KENSINGTON COP FIRED

Report questions why former police officer was allowed to even enter Holland College’s Atlantic Police Academy

Report questions why former police officer was allowed to even enter Holland College’s Atlantic Police Academy

A Kensington police officer has been fired, and an investigation is questioning why he was allowed to study law enforcement in the first place.

A one-page report outlining a recently completed examination of the case by a retired RCMP officer, at the request of P.E.I.’s Office of the Police Commissioner, was published online Monday.

It raises concerns regarding how an applicant to Holland College’s Atlantic Police Academy was allowed to pursue his studies there and eventually become a police officer, even after disclosing troubling past behaviour to the school’s administrators.

Exactly what that behaviour was is not made clear in document.

“In the opinion of the investigator these disclosures revealed significant deviant behaviour that should have disqualified him from further consideration for admission to the Atlantic Police Academy,” states the report.

It goes on to say that the student disclosed his past behaviour to his superiors prior to taking a pre-admission polygraph (lie detector) test, but they decided to admit him anyway after he passed the test.

He went on to complete his studies, graduate as a police constable and was hired by the Kensington Police Service.

Some time later, while still employed by Kensington Police, the officer applied to join a police force outside of P.E.I.

As part of that hiring process the officer again disclosed his past behaviour, but the reaction was very different this time.

That police force started a criminal investigation into his past actions.

It was at this point that the Kensington Police Service was made aware of the situation.

Until then, the report notes, Kensington Police Chief Lewis Sutherland had no knowledge of the past actions that led to the criminal investigation involving the officer.

When Sutherland was made aware of the situation, the officer was immediately suspended and his employment was later terminated.

The criminal investigation by the off-Island police force ended without any charges being laid “due to the lack of co-operation from victims or witnesses.”

Sandy MacDonald, Holland College’s vicepresident of academics and applied research, said Tuesday the report is concerning.

The college has started its own analysis of the situation, he said, and will be reviewing its screening procedures for police cadets and its internal lines of communications.

MacDonald said he expects that analysis to be completed within the next two weeks and for it to include an action plan to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

“We certainly took this very seriously, we co-operated fully (with the investigation) and we want to get to the bottom of this as much as our policing partners do,” he said.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice and Public Safety said it is also reviewing the situation.

“It is of utmost importance that the public have confidence in the police and how they are trained. The department is considering what further measures may be required to mitigate any resulting concerns,” said the spokesman.

Paul Stetson, manager of the Office of the Police Commissioner, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.