A second constable retired on July 10 while facing criminal charges connected to alleged intimate partner violence, including assault and careless storage and use of his service-issued firearm, CBC reported. He is not being named in order to protect the alleged victim, a civilian member of the service.
Departures are not resolution
Patrick Watson, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, told CBC that resignations save organizations time and litigation costs but also allow misconduct to remain undisclosed.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and it does not benefit anyone … to simply say, ‘All good, we got rid of [them], so problem solved,'” he said.
He added departed officers often move into other public-facing roles, warning: “This is a real problem for public trust … it only comes to light sometime later that they were facing internal disciplinary charges that were never processed because of their resignations.”
Watson argued legislation should permit investigating former officers after they leave, “at the very least for inquiry purposes.”