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The union that represents Ottawa police officers is calling for the resignation of the police board chair and sounding an alarm over what it claims is the inability of the board to effectively oversee the police chief.
Long-running tensions between the rank and file and the leadership of the force reached a fever-pitch this week after Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, the overseer of the service, said low morale was not a systemic problem. The comment has been heralded by some officers as, at the very least, tone-deaf, and as a blatant refusal to hear what senior officers and the association have repeatedly told El-Chantiry by union president Matt Skof.
El-Chantiry defended Chief Charles Bordeleau after a veteran officer sent an email to the entire force Monday criticizing the chief and calling the force a “corrupt system.”
“The police services board has completely abdicated their most important of functions – oversight,” Skof told Postmedia. “The chair needs to resign.”
Dozens of officers have contacted the paper to say they were furious at El-Chantiry’s comments. They say that, in their view, a police board chair who is reluctant to hold the chief accountable — and who has said it would somehow be a persecution to inquire whether Bordeleau used his position for influence in a recent family member’s court case — is failing in his job as overseer.
Among the issues driving Skof to call for the El-Chantiry’s resignation are never-before reported union complaints concerning the chief’s role in securing private security for the courthouse.
The union says Bordeleau’s statements and presentation to the police board played a role in quelling any public discussion on whether a private, for-profit security firm could protect the Ottawa courthouse.
The board approved the request to hire private security for the courthouse on July 27 of last year. Three days later, the union filed a complaint to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, asking that decision to be reviewed since they say for-profit security wouldn’t be accountable.
The commission said it wasn’t obligated to investigate and the union asked for judicial review of that decision, while continuing to look into the courthouse contract.
The association alleges the police board was “strong-armed” into believing that private security exists at courthouses elsewhere in the province and had been “rubber-stamped” by the Ministry of the Attorney General.
A report to the board, signed by Bordeleau, says the service reviewed “best practices” of forces in Toronto, Durham, Peel, Windsor and Kingston but doesn’t detail what those practices were, which, Skof alleges, implied that court security there had been privatized.
The report also said that Ministry of the Attorney General “was consulted and supports the recommendation.”
The union said that except for Windsor, where a commissionaire assists police in court security, no city in the province has any form of privatized court security except now Ottawa.
That led the union to file a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, who investigates allegations of officer misconduct but ruled that “This matter is not in the public interest and should not proceed any further.”
On Wednesday, El-Chantiry sent a letter to the association saying that given the OIPRD’s decision, the board would be taking no action. The same day he defended Bordeleau in the face of a veteran officer’s criticisms.
When asked about the courthouse contract allegations – whether the service knew the jurisdictions it mentioned didn’t use private security, who was consulted at the ministry, and whether the chief misled the board — Chief Bordeleau said Friday he had sent the questions to some of the senior officers who drafted and researched the report to the board. Bordeleau said one of those officers is out of the country, and that he would not be able to provide a response until Monday.
The communication from El-Chantiry on the courthouse contract and his recent comments on morale come after another controversial statement.
He recently said that to further question Bordeleau’s admission that the chief phoned a court staff member about a traffic ticket against his father-in-law – former Gloucester police chief Lester Thompson — would be a “witch hunt.”
The ticket was ultimately dismissed by a city prosecutor —who herself is the wife and mother of former and current Ottawa police officers. She declared a conflict in the case was but yet somehow still prosecuted it.
Days earlier, on March 11, the OIPRD told the union it has received yet another association’s complaint – this one about Bordeleau’s conduct in his father-in-law’s traffic case — and that it would be forwarded to the board. The board is expected to review the complaint and then make a decision on whether it will direct the OIPRD to investigate.
A city review into how the prosecutors handled the traffic case is complete, with a report, that will not be made public, expected early next week.
syogaretnam@postmedia.com
twitter.com/shaaminiwhy
查看原文...
Long-running tensions between the rank and file and the leadership of the force reached a fever-pitch this week after Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, the overseer of the service, said low morale was not a systemic problem. The comment has been heralded by some officers as, at the very least, tone-deaf, and as a blatant refusal to hear what senior officers and the association have repeatedly told El-Chantiry by union president Matt Skof.
El-Chantiry defended Chief Charles Bordeleau after a veteran officer sent an email to the entire force Monday criticizing the chief and calling the force a “corrupt system.”
“The police services board has completely abdicated their most important of functions – oversight,” Skof told Postmedia. “The chair needs to resign.”
Dozens of officers have contacted the paper to say they were furious at El-Chantiry’s comments. They say that, in their view, a police board chair who is reluctant to hold the chief accountable — and who has said it would somehow be a persecution to inquire whether Bordeleau used his position for influence in a recent family member’s court case — is failing in his job as overseer.
Among the issues driving Skof to call for the El-Chantiry’s resignation are never-before reported union complaints concerning the chief’s role in securing private security for the courthouse.
The union says Bordeleau’s statements and presentation to the police board played a role in quelling any public discussion on whether a private, for-profit security firm could protect the Ottawa courthouse.
The board approved the request to hire private security for the courthouse on July 27 of last year. Three days later, the union filed a complaint to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, asking that decision to be reviewed since they say for-profit security wouldn’t be accountable.
The commission said it wasn’t obligated to investigate and the union asked for judicial review of that decision, while continuing to look into the courthouse contract.
The association alleges the police board was “strong-armed” into believing that private security exists at courthouses elsewhere in the province and had been “rubber-stamped” by the Ministry of the Attorney General.
A report to the board, signed by Bordeleau, says the service reviewed “best practices” of forces in Toronto, Durham, Peel, Windsor and Kingston but doesn’t detail what those practices were, which, Skof alleges, implied that court security there had been privatized.
The report also said that Ministry of the Attorney General “was consulted and supports the recommendation.”
The union said that except for Windsor, where a commissionaire assists police in court security, no city in the province has any form of privatized court security except now Ottawa.
That led the union to file a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, who investigates allegations of officer misconduct but ruled that “This matter is not in the public interest and should not proceed any further.”
On Wednesday, El-Chantiry sent a letter to the association saying that given the OIPRD’s decision, the board would be taking no action. The same day he defended Bordeleau in the face of a veteran officer’s criticisms.
When asked about the courthouse contract allegations – whether the service knew the jurisdictions it mentioned didn’t use private security, who was consulted at the ministry, and whether the chief misled the board — Chief Bordeleau said Friday he had sent the questions to some of the senior officers who drafted and researched the report to the board. Bordeleau said one of those officers is out of the country, and that he would not be able to provide a response until Monday.
The communication from El-Chantiry on the courthouse contract and his recent comments on morale come after another controversial statement.
He recently said that to further question Bordeleau’s admission that the chief phoned a court staff member about a traffic ticket against his father-in-law – former Gloucester police chief Lester Thompson — would be a “witch hunt.”
The ticket was ultimately dismissed by a city prosecutor —who herself is the wife and mother of former and current Ottawa police officers. She declared a conflict in the case was but yet somehow still prosecuted it.
Days earlier, on March 11, the OIPRD told the union it has received yet another association’s complaint – this one about Bordeleau’s conduct in his father-in-law’s traffic case — and that it would be forwarded to the board. The board is expected to review the complaint and then make a decision on whether it will direct the OIPRD to investigate.
A city review into how the prosecutors handled the traffic case is complete, with a report, that will not be made public, expected early next week.
syogaretnam@postmedia.com
twitter.com/shaaminiwhy
查看原文...
