CORNWALL, Ontario – At their meeting on Thursday, Oct. 1, the Cornwall Police Services Board, the Board passed a motion to petition Stormont, Dundas, and South Glengarry MPP Jim McDonell to ask the province to review and rework the Police Act as it relates to police officer suspensions.
The motion came in response to an article in the Ottawa Citizen critical of Ottawa police officers who are on suspension, yet still receive pay.
Cornwall Police Service (CPS) Chief Danny Aikman told the Board that there was currently one CPS officer who was suspended with pay due to serious disciplinary charges that were brought against him two years ago.
“He is under suspension with pay, and I am limited under the Police Act under that provision,” Aikman explained. “If a member is sentenced to time incarcerated, I can immediately dismiss that member.”
Aikman said that the officer in question had been found guilty on some of these charges and that he had a sentencing hearing the previous week and was awaiting a sentence to be handed down. Furthermore, the officer is awaiting another hearing on a separate disciplinary matter.
The officer is a Constable Second Class and has been receiving $70,000 annually since he was suspended two years ago.
Board Member Bill Beattie was critical of the practice of suspension with pay.
“It is a holiday with pay and I think that is outrageous,” he said.
Chief Aikman stated that being suspended with pay was hardly a vacation, but a difficult circumstance for both the individual in question, and the service as a whole.
“I don’t like the idea of a suspension being a paid vacation. We require our members to report to us daily,” he said. “It is a very troubling event when one of our members is suspended. I feel badly for him as an individual. This is not an easy thing for him to go through.”
Aikman added that one reason that officers are suspended with pay is because of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
