Constable demoted for faking traffic warnings

An Ottawa police officer has been demoted for nine months after pleading guilty to fabricating traffic warnings and creating false Ottawa police records in what continues of the force’s efforts to stamp out the practice of “ghost warnings.”

Const. Frederick Thornborrow, a police officer since 2009, was demoted last week from first-class to second-class constable.

Thornborrow pleaded guilty in May to two counts of discreditable conduct and one count of insubordination under the Police Services Act for failing to serve to drivers 17 warnings issued in the police system, faking two warnings and issuing six warnings without any notes. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors withdrew a count of deceit.

In one case, a driver was charged by another officer three weeks after being stopped by Thornborrow because the police database falsely suggested the driver had already been warned by Thornborrow for the same behaviour.

Hearing officer Supt. Chris Perkins of the Halton Regional Police Service called it “perhaps the most repugnant manifestation of his wrongdoing.”

In a disciplinary decision, Perkins wrote he suspects “Constable Thornborrow simply failed to anticipate the many possible consequences of creating false records.”

In other instances, Thornborrow issued a warning for a driver’s failing to produce a licence, but the police system showed Thornborrow queried the licence and thus had access to it. He also issued a warning for a driver failing to surrender a permit but then also for not having a valid permit, which he could only ascertain if he has seen the permit — what the hearing officer called at the time of the officer’s guilty plea a “double dip.” In his decision, Perkins called it “not only offensive” but “nonsensical.”

Thornborrow admitted in his interview with internal affairs investigators that when he stops drivers, he asks them for documents but doesn’t explain what he means by “documents.”

The drivers, in turn, typically don’t produce all the documents necessary, and when that happened, Thornborrow, instead of prompting them for what’s required, entered warnings into the police system. Thornborrow also admitted entering warnings into the system and not explaining to drivers why they were warned. Traffic warnings, which carry no fines, are meant to be driver education tools issued by police to prevent the same infraction from occurring. Thornborrow’s practice was defeating the purpose.

Thornborrow had no history of discipline and pleaded guilty at his first opportunity.

Eleven of the 12 officers charged in the ghost warning probe have now been demoted.