Kennebecasis officer committed 81 breaches of Police Act, independent report finds

A senior officer with the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force committed 81 breaches of various sections of the provincial Police Act, including sexual harassment, abuse of authority, corrupt practice and discreditable conduct, an independent investigator hired by the New Brunswick Police Commission has found.

Insp. Jeff Porter, a 30-year veteran of the force that covers Rothesay and Quispamsis, also committed five violations of internal policies, including workplace harassment, according to the investigator's report obtained by CBC News.

Porter, who contends the allegationsagainst him are false, is scheduled to face a public arbitration hearing with the commission, the provincial policing oversight body, on Nov. 21 at 2 p.m.

It comes after the parties were unable to reach an agreement on corrective measures during a private settlement conference last month.

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• Kennebecasis Regional Police Force suspends officer

The commission has appointed Edmundston-based lawyer Gary McLaughlin to hear the case. A location has not yet been determined.

Porter was suspended with pay more than two years ago after accusations he engaged in a series of inappropriate sexual behaviours involving a female civilian employee he supervised, sources and documents reveal.

An inspector's salary is more than $100,000 a year. Municipal and regional forces in New Brunswick cannot suspend an officer without pay.

Investigator's findings

The commission's investigator, Ottawa-based lawyer Jennifer White, found Porter violated numerous sections of the Police Act's code of professional conduct.

White broke down her findings against Porter this way:

• Discreditable conduct: 67 counts.
• Workplace harassment: six counts.
• Neglect of duty: five counts.
• Corrupt practice: two counts.
• Damage police force property: one count.

Porter also committed police force policy violations, White concluded in her report, dated June 28. Among them:

• Respectful workplace/harassment policy: three counts.
• Workplace harassment: one count.
• Personal use of police force assets/property and human resources: one count.

No criminal charges

Porter was previously investigated by the New Brunswick RCMP for alleged intimidation, sexual harassment, obstruction and mischief involving the woman he remains barred from having any contact with.

No charges were laid.

"The Crown did not approve charges be pursued," confirmed Porter's lawyer, Jamie Eddy.

"He's relieved on that front that there's no charges, but this whole process has been extremely stressful, and he has family."

He said Porter had hoped to resolve the matter during the settlement conference.

"My client wants to return to work. That's what his goal is."

Eddy has raised questions about whether the police commission met deadlines set out in the Police Act and suggested the issue will be "front and centre" at arbitration.

Under the act, an officer must be served with notice of a settlement conference within six months of a complaint being filed.Otherwise, the commission loses jurisdiction and "no further action shall be taken" against the officer.

Robert Basque, the lawyer representing the alleged victim, has declined to comment, citing the ongoing proceedings.

Range of possible sanctions

Steve Roberge, executive director of the New Brunswick Police Commission, said he cannot comment on the specifics of any particular case.

But he said settlement conferences are held to "discuss the behaviour that has been the subject of the complaint and to come to some resolution through corrective measures."

I will be fighting the false allegations.- Jeff Porter, suspended police inspector

"When settlement conferences occur, they occur because the investigation has sustained the allegations."

Sanctions at the settlement stage can range from a verbal reprimand to dismissal.

At the stage coming up, the arbitrator can either dismiss a matter or impose one or a combination of the same range of sanctions that apply at the settlement conference.

Felt threatened, intimidated

The Porter case dates back to February 2016, when the alleged victim confided in Const. Kelley McIntyre that she felt threatened and intimidated by Porter and wanted to quit.

McIntyre told another female officer, who told Steve Palmer, the deputy chief at the time, who took the information to then-chief Stephen McIntyre, of no relation to Kelley, and requested the allegations be investigated.

Four days later, the chief ordered an investigation not into Porter but into McIntyre, accusing her of "workplace harassment" for allegedly "poisoning the work environment" of Porter.

Kelley McIntyre subsequently filed a Police Act complaint against the chief.

"If this was a member of the public, this case would not have been allowed to be handled this way, based on our own policies and the women's abuse protocols," McIntyre wrote in her complaint to the Kennebecasis Regional Joint Board of Police Commissioners, which governs the force.

"I believe you will find that there are reasonable grounds to investigate these alleged breaches because they have the effect to undermine public confidence in the force if they continue to be ignored," she wrote.

Scathing report on former chief

An independent investigator found the chief committed 23 breaches of various sections of the police code of conduct by, among other things, failing "to ensure that the improper or unlawful conduct of Insp. Porter was not concealed."

McIntyre, the chief, retired in the wake of the scathing report.

In a subsequent interview, he said he had acted without having all the necessary information.

This past summer, Kelley McIntyre was awardedofficer of the year by the International Association of Women Police, in part because of the support she provided to a colleague during a "major internal investigation involving allegations of sexual harassment," according to media release issued by the association.

McIntyre's "courage to come forward caused her and her family a great deal of suffering and personal stress, but this did not stop her from pushing forward and insisting on a proper and professional internal investigation," said the release, which did not refer to the Porter case.

New police chief

The current police chief, Wayne Gallant, said he could say little about the criminal or Police Act investigations into Porter while the judicial process continues to unfold.

"The RCMP investigation is concluded and there's no charges going to be laid criminally and I'm sure as you know criminal harassment is one thing but you know workplace harassment, the thresholds are different, he said.

"So the police commission is dealing with the workplace allegations of workplace harassment and that investigation is concluded as well and we're heading into sort of the next stage."

Porter is no longer listed on the force's website but is still an inspector suspended with pay, Gallant said.

"Nothing has changed in that regard."

In June, Gallant permanently filled two inspector positions by promoting two women to the management rank a first in the force's 67-year history.

"I wouldn't read anything more into that other than the fact that I wanted to have, you know, my leadership team here complete, so that I could go forward with the agenda that I have," said Gallant.

The force currently has 37 officers, seven of whom are women, and four female civilian employees.

'No intention of resigning'

The New Brunswick Police Commission only has the authority to discipline active police officers.

If an officer resigns or retires at any stage of the investigative or disciplinary process, "they are no longer considered a police officer and therefore the Police Act no longer applies to them, which means the proceedings would be halted and annulled," said Roberge.

Porter, who joined the force as a patrol officer in 1988 and rose through the ranks, being promoted to sergeant of patrol, then major crime and now inspector of operations, "has no intention of resigning from the police force," said Eddy, his lawyer.

"I will be fighting the false allegations," Porter said in an emailed statement.

The Police Act states an arbitrator's decision is final, but Roberge said there have been cases where a decision has been challenged through judicial review by a Court of Queen's Bench judge.