Ottawa police officer who stole crack cocaine is fighting to get his job back

20:50 Ottawa 0 Comments

Ottawa police officer who stole crack cocaine is fighting to get his job back--and his lawyer says the case raises an important issue around the responsibility of police to accommodate officers who suffer from the "disability of drug addiction."
Lawyer Kenneth Jull, who is representing former con-stable Kevin Hall, has formally filed notice of motion for leave to appeal a recent court ruling that struck down the officer's attempt to be reinstated.

The notice says that Mr. Hall's case calls for "important judicial interpretation" regarding the duty of a police force to accommodate officers who suffer from the "disability of drug addiction."

The notice states that "judicial consideration and interpretation of the duty to accommodate is a matter of significance in the areas of employment law, labour relations and human rights throughout the province and the country."
Mr. Hall, 45, has been suspended with pay since December, 2005.He was ordered dismissed in December, 2006, following a police disciplinary hearing. He admitted to taking crack cocaine from motorists he stopped as well as from the evidence locker.
After his dismissal was ordered, Mr. Hall filed an appeal with the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services, which upheld the original ruling a year ago.
The officer then filed an appeal with the divisional court, which handles appeals of decisions made by administrative hearings and tribunals.The divisional court ruled on Dec. 10 that the tribunal's decision was reasonable.During an interview this week, Mr. Jull said people might have had a different opinion toward the officer if he had been addicted to alcohol."If you're dealing with something like cocaine or marijuana or anything that's illegal, you've got to be careful, I say, to not let the punishment paradigm transcend the rehabilitative paradigm of getting the guy back," he said.