Proposed amendments to New Brunswick’s Police Act have received passing marks from the province’s police chiefs.
The Department of Justice and Public Safety announced the amendments this week.
Among the more than 50 pages of changes are adjustments to time limits on the processing and arbitration of a complaint against an officer.
The amendment would see a 180-day limit on suspensions with pay before they transition to suspension without pay.
The issue was highlighted in the case against former Kennebecasis Regional Police Force inspector Jeff Porter.
Due to continued delays, he spent more than four years on paid suspension following sexual harassment and other Police Act complaints made against him by a female civilian employee under his supervision.
The mayors of Quispamsis and Rothesay, towns that are serviced by KRPF, wrote a joint letter to the province voicing their displeasure over the length of the process, which they said costs their taxpayers more than $1 million.
Justice and Public Safety Minister Ted Flemming said he had to balance the presumption of innocence with abuse of the system when considering the changes.
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“Nobody wants to allow what happened in the Porter case to happen again,” Flemming said. “I mean, we were universally in agreement on that. So I believe that the act strikes the appropriate balance.”
The complaints against Porter were never heard. He retired at the end of 2020, just prior to the start of an arbitration hearing. Hearings can only proceed against active officers.
Under the proposed changes, a police chief must appoint an investigator if a complaint is not resolved within 30 days of being filed.
“At Day 90, the investigation report must be delivered to the chief,” Justice and Public Safety spokesperson Elaine Bell said in an email to Global News. “The deadline for a police officer or chief to request a settlement conference is at Day 120. The deadline for any settlement conferences to be concluded is at Day 180, and a notice of arbitration hearing must be issued if the complaint is not yet resolved.”
The New Brunswick Association of Police Chiefs is pleased with the amendments.
President Alain Lang, also the police chief in Edmundston, N.B., said it’s important to resolve complaints in a timely manner.
“It’s not every complaint — police complaint — that goes all the way to arbitration,” Lang said. “So this way it will have a strict timeline to solve those complaints faster.”
Lang said he’s also happy to see an amendment allowing civilian employees of a police force to be appointed as a court liaison, a duty previously required by law to be performed by an officer. Lang said the change will make more officers available for calls for service.
New Brunswick Police Association labour analyst Bob Davidson declined to comment when contacted by Global News, saying members were still reviewing the amendments. The association has a meeting May 13 in Bathurst.
Flemming said he’s not expecting any pushback on the changes.
“I can say, proudly, that the collaboration that was done by every stakeholder, I believe, that there were no surprises here and there is nobody sitting around saying, ‘Gosh, I didn’t know about this,'” Flemming said.
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