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HomeNewsOIPRD Orders Peterborough Police To Hold Disciplinary Hearing For Officer Charged With...

OIPRD Orders Peterborough Police To Hold Disciplinary Hearing For Officer Charged With Discreditable Conduct

PETERBOROUGH-The Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) has upgraded a Peterborough Police Officers’ charge of Discreditable Conduct from “less-serious” to “serious” and has ordered Peterborough Police to hold a disciplinary hearing into the matter.

The Independent Review Director also “strongly recommends” that the criminal investigation the officer conducted be re-opened and re-assigned to another service.

A local man filed a complaint with the OIPRD saying that his daughter told him she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather when she was ten-years-old. She reported the abuse to Peterborough Police when she was eleven, and the investigation was assigned to Detective Constable O’Brien of the Peterborough Police Service.

“I am thankful for the disciplinary hearing and hopeful it will be just and fair.” the father told Kawartha 411 News. “I am hopeful that maybe now the new Chief of Police will reopen the case, so far the previous chief has not listened to the recommendations by OPP and others.”

Kawartha 411 first broke this story in November. Read more here:https://www.kawartha411.ca/2021/11/30/peterborough-police-detective-working-on-the-sex-crime-unit-guilty-of-discreditable-conduct/

The father believed the interviews of his daughter by Detective Constable O’Brien were improper and abusive and that the investigation was negligent, which resulted in no charges being laid against the stepfather.

The OIPRD investigation revealed that Detective Constable O’Brien was a 21-year veteran of the PPS. She had investigated many sexual assault allegations, including those against children. She had received criminal investigation training specific to offences against children and had been trained to use the child forensic interview protocol when dealing with child witnesses/complainants.

“Detective Constable O’Brien interviewed the Complainant’s daughter on two occasions. Each time, by her own admission, she had trouble believing the Complainant’s daughter’s allegations. In her supplementary report, she listed 34 reasons why she did not believe the Complainant’s daughter’s allegations, including her inability to provide specifics of the sexual assaults, such as how often they had occurred and how she and her step-father were positioned during the incidents.” said Stephen Leach, Independent Police Review Director.

Leach continued, “Detective Constable O’Brien’s disbelief of the Complainant’s daughter was evident during both interviews. Quite early into the first interview, Detective Constable O’Brien asked the Complainant’s daughter what good would come out of her reporting the sexual abuse, and she stated, “You didn’t make this stuff up to get [your step-father] out of the house, did you?”. She later questioned the Complainant’s daughter’s motives for coming forward, suggesting that the Complainant’s daughter would spend more time with her mother if her step-father was out of the picture.”

According to Leach, at one point during the interview, Detective Constable O’Brien asked the Complainant’s daughter: “What do you think is at stake in all of this? What should happen with [your step father]? We don’t want a nice person getting in trouble for something they didn’t do or if they aren’t a nice person, we don’t want a lie convicting someone who didn’t do it. [Your stepfather] would have to be arrested and police would take him out… How will [your step-father] feel when he hears this? You want him to be in trouble?”. Later in the interview, she stated, “I think this information is going to hurt a lot of people. Let’s say [your step-father] didn’t do this, what does that look like for your family?”

During these interviews, the young girl consistently told Detective Constable O’Brien that she was telling the truth and she asked Detective Constable O’Brien to believe her according to the documents obtained by Kawartha 411.

The investigators with the OIPRD said they found that Detective Constable O’Brien failed to follow her training and the service policies in conducting her interviews.

“She failed to consider, in her assessment of the Complainant’s daughter’s credibility, that the Complainant’s daughter may have been exhibiting reluctance rather than deceptive behaviour. The investigation also found that Detective Constable O’Brien failed to conduct the interviews in a manner consistent with the methods and practices espoused in the Ministry Accredited Training Standards, and that she failed to incorporate the investigative techniques in which she had been trained. Lastly, she failed to follow the child forensic interview protocol.”

Former Chief Scott Gilbert found the charge of discreditable conduct was substantiated but said it was of a less-serious nature meaning no disciplinary hearing had to be held. The OIPRD disagrees and upgraded the offence to “serious” saying:

“The manner in which these interviews were conducted seriously impacted the Complainant’s daughter and resulted in secondary victimization. Not only was the Complainant’s daughter disbelieved by her mother, she would also have known that she was disbelieved by Detective Constable O’Brien as well. Detective Constable O’Brien spent a disproportionate amount of time during her interviews suggesting that the Complainant’s daughter was lying and even went so far as to advise her of the offence of public mischief. This caused the Complainant’s daughter to express to her father that she would be put in jail unless she changed her story” states Leach

“Detective Constable O’Brien also improperly asked the Complainant’s daughter about the impact her allegations could have on her family, placing an impossible burden on a young, vulnerable child, especially if one accepts that Complainant’s daughter was telling the truth. While it is recognized that Detective Constable O’Brien was entitled to disbelieve the Complainant’s daughter, she could have done so in a way that respected and preserved her dignity and did not re-traumatize her.”

