Two Ottawa police officers quietly left the service this month after one of them was accused of sexual misconduct and the other was criminally charged for alleged intimate partner violence, CBC News has learned.
It comes after the police chief issued a stark and widely praised warning to the entire force in May, asking problematic officers to change their ways or leave.
But a criminologist with expertise on police oversight and accountability says the force shouldn’t consider its job done after the departures of the two officers, and that the public deserves to know more about what happened.
Const. Tyler Hawkins resigned July 1 after being suspended from duty with pay on May 28, according to Ottawa police and the union for its rank-and-file members, the Ottawa Police Association. He was hired in August 2015, the force said, and had been working on patrol in central division.
Neither the force nor the union would provide details about the reason for Hawkins’s suspension and departure, nor did they provide any comment about it.
CBC learned that the suspension came in response to allegations that Hawkins had used a social media account with a fake name to pursue intimate relationships with women he met during calls for service.
It was also alleged that multiple women members of the force complained about Hawkins’s pursuit of sexual relationships with them.
The allegation that Hawkins sexually pursued women he met during calls is similar to one of the inappropriate behaviours Stubbs called out in his video.
CBC was first to report on the existence of the video. It was sent across the police service two months after CBC began asking questions about a sergeant accused of sexual harassment and assault, four days after the report about the sergeant was published, and two days after a separate CBC report about the head of the police union being accused of historical sexual assault.
The video was then picked up by outlets including CTV and TMZ and was shared widely on social media.
“We’ve seen members messaging vulnerable victims on calls that they’ve attended in an attempt to develop an intimate relationship,” Stubbs says in the video, which also asks all members to become allies of women in the service and the larger community.
“Two things need to happen, and there are only two things,” Stubbs says later in his message, addressing problematic staff directly. “Change your behavior now, or quit. Leave. We don’t need you in the organization.”
Hawkins has not been charged with any offences under the Criminal Code or Ontario’s Community Safety and Policing Act.
Ottawa police declined to say whether Hawkins had ever been suspended and/or on special duty prior to May 28.
The other officer who left the service did so by way of retirement on July 10, according to Ottawa police and the union.
He is currently in Ontario Court facing criminal charges stemming from alleged intimate partner violence: assault; harassment by threatening conduct and/or repeated following and/or watching/besetting; careless storage of the restricted Glock pistol issued to him by Ottawa police; and careless use of his police-issued Glock.
The officer is not being named by CBC in order to protect the identity of the alleged victim, a civilian member of the Ottawa Police Service.
Neither the force nor the union answered questions about when the charged officer joined the police service or what his roles have been over the years, citing his retirement.
CBC has not been able to reach either of the officers who left the service this month.
CBC asked the force and union, and the unnamed man’s criminal defence lawyer, to inform the former constables about this story and ask them to get in touch with CBC if they had any comment.
It’s unclear if the force, the union or the defence lawyer reached out to them, or if they did reach out and the former officers declined to comment.
Patrick Watson, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, said there’s a “real and genuine public interest in knowing what happened in these cases” because they involve and highlight systemic problems in policing.
And while officers leaving saves the force time and money in suspension and employment litigation costs, he said another benefit for the force is that the departures keep the alleged misbehaviour in the dark.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and it does not benefit anyone — from the police to the government to the citizens — to simply say, ‘All good, we got rid of [them], so problem solved,” said Watson, who studies policing and focuses on police oversight.
Often, former officers move on to other public-facing roles such as private security, or conducting investigations for law firms or other agencies, he added.
“This is a real problem for public trust and policing that … it only comes to light sometime later that they were facing internal disciplinary charges that were never processed because of their resignations,” Watson said.
He thinks legislation should be changed to permit investigations of former police officers after they’ve left policing behind, “at the very least for inquiry purposes.”
“Bad apples come from bad barrels,” Watson said. And focusing on ridding the force of the apples leaves the barrel “unaddressed.”
“This isn’t to indict the entire police service of any given city. It’s just to say that it is an occupation that has certain opportunities for malfeasance and it attracts, on some occasions, people who perhaps have nefarious intents or inappropriate proclivities to getting into the job.”
Stubbs sent an email to the force last week outlining tougher consequences for members who misuse police databases such as the Canadian Police Information Centre (commonly known as CPIC), the Ottawa police records management system and Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) databases.
“Depending on the nature and severity, this will include significant penalties, up to and including dismissal from the service. When applicable, criminal charges will also be considered for unauthorized use of a computer,” the email reads.
He also wrote that breaches of databases owned by external agencies such the MTO and CPIC “must be reported,” and that they “could jeopardize the licenses granted to [us].”
Stubbs wrote that there is “increasing scrutiny from oversight bodies” about database abuse and higher expectations under the Community Safety and Policing Act and Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
“Maintaining public trust requires each of us to exercise care, judgment, and accountability in handling sensitive information. I know members take this responsibility seriously and I expect that commitment to continue,” Stubbs added.
Matthew Cox, president and CEO of the Ottawa Police Association, said the union acknowledges and respects the chief’s right to administer discipline, respects and values the privacy of the public, and trusts that the chief “will be measured and reasonable in his disciplinary decisions.”
“We believe the public has high trust in the Ottawa Police Service members and we are grateful for the public’s support,” Cox added.
“Our members go out into the community everyday, and work to keep our residents safe. My message to the Ottawa community is thank you for your support, and our members hold in high regard the trust you give us.”
According to the website for Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, its investigation into a historical allegation of sexual assault against Cox is ongoing.
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