Defence seeks officer’s demotion
Beebakhee’s lawyer wants to avoid dismissal, argues for rehabilitation
The defence lawyer for an Ottawa police sergeant guilty of insubordination, corrupt practice and deceit told a hearing officer tasked with deciding Sgt. Rohan Beebakhee’s fate that the “case is not about hookers” and that the veteran officer has “earned the right” to be considered for rehabilitation.
Defence lawyer Bill Carroll, asking for a demotion over outright dismissal, was upset that the disciplinary hearing was being portrayed as a case of sexual impropriety when there was no evidence before the hearing to suggest that.
Carroll also took issue with media characterizations of the trial and Beebakhee’s conduct, saying it was “misleading” and “out of context.”
“It’s got nothing to do with this hearing,” he said.
Prosecutor Christiane Huneault said Carroll’s assertion was a “completely inaccurate suggestion” and reminded the hearing officer that the defence lawyer himself called a sex trade worker to testify on his client’s behalf.
Beebakhee was found guilty in September 2014 of three counts of insubordination, two counts of corrupt practice and one of deceit. The force has asked for his badge.
Huneault told the hearing that an internal investigation into Beebakhee’s questionable conduct began once police were alerted that he was conducting private meetings with sex-trade workers. An investigator ordered that Beebakhee cease all activity relating to escorts, but the officer did not comply and was found guilty of one count of insubordination precisely for that reason. The other two counts relate to his breaching police databases to look up personal information on people — some of whom were employed in the sex trade.
Beebakhee also began a sexual relationship with a woman in the escort industry, then looked up private police reports related to her and her involvement in a human trafficking investigation.
He also requested phone subscriber information on telephone numbers fed to him by the owner of an escort company. Those activities formed the basis of the corrupt practice convictions handed down by the hearing officer.
Carroll introduced several positive performance reviews and letters of commendation to combat what he called a “full-frontal attack” on the officer’s career, character, service and standing undertaken by the prosecution.
At the heart of the prosecution’s bid for dismissal was the portrayal of an officer who has broken rules, breached the public trust and lost so much of his credibility that he cannot be reasonably expected to continue to perform his duties as an officer — including laying criminal charges and testifying under oath.
Disciplinary records of police officers must be disclosed to defence in any criminal trials. Carroll said that the prosecutor’s belief that the disclosure would “torpedo” every criminal case is an exaggeration.
“The reality is quite different,” Carroll said. It is not the “doomsday device that will render a police officer’s evidence unworthy of belief,” he said. Beebakhee has no other disciplinary history on record in his 22-year career.
Carroll argued that given proper assistance from the service, Beebakhee could rehabilitate and continue to be useful to the service. The defence asked the hearing officer to impose a demotion from sergeant to second-class constable for a period the adjudicator determines fit.
The demotion would come with a salary deduction of $30,000 annually — which Carroll argued was “no slap on the wrist” — and, coupled with ethics training, was enough to deter both Beebakhee and other officers from committing similar offences.
It would be a punishment, he argued, that would have a more lasting and positive effect on the police force than reading a “one-day article in the paper about someone who was dismissed.”
Supervisors in Beebakhee’s performance reviews said that “he exercised his duties with integrity,” was “very good at making decisions and taking action” and “doesn’t back down from a challenge.”
Carroll said the reviews were “indicative of a man that is devoted to the Ottawa Police Service and the duties assigned to him.”
The defence also submitted letters of support from the community and fellow officers, who the prosecution contended were the sergeant’s friends and allies and might not have been privy to the full extent of his misconduct.
Huneault also said that glowing letters from Beebakhee’s friends might point to a devoted officer, but they also highlight issues around his judgment. “He becomes fixated,” she said. A decision on penalty is scheduled to be delivered June 25.