Citation: 1989 ONCPC 1161

ONTARIO POLICE COMMISSION REASONS FOR DECISION

IN THE MATTER OF an application pursuant to Section 23 of the Police Act for determination of status.

• Brockville Police Force
• Secretary to Chief and Secretary to Deputy Chief

Presiding Members:

W.D. Drinkwalter, Q.C., Chairman

Frank Marc D'Andrea, Member

Appearances:

W.J. Hayter for the local board

Mal Connolly for the Police Association

Hearing Date: May l7, l989

This is an application on behalf of the secretary to the chief of police and the secretary to the deputy chief of police for a declaration that they are "senior officers" within the meaning of Section 30 of the Police Act.

The force has a total of 46 members, being composed of a chief, a deputy chief, some NCO's and constables plus eight civilians. While there are no commissioned officers on the force at the present time, the collective agreement provides for the rank of inspector. At some time in the past there was an inspector on the force.

Section 30 of the Police Act provides that a "senior officer" is "a member of a police force of the rank of inspector or higher or a civilian employee employed in a supervisory or confidential capacity, but does not include a chief of police or deputy chief of police."

The duties of the chief's secretary were described as supervising two clerk typists and handling the general administration of the office, purchasing supplies, etc. Part of her supervisory duty includes casual time off for the typists, their vacation schedule, attendance records, performance appraisals and so on. She is also involved in some matters with respect to preparation of the budget and attends Board meetings when the budget is reviewed by the Board. She provides the agenda for Board meetings; records proceedings at trials pursuant to the Police Act and prepares charge sheets in connection with discipline matters. She opens all mail.

The position of secretary to the deputy chief was created in l986; her duties were described to us as they exist at the present time, have been re-written in l988 as part of a re-organization of the senior management team. The deputy has been involved in budget preparation and that, of course, would involve his secretary to some extent. Her duties are being integrated to some extent with those of the chief's secretary. Although she is not as involved in all of these matters as the chief's secretary is, she acts as a replacement for the chief's secretary but we were assured that her duties go beyond those of an occasional replacement.

Commencing in October l988, the budget preparation began and involved the chief, the deputy chief and their two secretaries.

We were told that she is now privy to negotiations with respect to the collective agreement and to the board's proposed monetary proposal, before that proposal has been put before the Association.

In addition to the foregoing, she does paperwork in connection with seized drugs, fingerprint files, typing of evaluation reports and so on.

In dealing with civilians, Section 30 speaks of a "supervisory or confidential capacity". In view of the fact that many NCO's and constables perform supervisory functions and in view of the fact that much of the work done by civilians employed in police forces is confidential, these words as used in Section 30 must mean something beyond that which they ordinarily convey to a reader. Section 30 is intimately entwined with the bargaining and arbitration process and is intended to distinguish between senior officers and others. By far the greater number of senior officers in the province of Ontario, are commissioned police officers rather than civilians. The real distinction between the activities of these people and other members of the force concerns the function of management. Management includes matters which are confidential within the force as opposed to being confidential vis a vis members of the public. Matters related to planning, particulary long-term planning, budget preparation and preparation for negotiations are clearly of such a nature.

In our view many of the duties, perhaps most of the duties, of the chief's secretary are not such as to distinguish her position from that of others, but there are some areas which clearly distinguish her responsibility and the quality of the confidentiality required from that of more junior people. We note particularly that the chief is involved in preparations with respect to the budget and

preparations with respect to negotiations with the Association and in discipline matters. He requires the assistance of a secretary to perform those functions.

For the above reasons we are satisfied that the secretary to the chief of police in the Brockville Police Force qualifies as a "senior officer" within the meaning of Section 30 of the Police Act.

With respect to the secretary to the deputy chief, we are in a somewhat different position. We do not question anything that we have been told about her duties and we accept that she is privy to much of the information which we have just used to distinguish the secretary to the chief and to rule that the secretary to the chief is a "senior officer". However, we are far from convinced that it is necessary to the good management of the force for this secretary to be privy to all that information. It is reasonable that the deputy chief be involved in preparation of information subtending the budget and negotiations with the Association but we do not find it reasonable that he must have a secretary of his own to assist him in that regard. We believe that the work in question constitutes such a small proportion of the overall work that it could well be done by the chief's secretary on behalf of the deputy chief as in fact is done in other organizations with respect to highly confidential matters.

For the above reasons, we rule that the secretary to the deputy chief of police is not a "senior officer" within the meaning of Section 30 of the Police Act.

DATED THIS DAY OF JULY, 1989.

W.D. Drinkwalter, Q.C., Chairman for himself and Frank Marc D'Andrea.