With many Sudburians upset the punishment wasn't harsher, the head of a tribunal that decided to demote two police officers for benefits fraud will release the reasons behind his ruling in January.
That was the word from Sudbury Police Chief Paul Pedersen this week, who addressed the controversy at a meeting of the police services board.
Husband and wife Const. Christopher Labreche and Const. Kathryn Howard were demoted on Dec. 5 following a disciplinary hearing under the Police Services Act.
Both officers billed the police service's insurance company more than $3,000 for medical services they never received. The demotions will cost them a combined $88,981.
Labreche was demoted from a first class constable to a fourth class constable. The three-year demotion will cost him $68,766 in pay over that time period.
Howard was demoted from a first class constable to a second class constable. The one-year demotion will cost her $20,215. Labreche pleaded guilty to criminal fraud in September, which led to the stiffer penalty.
"I acknowledge that the concerns I'm hearing have merit,” Pedersen said Wednesday, about the angry reaction from some in the public. "There's a bit of a misconception out there. The Police Act doesn't not give the chief of police nor the police services board the authority to dismiss anybody.
"All discipline must go through a hearing process. It's governed by an independent tribunal by a hearing officer ... It's bound by things like past precedent, case law and this notion of proportionality, that all things have to be considered when compare to similar cases."
So the head of the tribunal was obligated to deliver a decision based on punishments handed out in similar cases, Pedersen said.
"The hearing officer did consider all of the aggravating circumstances -- and there were aggravating circumstances,” he said. “Make no mistake about it, this is serious misconduct and is dealt with as serious misconduct in the Police Act. As well as the mitigating factors present in this case, before determining the sanctions were appropriate in this situation."
More details of how he came to the decision will be known Jan. 15, when he'll release a written decision detailing the criteria that the tribunal relied upon.
“That document is going to be a public document and will be available for everybody," Pedersen said.
He said restrictions on what police can do to address cases of officer misconduct have been an issue for some time. One of the more public issues had been the fact that officers accused of gross misconduct continue to receive their pay for years before their cases are dealt with.
"For some time now, chiefs of police and police service boards in this province have been advocating for changes in the police act in several areas,” Pedersen said. “I think there's an acknowledgement by both chiefs and boards that change is needed ... We often hear about suspensions with pay, but that's just part of it. Some of these tribunals are lasting longer than criminal cases."
The province has signalled it's open to changing the rule, he said, something that police boards and chiefs across the province welcome.
"We, too, welcome changes that are going to modernize the police process."
