Durham cop fired for violent assaults
Suspended with pay since 2008, constable dismissed in rare tribunal decision
“Deplorable” conduct. “Grossly inappropriate” actions and “abuse of authority.” A police officer who “lost control of his emotions and his professionalism.”
Retired Ontario Provincial Police superintendent Morris Elbers did not hold back Wednesday when delivering a rare tribunal decision that terminated Durham police constable Glen Turpin from the force, effective immediately.
After more than seven years on suspension — and close to a decade since the violent assault that launched the disciplinary hearing — Turpin was fired after being found guilty of misconduct for unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority.
Suspended since 2008, Turpin has racked up more than $600,000 in pay. In that time, he has faced two criminal trials for assaults against members of the public.
“We all make mistakes, however, this officer has crossed the line on too many occasions,” Elbers said at the conclusion of a police tribunal hearing held in Whitby.
There was little hope of rehabilitation because of a “fundamental character flaw,” Elbers said.
Turpin, a black belt in karate and former instructor in “use of force,” was a contradictory figure on the Durham force, where his career began in 1990. He was a decorated officer who received commendations for his on-duty work. In 2005, he fatally shot a Whitby man who had repeatedly ignored orders to drop a knife he held to the throat of a woman during a standoff. He was named Durham’s Officer of the Year in 2002 and received an award of merit from the Canadian Police Association in 2006.
But complaints about his conduct — from inside and outside the force — were meanwhile piling up. His supervisors complained he was not fulfilling basic aspects of the job, including complying with service directives and filing public complaints, including one concerning an assault on a woman. One supervisor wrote that Turpin was “prepared to behave dishonestly in order to obtain an outcome that he prefers.”
In 2006 and again in 2007, Turpin was charged with assaulting prisoners. He was convicted in one trial and acquitted by a jury at another trial. But the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction against Turpin, ordering a new trial, at which the officer pleaded guilty to threatening. He was granted a discharge.
Elbers noted that the two attacks on the prisoners, Martin Egan and Ryan Schwalm, could have been far worse and even fatal. He said Turpin had failed to control his temper and his attitude “on numerous occasions” while on duty and chastised the officer for failing to accept responsibility for his actions and for becoming “deceptive” when confronted.
“Honesty, integrity and accountability are characteristics a police officer must possess to conduct his work. Without these, you make it near impossible or just plain impossible to do your job,” Elbers wrote in his decision. “Const. Turpin through this hearing and the actions displayed resulting to these charges has lost these characteristics.”
Ian Johnstone, the prosecutor in the disciplinary tribunal, had argued for the officer’s dismissal.
“I think the message that comes out of the decision by Supt. Elbers is that the men and women who serve the community proudly, as Durham Regional Police officers, if in fact they dishonour and disgrace that uniform, they will be held accountable, and if need be, they will be terminated,” Johnstone said after the hearing.