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| NEWS > 03 August 2006 |
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Officer demoted after comment
Disciplinary action has been recommended for Clarksville Police Officer Jeff Stanfill after an internal investigation of a racially inappropriate comment at a local restaurant.
Sgt. Scott Thornton reported hearing Stanfill make a racial slur June 15 during a dinner break with five other CPD employees.
Thornton reported Stanfill made the comment to his co-workers after the group had been repeatedly antagonized by a black customer in the restaurant.
Stanfill was decommissioned — removing his police authority, gun, badge and patrol car — and assigned to des... Read more
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Regina Leader-Post - Regina,Sa
03 August 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Police officer fired over girl
A member of the Regina Police Service was dismissed Wednesday morning after he was deemed unfit for service.
Const. Roberto Armando Siguenza, 29, was dismissed more than two months after a parent of a 16-year-old girl laid a complaint with the police service about the officer's behaviour.
Siguenza, a constable with the Regina Police Service for two years, met the teen May 25 during a police investigation, said Chief Cal Johnston.
"In the course of that call for service, he encountered a young person and then subsequent to that made contact with the young person via electronic messaging," he said.
When the teen's parent learned Siguenza was attempting to establish a personal relationship with the girl, a complaint was laid with the Regina Police Service on May 26.
Johnston said Siguenza contacted the girl "more than once" over the course of the next several days and, except for the officer's initial contact with the teen, all communiques were done off-duty and no police equipment was used.
The youth's family was notified of the officer's dismissal but Johnston wouldn't share the parent's reaction.
The complaint, the first of its kind for city police, sparked an internal investigation by the Professional Standards branch of the Regina Police Service.
The main investigation concluded in early June and then went to the Saskatchewan Justice Public Prosecutions Division for a criminal review. Following that, the file was reviewed by Johnston, who said Wednesday's announcement of Siguenza's dismissal was timely given the many levels of review.
"There has been no undue delay in this investigation -- it's moved ahead in a very straightforward way," he said.
No criminal charges will be laid against Siguenza.
When asked for a legal opinion, Brian Banilevic with the McDougall Gauley law firm wouldn't discuss Siguenza's case specifically but said: "In any circumstance when any officer is dismissed from their employment with a police service pursuant to Section 60 of the Police Act, that officer has the right to appeal that decision made by their chief."
Siguenza has 30 days to appeal his dismissal.
"Certainly any officer who has been dismissed by their chief would be distressed and concerned by that course of action," Banilevic said.
When Johnston was asked what measures will be taken to prevent similar occurrences, he said police college trainees are extensively trained in ethics and professional conduct and those values are reinforced during the officers' orientation with city police. He doesn't expect major training changes to result from the incident.
"This may serve in some ways to be a case example or to provide us with a lesson specific to these circumstances, but I don't see us heightening that in any respect," Johnston said.
The challenge for police officers is that they usually work alone, he said.
"There's supervisors out on the street to help co-ordinate serious calls and help police officers make decisions in difficult circumstances, but predominantly police officers work on their own unless, in the hours of darkness, we partner them up so it comes down to individual judgment and it comes down to individual choices," he said.
The Regina Police Service tries to support members with those choices, Johnston said.
"But there's a standard there that they have to be aware of and keep in the back of their minds all the time and in this case, in my eyes, that standard was violated and it's had very serious consequences," he said.
Johnston regrets the officer's lack of integrity.
"Any time an event happens that calls into question the calibre of our people and our commitment, I think that we're disappointed but I know we have a great deal of confidence in our members," he said. "We know that overall we provide a very high level of service and have exemplary police officers."
He stressed that any complaint about Regina officers is investigated thoroughly.
"In this case, there were lines of professional conduct that were crossed and the organization has addressed those and we'll go on from here," he said.
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