Police board finds no favouritism by chief

Suspension decisions ‘fair and consistent’

There’s no evidence Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau showed preferential treatment when it came to suspending officers, the Ottawa Police Services Board has concluded.

The board had requested a briefing from Bordeleau in the wake of allegations about “inconsistencies” in the evidence of senior police officers in the case of an acting staff sergeant who was facing criminal charges recommended by the province’s Special Investigations Unit. The charges followed an explosion in a tactical team training session in which other officers and paramedics were injured.

“The reported inconsistencies raise questions as to whether senior advisers to the police chief purposefully changed evidence in an effort to immunize the police service, proverbially throwing members under the bus,” wrote Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof in a May 11 op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen calling on Ottawa Police Services Board chair, Eli El-Chantiry, to intervene.

In the op-ed, Skof said Bordeleau has “shown a zeal for imposing suspensions or administrative transfers on rank-and-file officers. Many were imposed on the basis of mere allegations, others on the thinnest of evidence, well before investigations were commenced.”

Bordeleau told Monday’s police board meeting that Skof’s characterization of “favouritism based on rank” was untrue.

“Though he focuses on senior officers, Mr. Skof’s comments appear to follow a logic that any sworn member under investigation is or should be under suspension,” Bordeleau said. “On the first point, the numbers show that not to be true and that suspensions are applied in a very small amount of cases. On the second point, it would simply be unfair for me as chief to use an allegation as the primary basis for suspension. It would also be unfair for any members, regardless of rank, who are simply under investigation.”

The force currently has 69 matters involving 94 members that are being investigated under the Police Services Act or the Criminal Code by the force itself, civilian police oversight agencies or outside police services. The vast majority of investigations will not result in suspensions, Bordeleau said.

On Wednesday, the board said it found no evidence of preferential treatment and that it was unanimously satisfied with Bordeleau’s handling of suspensions after it received a briefing from Bordeleau during the Monday meeting.

“Transparency, fairness and consistency is very important in these processes, both for members and for the public. The Board wanted more information from the chief on how he and his staff make decisions around suspensions,” said El-Chantiry in a statement released Wednesday.

“We also wanted to be walked through some past decisions so we could remain confident that his administration of this part of the complaints system is done in a fair way. Now that we’ve received the information we requested, the board has no doubt with respect to the chief and his staff ’s decision making around member suspensions. It is both fair and consistent.”