Thunder Bay police officer pleads guilty to discreditable conduct for Facebook comment

A police officer in Thunder Bay, Ont., who posted comments on Facebook about the Indigenous community that the force called "not acceptable" has pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct and been docked pay.

Thunder Bay police Cst. Rob Steudle submitted the plea during a Police Services Act hearing in the northwestern Ontario city on Thursday. A police spokesperson confirmed that a joint submission recommended Steudle forfeit 40 hours pay.

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The submission was accepted by hearing officer, Morris Elbers, a retired OPP superintendent, although a formal written decision still had to be completed Thursday.

The discreditable conduct charge was in relation to comments made in September 2016 about the Indigenous community. They were posted in response to a letter to the editor, penned by Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, in the Chronicle Journal newspaper.

Fiddler's letter criticized the police response to reported conduct by officers during a race relations training course in 2016.

Steudle's comments that "Natives are killing Natives and it's the white man's fault," and "let's stop giving Natives money" among other things, were in response to a post on the local paper's Facebook page.

Steudle was suspended with pay in the wake of those comments but returned to work before the end of the year.  Four other officers were also temporarily assigned to administrative duties.

Thunder Bay police launched an internal investigation into the comments; the probe was subsequently handed over to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) in October 2016.

The police watchdog's investigation — which was separate from an ongoing systemic review of the city's police service — resulted in a direction that Thunder Bay police hold a Police Services Act hearing into the matter.

Steudle was a recipient of the Diamond Jubilee medal in 2012.