes on officers’ supervision to restore public trustCBC News · Posted: Nov 12, 2025 12:35 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Const. Elston Bostock, who’s been with the Winnipeg Police Service for more than 20 years, admitted to using his position to engage in a range of illegal activity. (Submitted)A Winnipeg police officer’s guilty plea is exposing how his corruption influenced others in the force, and the importance of the service improving the supervision of its members to regain public trust, says the former civilian director of Manitoba’s police watchdog. Const. Elston Bostock pleaded guilty last week to a number of charges stemming from allegations of inappropriate and illegal actions, including trying to obstruct justice, that range as far back as 2016. Zane Tessler, the former civilian director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, says Bostock’s case underscores how there’s still a segment of police culture that will stay silent about officers involved in criminal activities.”The level of corruption goes beyond the main officer who’s at the top of the hill, but as you go down to the different layers … corruption just pervades a number of officers and its effects will be long-standing for some time to come,” he said. At a court appearance on Friday, Bostock, an officer with more than two decades on the force, admitted to a list of offences including getting traffic tickets voided in exchange for liquor and gift cards. Bostock used his position to try to prevent traffic tickets from being given to or prosecuted against his associates or their acquaintances 22 times beginning in 2016, and was successful 12 times until just before his arrest in 2024, according to an agreed statement of facts read in court Friday. Winnipeg Police Service Chief Gene Bowers has said the force is taking steps to ensure accountability among its members, but experts want to see more supervision of police officers. (Trevor Brine/CBC)Bostock used his position to try to prevent traffic tickets from being given to or prosecuted against his associates or their acquaintances more than 20 times beginning in 2016 and continuing until just before his arrest in 2024, according to an agreed statement of facts read in court Friday.That was almost always done in return for some form of payment for himself, other officers who helped, or both — from cigars and bottles of liquor to free car washes, along with gift cards for the liquor store, Tim Hortons and Starbucks.LISTEN | How investigators uncover police corruption:Up To Speed10:42How investigators uncover police corruptionZane Tessler, former civilian director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba spoke with CBC’s Marjorie Dow’s about how corruption within the police service is investigated.Multiple confidential sources blew the whistle on Bostock’s conduct, which Tessler believes should be expected of police officers. On the other hand, he was surprised to learn some officers had been persuaded to violate the law and help Bostock cancel the tickets. While ethics is part of police officers’ training, Tessler says, common sense would have shown anyone Bostock’s behaviour crossed the line.”It’s ridiculous just how cheap justice can be taken at times or the lack of justice can be bought,” he said. “I would hope it’s not common because the effects of this type of behaviour is significant. It just attacks the whole integrity of the system.”‘A time of turbulence’Cases such as Bostock’s are rare, but they are alarming and should be a matter of concern for the Winnipeg Police Service, which now has to work toward regaining the public’s trust, said Kash Heed, a former West Vancouver police chief.”It’s going to be a time of turbulence,” he said.With the guilty plea, Heed says, Winnipeg police now have to look at how Bostock was supervised while he worked. But more broadly, they need to see whether measures are in place to ensure the police service has the right people within its ranks. Heed says preventing cases such as Bostock’s is not only about the vetting process during recruitment, hiring or training, but how the force supervises and disciplines its officers. “There is so much more that has to be done by our police leaders to ensure we have integrity within our police organization,” Heed said.Kash Heed, former West Vancouver police chief, says integrity, psychological and polygraph tests in place to assess an officer’s conduct can be an alternative to prevent cases like Bostock’s from repeating. (Dillon Hodgin/CBC)Winnipeg police Chief Gene Bowers has said the force is taking steps to ensure accountability among its members, including adding personnel to the unit investigating allegations against officers.Bowers also asked Manitoba’s justice minister to change the Police Services Act to establish a code of conduct for officers and require the publication of disciplinary actions against officers who commit misconduct.Heed says transparency in the investigation processes involving police officers is important, but the publication of disciplinary actions is not really going to deter them from involving in irregular or illegal activity.”You want to prevent this behaviour from finding its way into your police service … and if you do identify it, you’ve got to make sure you do whatever you can to deal with it and ensure that whatever fracture there was that allowed this to continue is is dealt with almost immediately,” he said. For Heed, integrity, psychological or polygraph tests to assess an officers’ conduct can be an alternative in their supervision process.”We certainly don’t want to go down the road of having rogues like this within our services,” he said. “Those that do go astray need to be dealt with forthwith.”The former civilian director of Manitoba’s police watchdog agrees changes are needed to regain public trust and those need to go beyond ensuring transparency. “Steps need to be put in place to ensure that proper supervision exists and internal oversight exists,” Tessler said. CBC News has reached out to Winnipeg police for comment.With files from Djeneba Dosso and Caitlyn Gowriluk
Corruption in Winnipeg Police Service goes beyond member who admitted to it: former IIU director
