Disciplined OPP member still a high-ranking cop

These are violations by the Ontario Provincial Police officers dealing with the Criminal Code of Canada, Controlled Substance and Abuse Act, Customs and Excise Act, etc.

Disciplined OPP member still a high-ranking cop

Postby Thomas » Fri Sep 18, 2015 3:50 pm

Hundreds of working police officers have been disciplined in recent years for reckless, deceitful and often criminal behaviour. In the first of a four-part series, a story about the crimes of current OPP Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Steers.

Jeffrey Steers, an officer with the Ontario Provincial Police, placed a hidden camera in his condo's bathroom and filmed a relative naked without her knowledge.

Using a hidden camera installed in his condo’s bathroom, Ontario Provincial Police officer Jeffrey Steers secretly filmed a naked relative showering and undressing.

He made homemade pornography by superimposing an image of himself naked into the photos. Years later, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to criminal mischief.

At the time, his rank was inspector. He is still a high-ranking member of Ontario’s provincial police force.

In 2012, at the force’s internal disciplinary tribunal, reserved for officers who have committed “serious” misconduct, Steers pleaded guilty and was demoted to staff sergeant, a rank below inspector, and was told he could not compete for a promotion for two years.

His annual earnings dipped from $130,000 to $116,000 in 2013 and were back up again the following year, according to the province’s sunshine list.

“Inspector Steers’ betrayal of trust of a family member, who was a guest in his home, offended the law and violated community standards,” Robin Breen, a Toronto police superintendent presiding over the case, wrote in his July 2012 decision.

“He chose for whatever reason to disregard his sworn duty as well as the rules of his profession and compromised the integrity and good name of the Ontario Provincial Police.”

The Star has analyzed hundreds of police disciplinary tribunal decisions since 2010 from the OPP and the five police services in the Greater Toronto Area — Toronto, Peel, York, Durham and Halton. The nearly 400 cases reveal reckless, deceitful and often illegal behaviour by officers who have sworn to uphold the law and, in almost all cases, were allowed to continue working as police officers. Those stories will be told in the coming days.

Steers, a veteran officer with nearly 30 years’ experience, told the Star that the matter was behind him. “That’s all been dealt with and I’ve moved on,” he said.

In a statement, his victim said she will never fully recover from what happened: “He is wearing a uniform that people identify with trust and safety,” she wrote. “It is in question if I will ever trust a police officer the way I would have in the past.”

Steers’ criminal files are sealed, but the Star is able to provide an account using a summary of facts that both Steers and the OPP agreed to at his disciplinary tribunal, as well as allegations made in court filings as part of divorce proceedings.

The officer’s crimes date back to 2001, when he’d placed a camera in the bathroom of the condo he and his wife owned in Sutton, Ont., near Lake Simcoe.

There, he filmed a relative alone “naked in the shower and standing in front of the mirror.” He also filmed the woman in a bedroom changing into clothes. She never knew the camera was there.

In the spring of 2010, Steers’ now ex-wife was cleaning out her basement when she uncovered a bag full of CDs and DVDs with a sticky note marked “to be destroyed.”

The videos spanned “a 10-year period, depicting (Steers) in perverse acts with numerous women, including voyeurism and obtaining secret pictures and videos by placing a hidden camera, including in the washrooms and bedrooms of their own home, and then ‘photo shopping’ himself into pictures,” Steers’ then-wife alleged in a statement to the court as part of divorce proceedings. She described the photos as comprising “sexually degrading situations.”

After receiving a tip about Steers’ secret films, the OPP opened an investigation. They interviewed the ex-wife, who described having found images of her naked relative, and that Steers had superimposed an image of himself standing beside the woman trying to touch her, according to the agreed statement of facts.

The investigators prepared a search warrant and seized the contents of the bag she found: 23 homemade CDs and DVDs, one VHS tape and an external hard drive.

They discovered the images of the relative.

The search warrant document used to obtain the material notes that OPP investigators were also considering the charge of voyeurism, a crime defined in the criminal code as making a visual recording of someone who has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

That charge was never laid because voyeurism was not a criminal offence until 2005 and the images of the relative were believed to have been taken before that, the victim told the Star.

In January 2011, OPP investigators arrested Steers and charged him with two counts of criminal mischief. He was suspended from work for 20 months with pay. Later that year, he pleaded guilty and received a one-year probation and conditional discharge, meaning that after three years of good behaviour the offence was purged from his record and his court files sealed.

