OPP rules officer not fit for duty

Central Hastings

An OPP superintendent has ruled that a Central Hastings OPP officer is no longer fit for public service.

Supt. Robin McElary-Downer of the OPP’s Orillia headquarters delivered the ruling Wednesday morning at the Quinte West OPP detachment.

The officer in question pleaded guilty to assault and mischief in November 2013. He was charged after a domestic incident which resulted in injuries – including a broken jaw – to a woman in 2012. He also pleaded guilty to mischief and willful damage.

Justice Richard Byers later handed the officer a suspended sentence and two years probation which will be completed in May.

The officer will not be identified in order to protect the victim. The pair were in a relationship together at the time.

The OPP’s Professional Standards Bureau hearing took place over several days in April, May and June of this year.

McElary-Downer said she considered and weighed an “abundance of evidence” in coming to her conclusion.

After more than two hours, McElaryDowner asked the officer to stand and told him she did not believe he was fit to continue as a police officer and his conduct has “disgraced the uniform” and his usefulness as a member of the OPP has been nullified.

The officer simply stood and said “OK.”

His actions “breached the fundamental duty” of a police officer, which is to protect citizens. Officers are held to a high standard and receive specific training on how to diffuse a situation instead of turning to violence, she stated.

“I recognize the devastating impact my decision has (on the officer) but the consequence of his misconduct falls squarely on his shoulders,” she stated.

The officer has seven days to resign from the force. If he does not, the OPP will terminate his employment.

In making her ruling, McElaryDowner said several key factors influenced her decision including the public’s perception and damage to the OPP’s reputation.

Further, she needed to consider if the officer would always be seen as an abuser and if he was capable of impartially responding to domestic assault incidents and gaining the confidence of domestic assault victims.

She said despite a court-imposed publication ban during the officer’s trial proceedings, word of the officer’s conduct spread throughout the communities of Belleville and Centre Hastings.

To preserve the public’s confidence in the police force, she said, the OPP needed to severe ties with the officer.

While the officer’s lawyer, Torontobased Nathan Gorham, sought a relocation or demotion, McElaryDowner said domestic abuse calls are incredibly common and there is no place the officer could be stationed to avoid the likelihood of responding to a domestic incident.

Even traffic enforcement officers regularly respond to domestic calls as “some of the worst domestics occur on the 400-series highways.”