Joined: Apr 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 742 Location: Cook’s Bay Karma: 16
Costs mount in police discipline case « Thread Started on Jul 24, 2009, 8:33am »
The cost of prosecuting a South Simcoe Police officer, who has been suspended with pay since February 2008, is continuing to spiral.
Police services board chairperson Patti Vanderdonk told the board Monday that the force’s legal bills are “substantially” over budget this year due to the ongoing internal disciplinary hearing.
Vanderdonk said she will attend Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury council meetings within the next month to explain the cost over runs to local politicians.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Doug White said the high cost of an ongoing discipline case is an unusual situation for South Simcoe Police.
“We can’t plan for disciplinary issues; they just happen. This is not the norm,” White told the board. “The police officers have rights to defend themselves and there are costs for us associated with that.”
An officer was charged under the Police Services Act in early 2008. Those charges led to a disciplinary hearing under the act, which is akin to a judicial proceeding. Those hearings are open to the public, with the next date set for late September.
Deputy Chief Allan Cheesman said the force has a policy of not commenting on internal discipline issues.
However, South Simcoe Police Association president Staff-Sgt. Brian Miller said the Police Act charges are related to “job performance” issues.
“I don’t want to get into the particulars because it’s pretty complex,” Miller said.
Miller, who has been the force’s police union president for 16 years, said the chief fired the officer. The association claims the dismissal was “unlawful” and has filed a complaint with the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services, a provincial agency that oversees police departments.
After the association complained about the officer’s dismissal he was reinstated only to be suspended with pay in February 2008 after he was charged under the Police Services Act.
“He has been paid ever since,” Miller said. “We have one less officer on the road who could be on the road protecting the public.”
Miller said the hearings have been difficult for other South Simcoe Police officers who have been called as witnesses.
Joined: Apr 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 742 Location: Cook’s Bay Karma: 16
Re: Costs mount in police discipline case « Reply #1 on Oct 1, 2009, 5:48pm »
South Simcoe Police Chief Bruce Davis didn’t realize he had contravened the Ontario Police Services Act by firing a constable until he was challenged, he told a discipline tribunal Tuesday.
A few hours after Davis fired Const. David Oliver on the advice of legal counsel, the chief received a fax from defense lawyer Harry Black countering the move.
“Be advised that you have no such authority,” Black wrote to Davis on February 11, 2008. “David Oliver remains a member of the South Simcoe Police Service and the service continues to be obligated by law to pay him his salary and all related benefits.”
Within about 48 hours, Davis reinstated Oliver only to suspend him with pay after issuing charges under the Police Services Act.
Davis said he learned the dismissal was improper after police service’s lawyer Richard Baldwin acknowledged a mistake had been made.
Oliver’s internal disciplinary hearing, which began in May, has Oliver answering charges of unsatisfactory work performance. Retired Toronto police Supt. Neale Tweedy, an experienced hearing officer, who will ultimately provide a ruling.
As the prosecution wrapped up its case with the police chief on the stand, Black voiced disbelief in the chief’s assertion that he believed he had the authority to fire a constable.
Black cited 37 years of police service with increasing supervisory responsibility, and Davis’ own experience conducting hearings as evidence of the veteran officer’s expertise. Davis was also the president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police in 2000.
“That was my understanding at that point,” Davis affirmed under oath, acknowledging he had never seen or heard of a chief terminating a constable before. He told the hearing he did not bring this experience to his lawyer’s attention to question the advice he was originally given. “I was assured I could do that and so I did,” he said. “I accept responsibility for taking that advice from him.”
Black reminded Davis that the Police Services Act allows for dismissal only after a “misconduct is proven on clear and convincing evidence” during a hearing.
The police association claims the dismissal was “unlawful” and has filed a complaint with the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services, a provincial agency that oversees police departments.
Oliver was fired by Davis after he had been placed on extended probation had been notified in October 2007 that his job was on the line if he failed to improve.
Throughout this period, the officer continued to receive mixed reviews for his work, according to evidence presented at the hearing.
In an earlier testimony, Staff-Sgt. John Van d**e, who oversaw the probationary period as the officer in charge of the platoon to which Oliver was assigned, said the constable spoke of high stress levels, confusion and frustration. In one report Van d**e suggested there were too many coach officers in place watching Oliver and stated they had insufficient time to fairly assess the situation.
He outlined Oliver’s slow report writing, and improper searching and handcuffing techniques, even while complimenting his attitude and interpersonal abilities.
Black listed commendations in Oliver’s personnel file highlighting his positive attitude, personal ethics and people skills. The chief agreed when Black suggested Oliver was exactly the kind of person who would be welcome in the service.
However, the chief pointed to the constable’s continued failure to measure up in the “meat and potatoes” aspects of the job.
Davis recounted indecisiveness, poor judgment and a lack of time management as contributing factors to the officer’s extended probationary period, and eventual dismissal.