In the spring of 2012, Steers was brought before the police tribunal, which forces hold when officers are charged with a criminal offence.

Steers’ lawyer and the tribunal prosecutor made a joint submission on the penalty, accepted by the presiding officer, who called it “reasoned and reasonable.” Inspector Steers would be immediately demoted and ineligible to seek promotion for at least two years. He was required to undergo counselling and could only return to duty when deemed fit by a doctor.

The prosecutor said the very serious misconduct would warrant Steers being dismissed from his job if not for mitigating factors: by pleading guilty, the officer accepted responsibility for his actions; and his employment record was otherwise unblemished and included commendations from his superiors and awards for community service.
Steers’ lawyer noted that the officer had been receiving counselling since before he was criminally charged. Through his lawyer, Steers apologized to the OPP, vowing he would never “repeat such behaviour and he is aware that should he do so it will be the end of his career.”

The presiding officer denounced what was not a “single isolated act of misconduct that may have been the result of a momentary lapse in judgment.”

“On a number of separate occasions, over a protracted period of time and at different locations, he committed criminal mischief,” Breen wrote in his decision.

“Without question, should the details of Inspector Steers’ misconduct be revealed to the general public, it would cause significant damage to the reputation of the Ontario Provincial Police.”


Steers is currently a staff sergeant with the OPP’s Highway Safety Division.

Jeffrey Steers’ victim writes her first public statement.

I have known Jeff Steers since I was 13 or 14 years old, more than half my life. I am now 41.

To me, he appeared to be a great father, and a standup police officer. Now, he is a person that I cannot trust, bring myself to see, or even want to discuss.

December 2010, I was made aware of photos that Jeff had taken of me, in various stages of undress, without my knowledge. These pictures were taken in places I had previously felt safe, and will never feel the same about now.

It scares me to think of other photos that were taken that I am not aware of. I have that feeling in the pit of my stomach that makes me sick. I won’t ever really get over it and feel completely comfortable.

What was his punishment? He was charged with mischief. Voyeurism was not a criminal offence when the pictures were believed to be taken. They were discovered in 2010, but the date they were taken was in question.

The prosecutor summed it up in a meeting before Jeff was charged. Mischief is equivalent to the same crime as someone scratching your car. Being violated, filmed without my permission, was equivalent to someone scratching my property. That is when I knew that he would not be fully punished for his crime.


Jeff took so much from me, and broke my trust. I will have that feeling for the rest of my life. He goes on like nothing he did was wrong. And, he is still a police officer in the OPP. He is wearing a uniform that people identify with trust and safety. I now identify the uniform with mistrust and lies. It is in question if I will ever trust a police officer the way I would have in the past.

To this day, he has not acknowledged that what he did was wrong, and he has not apologized to me for what he did. He just went about his daily life moving on. He wrecked many lives when he decided to commit this crime. I will be impacted for the rest of mine.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015 ... g-cop.html

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/20 ... g-cop.html

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/59193 ... ill-a-cop/

http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/59 ... nking-cop/
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Does This Officer Deserve to Keep His Badge?

Postby Thomas » Sun Sep 20, 2015 12:34 am

If a cop breaches the trust of one of their own family members, can they be trusted to protect the public?

OPP officer Jeffrey Steers installed a hidden camera in his condo bathroom. He used this camera to to film a naked relative showering and undressing, and then later created his own pornography with the footage by superimposing an image of himself, naked.

In 2012, the OPP’s internal disciplinary tribunal, Steers pleaded guilty and was demoted from inspector to staff sergeant, and was withheld from seeking promotion for two years. His salary dipped from $130,000 to $116,000 for one year only, in 2013.

When asked about this incident, Steers told the Toronto Star that he’s moved on from that issue, and that it’s all behind him now.

That’s likely not the case for the victim. She declared in a statement that she has been forever changed by this incident, and that “he is wearing a uniform that people identify with trust and safety. It is in question if I will ever trust a police officer the way I would have in the past.”

Steer’s now ex-wife stumbled upon videos containing the family member and numerous other women, compiled over a span of 10 years. She alerted the authorities and used this evidence for her divorce proceedings.

The Toronto Star looked into Steers’ case as part of wider probe into police tribunal decisions made by the OPP and other police services in the GTA (Toronto, Peel, York, Durham and Halton).

