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Province plans to review Police Act, including disciplinary hearings
Kennebecasis Insp. Jeff Porter, scheduled to face arbitration hearing, now plans to retire
It comes on the heels of news that a senior officer with the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force, who has been suspended with pay for more than four years pending the outcome of a conduct complaint, now plans to retire.
Insp. Jeff Porter was scheduled to face an arbitration hearing before the New Brunswick Police Commission in Fredericton on Oct. 26 over alleged sexual harassment and other Police Act offences involving a female civilian employee he supervised.
But his arbitration hearing was adjourned until Dec. 31, the same day his retirement takes effect.
Once an officer retires or resigns, they are no longer considered a police officer and the provincial policing oversight body has no authority to discipline them.
Porter is at least the third officer in recent years to retire before facing possible disciplinary action.
Former Saint John Police Force deputy chief Glen McCloskey retired in April 2018, six months before he was scheduled to face an arbitration hearing related to Dennis Oland's first murder trial in 2015 in the bludgeoning death of his father, multimillionaire Richard Oland. Another officer alleged McCloskey had urged him not to reveal he had walked through the bloody crime scene. (Oland was found not guilty in 2019 after being retried by judge alone.)
And former Kennebecasis Regional Police Force chief Stephen McIntyre retired in 2016 after an independent investigator found he committed 23 breaches of various sections of the code of conduct by, among other things, failing "to ensure that the improper or unlawful conduct of Insp. Porter was not concealed."
None of the allegations have been proven.
Review of act an 'interesting question'
Asked whether the Department of Public Safety is considering amending the Police Act to ensure officers can't avoid possible disciplinary action by resigning or retiring, spokesperson Coreen Enos did not answer the question directly.
"The department intends to resume engagement with stakeholders in the very near future on modernizing the Police Act, which will include review of issues such as disciplinary proceedings," she said in an emailed statement, without elaborating.
Jennifer Smith, executive director and CEO of the commission, described the idea as an "interesting question."
"However, the NBPC is not prepared to comment at this time on potential changes to the Police Act," she said.
The commission has offered the department "whatever assistance they need with respect to opening up the Police Act for review," she added.
Suspension with pay 'vital'
Bob Davidson, executive director of the New Brunswick Police Association, said a stakeholders' committee came up with several "major changes" two years ago, such as taking certain powers away from the commission and giving them back to the minister and having mutually agreed upon arbitrators, but they've been "sitting on a shelf."
One change the association that represents the nine municipal force unions doesn't want to see is for officers to lose their pay while suspended, said Davidson.
"Suspension with pay is vital to the front-line police officers," who may face false allegations by criminals, which can take years to "expose and defeat," he said.
"Without it, there would be a major chilling effect," said Davidson. "Your livelihood would be gone. You could not afford to defend yourself under the criminal proceedings and the Police Act proceedings. So your whole life, your whole career will be gone."
Davidson pointed to the case of Saint John Police Force Const. Chris Messer, who faced more than three years of criminal and Police Act matters, including six days in jail, before being cleared.
Officers seek prompt hearings
Officers want prompt hearings, he said. They "don't want a big cloud hanging over their head because they are accused of something."
That's why the association took the position in the stakeholders' committee two years ago that conduct hearings should not be delayed by criminal proceedings, he said.
"If you have proper professional independent investigators and the facts are known, we should have the hearing under the Police Act immediately, not wait around for all the legal manoeuvres and court proceedings that we witnessed with the Messer case, the Porter case [and] the McCloskey case.
"We should be going right away to a hearing under the Police Act to clear these officers or determine if they did something wrong right away."
Porter case a 'one-off'
Davidson described Porter's lengthy case as a "one-off." Unique circumstances delayed proceedings and saw Porter collect his estimated annual salary of between $104,000 and $115,000 for four years, he said.
Porter, a 31-year veteran of the force, which covers Rothesay and Quispamsis, has been suspended with pay since June 2016, shortly after the female employee filed a written conduct complaint against him.
Porter is a manager and not a member of the union.
