Les décisions rendues par les arbitres de griefs dans les cas de sanctions visant des policiers ayant eu des démêlés judiciaires
The purpose of this study focuses on the determination of sanctions to police officers who had legal issues during their period of employment, on the influence of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms through section 18.2 regarding this determination and on methods used in arbitrations. There are two opposing methods on the subject, the “broad and liberal” and the “strict and literal”. The “broad and liberal” method is derived from the application of article 18.2 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which is a quasi-constitutional law and provides an objective analysis of the connection between the employment of the police officer and the penal or criminal offense that he was convicted. As for the “strict and literal” method for determination of the sanction, it comes from the application of the Police Act which is an ordinary law providing special treatment for police officers found guilty of criminal offenses. Indeed, the article 119 of the Police Act has enforced, since its redesign in 2000, the automatic dismissal of police officers convicted of an act or omission that is triable only on indictment and the dismissal imposition for any police officer who is found guilty of an act or omission punishable on summary conviction or by indictment, unless the police officer shows that specific circumstances justify another sanction. The analysis in the context of this research is about the determination of sanctions guiding the decisions made by arbitrators regarding the situation of police officers accused and/or convicted of criminal offenses during employment. To this end, 25 arbitrations and judicial reviews were studied by content analysis using an analysis grid. The analysis of data has been carried out through qualitative analysis.
police officer criminal offense connection between employment and criminal offense article 18.2 Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms article 119 Police Act