Cst. Christi Lafrance (R) and her partner Cathi Richardson and their adopted son Liam. ____________________________________________________________ Cst.
Cst. Christi Lafrance (R) and her partner Cathi Richardson and their adopted son Liam. ____________________________________________________________
Cst. Christi Lafrance, of the North Bay Police Service, has been charged with assault in connection with an incident in which a handcuffed prisoner was allegedly struck by a police officer. Lafrance also faces charges under the Police Services Act of Ontario. Here is Part Two of an interview with Lafrance.
Cst. Christi Lafrance had spent 12 years with the Toronto Police Service and described her career there as “great.”
But while posted with 52 Division as a detective constable four years ago, Lafrance and six other Toronto officers had raided a lesbian bathhouse party attended by about 350 women.
Took a toll After the raid, Toronto councillor Kyle Rae, while talking to reporters, called the officers involved “rogue cops,” “goons,” “renegades,” and “cowboys,” Lafrance told BayToday during a recent interview at her Rutherglen home.
The officers, including LaFrance, launched a defamation suit against Rae, and she was awarded $20,000 out of the $170,000 the Toronto politician was ordered to pay the group.
But the aftermath of the raid took a toll on her.
I did nothing wrong Lafrance said she was “excommunicated” from Toronto’s gay community.
“I was considered a traitor, I wasn’t going to be accepted,” LaFrance said, “but I did nothing wrong. I was doing my job.”
A move back to North Bay seemed to be the answer, particularly since Lafrance and her partner had adopted their son Liam, a three-year-old Vietnamese boy.
And when the North Bay Police Service offered to hire her as a senior constable in March of 2002, it appeared Lafrance had been given the fresh start she’d been looking for.
Working against her Her hiring was considered a coup by the service, she said.
“I was told in my interview with Deputy Chief Cook that my experience was superior to their senior officers. He said they had many officers who had never testified in front of a jury, and because I had, it would be something they’d be looking to me to assist them with because I had dealt with crimes that happen every day in Toronto that didn’t happen here,” Lafrance said.
“He hoped I would share my knowledge.”
But sharing that knowledge, said Lafrance, who faces a criminal assault charge and two charges under the Police Services Act of Ontario, ended up working against her.
Harass or harm Things started going wrong for Lafrance after he first major assignment with the service, going undercover during Operation Fareplay, an investigation into the local taxi industry.
During her interview Lafrance talked about a number of incidents she believes were deliberate attempts by some members of the North Bay Police Service to harass or harm her:
--being ordered to close a sexual assault investigation without charges and being told the suspect in the case was a friend of one of her supervisors. She closed the case and documented in her report the order she had been given;
--being sent without back-up to talk to a man whom she later found out had been convicted of murder but had gotten off due to insanity. Lafrance said she talked to the supervisor who had sent her, who confirmed he knew the man and knew about the murder conviction. She then said the supervisor just smirked at her;
--being sent to pick up a man who had breached his parole and finding out he had been convicted for assaulting a police officer. While another officer came on the radio and offered to provide back-up, Lafrance said, the dispatcher came on the air and said a sergeant had ordered Lafrance to attend alone;
--being told by a supervisor when she had brought in a threatening suspect that the North Bay Police Service didn’t follow case law. She was ordered not to charge the suspect. She was soon sent out on a similar call and again told not to charge the suspect. Two days later, Lafrance said, the suspect attempted to kill someone. When asked by a superior why she hadn’t arrested or charged the suspect, Lafrance said the reason was in her report: that she had been ordered not to;
--being told to stop a particular defence lawyer she was told the North Bay Police Service did not like, every time she saw him. She refused, saying she’d been a police officer for over a decade and didn’t work that way.
--she was accused of costing Project Fareplay charges because she failed to show up for court in the case. Lafrance said she received conflicting information about her court date and couldn’t get an answer from the court as to when she had to be there. The correct date turned out to be on her day off, but Lafrance said she accepted full responsibility for missing court and was disciplined.
--being told in front of coworkers during parade that she had failed to complete her duties even though she had documentation that proved she had.
Any kind of evidence North Bay Police Chief Paul Cook said he was hearing Lafrance’s allegation “for the first time” but said it would be difficult for him to comment due to her pending PSA hearing May 17, and the criminal charge.
“It’s not fair for Cst. Lafrance or for the processes for me to comment,” Cook said.
“But Cst. Lafrance at either the criminal or internal discipline proceedings can produce any kind of evidence she and her council chose to do so, providing the hearing officer is willing to listen to it and or the judge in the case of the Criminal Code charge.”
Chose not to Cook also said Deputy Chief Al Williams, who was an inspector at the time, was investigating a harassment complaint Lafrance had filed through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.
She was provided numerous opportunities to speak to Inspector Williams in relation to the specifics of her complaint, and chose not to,” Cook said.
Lafrance’s attorney Andrew Perrin said his client declined to talk to Williams because she was concerned her words would be twisted and used against her.
Form of profiling Lafrance says she now has a jaundiced view of the North Bay Police Service, calling the actions of some of her supervisors “corrupt.”
“I never suspected that standing behind the law would be an issue,” Lafrance said.
“This is something you’d see on TV about a Texan small town police force.”
Lafrance said she believes a form of profiling is being carried on within the North Bay service.
“You don’t criticize an officer until you know all the facts, but here they decide a civilian’s guilt or innocence based on how they look, and once they’ve targeted you they want everybody to target you,” Lafrance said.
We don't do that here Cook said the profiling allegation was “right up there with here being followed.”
“And no, we don’t do that here.”
Lafrance said the stress she was under forced her to take sick leave. But she plans to fight her Police Act and criminal charges and defend herself “vigorously.”
“I believe in the law, I believe in the honesty, and I believe in the community, and they don’t,” Lafrance said.
“They believe that they are above the law and that they could do whatever they want, and then they approach me to do these things and I wasn’t afraid to say ‘no.’”