“I considered his conduct to be inappropriate,” Davis told the hearing of his comments to Oliver less than two weeks prior to the termination. “He should be progressing further than that of a four-week recruit and he would have to come up to the standard or his employment would be terminated.”
However, Black said he will show the hearing that Oliver performed his duties up to standard.
“It’s a completely unsubstantiated allegation,” Black told The Journal outside of the hearing. “He’s going to show evidence he performed his work in a completely satisfactory manner.”
The hearing will resume with the defense’s case after Thanksgiving.
I find this interesting reading , it almost appears to me that the chief of South Simcoe Police Services wants his men to be more aggressive when dealing with the public.
Joined: Apr 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 742 Location: Cook’s Bay Karma: 16
Re: Costs mount in police discipline case « Reply #2 on Nov 5, 2009, 7:35pm »
A suspended South Simcoe Police officer told his discipline tribunal last Friday he wouldn’t have taken a helicopter ride with York Regional Police had he known it would cause him so much trouble.
Const. David Oliver testified that he didn’t believe he needed permission from a superior to take a ride in York’s police helicopter because he was taking the flight while off duty.
“I didn’t think it was any big deal because I was going while off duty,” Oliver said. “In light of this whole thing, I wouldn’t have bothered with the helicopter ride.”
It was the May 2007 chopper ride along that led Chief Bruce Davis to fire Oliver eight months later.
Davis gave Oliver a letter of termination on Feb. 11 2008, offering the officer one-month pay as severance.
In the letter, Davis charged Oliver misrepresented himself to York Regional Police as a member of Simcoe’s traffic unit and the street-racing team known as Project Erase so he could take the helicopter ride.
“At no time were you assigned to this unit nor the project and at no time did you seek or obtain permission from this service to do this,” Davis states in the termination notice. “We believe we are entitled to dismiss you for just cause.”
But Oliver was reinstated a few hours later when Davis learned he had contravened the Police Service Act by firing the officer, discipline that can only be meted out following a formal disciplinary hearing.
Davis followed proper procedure about 48 hours later by charging Oliver with discreditable conduct and deceit under the Act.
Oliver has been suspended with full pay and benefits ever since. His disciplinary hearing, which has been sitting sporadically, began last May.
The tribunal’s hearing officer, retired Toronto Police Supt. Neale Tweedy, has heard several South Simcoe officers testify that Oliver did not perform up to standard in several areas of policing during his short time with the force.
But it was the helicopter ride he took at the invitation of a York officer that prosecutor David Cowling focused on during much of his cross-examination Friday.
“So you must have been pretty excited to be able to go on this helicopter ride?” Cowling suggested. “I’ve been in helicopters before,” Oliver responded. “It’s great if I can go for a ride, but it’s not that big a deal. I’ve been on them when I worked up north.”
Oliver said he was attending a Project Erase function at Buttonville Airport in Markham with his training officer when a York Regional officer asked him if he wanted to return to take a helicopter ride sometime.
“The constable asked if I ever wanted to go for a ride I should let him know. It was all very casual,” Oliver said. “I asked him if I could go off duty and he said, sure it doesn’t matter.”
Oliver later called a York Regional Police sergeant to get approval for the flight, telling him that he was a South Simcoe officer and was interested in traffic enforcement.
But Cowling said the York Regional Police sergeant testified that he believed Oliver was with Project Erase.
Oliver said it wasn’t until July about two months after the chopper ride that he told South Simcoe Police Sgt. Steve Wilson during a meeting that he had taken the flight.
The hearing heard that Wilson did not raise the issue again for months when he decided to investigate.
The tribunal also heard that Oliver was charged with several job performance inadequacies, including failing to properly handcuff a prisoner and failing to inform a suspect of his right to counsel.
But in each case, Oliver disagreed with the testimony of other officers, saying they were either mistaken or inaccurate.
“It’s always someone else, isn’t it Const. Oliver?” Cowling charged. “Do you think there is some kind of conspiracy here?”
Oliver responded by saying he was uneasy about some of the testimony he had heard during his disciplinary hearing.
“It’s a little more clear to me when I hear things like, ‘Let’s wrap it up in a pretty bow; It would be nice if this went to a fight’, and ‘Don’t give David Oliver a chance to respond,’” Oliver said. “Conspiracy is your word. All I’m saying is how I feel about what I’ve heard.”
The comment “wrap it up in a pretty bow” was made during a telephone conversation between Davis and the force’s lawyer Richard Baldwin. Human resources manager Deborah Carmichael recorded that conversation.
The hearing continues Nov. 23 with closing arguments from defence lawyer Harry Black.
If found guilty, Oliver faces several possible punishments up to and including dismissal from the force.
Meanwhile, a complaint against Davis has been filed with the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services over Oliver’s “unlawful” dismissal. The commission is a provincial agency that oversees police departments.
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