Charlottetown police demote 2 officers for discreditable conduct

Charlottetown is demoting two constables and fining one of them after an investigation into allegations of discreditable conduct.

Deputy Chief Brad MacConnell said in a news release that both constables admitted to participating in activities related to discreditable conduct and neglect of duty. 

As a result of their investigation, the police said both officers were demoted in both rank and salary. In total, the disciplinary actions carry a total financial impact to the officers of more than $30,000 over the next year.

"The Police Service considers these disciplinary defaults to be quite serious in nature," the release stated.

Consensual sex while on duty

The police did not release the names of the officers who were disciplined, both of whom are male, out of consideration for the impact on the families involved in the investigation.

The police first confirmed the investigation Feb. 9 after receiving allegations that an officer had consensual sex with a woman while on duty on multiple occasions. The allegations against both officers came from the same complainant.

Friday, MacConnell confirmed that both officers admitted to having consensual sex while on duty: one over the last several years, and the other more than 10 years ago.

One of the officers also admitted to an instance of breach of confidence for sharing a photo of a workspace at the police station which, when zoomed in on, displayed confidential information. He was penalized with a fine MacConnell said was about $700.

On leave

Both officers are currently on leave and will resume their duties next week.

The internal investigation began in late January.

MacConnell told CBC News breaches of the code of discipline are rare — he estimated one or two a year with most related to minor policy breaches.

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