Saturday August 13, 2016
City of Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street. JULIE OLIVER / POSTMEDIA
A new Ottawa police recruit is going to have an uncomfortable start to his career, knowing that some members of the public think him unfit for the job, that a background investigator argued he would embarrass the police force and that his accomplishments and record of service in the Somali community are being overlooked by critics amid allegations of political patronage.
Not only that, but some officers within the Ottawa Police Service – his future co-workers – are upset he was hired. Chief Charles Bordeleau was quick to point out this week, after background-checker Christina Benson’s resignation letter came to light lambasting the hire as political opportunism, that it’s his job, not the investigator’s, to do the hiring.
Look, there are questions about this man’s record. Sixteen Highway Traffic Act convictions is quite a few, and licence suspensions ought to raise an eyebrow, as should a fake call to police. But people grow and change. Shocking though this may be, wayward behaviour in the past does not taint someone for life – nor should it. Do Ottawans deserve the best and brightest in the police? Of course, but let’s be realistic – there have probably been contentious hires in the past. Besides, life experience with a bit of variety beyond the norm might actually be an asset to a career in policing; there’s a certain useful understanding that comes from having been on the wrong side of an encounter with police. Bordeleau seems utterly confident in the recruit, but that isn’t going to make it easier. In short, the new hire has a lot of work ahead. He would anyway, of course, regardless of how the hiring process went down. But his career, more so than that of other officers, will be in the spotlight for a time.
So let me be the one to say this: New guy, best of luck with the Ottawa Police Service. Clearly, you’ve got supporters, and judging from what the chief has told the media, you have an admirable track record in the Somali community. You’re well-positioned to do good in this city and build and maintain relationships with people the cops aren’t all that good at reaching.
And, new hire, you’re not the bad guy. All you did was apply for a job. And then get rejected for that job, apparently because of a “glitch,” according to Bordeleau, in the hiring process, in which the letter was sent before the file was reviewed. And then at some point there would’ve been a callback, after that initial disappointment. (This is another big unanswered question: How could such a “glitch” happen?)
This is not the sort of hiring process anyone would want to go through – though most of us probably having been jerked around for employment at one time or another – but especially so with something as serious as an application to become a police officer. Now the poor guy is going to start work caught in a controversy that is entirely not his fault. It could be the chief’s fault or the hiring system’s fault. It could be people over-reacting. But it isn’t the fault of the guy who filled out the application form, who’s now caught in this political skirmish over hiring, race relations and police confidence in Bordeleau. New guy, you’re not off to the easiest start.What will make it far harder is if the rank and file in the Ottawa police don’t receive this recruit with open arms, help him grow and teach him how to be the best cop possible. He’s one of theirs, now. And regardless of the recent past, he deserves to be treated as such.