Police-force employees lodge flood of workplace complaints

More than 40 complaints against fellow Ottawa Police Service employees have been lodged since the launch of a project to tackle workplace sexual violence and harassment in the spring of 2020, according to two service responses to police board members' inquiries.

The responses are set to be received at Monday's police board meeting. The police board asked the service how many members came forward with complaints since the launch of the project.

While the service launched the project in May 2020, an independent investigator hired by OPS to take in complaints and investigate them only began doing that work in December 2020.

Since the launch, and up until December, the police service reports receiving 33 internal complaints “which have been classified as either sexual violence, sexual harassment, harassment or discrimination.”

Two of those complaints were forwarded to external investigator Rubin Thomlinson. That firm has received another 14 complaints directly and 21 “inquiries,” according to the responses. The firm is contracted for a six-month pilot.

According to the force, of the 33 complaints received directly by the service, more than 51 per cent were lodged by women, nearly 40 per cent by men, with nine per cent classified as other, which includes anonymous complaints.

Nearly 70 per cent of the complaints have come from police officers, with the rest coming from civilian employees.

Four complaints allege sexual harassment; nine allege harassment; six were classified as falling under the service's respectful workplace policy; four alleged a “culture issue”; three were about “leadership support”; three alleged abuse of authority; and two were about discrimination and ethics breaches.

The board, in a separate inquiry, also asked the police service for data on how many complaints were made alleging workplace sexual violence and harassment over the past five years.

The service replied with data spanning three years. In 2017, the police service received 58 complaints. In 2018, the number was 55, and in 2019, it was 61.