The child’s father also thought the officer should face charges of “neglect of duty”.

In all, during the course of this investigation, Detective Constable O’Brien conducted 29 interviews. The child was sent to the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) unit for an interview and for the completion of a sexual assault examination kit (SAEK). The SCAN social worker believed the girls’ allegations. However, Detective Constable O’Brien continued to harbour concerns about her credibility according to OIPRD.

As a result, Detective Constable O’Brien provided the girls’ statements to Detective Constable Mitton of the Durham Regional Police Service for statement analysis. Detective Constable Mitton indicated that he was inclined to believe the child and would have arrested the stepfather based on her statements.

Documents show in light of his opinion, Detective Constable O’Brien asked Detective Constable Stephens of the OPP to review the entire investigation. Detective Constable Stephens did so and believed that O’Brien had approached the matter with an open mind and agreed with her concerns regarding the Complainant’s daughter’s credibility.

 O’Brien requested that the local Crown review the investigation. At the Crown’s request, only summaries of the interviews with the child were provided, together with portions of the investigative brief. In other words, the actual videos of the interviews with the child were not provided. Based on the information reviewed, the Crown said that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction and the case was closed.

The OIPRD says Detective Constable O’Brien advised she was not provided with the supervisory support and resources that she required to manage the file, although it appears that she believed she would not be given additional resources if she asked, and so she did not ask.

Despite the many steps that Detective Constable O’Brien did take during the investigation, the OPP investigation revealed that several significant ones were not according to the OIPRD.

Detective Constable O’Brien had been told that the child had used her phone to photograph her step-father putting cream on her younger sister’s private area, although in her interview with the PSB investigator Detective Constable O’Brien did not recall having received this information states the OIPRD.

“Detective Constable O’Brien submitted the phone for forensic testing, but concern was expressed by one of the officers that the consent obtained from the mother might be insufficient to permit for an examination of the phone. Ultimately, no search warrant was obtained, and the phone was returned to Detective Constable O’Brien without forensic testing having been completed. Detective Constable O’Brien did not provide an explanation for why she did not take the further steps required to lawfully examine the phone.”

Secondly, according to the OIPRD, Detective Constable O’Brien had obtained the mother’s consent to enter their home and look around, but she “failed to examine, make note of or take photographs of the lock on the inside of the daughter’s bedroom door even though the child had advised that her step-father would lock her bedroom door from the inside when he was sexually assaulting her, and so the lock could have corroborated – or contradicted – one aspect of her recollection”. Officials also say Detective Constable O’Brien also did not seize any physical evidence, like clothing or bedding, from the home for submission to the Centre of Forensic Science.

Lastly, Detective Constable O’Brien also failed to refer the girl to the SCAN unit in a timely fashion (i.e., the referral occurred approximately four months after the disclosure of sexual assault was made to police). Consequently, the SAEK was not completed for several months after the reporting of the sexual assault and was inconclusive according to OIPRD.

“While I am very concerned with the investigative steps that were not taken, I am mindful that they were not wilful or unreasonable,” explained Leach. “I have also considered the impact of these errors, including that a forensic examination of the telephone may not have yielded evidence that was related specifically to the sexual assault allegations against the Complainant’s daughter. I also recognize that, given the (very understandable) delay between the last allegation of sexual assault and its disclosure to police, DNA evidence from clothing or bedding may no longer have been available or determinative of the allegations. Similarly, the late referral for the SAEK would likely not have resulted in lost DNA, given the delay in reporting.”

Leach said even if Detective Constable O’Brien was wrong in her assessment of the child’s credibility – and therefore was wrong about whether the step-father should have been charged – it appears that she held her belief honestly and that her failure to charge the step-father was not a neglect of duty was supported by the evidence.

The OIPRD has directed Acting Police Chief Tim Farquharson to serve a notice of disciplinary hearing for Discreditable Conduct on Detective Constable O’Brien within 14 days of receipt of his decision. (February 17th)

He also strongly recommended the investigation be re-opened.

“Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge and echo the comments of the OPP, namely that the designated Regional Sexual Assault Crown Attorney ought to be consulted to review of Detective Constable O’Brien’s investigation. Additionally, even though I do not have any authority to direct the police service to re-open their investigation, based on my review I would strongly recommend that the criminal investigation be re-opened and re- assigned to another service, if this has not already been done.” stated Leach.

Peterborough Police said they are reviewing the decision.

“Peterborough Police just received notification of the OIPRD direction.   We will be issuing a media release once the details are in place.” said Sandra Dueck, Communications Peterborough Police.

 

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Pamela Vanmeer
Pamela Vanmeerhttps://www.kawartha411.ca/
Pamela VanMeer is a two time winner of the prestigious Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Award. Her investigative reports on abuse in Long Term Care Homes garnered international attention for the issue and won the Ron Laidlaw Award. She is a former reporter and anchor at CHEX News, now Global Peterborough and helped launch the New CHEX Daily, a daily half hour talk show. While at CHCH News in Hamilton she covered some of the biggest news stories of the day.

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