Hamilton constable not guilty of discreditable conduct regarding ‘carding’ complaint

A Hamilton police officer, who had been accused of arbitrarily stopping a black city councillor as he waited for a bus two years ago, has been found not guilty of discreditable conduct.

A Police Services Act hearing officer delivered the ruling to a crowded room on Thursday afternoon, in which Constable Andrew Pfeifer’s supporters clapped and Matthew Green supporters shouted “shame.”

Pfeifer’s lawyer, Bernard Cummins, says it turned out as he expected, and it answered the ultimate question for police officers, “Can you ask someone if they’re OK?”

The hearing officer, retired deputy chief Terance Kelly, says it is his belief that Constable Pfeifer “acted as one would expect” in checking on Green’s well-being.

He also dismissed the councillor’s claim that he felt “psychologically detained” during the interaction along Victoria Avenue on April 26, 2016, pointing to Green’s frequent and self-described “amicable” interactions with police officers.

Green has stated that he felt “targetted” and “harassed” while waiting for a bus on that day.

He adds that the outcome of the Police Services Act hearing is what he expected, insisting that “a hearing officer who is not racialized cannot understand what it is like to be racially targetted.”

He also describes as “problematic” a process which has “the chief of police hiring the prosecution and appointing a hearing officer who himself is a deputy police officer.”

The councillor says he will now move forward with a human rights complaint, which has been stalled during the disciplinary process, adding that “this has never been about this officer, but about the culture of policing that I think needs to change.”