Can Police Have Criminal Records In Canada?

Can a police officer have a criminal record in Canada? Wow, there’s a great question. You’ll probably be surprised at the answer. And the answer is, it depends. There are police with criminal records in Canada. But the thing is, I need to divide it down between people who’ve been on the force for a number of years and applicants. So, let’s talk about people who’ve been on the force for a number of years, and they get a criminal charge and they get convicted. When I say it depends, it depends on the nature of the criminal conviction, like if it’s a very minor criminal charge, let’s say a minor assault or a mischief, they might be able to stay on depending on the internal particular policy of the particular police force. There are situations where absolutely a police officer may fire if they go to jail, if it’s a serious crime and moral turpitude, such as theft, fraud, drug, sexual assault, assault causing bodily harm, or aggravated assault, those typically will get you booted off the force. But there are situations, I must say, where I’ve seen police, officers stand the force for more minor criminal offences going to depend on a lot of factors to the remorse and the nature of the event offense and the attorney internal policies of particular police force. So that’s a bit of a loaded question. If the person’s getting a conditional discharge, where they avoid a record, they might be able to stay on the police force there too, of course, if it’s involving dishonesty or whatnot, or a moral turpitude crime, they will definitely be kicked off. But let’s say it’s a minor assault conditional discharge, well, they might feel a stay on. They’re going to have an internal discipline. They might get demoted. They might have to face sanctions, but there are police officers, yes, with minor criminal records on in Canada, but in most situations, they wind up getting booted off if it’s at all serious, but not all. There’s no question, not all. Now let’s take a situation. It’s quite the different situation, though, if you’re applying to become a police officer. So, if you’re applying to become a police officer, if you have a criminal record, you are not going to get over the police force in certain situations. If you get what used to be a called, a pardon or a record suspension, you might be able to get on the police force if it’s a record suspension involving a more minor charge. Conditional discharges, or absolute discharges for applicants are more of a gray area. Certainly, it’s not going to increase your likelihood. I mean, let’s face it, if there’s 500 applicants for 10 jobs and you’ve got a conditional discharge, and other people are equally as good as you, what are your odds of getting on? But technically speaking, it’s a gray area where you might be getting on you might get on with if you’ve got a record suspension of minor traffic, but clearly, if you have a criminal record, you might as well not even apply to the police force. So, there you have it. Here’s the bottom line. It really depends. A minor criminal conviction for a police officer might allow them to stay on the police force, depending on their track record, remorse, steps, rehabilitation, they’ll have to go through internal discipline, but certain convictions obviously result and get you booted off the police force. A jail term does for people who are applying, well, it’s difficult. Let’s face it, if you have a record, you’re done. If you have a conditional discharge, you’re absolutely discharged. Well, what are your odds anyway? Because you’re up against other applicants who don’t and a record suspension might do it if the record suspensions in relation to a more minor criminal offence. There you have it in a nutshell, whether police officers in Canada or applicants can have a criminal record.