Ottawa officers must support bullied colleagues
Rights complaints hamper police promotions process
A little more than a year ago, some officers of the Ottawa Police Service began selling wristbands. They were sold in response to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit charging Const. Daniel Montsion with manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in connection with the death of Abdirahman Abdi in July 2016.
At the time, the community felt they were distributed in bad taste. A man, struggling with mental health issues had died very publicly on his own doorstep. The wristbands read, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall,” with Montsion’s badge number.
We were assured that this was not a demonstration of officers siding with the accused. It was a show of support for a comrade; a display of solidarity with a colleague who would be struggling. The pressures of the job were great.
Fast forward to April 2018. Four officers — three constables and an inspector — are alleging racial discrimination in active human rights complaints. We currently know that at least three of them are alleging harassment and bullying in the workplace.
As a member of the Community and Policing in Action Committee (COMPAC) from 2011 to 2017, I became familiar with one of the individuals, Const. Khoa Hoang, who also sat on the committee at one time. I found him to be of impeccable character and a great asset to the police service.
Around the table, I also heard numerous discussions about race within the police service. The mantra, “we want a police service that’s
Where are the wristbands for officers who’ve been blatantly bullied in the workplace?
reflective of the community,” was oft repeated. Despite significant efforts to attract a variety of diverse candidates, many never truly felt that there was a change in the process or any significant milestone achieved.
The same can be said for the promotion process. Officers that are placed in the pool for promotion have to demonstrate excellence and rank highly in the tests laid out. Externally, all seems fair and transparent. But there are loopholes: Bullying the person you don’t want to promote; picking on the standard of their work long after the fact; inventing reasons to make their life difficult; passing them over. These are all tools that can be used to hold officers back.
For senior positions, the process falls short. Even if an officer scores highly in the process, and has the recommendation of all higher ranking officers, the final decision rests with the chief and his or her deputies.
That’s an awful lot of power to wield.
It also lends itself to favouritism. The fact is, targeting of an individual member and creating unique performance assessments to suit a particular narrative is a practice that the Ottawa police had been warned about in 2013 by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission. The service was also found to be negligent in following its own policies. That’s of immense concern, when law enforcement should go strictly by the book.
Over the years, I had the privilege of meeting numerous officers. I learned about the incredible work the Ottawa police do. Officers are amongst the most humble people I’ve ever met. They’ll never, ever boast about the tremendous things they do every day to make a difference in our city. They volunteer in a number of great causes too. But in one area, they’ve fallen short.
Where are the wristbands for officers who’ve been blatantly bullied in the workplace? Where is the outpouring of support for colleagues? Where is the wristband that says Bhatnagar, Hoang, Clarke and Lafreniere?
If officers don’t stand up against bullies amongst themselves, how can we trust them to protect us from bullies on our streets and in society at large?