Buckle booted

The Ontario Provincial North Bay detachment has fired a 17-year member of the department.

James Buckle, 42, was dismissed after being convicted last week at a Police Services Act Hearing in North Bay.
Buckle, 42, who had been a detective constable, was charged with four counts of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act and had been suspended from the OPP since April 1998 when he was charged with the offences.

Buckle, who joined the OPP in 1987, had been assigned to the Drug Enforcement Section working out of the OPP North Bay Unit, from 1991 until his suspension.

Det. Supt. Jim Miller, who heads the OPP Drug Enforcement Unit, said Buckle was charged after it was discovered he had misappropriated funds allocated for enforcement purposes and used them for his personal spending.

“We hold all our people accountable, and the public expects them to be professional and trustworthy,” Miller said, from his office in Orillia.

Buckle was found guilty of four counts of Discreditable Conduct under the Police Services Act at a hearing before Adjudicator, Superintendent Robert Fitches, and the penalty imposed was his immediate dismissal from the OPP on each count for which he was convicted.

Almost seven years ago Buckle was charged with setting drugs on fire in an OPP evidence room in North Bay.

He was acquitted by a jury following a trial in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.