Why it’s so hard to fire an Ontario cop — even when they’re convicted

It's a rare punishment for a police officer in Ontario. But late last year, when an OPP superintendent was tasked with deciding the fate of a suspended and criminally convicted cop, she determined nothing short of the harshest penalty would do.

Const. Jason Redmond had trafficked medical marijuana. He'd accepted money to forge a criminal document. And when not breaking laws he'd sworn to uphold, his employment record showed he hadn't been an outstanding or distinguished" officer, either.

Quite simply, OPP Supt. Melissa Barron ruled at a police misconduct tribunal in November, Redmond should no longer be a cop.

Regrettably, I consider rehabilitation unlikely," Barron wrote in a 60-page decision obtained by the Star, which gave Redmond, an OPP officer from Leeds County in eastern Ontario, seven days to resign or be dismissed.

He willingly committed criminal offences, and there is nothing to suggest he would not do so again."

In fact, Redmond had done just that, as recently revealed in a high-profile criminal case that's prompted national headlines, provoked outrage and - once again - thrust Ontario's decades-old police legislation into an unflattering spotlight, spurring renewed promises of change from the province last week.

In February, three months after he was fired, an Ontario judge found that Redmond had sexually assaulted an unconscious woman and recorded it on his phone, hearing from witnesses that he'd wanted to teach the woman a lesson about how easily she could be raped when she was drunk." The sexual assault, which occurred in 2017 but came to light in 2021, was just one of nearly two dozen serious criminal offences the officer has been accused of committing in the last six years; he remains before the court on 17 other charges involving multiple victims, including aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, according to the OPP and court records.

All the while, Redmond has been collecting his paycheque.

Suspended with pay since his first arrest in November 2015, Redmond has, conservatively, earned about $700,000 in taxpayer money during his nearly eight years off the job, based on the 2015 base salary for OPP constables. In 2021 he landed on Ontario's Sunshine List of public sector salaries, pulling in $121,000.

And in spite of his November termination, Redmond remains on the payroll because he is appealing his dismissal - a process that could draw out for months or longer. Among his grounds for appeal, according to documents filed to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission in November: dismissal is an unduly harsh penalty."

(Redmond's appeal was filed before his recent conviction for sex assault. That case is due back in court for sentencing next week; a separate hearing on Redmond's appeal of his dismissal is scheduled for June).

I don't think anyone can look at these circumstances and not be utterly disgusted," said Patrick Watson, a criminologist who researches police oversight at Wilfrid Laurier University. This is really bad, and underscores the necessity of the government to respond."

Ontario's 1990 Police Services Act, which sets the legal standard for police discipline, dictates that officers' paycheques can be cut off only in cases where they are both convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail time. The law, considered the most restrictive in Canada, means salaries keep flowing to cops awaiting trial on serious offences, including murder, or, as in Redmond's 2018 case, to those convicted of a crime but not sentenced to jail.

The law has repeatedly caused public relations disasters for Ontario police chiefs. Before Redmond, there was Ioan-Florin Floria, the Toronto cop who made over $1 million while suspended with pay for more than a decade. There was Craig Markham, the former Waterloo cop who mocked his former employer for his three-year suspension in an email that thanked them for the paid time to play golf, travel and take a firefighting course. There was Richard Wills, the former Toronto cop paid up until he was convicted in 2007 of murdering his mistress and sealing her body behind a wall.

Even after an officer is fired, he can still be paid for months or more while appealing the dismissal, as in the case of former Toronto cop Matthew Brewer, whose July 2021 termination for egregious" misconduct was put on hold for more than a year, pending an appeal that upheld the dismissal.

As the Redmond case drew heated criticism in recent days, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique took to Twitter to explain why an officer in such a troubling" case was still on the payroll. It hadn't been for lack of trying, he said.

The OPP has been seeking the dismissal of this individual since his initial conviction," Carrique said in a statement, which said the force had asked that Redmond's termination be effective immediately, in spite of any appeal, but that the police misconduct adjudicator declined to do so.

I know this is troubling for not only members of the public, but for our own members who always seek to serve the people of Ontario with pride, professionalism and honour," Carrique said.

For the reasons laid bare in Redmond's case, police chiefs in Ontario have been lobbying the province for greater powers to fire officers and suspend them without pay for more than 15 years, Jeff McGuire, executive director of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP), said in an interview this week.

In 2021 - the same year a Star survey found more than 120 officers in Ontario suspended with pay - the OACP renewed its call to the province for changes, saying the archaic" system simply no longer instils public trust." They proposed a new arbitration model that would allow for disciplinary action, including termination, to be taken swiftly and independent of criminal proceedings.

We know that good humans make mistakes and need correction at times," McGuire said this week, stressing that chiefs would use any new powers sparingly.

That said, there are the tip of the iceberg (cases), if you will, that have to be treated with some dignity for the victims, some respect for the community, and respect for the fellow officers."

Last week, Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative government promised change was coming after years of Ontario's police legislation being in flux. In 2018, an omnibus Liberal policing bill was set to expand chiefs' powers to suspend without pay before it was put on hold by the newly elected Ford government, which called it the most anti-police legislation in Canadian history."

In 2019, the Ford government passed revised police legislation that will give chiefs powers to suspend some officers facing a serious criminal charge. But four years later, it has not yet come into force, the law's regulations still unwritten.

The delay was slammed at Queen's Park last week, with interim Liberal leader John Fraser saying the government dropped the ball - just dropped the ball big-time."

Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said the government is working to complete discussions" with police forces and other associations on the law's regulations, and aims to bring the legislation into force by year's end or early 2024.

No one convicted of a serious and disturbing crime like this should be receiving a taxpayer-funded salary," Kerzner said last Monday.

A spokesperson from the Solicitor General's Office did not directly respond to a question about why the legislation has been delayed, but said the province has been consulting with various stakeholders on the regulations.

Erick Laming, a police researcher and assistant professor of criminology at Trent University, said public trust in policing takes a hit when horrible" cases like Redmond's come to light. Citizens, he said, are shocked that this can even happen, that we are funding this to happen, essentially."

But while he supports chiefs having greater abilities to fire or suspend without pay, Laming warned against using an exceptional case like Redmond's to overcorrect. Officers are owed the presumption of innocence and due process when facing criminal charges or public complaints, he said.

There's a really fine line that we have to balance in the approach to these issues. There's no easy answer," Laming said.

In a statement last week, the Ontario Provincial Police Association, the union representing front-line officers, said it does not condone criminal conduct by its members." Calling the Ford government's proposed police legislation a welcome overhaul, the union said it wants to balance the rights of members with public trust.

We have confidence in the consultation process that has been ongoing by the Ontario government with policing stakeholders and the community to make the new regulations fair for everyone," the statement said.

The Police Association of Ontario, which represents nearly 30,000 police employees across Ontario, also expressed support for the Ford government's police legislation, saying the new act significantly modernizes policing in Ontario ... and we will continue to work with our partners to bring it into force."

Redmond is scheduled to be sentenced for the sexual assault conviction on April 14. If he's sent to jail, the OPP will have the legal authority to cut off pay - closing in on a decade after he was suspended.

With files from Kristin Rushowy

Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing for the Star. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis