By
Liz Monteiro
WATERLOO
REGION — Police say their hands are tied and they have no choice but to pay
officers who are suspended while they face misconduct charges.
The
Police Services Act dictates that officers continue to receive their salaries
while they are under suspension from their jobs.
The
only time the chief of police can suspend an officer without pay is when an
officer is convicted of an offence and receives a prison sentence.
Joe
Couto, spokesperson for the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, said the
association is trying to lobby the provincial government to make changes to the
act.
"No
party has the appetite to do the right thing and change the law," he said.
The
association recognizes that officers facing misconduct charges get paid through
the proceedings to protect the officer until a decision is made, he said.
However,
officers who are charged with a serious criminal offence shouldn't be
protected, Couto said.
In
a white report written by the association in 2010, the group says Ontario
police chiefs "lack the legal authority to take reasonable and appropriate
steps in dealing with allegations of serious criminality."
The
paper says this leads to "an erosion of public trust" with the public
concluding that "the police are protection their own."
This
week, three officers were before a police tribunal at Waterloo Regional Police
headquarters. Jeff Vongkhamphou, Timothy Green and Graeme Kobayashi plead
guilty to charges of neglect of duty, deceit and discreditable conduct.
Vongkhamphou
was charged criminally with obstructing justice and given a suspended sentence.
He admitted in 2012 that he disposed of a sex toy and nude photographs that
were stolen on police calls by Const. Christopher Knox the year before. Knox
resigned.
All
three officers are being paid even though they are suspended from their jobs.
They are awaiting sentencing.
The
tribunal heard that the men were part of a BlackBerry Messenger group in which
officers made offensive remarks about a mentally ill woman and a pregnant
woman, a boy with Down syndrome and a group of Asian men in a pub, as well as
ridiculing someone of Middle Eastern descent.
The
officers mocked a supervisory officer with a cleft palate, referring to the
officer as "whistle lips." They also made fun of an officer for his
sexual orientation.
In
one case, an officer stole a sex toy while on a police call from a citizen's
home and then attached the sex toy to another officer's vehicle. Nude photos of
a woman were also stolen from her partner's cellphone.
The
prosecution at the hearing wants all three officers fired for what was
described as a "cavalier" and "callous" attitude when mocking
members of the public and posting their photos to the BlackBerry Messenger
group.
An
officer can appeal a decision by a hearing officer to the Ontario Civilian
Police Commission. They also get paid during that process.
Earlier
this month, Const. Craig Markham was ordered to resign from the Waterloo
Regional Police after hearing officer Supt. Pat Dietrich said Markham was
careless and reckless when he leaked confidential information on someone who
was in custody to the person's partner. He is appealing the decision and will
receive his salary until his case is heard.
