OPP defends itself against ombudsman’s criticism
Officer’s suicide at Midland detachment highlights need for change: Marin
ONTARIO – An Ontario Provincial Police human resources director denies the force is “brushing off” a report about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin released his report, “In the Line of Duty,” on Oct. 24. It’s a 158-page examination of the OPP’s treatment of workplace stress. Marin makes 34 recommendations, with 28 aimed directly at the OPP.
During his investigation into PTSD and work-related stress, Marin said five OPP officers’ suicides were recorded from March 2011 to May 2012.
One of those was Sgt. Douglas William James Marshall, a 45-year-old officer who shot himself at the Southern Georgian Bay detachment in Midland on April 10, 2012.
Marshall was diagnosed with PTSD in December 2011 after responding to cases like the drowning death of a retired Midland police officer during a rescue, a teen’s suicide and the death of a four-year-old child.
In October 2011, he was hospitalized after experiencing flashbacks. He went back to work in January 2012 and, within two weeks, his service gun was returned to him.
He started to become agitated again on Easter weekend, and that week went into work and ended his pain.
Marshall’s story opens the dialogue in the ombudsman’s report.
Marin criticized the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services for leaving “the matter up to individual police services of varying sizes and resources.”
Marin also wrote that OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis never responded directly to his recommendations, released in August. Marin said their reaction “amounted to a deeply disturbing bureaucratic brushoff.”
Requests for comments from the Southern Georgian Bay detachment were directed to the OPP’s corporate communications department.
OPP Acting Superintendent Dave Quigley disagreed the police service was “brushing off” the report.
“Comments like that I don’t think are called for,” said Quigley, adding the force is creating a working group to examine what can be done to better educate officers about stress, and to offer them assistance during difficult times.
Quigley said the ombudsman’s report is positive overall, with five pages listing what’s already being offered for education.
“Can we do more? Absolutely. This report challenges us to do better, and we want to make sure we take better care of our folks,” said Quigley.
There are approximately 6,000 OPP officers throughout the province, and Quigley said there are also civilians like communications operators who are impacted by work stress.
“There are four programs to deliver help. We have an external provider that can be contacted through a 1-800 number for short-term counselling, and we have critical-incident teams, trauma teams and peer-assistance and resource teams.”
Lewis, meanwhile, took issue with what he deemed a theatrical approach to releasing his report.
“When you look at the 23 suicides, that’s a false perception that Mr. Marin created through some of these theatrics,” he told The Toronto Star. “Yes, 23 people did commit suicide, but many of them were long after they retired, and we had no idea what they were going through because it was never an issue for them when they were on the job or they never related it to us…. It was not like we knew they were having problems and cast them aside.”
Lewis added he believes Marin did a disservice to an otherwise valid report and good recommendations by getting “theatrical and taking shots to make it personal and saying things just to get media headlines.”
Lewis added he considered it a “slap in the face” when Marin said that using the term shoestring operation to describe the OPP’s procedures in this area is “an insult to shoestrings.”
– With files from Nikki Million-Cole and Torstar News Service
http://www.simcoe.com/news/article/1527 ... -criticism