Jeffrey King

The Appellant, a police sergeant, appealed a hearing officer's decision finding him guilty of 36 counts of misconduct, including unauthorized CPIC and NICHE searches, and imposing a penalty of dismissal.

The Appellant raised 12 grounds of appeal, alleging apprehension of bias, procedural unfairness, evidentiary errors, and an unduly harsh penalty.

The Ontario Civilian Police Commission dismissed the appeal, finding that the hearing officer's decisions on fact and credibility were reasonable, there was no evidence of bias or procedural unfairness, and the penalty of dismissal was appropriate and consistent with similar cases of unauthorized database access.

The moving party, a police sergeant, brought a motion to adjourn the hearing of his first appeal regarding 36 counts of misconduct and a penalty of dismissal, and to join it with a second appeal regarding two additional counts of misconduct.

The respondent police service opposed the motion.

The Ontario Civilian Police Commission dismissed the motion, finding that joining the complex appeals would unduly complicate and delay the proceedings, particularly given the moving party was self-represented and the first appeal had already experienced significant delays.

The Commission ordered the first appeal to proceed as scheduled.

The Toronto Police Service brought a motion to dismiss the appellant's appeal on the basis that the Commission lacked jurisdiction because the appellant had resigned and was no longer a police officer.

The appellant had been found guilty of misconduct and resigned on the day the penalty decision was to be delivered, just before it was read.

The Commission held that under the Police Services Act, it only has jurisdiction over current police officers.

Because the appellant had resigned, the Commission had no jurisdiction to hear his appeal.

The motion was granted and the appeal dismissed.