Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan can either write Jamie Graham a free ticket or give the chief constable a rough ride in his last four months in office as the city's top cop.

Graham is stepping down on August 22, but he may yet face an investigation into his role in the handling of a complaint filed in 2003 by the Pivot Legal Society against officers of the Vancouver police department. Pivot claimed that Graham and the VPD–including respondent and witness officers, internal investigators, and representatives of the police union–didn't cooperate in the RCMP's probe of alleged police abuses against residents of the Downtown Eastside.

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, according to its deputy commissioner, Bruce Brown, directed the Saanich police last month to conduct an external investigation into the charges against all VPD officers involved below the rank of Graham. Brown noted that it will be up to Sullivan, as chair of the police board, to decide how to proceed with the complaint against Graham.

"The issue around the complaint about chief constable Graham [is] still in the hands of the chair of the Vancouver police board, who is trying to, I guess, determine who will conduct that investigation," Brown told the Georgia Straight. "It has to be investigated by someone of equal rank or higher. He's gotta try to find another chief constable to review that."

Brown also said that the OPCC had given the Saanich police until November to wrap up its investigation.

The deputy commissioner said that although the Police Act doesn't cover officers who are already retired, "we always direct police departments to continue with the investigation so the outcome is known."

"It would just form part of the record," he said. "If, in fact, it was determined that there should be discipline, then it just forms part of that individual's record."

Pressed how this will apply to Graham if he is already retired and an investigation finds him liable for disciplinary action for his conduct as then–police chief, Brown said: "Hypothetically speaking, like any police officer, if you retired and there was a finding of fault, then that record is a permanent record."

In a statement issued to the Straight on April 11, Sullivan gave no clear indication about which direction he will take. The mayor said: "The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has asked for a progress report, and that the Discipline Authority will comply with that request within the mandated time frame of 10 days."

Anna Lucarino, an aide to the mayor, told the Straight that the period is 10 business days starting from April 10. This means that on or before April 24, Sullivan will have to make a decision.

The VPD has no comment to make at this time, according to spokesperson Cst. Howard Chow. "In cases like this, we don't talk before the investigation is complete," Chow told the Straight.

Hollie Riordan, police board executive director, explained to the Straight that the mayor could do either of two things: dismiss the Pivot complaint if he deems it to be "vexatious" or "frivolous", or decide that there is going to be an investigation. "So if the discipline authority felt that there weren't sufficient grounds to warrant an investigation, he could dismiss the complaint without an investigation," Riordan said.

Sullivan and Graham haven't shied away from seeking police investigations against each other during an often-rocky relationship.

In the 2005 election campaign, Graham, a veteran former Mountie, asked the RCMP to conduct a criminal investigation of Sullivan, then a mayoral candidate, for giving money to an addict, who subsequently bought and consumed drugs. Sullivan was never charged.

Last year, Sullivan asked the OPCC for "advice" after the chief left a shot-up shooting-range target on the desk of city manager Judy Rogers. Police complaint commissioner Dirk Ryneveld chose not to investigate and left the matter with the police board, which is Graham's employer. The board later dropped the matter, stating it was satisfied with Graham's apology.

In December 2006, Graham disparaged Sullivan's Project Civil City, a raft of public-order initiatives, as "old news". When the VPD came to City Hall in February asking for funds to hire an additional 65 officers, Sullivan and councillors belonging to the ruling Non-Partisan Association slashed the request to only 17. Graham later told reporters that this was a lesson in "Politics 101".

Vision Vancouver councillor Tim Stevenson thinks that even if the much-talked-about feud is still simmering between the two figures, Sullivan may decide to leave Graham alone this time.

"Now that the chief is leaving, the mayor won't care very much," Stevenson told the Straight. "There's no percentage in it for him [Sullivan] to do anything now. If the feud is still there, it doesn't matter anymore."

Stevenson noted that there has been talk around town that Graham may decide after retirement to give Sullivan a run for mayor in the 2008 civic election. "I was asked many times if he [Graham] was going to become a Vision [Vancouver] candidate, and he certainly has had no discussions with us about that," Stevenson said. "I doubt it very much. You know, stranger things have happened before, but I don't see it with him at all."

Kennedy Stewart, an assistant professor at SFU's graduate policy program, notes that the last time a former police officer ran for mayor of Vancouver the city got Larry Campbell, a former Mountie like his old pal Graham.

"Just like Larry Campbell was, that might be where Jamie Graham may end up," Stewart told the Straight. "If he [Graham] was to run for Vision Vancouver then, you would see quite a challenge [against Sullivan]."

But Stewart also raised the prospect that Graham could even challenge Sullivan right on the latter's turf, within the NPA. "Who's to say that Jamie Graham couldn't become a member of the NPA and challenge Sam Sullivan in the contest leading up to the election?" he asked.