The New Brunswick Police Association is vowing to fight tooth and nail any attempt by Police Chiefs and the New Brunswick Police Association to suspend police officers without pay before they’re convicted of wrongdoing.
Police Association President Dean Secord says to do this would treat criminals better than police officers and turns our concept of justice on its head which presumes you are innocent until proven guilty.
Secord calls this a power grab by police chiefs that would financially destroy frontline police officers because they would not be able to afford the time it would take to defend themselves without any money coming in.
As an example, he says it cost the family of City Police officer Chris Messer more than 100 thousand dollars to defend himself against false accusations and another police officer from the Miramichi, Art MacLean lost his house and was forced to declare bankruptcy after he was fired for post traumatic stress disorder.
Secord maintains there is no need to suspend officers in any event because they can be used to perform administrative duties until the legal matters are resolved one way or the other.