Despite requests for information, Steers’ criminal files remain sealed (doesn’t the public have a right to know every detail of a criminal case involving a police officer paid by the taxpayers and tasked with protecting the public?) but some information is available via documents from his police tribunal.

Why wasn’t Steers fired? He was spared that fate because he accepted responsibility for his actions (after being caught, of course); and his employment record was not only clean, but contained strong support from his superiors and numerous accolades for his community service.

He currently holds the position of staff sergeant with the province’s Highway Safety Division.

http://www.640toronto.com/2015/09/19/do ... p-officer/
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Re: Disciplined OPP member still a high-ranking cop

Postby Gkuke » Sun Sep 20, 2015 7:08 pm

Do you, the public, get the drift yet??? There is no accountability for cops, not by the SIU, the OIPRD, The police boards, OPP tribunals, the courts, not anywhere !!!!!!! Cops are above the law!!! If you sue the cops and you win, the crown will settle a claim against the cops and pay higher awards for the plaintiff's silence. The law does not apply to cops and they know it and therefore they will carry on with their corruption. They will continue to violate the public, murder and assault the public and the public can do nothing about it.

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Disciplined OPP member nonetheless a high-ranking cop

Postby Thomas » Wed Sep 23, 2015 6:50 pm

Utilizing a hidden digital camera put in in his rental’s rest room, Ontario Provincial Police officer Jeffrey Steers secretly filmed a unadorned relative showering and undressing.

He made do-it-yourself pornography by superimposing a picture of himself bare into the photographs. Years later, he was arrested and pleaded responsible to legal mischief.

On the time, his rank was inspector. He’s nonetheless a high-ranking member of Ontario’s provincial police pressure.

In 2012, on the pressure’s inner disciplinary tribunal, reserved for officers who’ve dedicated “critical” misconduct, Steers pleaded responsible and was demoted to employees sergeant, a rank under inspector, and was advised he couldn’t compete for a promotion for 2 years.

His annual earnings dipped from $130,000 to $116,000 in 2013 and have been again up once more the next yr, in response to the province’s sunshine record.

“Inspector Steers’ betrayal of belief of a member of the family, who was a visitor in his residence, offended the regulation and violated group requirements,” Robin Breen, a Toronto police superintendent presiding over the case, wrote in his July 2012 choice.

“He selected for no matter purpose to ignore his sworn obligation in addition to the principles of his career and compromised the integrity and good identify of the Ontario Provincial Police.”

The Star has analyzed tons of of police disciplinary tribunal selections since 2010 from the OPP and the 5 police providers within the Larger Toronto Space — Toronto, Peel, York, Durham and Halton. The almost 400 instances reveal reckless, deceitful and sometimes unlawful behaviour by officers who’ve sworn to uphold the regulation and, in virtually all instances, have been allowed to proceed working as cops. These tales shall be advised within the coming days.

Steers, a veteran officer with almost 30 years’ expertise, advised the Star that the matter was behind him. “That’s all been handled and I’ve moved on,” he stated.

In a press release, his sufferer stated she is going to by no means absolutely recuperate from what occurred: “He’s sporting a uniform that folks determine with belief and security,” she wrote. “It’s in query if I’ll ever belief a police officer the best way I might have up to now.”

Steers’ legal information are sealed, however the Star is ready to present an account utilizing a abstract of details that each Steers and the OPP agreed to at his disciplinary tribunal, in addition to allegations made in courtroom filings as a part of divorce proceedings.

The officer’s crimes date again to 2001, when he’d positioned a digital camera within the toilet of the apartment he and his spouse owned in Sutton, Ont., close to Lake Simcoe.

There, he filmed a relative alone “bare within the bathe and standing in entrance of the mirror.” He additionally filmed the lady in a bed room becoming garments. She by no means knew the digital camera was there.

Within the spring of 2010, Steers’ now ex-wife was cleansing out her basement when she uncovered a bag filled with CDs and DVDs with a sticky observe marked “to be destroyed.”

The movies spanned “a 10-year interval, depicting (Steers) in perverse acts with quite a few ladies, together with voyeurism and acquiring secret footage and movies by putting a hidden digital camera, together with within the washrooms and bedrooms of their very own residence, after which ‘photograph buying’ himself into footage,” Steers’ then-wife alleged in a press release to the courtroom as a part of divorce proceedings. She described the pictures as comprising “sexually degrading conditions.”

