BROCKVILLE – City Police Chief Scott Fraser says the identity of the officer facing Police Service Act (PSA) charges and the nature of the investigation will be revealed in the coming weeks.
“We are kind of a little ahead of the curve right now in the fact that we wanted to get the message out that we had an officer suspended,” Fraser said in an interview with Brockville Newswatch.
The BPS released a statement Friday that a police officer had been suspended under the Police Services Act.
The chief said more details, such as the police officer’s name and the charges, will be coming out “in short order” – likely in two to three weeks.
The chief indicated Monday that the professional standards officers with the Brockville Police Service were still collecting evidence and then the “applicable sections of misconduct” would be cited in the charges.
“I don’t want to give it out too early and possibly be incorrect because we just don’t have all the information yet,” Fraser told BNW.
The investigation, which is based on an internal chief’s complaint and doesn’t deal with the public at large, has been going on for about two weeks.
Fraser was asked about the morale in the police station today (Monday), following Friday’s announcement.
“We never like to see those type of things but we know it’s an isolated incident and it has no real reflection other than, obviously it doesn’t look good on the Brockville police, but our officers are out there, their heads are held high and the professional standard that the public expects from all of our officers is maintained…it’s an unfortunate circumstance,” Fraser said.
Cases of chief’s complaints are “very rare,” he said. The Brockville Police Service last had a chief’s complaint that led to a suspension was in 2011 involving an officer and criminal charges.
Though Fraser was quick to add that case was an “completely different ball of wax” than the case this past week.