Fired Regina police officer wins appeal against dismissal

A fired Regina police corporal who previously pleaded guilty to assaulting a 13-year-old boy has successfully appealed his dismissal.

Colin Magee was fired from the Regina Police Service last year, having been deemed unfit for police service by Chief Evan Bray.

In a decision issued Tuesday, hearing officer Ronni Nordal wrote Bray based his case on three separate incidents.

According to a notice of dismissal, the first happened in 2016 when Magee took a possible auto theft suspect to the ground for refusing to present identification.

Magee was charged with assault the next year and placed on administrative duty. After the Crown referred the charges to alternative measures, Magee returned to active duty in 2018 in the detention area.

That September, Magee made another takedown, this time a person referred to as “L.G.” who was about to be released.

Magee believed L.G. did not fully understand his release conditions and ordered him to put down a pen he was using to sign his documents. When L.G. refused, Magee used force.

The day after, Magee was booking a boy identified as “J.M.” when he discovered an unknown substance in his belongings. When the boy refused to say what it was, Magee “forcefully took J.M. to the ground.”

Magee was charged with assault in April 2019 and, after pleading guilty, was given a conditional discharge.

According to Nordal, Bray used these instances to show a pattern where Magee becomes aggressive when he believes his authority is being unduly challenged.

Magee countered that, while he acknowledged some sort of discipline was warranted after the incident with J.M., dismissal shouldn’t have been considered.

Magee was found not guilty in January of 2020 of assaulting L.G.

Bray and Magee met in July of 2020 to discuss matters, including Magee’s state of mind. There had been a death in his family as well as an illness.

“Chief Bray testified that not long after the July 2020 meeting he made the decision to dismiss,” Nordal wrote. “He had to decide whether putting Corporal Magee back out in an operational role was in the community interest. He felt a risk was likely still present.”

After considering the testimony and previous cases of discipline against officers, Nordal said Bray had “not established, on a balance of probabilities, that Corporal Magee’s conduct was a serious departure from the expected standards and behaviours of a police officer and a significant departure from the acceptable standards of policing.”

As a result, Nordal ruled that some form of discipline other than dismissal should have been imposed.

Nordal added that Magee’s guilty plea to the assault charge shouldn’t have led to automatic dismissal and that reinstatement wouldn’t cause permanent harm to the police service’s reputation, provided suitable discipline was meted out.

The hearing officer also said Magee “was not given a reasonable opportunity to bring his performance up to an acceptable level or standard” before his termination. Nordal felt Magee could reach that level if he was provided the proper “treatment, guidance, coaching or counselling.”

Bray said Thursday he accepts the hearing officer’s decision.

“Clearly it was my opinion that the officer was not suitable for duty, which was why I went with dismissal. But I understand, under the Police Act, there’s a right to appeal and I very much respect due process,” said Bray.

The hearing officer only ruled to overturn Magee’s dismissal, not how he would return to work. So Bray said the next steps to figure out are “what the work assignment looks like, what the responsibility looks like for someone coming back into our workplace with that on their record.”

He said since Magee is no longer dismissed, they’ll also have to work out what kind of workplace punishment there will be for him for the assault charge.

When asked what having Magee back might do to the credibility of the Regina Police Service in the public’s eyes, Bray talked about the delicate balance that needs to be struck between the police service and the community.

“We have to make sure that our behaviour is designed in a way that maintains public confidence and trust in us, and we’re always striving to ensure that we meet that public expectation while we focus on fair treatment of our members, if it’s a discipline matter that we’re dealing with,” said Bray.

Bray said he’s going to work in a professional manner to make sure the transition can happen in a way to maintain public confidence but will also allow Magee to get back to work.

Multiple times, Bray said he had felt that dismissal was the right decision, but also said he can’t be frustrated at the decision of the hearing officer.

“Through the years I’ve laid a lot of charges where I’ve felt a person was criminally responsible for something and at the end of the day they might not always get found guilty in court. But I can’t be frustrated by that. I respect the judges that make those decisions (and) I respect the judicial process,” said Bray.