Chief slams length of disciplinary process

CALGARY — Calgary’s police chief says it took too long and too much money was paid for the dismissal of a police officer involved in a high-speed collision that seriously injured a taxi driver more than seven years ago.

Chief Roger Chaffin said the Police Act makes matters such as those involving Sgt. Anthony Braile “extremely long and litigious.”

The force announced this week that Braile was fired for lying to police about pursuing a truck for almost an hour at high speeds through the downtown and residential neighbourhoods, leading to the crash, on Dec. 15, 2008. In 2010, he was charged with dangerous driving, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge three years later.

After that, the police service investigated possible Police Act breaches and finished on April 1, 2014, with Braile being charged with multiple misconduct counts. After hearings, he was suspended without pay last September and dismissed last Wednesday.

Braile received hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars while suspended and Chaffin said that has to change, too.

“By and large, I’m like most of the rest of you, just simply don’t believe paying somebody year after year after year to sit at home is in anybody’s best interest,” Chaffin told reporters. “If they’re being paid, they should be at work, if they can’t be at work, they shouldn’t be getting paid. I think we all accept that.”