An independent investigator hired by the commission found Porter committed 81 breaches of various sections of the provincial Police Act, including sexual harassment, abuse of authority, corrupt practice and discreditable conduct.
Porter was subsequently accused of three more offences related to alleged retaliation against the original complainant.
An independent investigator hired by the commission found he violated three sections of the professional code of conduct, including abuse of authority by harassment/intimidation, discreditable conduct while off duty, and insubordination.
Porter has maintained the allegations are false.
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Kennebecasis officer suspended with pay for 4 years now plans to retire
Insp. Jeff Porter, accused of 81 breaches of Police Act, scheduled to face arbitration hearing Dec. 31
Insp.
Jeff Porter of the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force, who has been
suspended with pay since June 2016, plans to retire, effective Dec. 31. (Facebook)
A senior officer with the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force, who has been suspended with pay for more than four years pending the outcome of a conduct complaint over alleged sexual harassment and other Police Act offences involving a female civilian employee he supervised, now plans to retire.
Insp. Jeff Porter was scheduled to face an arbitration hearing before the New Brunswick Police Commission in Fredericton on Monday.
But last Friday, Porter "formally indicated he will retire at the end of 2020," Chief Wayne Gallant confirmed in an email to CBC News.
"The arbitration process has been adjourned until December 31st."
The New Brunswick Police Commission only has the authority to discipline active police officers. Once an officer leaves the force, the provincial policing oversight body has no jurisdiction to investigate or impose sanctions, which can range from a verbal reprimand to dismissal.
Gallant did not provide an explanation for the adjournment.
"I will not be offering any further comment on the matter," he said.
Jennifer Smith, the commission's executive director and CEO, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Porter, a 31-year veteran of the force, which covers Rothesay and Quispamsis, has been suspended with pay since June 2016, shortly after the female employee filed a written conduct complaint against him.
An inspector's annual salary ranges from about $104,000 to $115,000.
Municipal and regional forces in New Brunswick cannot suspend an officer without pay, unless the officer has been convicted of an offence under provincial or federal legislation.
An independent investigator hired by the commission found Porter committed 81 breaches of various sections of the provincial Police Act, including sexual harassment, abuse of authority, corrupt practice and discreditable conduct.
Porter also committed five violations of internal policies, including workplace harassment, according to the investigator's report obtained by CBC News.
Porter was subsequently accused of three more offences related to alleged retaliation against the original complainant.
An independent investigator hired by the commission found he violated three sections of the professional code of conduct, including abuse of authority by harassment/intimidation, discreditable conduct while off duty, and insubordination.
None of the allegations have been proven and Porter has maintained they are false.
Earlier this year, Porter lost his bid for a judicial review of his case. He "failed to establish any exceptional circumstances that would justify judicial intervention before the administrative process has been completed," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Terrence Morrison ruled.
"One could be forgiven for suspecting that this motion is a veiled attempt at delay," Morrison remarked.
He ordered Porter to pay $5,500 to the New Brunswick Police Commission for the "significant expense and delay" his application caused.
Porter was previously investigated by the New Brunswick RCMP for alleged intimidation, sexual harassment, obstruction and mischief involving the complainant. No criminal charges were laid.
Case dates back to February 2016
The Porter case dates back to February 2016, when the alleged victim confided in Const. Kelley McIntyre that she felt threatened and intimidated by Porter and wanted to quit.
McIntyre told another female officer, who told Steve Palmer, the deputy chief at the time, who took the information to then-chief Stephen McIntyre, of no relation to Kelley, and requested the allegations be investigated.
Four days later, the chief ordered an investigation — not into Porter but into McIntyre, accusing her of "workplace harassment" for allegedly "poisoning the work environment" of Porter.
Kelley McIntyre subsequently filed a Police Act complaint against the chief.
An independent investigator found the chief committed 23 breaches of various sections of the police code of conduct by, among other things, failing "to ensure that the improper or unlawful conduct of Insp. Porter was not concealed."
None of the allegations were proven.
McIntyre, the chief, retired in the wake of the scathing report.
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