Ottawa police looking to hire a 3rd deputy chief

The Ottawa Police Service is looking to hire a third deputy chief for its ranks, the police board announced Friday.

A national recruitment search is set to start "in the coming weeks," but the board gave no timeline on when it would hire the senior officer or have the successful candidate in the role.

"There has been, and continues to be, a lot of changes taking place at the Ottawa Police Service," board chair Coun. Diane Deans said.

"The chief requires a strong and stable senior leadership team to assist him in shepherding those changes. The board is looking to provide increased support and stability to the chief and the service through this recruitment."

The service currently has two deputy chief positions, one of which has been temporarily filled by various superintendents since March 2020 when Deputy Chief Uday Jaswal was suspended with pay by the board.

Charged deputy chief remains on payroll

Jaswal was charged in 2020 with six counts of misconduct three counts of discreditable conduct and three counts of insubordination for allegedly sexually harassing three female OPS employees. Those charges are currently before an ongoing disciplinary hearing.

Those were the first sets of disciplinary charges laid against the officer. In April 2021, Jaswal was further charged after his alleged attempt to bargain away a Durham police officer's own misconduct charges in exchange for information, including that "of a sexual nature," about senior leaders on that force. Those charges date back to his time serving as deputy chief of that service.

He remains suspended with pay as an Ottawa police officer, which means after recruiting a new deputy chief, taxpayers will continue paying four salaries.

The board said Friday the new deputy chief job "will be funded using gap position funding from existing operating dollars that supports the current acting deputy position and will have no increased impact on the budget."