A’burg police union not alarmed by probe

The head of the union representing members of the Amherstburg Police Service says he is not alarmed by news that the Windsor Police Service is the subject of complaints being investigated by a provincial watchdog agency.

“They are just complaints, Const. Shawn McCurdy, president of the Amherstburg Police Association, said Monday. “I bet if you went to every police service in the province, you’d find internal complaints.” But, McCurdy conceded, the fact the Ontario Civilian Police Commission is investigating is out of the ordinary.

The commission, a body that reports to the attorney general, is investigating complaints from multiple Windsor police officers alleging unfair hiring and promotional practices including nepotism, a “poisoned work environment” and “improper interference in specific legal proceedings.”

Windsor has bid to take over policing in Amherstburg beginning in the new year. Another arm of the police commission is reviewing the bid and must approve the dissolution of the Amherstburg Police Service.

Last month, the commission notified Windsor police and the board that oversees it that they were under investigation. The investigation became public last week when the commission asked Amherstburg its opinion on whether it thinks the investigation will have any bearing on its decision to pursue a contract with Windsor. McCurdy said no one asked his association’s opinion, but he and his executive discussed it nonetheless. “Our position is kind of neutral right now. It’s a complaint. We don’t know if it’s going to be validated or not.”

The police commission will either find the allegations have no merit, or will recommend changes to Windsor Police Service policies to address them, McCurdy said.

“We believe that either way, the outcome will be OK,” he said. “It’s either going to get better or they’ll find everything’s OK the way it is.”

The Amherstburg Police Association represents 33 uniformed and civilian members. Amherstburg council and the town’s police services board held back-toback emergency meetings Thursday after learning of the investigation. Both decided to continue to pursue having Windsor take over policing in the town. The commission is slated to have a public meeting on the issue June 26.

The collective agreement between Amherstburg and its police association includes provisions in the event the municipal force is disbanded in favour of a contract with the OPP, but barely addresses an amalgamation with another police service.

The only provision for a non-OPP contract is that an officer not offered the same rank, salary or benefits will be compensated for two years.