Windsor police officer Dorothy Nesbeth dismissed
Windsor police officer Dorothy Nesbeth has been dismissed from the Windsor Police Service.
A Police Act hearing in October found Nesbeth guilty of discreditable conduct but not guilty on a charge of threatening a police officer stemming from a 2010 incident at the border.
In July 2010, Nesbeth failed to declare a large amount of alcohol stored in her trunk while returning to Canada at the Ambassador Bridge.
In a decision reached on Friday, Supt. Robert J. Fitches had this to say about Nesbeth's dismissal.
"[The] damage to the reputation of the police service, the public interest and the destruction of the relationship of trust between Constable Nesbeth and the Windsor Police Service are such that her good work history and other positive attributes as described in the letters of support, her evaluations and her conduct sheets do no provide sufficient mitigation to erase or alter the fact that her usefulness to the Windsor Police Service has been annulled," Fitches wrote in his conclusion.
In a letter released in court documents, a member of the Windsor Police Service said he believed Nesbeth thought she was being treated unfairly through the process.
“On occasion Constable Nesbeth has displayed frustration with what she perceived to be unfair and biased treatment
surrounding the allegations against her," Alfredo Pizzacaroli wrote in a letter that was submitted as part of court documents.
In July 2010, Nesbeth was pulled into Canadian customs where border agents found cases of beer, wine and rum in her trunk.
She was not charged, but the border agency told Windsor Police about the incident.
Police charged her with deceit and discreditable conduct and Nesbeth has been suspended with pay since then.
Ontario is the only province where suspended police officers must be paid.
Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Manitoba all have legislation to allow suspension of police officers without pay in certain circumstances.
Under Ontario's Police Services Act, the only circumstance in which a police officer doesn't get paid while suspended is if he or she is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment.
If an officer is convicted of a crime but doesn't have to serve time behind bars, they remain suspended with pay until they can be fired through the police disciplinary procedure. The same process applies to officers internally charged with misconduct.
