Durham Regional Police Chief Paul Martin, seen here at the regional headquarters in Whitby, Ont., on June 17, 2019, will stay on until September, according to the police services board.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Durham Regional Police Chief Paul Martin has announced his retirement while an independent administrator continues to probe his beleaguered force and amid a heated global debate about the future of policing.
In a statement Thursday, Chief Martin, who spent more than 30 years with the Durham force – six as chief – reflected that “there has not been a more difficult time to be a police officer in the community in my lifetime.”
He will stay on until September, according to the police services board, which noted in its own statement that he “fulfilled his leadership role … with excellence.”
His retirement announcement comes a year after a provincial probe was launched into allegations by police officers about cronyism and harassment within the Durham Regional Police Service. The Ontario Civilian Police Commission determined that there was a “crisis of confidence” within the service and appointed an administrator to oversee it for the duration of the review.
That administrator began reviewing active disciplinary cases last May. Though most were deemed uncontentious, the service was instructed to withdraw charges against Sergeant Nicole Whiteway after the administrator argued the disciplinary case was a “bargaining lever” to extract information from her about another police officer. Last month, Chief Martin – who denied that allegation – filed a court application asking a judge to reverse the directive.
The chief’s retirement announcement also follows several weeks of global protests against police brutality and anti-Black racism. The movement, which was ignited in Minneapolis in May after the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man who cried out that he couldn’t breathe as a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes, has spread to Canada, Europe and around the world.
In Durham Region, Chief Martin wrote, officers have recently been coming to him, “[saying] things like, ‘I would be lying if I did not admit that I grip my baton more tightly these days,’ or ‘I take a good look around before I step out of my cruiser.’ Hard conversations will no doubt be taking place around family BBQ’s this summer.”
He stressed the “awesome commitment” that police officers make “to put themselves and their lives at risk to serve and protect you and me.
“Do some fail under pressure to live up to that commitment? Of course. Do some allow the strain of the situations they face daily to make them hard and less careful in their use of their enormous power, yes. But that is not an indictment of the thousands of their brothers and sisters who do not,” he wrote.
The Durham police service has faced criticism for its conduct in relation to the December, 2016, assault and arrest of a Black teen, Dafonte Miller, by a white off-duty Toronto police officer in Whitby, Ont., which is under the Durham force’s jurisdiction. Now that the criminal trial in that case is complete, with Constable Michael Theriault convicted of assault, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director can begin its investigation into the Durham force’s role in the case.
Complaints were filed by Mr. Miller’s lawyer, Julian Falconer, against each of the Durham officers who responded to the scene the night of the assault – one of whom handed Constable Theriault her own handcuffs to place on a bloodied Mr. Miller, who was initially charged instead of Constable Theriault.
“The fact that [Chief Martin] retires doesn’t mean he can duck the important questions,” Mr. Falconer said. “There will be an accounting in respect to what, in my opinion, amounts to a cover-up.”
The Durham police service is among Canada’s largest municipal forces, with more than 900 uniformed officers policing communities east of Toronto such as Oshawa and Pickering.
The Durham police services board said a comprehensive selection process will take place to choose the next chief. An interim chief will be appointed in September.
The hunt for a new chief is already under way in Toronto, where Chief Mark Saunders will retire at the end of this month. Toronto police union president Mike McCormack announced this week that he too will be retiring as of Aug. 1.
With a report from Dakshana Bascaramurty
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