An online petition has been started with a goal to have a local police officer, convicted yesterday of assault, fired from the North Bay Police Service.
Amelia Rising, a local non-profit government funded group that offers individual and group counseling to victims of sexual assault or abuse has started the petition called "Remove Barry MacIntosh from North Bay Police Service"
The petition reads in part, "In 2012, North Bay Police Officer Barry MacIntosh was charged with 4 counts of assault, 2 counts of assault causing bodily harm and 2 counts of criminal harassment against 3 different women. Although Justice Richard A. Humphrey openly acknowledged via court transcript that MacIntosh was "...emotionally immature and fragile, self-indulgent, egotistical, jealous and insecure..." the justice system failed the 3 survivors of MacIntosh's assaults when MacIntosh was cleared of all charges. The Crown successfully submitted an appeal on 2 counts of assault against 2 of the women; assaults that, according to police charges, were committed while Mr. MacIntosh was in police uniform and on active duty. Though the appeal trial held August 22 to 25 2016 yielded 1 guilty verdict, MacIntosh expressed through his lawyer, his goal to return to policing."
"We're trying to engage our community on this topic," said Brenda Quenneville, Executive Director of Amelia Rising. "We believe the entire community has a stake in this, particularly on the heels of the Maclean's report that North Bay is the fifth most dangerous community for gender-based violence in Canada. People want to see that change."
Quenneville says the justice system is already challenging for victims of sexual and domestic violence.
"We have to keep on pushing. We're not done and we can't become complacent.
"If Barry MacIntosh were to be reinstated as a police officer it would erode confidence and trust. Our petition is demonstrating that confidence would be eroded across the general public as well."
Quenneville feels that this case, in a way, is a turning point.
"I think particularly because the assault he was convicted on was an assault that was perpetrated while he was in uniform while on active duty. We know that gender-based violence is all about power and control, so to add that extra layer of being in his police uniform which is already a position of power and authority, and to abuse that so blatantly in a public establishment...that's appalling. It's a no-brainer that he should not be a police officer."
She also feels the punishment, 21 months probation with conditions, does not fit the crime.
"Absolutely not. I think that there were a number of charges that were laid that were acquitted and that's where the system failed. That's very common, so we're grateful that we have this one guilty verdict but I can't help but feel we should have had more."
In less than 24 hours of being up, the petition has garnered over 300 signatures.
