False traffic warning audit proves it's not a systemic problem, Ottawa police inspector says
CBC News | Posted: March 9, 2016 3:01 PM | Last Updated: March 9, 2016
Most officers do good work, 'it's just a small percentage that went off on a little bit of a tangent'
An audit into false traffic warnings issued by Ottawa police officers — which has so far led to nine officers being re-assigned after two others were suspended — has proved it's not a systemic issue at the force, says the inspector who oversees the unit investigating the officers.
"We did an audit to see if this was a systemic issue, and obviously the audit proved it wasn't, because on the bulk, it's a wide swath of our officers are doing a really good job; it's just a small percentage that went off on a little bit of a tangent," Insp. Chris Rheaume told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning on Wednesday.
Rheaume oversees the Ottawa police professional standards section, which is currently investigating 11 officers for issuing fake warnings. The probe could take anywhere from three to six months, depending on how many fake warnings were entered into the system, he said.
No formal charges have yet been laid against the officers.
What's a false warning?
Officers have the authority to give verbal and written warnings to drivers, in addition to tickets that carry fines.
When a police officer pulls someone over for speeding and gives that driver a ticket, the officer might also issue a written warning if the driver failed to show up-to-date insurance or registration, or if a tail light was out, for example.
Police allege officers handed out tickets, then typed up written warnings for other infractions that either didn't occur at all or weren't communicated in any way to the drivers. Those fake warnings were then entered into the police database.
"It's obviously something that's unethical, we think," Rheaume told Ottawa Morning host Robyn Bresnahan. "But like I said, until we have proof in the pudding and we actually have the evidence to say that this officer handed out these many fake warnings, you know, we can't really say [how the force is reacting to the allegations] at this moment."
'Potentially, it was to boost their stats'
On Tuesday, after police issued a media release about the nine officers being reassigned to administrative duties, Chief Charles Bordeleau said the fake warning tickets may have been written to increase statistics.
"What we're hearing is that, potentially, it was to boost their stats for potential transfers or for their performance appraisals," Bordeleau said.
The professional standard's investigation has caused the force to reevaluate its use of an officer's ticket statistics in giving promotions, Bordeleau said. But he added that those statistics are still an indicator of an officer's performance.
"We will always have a need to evaluate our officers, to measure their performance, and one of their core duties is traffic enforcement," he said.
"But I'd rather see an officer give a number of tickets that have the quality because they're based on traffic problems being identified in the community, as opposed to just giving tickets for the sake of giving tickets."
Bordeleau said suspected false warnings remain in the police database for now as the investigation continues. Warnings that are found to be unsubstantiated will be removed from the database, he said.
Bordeleau said the number of suspected false tickets "varies from officer to officer." He did not disclose a number as the investigation continues.
Bordeleau emphasized that the audit suggested that proper procedure surrounding warning tickets was followed by the "vast majority of officers." Periodic audits will continue to monitor warning tickets, he said.