B.C. police cite privacy as investigators probe chat groups

The details of a private chat group among current and former members of the police department in Nelson, B.C., haven’t been made public.But the fate of an investigation by the province’s Police Complaint Commissioner into the WhatsApp chats could have implications for police across the country, as the Nelson officers mount a court challenge to the constitutionality of the seizure of their personal phones.The British Columbia police oversight body said in its 2022 investigation order that the conversations included “work-related communications, as well as pornographic images, internet memes, and other inappropriate material and comments.”