After receiving a tip about Steers’ secret movies, the OPP opened an investigation. They interviewed the ex-wife, who described having discovered pictures of her bare relative, and that Steers had superimposed a picture of himself standing beside the lady making an attempt to the touch her, in response to the agreed assertion of information.

The investigators ready a search warrant and seized the contents of the bag she discovered: 23 do-it-yourself CDs and DVDs, one VHS tape and an exterior arduous drive.

They found the pictures of the relative.

The search warrant doc used to acquire the fabric notes that OPP investigators have been additionally contemplating the cost of voyeurism, a criminal offense outlined within the felony code as making a visible recording of somebody who has an inexpensive expectation of privateness.

That cost was by no means laid as a result of voyeurism was not a legal offence till 2005 and the pictures of the relative have been believed to have been taken earlier than that, the sufferer informed the Star.

In January 2011, OPP investigators arrested Steers and charged him with two counts of legal mischief. He was suspended from work for 20 months with pay. Later that yr, he pleaded responsible and acquired a one-year probation and conditional discharge, which means that after three years of excellent behaviour the offence was purged from his report and his courtroom information sealed.

Within the spring of 2012, Steers was introduced earlier than the police tribunal, which forces maintain when officers are charged with a felony offence.

Steers’ lawyer and the tribunal prosecutor made a joint submission on the penalty, accepted by the presiding officer, who referred to as it “reasoned and affordable.” Inspector Steers can be instantly demoted and ineligible to hunt promotion for at the least two years. He was required to bear counselling and will solely return to obligation when deemed match by a physician.

The prosecutor stated the very critical misconduct would warrant Steers being dismissed from his job if not for mitigating elements: by pleading responsible, the officer accepted duty for his actions; and his employment document was in any other case unblemished and included commendations from his superiors and awards for group service.

Steers’ lawyer famous that the officer had been receiving counselling since earlier than he was criminally charged. By way of his lawyer, Steers apologized to the OPP, vowing he would by no means “repeat such behaviour and he’s conscious that ought to he achieve this will probably be the top of his profession.”

The presiding officer denounced what was not a “single remoted act of misconduct which will have been the results of a momentary lapse in judgment.”

“On quite a few separate events, over a protracted time period and at totally different places, he dedicated felony mischief,” Breen wrote in his determination.

“With out query, ought to the small print of Inspector Steers’ misconduct be revealed to most of the people, it will trigger vital injury to the status of the Ontario Provincial Police.”

Steers is presently a employees sergeant with the OPP’s Freeway Security Division.

Jeffrey Steers’ sufferer writes her first public assertion.

I’ve recognized Jeff Steers since I used to be 13 or 14 years previous, greater than half my life. I’m now 41.

To me, he seemed to be an amazing father, and a standup police officer. Now, he’s an individual that I can’t belief, convey myself to see, and even need to talk about.

December 2010, I used to be made conscious of photographs that Jeff had taken of me, in numerous levels of undress, with out my information. These footage have been taken in locations I had beforehand felt protected, and can by no means really feel the identical about now.

It scares me to think about different pictures that have been taken that I’m not conscious of. I’ve that feeling within the pit of my abdomen that makes me sick. I gained’t ever actually recover from it and really feel utterly snug.

What was his punishment? He was charged with mischief. Voyeurism was not a legal offence when the photographs have been believed to be taken. They have been found in 2010, however the date they have been taken was in query.

The prosecutor summed it up in a gathering earlier than Jeff was charged. Mischief is equal to the identical crime as somebody scratching your automotive. Being violated, filmed with out my permission, was equal to somebody scratching my property. That’s once I knew that he wouldn’t be absolutely punished for his crime.

Jeff took a lot from me, and broke my belief. I’ll have that feeling for the remainder of my life. He goes on like nothing he did was improper. And, he’s nonetheless a police officer within the OPP. He’s sporting a uniform that folks determine with belief and security. I now determine the uniform with distrust and lies. It’s in query if I’ll ever belief a police officer the best way I might have up to now.

To today, he has not acknowledged that what he did was fallacious, and he has not apologized to me for what he did. He simply went about his day by day life shifting on. He wrecked many lives when he determined to commit this crime. I might be impacted for the remainder of mine.

http://www.jacksonobserver.com/discipli ... tar/12080/
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