Durham council seeks to remove ceremonial titles from police who contributed to 'poisoned' workplace

Councillors in Durham Region are looking to take action against current and former officers named in a multi-year investigation into the region's police service, who were cited as contributing to a "poisoned" workplace where officers failed to address harassment. 

The municipality will file an freedom of information request to obtain an unredacted copy of a Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) report on the investigation, revoke invitations to current and former Durham Regional Police Service members to attend regional events and bar them from being honoured if they were found to have "committed wrongdoing" in the report, according to a motion passed on Wednesday by regional council.

The motion also requests Durham Region's police services board remove any ceremonial honours and titles from those individuals and seek that the board and the police service provide regular updates on their progress completing 33 recommendations made in the report.

In an interview with CBC News, Durham Regional Chair John Henry, said he had been working with staff for “months” to figure out the best path forward for the region to hold the police service accountable.

“We're going forward to make sure this never happens again," Henry said.

The OCPC investigation was released to CBC News through a FOI request last fall, in the form of a heavily redacted report. Those redactions included some of its recommendations and the names of DRPS employees.

That same copy has since been made available by Ontario’s inspector general of policing. 

Henry said the report has resulted in a loss of “public trust” with the DRPS.

While the police service is governed independently of the region by the police board, funding is approved by regional councillors. 

Henry said it's council’s job to ensure that funding is spent appropriately and that the police service is held “accountable” for its actions. 

“The reputational damage they carry now, this is a way to repair that,” he added.

Since the report was completed last summer, police Chief Peter Moreira has stated his desire for it to be made public multiple times. 

The chief has also said DRPS is either working towards or has already fulfilled the majority of the OCPC’s recommendations, but has never publicly stated which recommendations it has completed. 

In a statement on Thursday, DRPS Const. Nicholas Gluckstein said the police service has already implemented “service-wide changes” to build back trust.