VICTORIA — Victoria's police chief says he's ashamed and humiliated by his own actions in exchanging inappropriate messages over social media with the wife of a subordinate officer.

Frank Elsner said Sunday that he was the subject of a recent internal police board investigation involving his conduct, but has emerged with the continued confidence of the board and intends to continue leading the force. He also apologized to his department.

"I'm humiliated beyond words," he told The Vancouver Sun.

He said he's also spoken to the officer whose wife was involved and his family about the incident.

"I'm ashamed of my actions," said Elsner. "I'm better than that. I know better than that. And I think part of this, the learning opportunity, is that you stand up and tell the truth, and learn from it, and move on."

Elsner has led the Victoria force for almost two years. He's married with two daughters, and said his wife is fully aware of what happened.

In September, he said, the civilian police board became aware of an allegation against him.

"An allegation was made against me, that based on direct messages off of Twitter, that I had an inappropriate relationship with a female. The board notified me of that and they hired an independent lawyer to do the investigation. The investigation was completed and last week I was notified.

"They found that there was no inappropriate relationship. However, I should not have engaged in the direct messages in the first place and I fully agree."

The woman is a police officer in a neighbouring department. Her husband works in the Victoria Police Department under Elsner's command.

"When this first broke, he and I spoke and he said he believed that no relationship took place," said Elsner. "There was none."

But it was "the tone" of the conversations that was wrong, he said. "I know it was, because I shut it down. I'm the one that said, 'No we cannot communicate any further.' Months before it came to light."

The board's investigation concluded Friday.

Barb Desjardins, mayor of Esquimalt and co-chair of the Victoria Police Board, initially tried to sidestep The Sun's questions about whether an investigation had been conducted. Instead, she repeatedly stated on Friday: "there's no investigation at this time" and "there are/were no formal complaints put forward."

But within 24 hours she was forced to admit an investigation had occurred.

"There has been an investigation and that has been dealt with, completed, and the board is in full support of the police chief," said Desjardins on Saturday.

Dejardins would say little else, refusing to discuss the allegations or whether Elsner was disciplined by either her or Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps. The two mayors share co-leadership of the civilian board because the Victoria force polices both Victoria and Esquimalt. Helps referred questions to Desjardins, who is the board's official spokeswoman.

"It's not fair to an investigation that is confidential to have it out in the media," Desjardins said Saturday.

Elsner also said whether he was disciplined is a private matter, but the incident is on his personnel file.