Why do paid police suspensions last for years?

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Jeffrey Gulick, for example, was a former Ottawa Police Service Constable who was ordered fired by a disciplinary hearing officer in 2010. He was found guilty of discreditable conduct for an outburst on May 22, 2008, where he assaulted four other officers.

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Gulick appealed the decision several times, first to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, which upheld the officer’s decision in 2011. Another appeal went to the Superior Court of Justice where it was dismissed by a three-judge panel on Oct. 3, 2012.

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Gulick was given seven days to resign or be fired. The Ottawa Police Service announced his dismissal on Oct. 12, 2012 — more than four years after the initial incident — after he failed to tender his resignation.

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“It’s an allegation of an assault. It’s on video. That should have been in a criminal court within months, and then if you’re convicted, your police internal hearing is going to happen the following month,” Gregory Brown said.

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“Systemic delays are really what agitate people.”

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A spokesperson for the Ottawa Police Service, when asked why Geric is still being paid a six-figure salary, replied by pointing to the Ottawa Police Association’s collective agreement.

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Hypersensitivity around police misconduct

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Ottawans are hypersensitive to police misconduct, moreso than other professions that have governing bodies, Brown notes.

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Doctors, lawyers, firefighters, accountants and nurses are all subject to discipline, but they don’t receive the same public scrutiny as police officers do, he said.

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“Sometimes a criminal misconduct case against a professional person doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to lose their livelihood … A physician convicted of impaired driving or intimate partner violence is not going to have their medical license revoked. They may have to do some counseling, or have be on probation, but they’re not going to lose their ability to practice medicine and their livelihood.

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“There are crown attorneys in the province that are practicing who have been convicted of criminal offenses, and they’re prosecuting people, so it’s just a particular hypersensitivity (for police) that’s existed for decades in the public environment.”

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But the professor emphasized that the hypersensitivity is justified, especially since police officers are the one branch of governance legally authorized to possess firearms and to use force when necessary.

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“Police have awesome powers, and those powers have to be respected and rules have to be adhered to, otherwise the whole system doesn’t work,” Brown noted.

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He suggested, however, that many police officers actually welcome accountability and transparency with the public.

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In a study he conducted a decade ago on police opinions around body-worn cameras, Brown found that the majority of officers he talked to actually didn’t mind if they were part of the uniform.

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“People suspected that police wouldn’t really want to have everything they do recorded. It was very much the opposite. Officers want that. Many officers told me, ‘I’m not afraid of accountability. I don’t do anything wrong. You can video tape me as much as you want,'” he said.

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“Good cops don’t have a problem with public scrutiny.”

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Ottawa Police Association president Matthew Cox agrees.

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“I absolutely do think we have to be held to a higher standard, and I think that that’s important, and we do have to be held accountable,” he said in an interview.