Police board in turmoil as one member faces hearing
Juchniewicz accused of misconduct, while another member under investigation
ONCE
AGAIN, Hamilton’s perennially turbulent police services board is being battered by misconduct allegations and external investigations.
One board member is now facing a formal hearing from a provincial oversight agency while another unidentified member is said to be under investigation by the same agency.
The Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) recently signalled it intends to conduct a hearing into a public complaint against Walt Juchniewicz, the City of Hamilton’s civilian appointee to the board governing police services.
Juchniewicz has been suspended from the board since July pending the results of an OCPC probe.
Pamela Machado, Juchniewicz’s lawyer, says OCPC informed them about a week and half ago that their investigation determined the misconduct allegations should go to a formal hearing.
Police board chair and city councillor Lloyd Ferguson confirmed Machado’s
statement but said he can’t discuss the issue until the board reviews the OCPC letter at its meeting on Nov. 8.
According to Machado, another member of the seven-member board is also currently under an unrelated OCPC investigation, though that person hasn’t been suspended.
Ferguson says he’s duty-bound to seek board direction before commenting on the other investigation.
“It’s not me, I can tell you that,” Ferguson said.
According to Machado, the “ridiculous” complaints against Juchniewicz are “without merit.”
“Ultimately, the (OCPC) recommendation was that the allegations against Walt portray a pattern of him having made inappropriate comments that could potentially discredit or compromise the integrity of the board.”
Machado says the complaints stem from employees of a private security firm claiming Juchniewicz discriminated against them because they’re Muslim and used his crested police board jacket as a means of intimidation.
Juchniewicz, appointed to the board by city council in 2013, strongly denies the allegations. “They’re not true,” he said, adding he’s looking forward to addressing them at the OCPC hearing.
It’s not clear when the hearing will take place. OCPC did not immediShe’s ately respond to questions.
According to Machado, the agency actually wanted Juchniewicz to quietly step down from the board. She says an OCPC lawyer pointed out if Juchniewicz resigned the hearing would be dropped.
But Machado says her client has no intentions of going quietly. “It’s his integrity, right?”
She says they aim to make the hearing as transparent as possible so Juchniewicz can clear his name and live up to his responsibilities as a board member.
In theory Juchniewicz’s board term expires when the newly elected council takes over at the beginning of December and then begins selecting new citizen appointees for various city boards and agencies. However, because the lengthy process involves advertising, interviewing and selecting candidates, Juchniewicz could very well retain his position until late winter or early spring.
In fact, there’s nothing preventing Juchniewicz from applying for another term, if he’s vindicated.
Under the Police Services Act, a board member can be removed from office if the OCPC hearing concludes that he or she is guilty of misconduct or not performing satisfactorily.
Meanwhile, Machado argues Juchniewicz is a victim of a politicallymotivated double standard, in which allegations against him were treated differently than allegations against Ferguson and vice chair Madeleine Levy.
referring to the long-running controversy in which the Polish-born Juchniewicz accused Levy of wrongly asserting that Poles killed Jews at Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi-run death camp in occupied Poland.
That allegation escalated into larger questions of board competency and infighting when Juchniewicz complained to city officials about Levy and Ferguson’s handling of the controversy.
The board asked OCPC to investigate the whole ramshackle state of affairs. In late 2017, the notoriously slow OCPC ruled both Levy and Juchniewicz acted inappropriately but didn’t warrant discipline. Instead, they ordered the whole board to take cultural competency training.
Adding to the turmoil, OCPC later suspended Ferguson for unfair comments to the media related to Coun. Matthew Green’s accusation he was carded by a Hamilton police officer, who was later found not guilty of discreditable conduct.
Though Juchniewicz appears destined to face a quasi-judicial tribunal, it’s not yet clear what OCPC has decided to do with the rest of the board. You see, the agency has also been reviewing the board’s internal handling of the complaints to see if it neglected its duties.