An Ottawa Police Service constable has been demoted for sexually harassing a female officer.
Adjudicator Lisa Taylor, a retired OPP superintendent, has ordered that OPS
Const. Charles Benoit be demoted to second class constable for 18 months. After that period, he will return to his original rank of first class constable.
“Unfortunately, while much of this type of misconduct has been eradicated, it still exists and police services like other organizations must be vigilant to address it, out in the open,” Taylor said in a decision released on July 28.
At disciplinary hearings in May, Benoit pled guilty to two counts of “discreditable conduct,” which involved making “unwelcome” comments and “slapping the buttocks” of the fellow officer, who was identified in the proceedings as “AA.”
As a bicycle instructor tasked with training officers in
the OPS
, Benoit was directly involved with certifying AA, “putting him in a position of trust and authority over her,” according to an agreed statement of facts.
The disciplinary proceedings concerned incidents that occurred in 2023. In May of that year, Benoit sent AA text messages that Taylor found were “sexualized and disrespectful” and that AA had characterized as “unwelcome and inappropriate.”
In one exchange, Benoit sent AA a photo of a pair of leather motorcycle chaps she was looking to sell on Facebook Marketplace, saying “Bumm (sic) must be supper (sic) in this,” according to Taylor’s decision.
In another text message from September 2023, Benoit said “Heard you had a new gf (girlfriend). You still not coming back to this side. Just jump on our side for a little.”
Later that month, after
a memorial bike ride event
to commemorate fallen police officers in which AA participated, the two were parked near each other on Argyle Street when AA stepped out of her car to talk to Benoit.
She then started talking to her partner and daughter, who were sitting in her car, when Benoit approached her from behind and slapped her on the left buttock, “creating an audibly loud noise,” according to the decision. AA described the slap as “hard.”
In a later text exchange, Benoit apologized and said “I didn’t know that was ur gf. And on the flipside. That was a nice hard bum. Congrats.”
Taylor found that the action of slapping AA’s buttocks “constituted serious misconduct.”
“Constable Benoit’s misconduct could not be described as a mistake, but a serious lapse in judgement and he ought to have known better,” Taylor wrote.
During the hearings, prosecutors called for Benoit to be dismissed, while Benoit’s lawyer asked for a 12-month demotion.
Taylor ultimately found that “the public interest in this matter can be satisfied by imposing a demotion and not a dismissal.”
Benoit, who has been an officer with the OPS since 2001, acknowledged he was aware of the police service’s policies on violence and harassment in the workplace. He acknowledged that his “physical conduct” towards AA was “inappropriate and beyond what is reasonable between friends.”
Pamela Machado, Benoit’s defence lawyer, said in an emailed statement that she respected the findings of the disciplinary process and acknowledged the seriousness of the “conduct involved.”
She said
sexual harassment
had no place in the workplace, especially “one built on trust and service to the public.”
“My clients accept the decision of the disciplinary tribunal and we believe the penalty appropriately reflects the findings and allows everyone involved to move forward,” she wrote. “This was a balanced decision by a reasoned adjudicator.”
In her victim statement, AA expressed how degraded and disrespected she felt when Benoit slapped her buttocks in the presence of her daughter and her partner.
AA said she felt fear, that her safety at work had been compromised and that Benoit’s misconduct affected her ability to trust co-workers.
“I think (Constable Benoit) is a dangerous person and is a danger to women around (him),” AA said.
Taylor, however, found that the evidence before her didn’t support AA’s “conclusion that Constable Benoit is dangerous or a threat to women.”
She found that Benoit’s employment history and letters of support he had submitted didn’t support such a conclusion and that Benoit “understands the impacts of his actions now.”
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