ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — While the first police chief who suspended RNC Const. Doug Snelgrove without pay had done so unreasonably, the succeeding chief who upheld that suspension was entirely justified, a St. John’s judge said Tuesday.
Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Robert Stack dismissed Snelgrove’s bid to be allowed back on duty as a police officer pending the result of his upcoming sexual assault trial, saying RNC Chief Joe Boland had been justified and had acted within his rights when he determined Snelgrove was a risk to public safety and decided to keep him on suspension.
“Consequently, it is justified in light of the legal and factual constraints of the case,” Stack said.
Snelgrove, 42, was placed on suspension from the RNC in July 2015 by then-chief Bill Janes, pending the completion of a public complaints process into an allegation by a 21-year-old woman that Snelgrove had sexually assaulted her while he was on duty the previous December. He was also charged with sexual assault.
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Snelgrove pleaded not guilty, saying the sexual contact had been consensual, and was acquitted after a jury trial, sparking public outrage and protests at RNC headquarters in St. John’s as well as at the court.
The Crown appealed Snelgrove’s acquittal on the grounds the judge had erred in instructing the jury. Two of three appeals court judges agreed the appeal should be allowed, paving the way for a new trial, while the third disagreed. Snelgrove appealed his case to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ordered a new trial.
That trial had been scheduled to take place in March, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has not yet been rescheduled.
The public complaints process, as is protocol, will not be completed until Snelgrove’s matters are wrapped up in court.
Shortly after he was suspended, Snelgrove asked Janes to reinstate him. Janes refused, replying with an 18-page written decision explaining his reasons for the suspension. Once Snelgrove was acquitted of sexual assault, he asked the new chief, Boland, to overturn his suspension. Boland also refused, providing a 32-page explanation.
Snelgrove then turned to the province’s Supreme Court, asking for a judicial review of the two chiefs’ decisions on the grounds that he had been acquitted of the criminal charge, was not a risk to the public or the RNC, and his continued suspension without pay is impairing his ability to support himself and his wife.
Stack ruled Janes had suspended Snelgrove without pay unreasonably, based on the reasons he had given in his letter, which had essentially found Snelgrove guilty of misconduct despite the ongoing complaint process.
Janes, who retired from the RNC in June 2017, said he had concluded the evidence pointed to Snelgrove sexually assaulting the woman, at worst, and engaging in consensual sex with a vulnerable female while he was on duty, at best.
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“I believe, based on the evidence I am currently aware of, that he is clearly in breach of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary’s Public Complaint Regulations as a result of the behaviour attributed to him in relation to this incident,” Janes wrote at the time.
Stack said Janes had not been entitled to make a finding of wrongdoing at that point in time.
“The Janes decision is not reasonable because it is not justified given the factual and legal constraints that bear upon it,” the judge determined.
Boland’s decision is entirely reasonable, however, the judge said, since Boland had considered the allegations and the evidence and had been clear that he was not making a decision on the complaint and imposing a penalty, but putting Snelgrove on administrative suspension.
“Chief Boland acted reasonably when he considered the apparent strength of the case against the applicant in the context of weighing the interests of the applicant against public interest and the interest of the RNC,” Stack said.
In his letter, Boland said he was particularly concerned with Snelgrove’s testimony that he had been “acting pretty much as a taxi driver” for the woman on the night of the alleged assault, saying it pointed to a lack of consideration for a police officer’s position of trust in the community.
“(Snelgrove) cannot be trusted to uphold the high standard of conduct required by virtue of the unique position of trust a police officer holds, and that as a result of this he will pose a risk to public safety if he is reinstated,” Boland had written.
Though he didn’t make the determination himself, the chief said he felt it was likely Snelgrove will be found guilty of using his position as a police officer to engage in sexual activity. If that’s the case, he wrote, Snelgrove’s dismissal from the RNC is possible, especially since he was on duty at the time.
Boland said the outcry after Snelgrove’s acquittal suggested the public’s faith in the RNC would be damaged if Snelgrove — or his pay — were reinstated.
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