Calgary police officer accused of harassing another woman who dated her ex-boyfriend
CBC
A Calgary police officer with a history of troubling behaviour toward women she sees as romantic rivals has been arrested and charged with criminal harassment while awaiting trial on the same charge.
Const. Jacki MacNeil was also previously disciplined under the Police Act for harassing a woman who dated her on-again, off-again boyfriend.
On Friday, police announced MacNeil had been arrested and charged again.
Although the Calgary Police Service (CPS) did not give details of the allegations faced by MacNeil, sources say the new offence is closely related to her previous behaviour.
"I think this can be best described as a misunderstanding and I look forward to defending constable on these charges," said MacNeil's lawyer, Jim Lutz. While she is employed by CPS, the service said in a statement that MacNeil is not on active duty.
Allegations against MacNeil date back at least four years.
MacNeil was disciplined in 2020 after she harassed a woman who dated her on-again, off-again boyfriend.
The officer pleaded guilty to charges of discreditable conduct and insubordination under the Police Act, admitting she harassed a woman over text messages, followed her and set up a fake dating account to lure her to a meeting spot.
In addition to the harassment, MacNeil also admitted to searching the woman's personal information on internal CPS databases 13 times.
The presiding officer who accepted MacNeil's guilty pleas and handed her a one-year demotion and one-week suspension without pay penalty wrote that MacNeil had a history of "similar behaviour" and that she had been warned in the past about the inappropriateness of her actions.
The related behaviour, wrote the presiding officer, was "addressed at the supervisory level" in past instances.
In April, MacNeil was ordered to go back on trial on charges of harassment and unwanted communication stemming from allegations she targeted a woman in 2019 who had also been connected to her ex.
Her charges had been stayed based on a missing video but, on appeal, a higher court judge ruled MacNeil was either "negligent" or "strategic" in pursuing that evidence.
MacNeil's trial resumes later in June before a provincial court judge.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.