OPP report shuts door on investigation of senior city police officers

No charges will be laid against senior North Bay police officers in relation to an internal theft of information.

A confidential OPP report to former Chief Scott Tod has effectively ended any chance of discipline after a USB key was stolen from an officer, Sgt. Jim Kilroy, and private lawyer-client information was transferred onto senior police officer computers. The OPP report was delivered to Tod just days before the Chief's retirement.

"I received the letter from the OPP regarding the investigation," Tod told BayToday. "The allegations of misconduct against the NBPS officers are unsubstantiated." 

Deputy Chief Mike Daze told us yesterday that “The OPP investigation has concluded and no charges have been laid,” but did not elaborate, instead directed further questions to the OPP.

See: OPP investigating senior North Bay police officers for misconduct

Chief Scott Tod confirms he called for the OPP to investigate senior officers for potential misconduct. One of those involved is former police chief Shawn Devine, who served from January 2016 until April 2019.

"To say I am disappointed in the criminal justice system, would be an understatement," Kilroy tells BayToday. "I would like to believe that in any workplace, especially a police service, to have the employer secretly steal, search and copy and keep private information from their employee's cell phone or memory stick, would not only be wrong but criminal. The North Bay Police Service currently has private and privileged communication of mine with lawyers, sitting on their hard drive….and I didn’t give it to them!"

A request by BayToday for how that information, which remains on police computers, will be handled has been submitted and is awaiting a reply.

The action comes after an internal incident in 2017 in which it's alleged a thumb drive belonging to now-retired sergeant Jim Kilroy was taken without his knowledge, and files were copied onto the NBPS computer hard drive. Those files contained confidential lawyer-client documents regarding a legal dispute Kilroy was having with the NBPS at the time. 

In November 2022 the Chief's office received a letter from a local solicitor representing Kilroy alleging that currently serving members of the North Bay Police Service and past members had stolen or committed the act of theft in taking a storage device and other information. Kilroy requested a criminal investigation be conducted into the theft.

In early December 2022 Tod contacted the Greater Sudbury Police Service and requested a criminal investigation into the allegations. That report came in March of 2023.

"I received a report from the Greater Sudbury Police Service advising that the investigation was complete and that there would be no criminal charges brought forward against any member of the North Bay Police Service," said Tod.

As many as six officers may have been investigated in connection to the incident.

However, the Sudbury police investigation did find there were grounds for criminal charges and approached two different crown attorneys to proceed with the case. Neither would agree to file formal criminal charges.

"Based on the report and the findings of the Greater Sudbury Police Service, I had requested that the Ontario Provincial Police commence an investigation involving any and all members involved in the criminal investigation who are serving with the North Bay Police Service into the matters of the theft of a storage device and the allegations that were originally made," explained Tod.

The request went to the OPP Professional Standards Bureau, located at General Headquarters in Orillia. The OPP investigation was under the Police Services Act  (PSA), which only applies to active police officers. Their final report stands in stark contrast to the findings of the Sudbury police investigation.

"I don’t understand how the Sudbury detective formed reasonable and probable grounds to lay criminal charges against senior NBPS officers, yet the OPP could not find any wrongdoing under the Police Services Act which has a much lower threshold of proof," Kilroy told BayToday. "It is also suspicious that the OPP investigative report was completed in November last year but was 'in approval stage' for three months and only delivered to Chief Tod the day before he retired. In a day and age when the public is increasingly calling for more transparency in policing, it is sad that the more things have changed, the more they’ve stayed the same.

"How does an employee's private, privileged, Charter-protected information get onto the NBPS hard drive, if there is no wrongdoing?”  The answer should be simple, and the NBPS should not hesitate to provide full disclosure to alleviate the public’s need for police to be held accountable."

Meanwhile, Kilroy says he continues to be hounded by city police.

"Since my complaint of the theft and possession of my personal data, which remains on the NBPS hard drive, the attempts at intimidation continue. They include two senior administrative sworn officers within the command staff, passing my house on a regular basis, including in subdued undercover cars which immediately and quickly leave the area when I’ve approached.

"When I brought these complaints to Chief Tod and asked if I was under investigation for anything, the response I received was that I was certainly not under investigation. However, the senior sworn officers can and will continue to legally drive on any public roadways they choose to drive on. This is hardly a comforting response from the Chief of Police."