Vancouver cop charged with fraud and theft after 2.5-year probe into youth charity

Veteran VPD constable Kal Dosanjh, 50, faces nine counts including fraud and theft over $5,000 linked to the Kids Play Foundation he founded in 2015.

Vancouver police constable arrested over alleged fraud at youth charity he founded

A 24-year veteran of the Vancouver Police Department has been charged with nine criminal counts — including fraud, theft and breach of trust — following a covert investigation that lasted two and a half years, Vancouver Sun Crime reports.

Kalwinder (Kal) Dosanjh, 50, was arrested Thursday morning in Surrey, where he lives, shortly after leaving his home, sources told Postmedia. The charges are connected to the Kids Play Foundation, a registered charity Dosanjh founded in 2015 that provides drug and gang education, counselling, sports programs and summer camp to at-risk youth.

Damienne Darby of the B.C. Prosecution Service confirmed the nine counts against Dosanjh: four counts of fraud over $5,000, four counts of theft over $5,000, and one count of breach of trust by a public officer. A co-accused, Sarabjit Singh Gill, 51, faces six of those fraud and theft counts alongside Dosanjh.

The alleged offences span nearly eight years. "The earliest date alleged is Dec. 8, 2017, and the latest date is July 25, 2025, at or near Vancouver, Surrey, and/or other locations in British Columbia," Darby said.

Investigators searched the Kids Play Foundation's Surrey offices on Thursday as part of the operation. The Vancouver Police Department declined to confirm the charges directly but announced a news conference for Friday morning "to announce charges in a 2.5-year covert investigation." Chief Constable Steve Rai and Superintendent Mike Ritchie, who led the investigation, were set to address reporters, VPD spokesman Constable Darren Wong said.

Kids Play became a registered charity in 2019, according to federal government records, which also show Dosanjh was listed as a director until 2025. The charity's own website continued to list him as CEO. The organization's stated mandate includes offices in Alberta, Ontario, India and Colombia, and its last major public event was a March 2025 community forum on drugs and gangs held at the Taj Park Convention Centre in Surrey. A poster for that free event advertised "$200 per student on the spot" and "$5,000 in bursaries given." A fundraising gala in 2025 also marked the charity's 10th anniversary.

Dosanjh's biography on the Kids Play website describes a career spent largely in the Downtown Eastside, which he cited as the motivation for establishing youth programming. "His work in the Downtown Eastside, combined with personal observations of marginalized youth representing a greater percentage involved in a lifestyle of drugs, gangs and crime, made him realize that this was symptomatic of a vacuum of quality programs," the profile stated. It also noted he had worked as a detective in VPD's investigative division and "led multiple large scale investigations" that reduced organized crime activity in the neighbourhood.

Dosanjh joined the Vancouver Police Department 24 years ago and spent much of his operational career as a beat patrol officer in what his own profile described as "one of the most challenging and violent environments found in North America, the Downtown Eastside."

No further details about the investigation were released ahead of Friday's scheduled press conference.

Source: Vancouver Sun Crime