Taken in a case of stench

Archival Photo, QMI agency
Alex Therrien, pictured during his arrest in 2013, is working
now as flagman road.

Éric Thibault

Monday, 23 October 2017 06:30

UPDATE
Monday, 23 October 2017 06:30

Look at this article

The police of Sherbrooke is taken in a real mess due to abuse committed by its investigators from internal affairs, wanting to pin a cop who had put faeces in the sandwich to a co-worker to intimidate him.

Seized of a grievance where a police officer fired for demanding to be reinstated in its functions and to reach a compensation of $ 850,000 for the City, the Court of arbitration speaks about a situation “shocking,” in which the administration of justice is ” seriously undermined “.

All that the arbitrator Francine Lamy believes it can do in this difficult issue is to ” limit the damage “.

Wall of silence

“Whatever I decide, an improper purpose may prevail : on the one hand, a police officer may have contravened the act, and the other, the police, her employer, who contravenes to the demonstrate,” she wrote in an interim decision on the dispute in late September.

The case began in early October 2012. A noon, in the cafeteria of the police station of Sherbrooke, a patrol officer went to get his lunch in the fridge and has discovered that the dung had been added to her sandwich.

This patrol officer was allegedly the target of harassment after having been awarded a ticket of speed to a colleague.

In the Face of ” a wall of silence and solidarity association “, the Directorate of professional standards (commonly referred to as ” internal affairs “) the police obtained a judge orders him to search thousands of text messages from some fellow officers, including union representatives.

In one of these texts, an officer of trade union commented “in terms of mocking and derisory” history of sandwich, with the police officer Alex Therrien.

Steroids and info

Without being considered a suspect in this case is scandalous, the patrol Therrien, however, was suspected of maintaining ” links with people in gangs or close to the organized crime “, tells the court.

This text message has become “reasonable cause” to request the issuance of a new mandate of the court to put the hand on the text messages of Therrien until the following spring. It has been discovered that once a month, the police officer 37-year-old ordered anabolic steroids to a contact.

The internal affairs were also suspected Therrien of providing steroids to other colleagues who had also a so-called ” physical transformation abnormal “.

In another exchange of text messages, the alleged supplier of steroids to Therrien asked him if he could find him the address of a “p’tit criss” fraudster who ” heater Subaru black “.

“OK, I checked it “, responded the police officer.

Charged and released

Nobody will ultimately be accused in the case of the sandwich droppings. Alex Therrien will not be accused either of steroid trafficking.

But on April 4, 2013, Therrien himself handcuffed and taken to the courthouse to be charged with breach of trust and obstructing justice.

The employer, who says he is able to demonstrate that Therrien has fraudulently used the banks of the computerized data at its disposal, was also sacked.

But a year later, Therrien was cleared of all charges when the Crown told the court they have no more evidence to offer, without giving more explanations.

Seizure

After the referee Lamy, the police got his judicial authorizations ” without basis “, by a ” denunciation of the misleading and intentionally incomplete “, leading to seizures of data “abusive and unethical” in the canadian Charter of rights and freedoms.

Despite everything, the arbitrator Lamy could consider this evidence tainted, when it must rule on the grievance since it is a question of a policeman, who demand his reinstatement despite a behavior ” reprehensible “.

A matter of 4 years

October 2012

A patrolman of the police Service of Sherbrooke (SPS) discovers that feces were added to her sandwich in the cafeteria of the headquarters. During the investigation, the text of some of the police are intercepted, including those of Alex Therrien, even if it has nothing to do with this case.

April 2013

The police officer Alex Therrien is arrested and charged with breach of trust, obstructing justice, and fraudulent use of computerized data bases to which he had access in his work. We then learn that the police suspect him of also having links with members of organized crime and engage in trafficking of steroids.

April 2014

The Crown drops all charges that had been filed against Alex Therrien, without motivating its decision to the tribunal.

July 2014

On the recommendation of the management of the police service, the City of Sherbrooke dismisses Alex Therrien, who had previously been suspended from his duties of a police officer.

September 2016

The arbitral Tribunal begins the hearing of the complaint of Therrien, who demands to the City a compensation of $ 850,000 and the police service to reinstate the employee in his duties.

That being said the referee

“In my opinion, the DNP has used this opportunity as an excuse to rummage in the data is highly personal and private complainant in the pursuit of the disciplinary investigation opened about her behavior.”

“The personal data of the complainant have been entered because he had the bad luck to receive a single comment from a union representative, referring to the event in general.”