Calgary police chief calls process against disciplined officer 'antiquated'

Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld joins us with an update on issues affecting Calgarians

Calgary's police chief said a tribunal that looked into the conduct of Const. Mike Oakey evaluated all the evidence and made the determination he would not be fired or criminally charged.

Last week, Oakey was demoted after he pleaded guilty to sharing a video of him and a female CPS officer having sex with colleagues on the force.

Oakey also shared nude photos of the victim between 2018 and 2019.

His demotion, which included a reduction in his salary, is only temporary and the tribunal found firing him wasn't appropriate.

During an interview with CTV Morning Live Calgary, Neufeld said it "a really unfortunate situation and deplorable behaviour."

"(The demotion) is a significant penalty inside the police culture for sure, but it does nothing to repair the harm, the significant harm that was done by the behaviour."

Speaking with CTV News last week, the victim said she felt "vulnerable" and "unsafe."

Known only as A.A., she had to take a leave of absence from work and worries about her eventual return.

Neufeld said the CPS is committed to a safe environment for all of its members and, right now, the tribunal process is the only mechanism they have to tackle these issues.

"In my personal view, it's a bit antiquated. Currently, as we're looking at changes to the Police Act and police service regulation, we are advocating to the province to look at ways where we can look at workplace issues and handle police workplace issues the same way they would be handled in any other workplace."

Not a criminal offence

Neufeld said the CPS investigated the incident to see if criminal charges were warranted even before it went to the professional conduct hearing.

"That was definitely considered here but, in consultation with the Crown, in the circumstances, it would not be considered a criminal offence," he said.

Neufeld said Oakey's actions of filming the woman without her consent do generally fall within the Criminal Code, but when the circumstances are matched up with the case law, it doesn't always work out.

"We were able to review that to determine if there was a situation that this constituted a criminal offence and the determination was, based on the circumstances that were in play here, it did not."

The regulations are expected to updated fairly soon, Neufeld said, and work is being done by the province to help investigate complaints against the CPS.

"There's two different aspects to that: one is obviously internal workplace issues and the other is service-related issues."

Neufeld say under the current framework, each of those types of complaints are being handled in the same way.

"That does hamstring us in certain ways."

With files from Teri Fikowski