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Convicted WVPD officer to keep job

A West Vancouver police officer who attacked a newspaper delivery man after a night of binge drinking in January 2009 will not lose his job, a police complaints adjudicator has decided. Instead, Const.

A West Vancouver police officer who attacked a newspaper delivery man after a night of binge drinking in January 2009 will not lose his job, a police complaints adjudicator has decided.

Instead, Const. Griffin Gillan will be handed a suspension of 30 working days and will be demoted for one year. Gillan will drop one pay level to second-class constable and must work under close supervision during that time.

Gillan attacked newspaper carrier Firoz Khan outside of the Hyatt in downtown Vancouver following a night of off-duty drinking with two fellow officers.

He pled guilty to assault in July 2009 and received a 21day conditional sentence plus six months probation.

Following the criminal case, an internal police investigation

conducted by Abbotsford Chief Const. Bob Rich recommended Gillan be reduced in rank from constable to probationary constable and be given a 10-day unpaid suspension.

Gillan was also suspended for 11 months without pay by then-police chief Kash Heed immediately following the incident.

Following a public hearing in January, Boyle found Gillan guilty of both improper off-duty conduct and discreditable conduct.

On Friday, Boyle accepted a joint submission from Michael Tammen, the lawyer representing the Office of the Police Complaints Commission, and Gillan's lawyer David Butler on what the officer's punishment should be for his actions.

Gillan told Boyle at the public hearing in

January that his unprovoked attack is "still something I'm grappling with and trying to come to terms with," adding he remains "embarrassed and baffled" by his actions.

Gillan guessed he'd had about 25 drinks on the night of the attack.

He told Boyle he thinks about the incident every day, although he said he has no memory of the attack or most of the events leading up to it.

"I want to prove to people who don't think much of me that I'm better than what they think of me," he said. "I'm trying to do whatever I can to make it better and regain that trust."

Gillan, who is back working at the West Vancouver Police Department, told the hearing that being a police officer is "the only thing I've ever wanted to do."

jseyd@nsnews.com