Winnipeg police culture 'made it easier to do certain things,' disgraced officer says in psych report

Making traffic tickets go aside for people was "an unwritten find" in the lake winnipeg police force serve, a disgraced former officer said in a psychological report prepared for his sentencing.

Elston Bostock, 49, is awaiting sentencing on a long list of charges he pleaded guilty to in recent months, following a lengthy police investigation into his actions that began in April 2024. 

The offences Bostock admitted to include getting traffic tickets voided in exchange for liquor and gift cards, stealing cannabis from a police scene, sharing confidential police information and sending lewd texts about a photo he took of the topless body of a woman who had fatally overdosed.

He also pleaded guilty to selling drugs — including cocaine and psilocybin (also called magic mushrooms) — to friends and other officers.

While he pleaded guilty to offences dating back to 2016, a Winnipeg court heard this week the internal investigation into Bostock uncovered concerns about him as far back as 2009.

In a psychological report prepared ahead of his Tuesday sentencing hearing, Bostock said he noticed officers getting rid of tickets for other people when he first started on the job in 2003.

"He knew it was not right and acknowledged that he extended it to some people that he shouldn’t have," said the report, which was released Wednesday and prepared by Winnipeg psychologist David Hill.

"He thought he was helping others and tended to minimize it in his mind."

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In an intercepted phone call, which was played during sentencing and also released Wednesday, Bostock is heard trying to get another officer to drop a speeding ticket for someone he describes as a "nice kid" and "a really good friend of my really good friend."

"I’ve never done that before," the other officer tells him.

"I’ve done it. And it works," Bostock replies. "They’ve got such a caseload that they don't really care. It's not going to be a blemish on your record, I promise."

The other officer is hesitant, telling Bostock while he’d "do it in a heartbeat," it was too late in the ticket process for that to happen.

"The only time … we can do something is he has to call me before I drop them off," the officer says, describing the ticket as now being "in the point of no return."

"I’m sorry about that," the officer says. "You know me."

Bostock said he also noticed "a culture of drinking" with colleagues when he joined the force, which the report said "included going to bars for several nights in a row and missing work due to alcohol use and/or hangovers."

The report also detailed the extent of Bostock’s alcohol and drug use, which he relied on to self-medicate for years during periods of depression, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Bostock reported being verbally abusive toward others when drunk and making bad decisions, like driving while intoxicated. He also said he "was using marijuana every day for a good portion of his police career, although it was typically not before work," the psychological report said.

"Near the end of his police career, he was drinking alcohol and using marijuana during work shifts."

Hill’s report detailed Bostock’s occasional use of cocaine and MDMA (also known as ecstasy), and said while Bostock never got treatment for his "extensive history of substance use problems," seeking that kind of help would be beneficial for him.

Asked what might have motivated his behaviour, Bostock "disclosed that he just didn’t care anymore and didn’t see an 'out' during his later years" with the police service.

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"He saw his job as a means to an end and told others nothing was keeping him there except money (i.e., pension)," the report said. "He added that the work culture made it easier to do certain things."

Court heard while Bostock has been removed from the police force, he will get to keep his pension. 

The psychological report says Bostock at one point asked the support unit at work if he could find his own psychologist in the community to seek treatment, but was told that he had to go through the employee assistance program. He never did, court heard during his sentencing hearing.

In an emailed statement on Wednesday, Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Claude Chancy said police can't comment on Bostock's remarks about the culture within the force, citing "the ongoing court process."

Bostock is still awaiting sentencing on all his charges. Prosecutors have asked for a seven-year sentence, while the defence asked for two years on his provincial charges, followed by a short consecutive sentence of unspecified length on his federal drug charges.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Kenneth Champagne is expected to deliver his sentencing decision next week. Bostock has remained in custody since his arrest last year.

Reporter

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