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c -a- f-j- jm ia fidajgr wo js c v v an economists sunotw a v g bryan sousineau i ensf 2 months of silence after alleged improprieties forced r him to step down jthe following is an open letter to the citizensofyork region submitted to the economist suhstouffville tribune thisy week by former york regional police chief bryan cdusineaiu although cousineau refused our offer to speak with a reporter or elaborate on the issues raised in his letter we agreed to print the letter in the interests of our read- v it should be noted that many of the unsubstantiated rumourscousineau refers to ifi his letter were reported by y toronto dailyhewspapersnbt by our newspapers s s 1- the past 22 months have been most difficult otfmy family the police force and the community x as you are aware i requested a leave obfabsehcemmmch1997becauseofthe resultsof rilnternal audit that alleged improprieties on my part t agreeb to the leave because if hot v would have beensuspended suspension to apblice officerisalmost like a termina- fibn f- h i this audit andjhe allegations con- tinned in it were not brought to my attention nor was i asked toexplain anyt of iliwiu refer to mw comments by me auditors alittle later r v v nie opcommericed an investigation 1 wtiich lasted hirnonths im sure thejopp llida morbughexamihatidhofmy tareer 3 t iand personal bfe and left no stone i li unturned y ijji r their lnveshgationrwhich was xf- l-j- rconstantlyreferred to in this and other i tt t newspapers- it seemed therewere a mulr r k i mitudeof wrongs committed by methe v- 1 businessman andthe allegation that 1 4 hadsz million ma swiss bank account e itheseallegations wereveryupsetung tkeerondroncerrled me giving rhy- force calling cardjaiimber to members of my family this number was given to them so they could contact me while i was awayon police business f when i was advised that this number had been used for other than force busi- nesst ordered an internal audit by ihe chief financial officer prior to the com- munication of any investigation hewasdirected to report to me i the nbnforcerelated calls and i repaid c immediately the amount of money those i calls represented the sentence given to me by judge ws gphnet was a conditional discharge plus 100 hours of community service alohgwith 12 months of probation i was not convicted of anything i tendered my retirement to thepolice services board because quite frankly my family and i had endured eriqugri public scrutiny innuendo and lies throughout this ordeal there were several quotes from police officers who did notwish to be identified i ask you to draw your own conclusions as to whyv v i they did not wanfto be identified v 1- the audit of the force waslhe subject 4 of manyjiewspaper articles the articles focused mainly on the following issues v v lack of manpower v r j use of corporate credit cards misuse of petty cashregardirig fetire- r ment gifts books supplies etc s x training- t police computers promotion and hiring practices budget process cv it is mteresting to note i have never been formallybriefed on the entire cqn tents of the audit nor was i presented a v copyofit which isnormal procedure by the police procedure auditors 1 1 assumed the role of chief of police in ndyembef 1992 and within four months the ndp government of the day intro- duced the social gontract this legisla- t tiqn was designed to save the govern- ment money byreducirig grants to municipalities x 5 vtl sitt chad the police services board and the li-t-i- j t f uutyto twojeounts of breachpf trust sisy ii mixhe first concerned me not reporting t to the police services boardthat i had jvf7 negotiated a loan and future employment c r after my retirement the date of which l had not been confirmed l tunionjurgmg me to mcreasethe person i nerpf the forceauite substantially during my tenure i tried to place as many officers on the street as possible by r drawing them from various umtstt was a difficult process but when faced with critical circumstances1 felt thepfficers m ancillary units would be betterdeployed ivi5 4j owiw sui ejl on me street on a temporary basis ii r tjne budget was always preparedafter iveral meetingsmvolving all senior offi- rs ultimately if a decision was bf which v vs required then aschief of police i made it hs- i2- f the audit focusetfon our mobilecom- bryan cousineau puters in the police cars and how they needed replacing a fact i was well aware of z j- it is strange there was no mention of a budget presentation made to the police services board in october 1996 outlining our concerns over the data termi- nals s a request for 50000 was made to bring irt a consultant the board wanted more precise figures for the may 1997 meeting however i commenced my- leave in march i am also well aware of the comments bf police union president paul bailey y regarding the promotion process this ist the same process he was promoted under the hiringpromotion list was com- piled by a panel of senior officers and v presented to me if we needed to prb- mpte to filla vacancy i was given a short jistqf officerswho were all qualified and v recommended for promotion someone had to make the decision thevame was true for the fulltime hiring process v puririg mytenure as chiefl i mended 40to 50 pfomotibhs tothe pro- ifessional standards bureau internal y affairs i wonder if mr bailey has metl with these people facetoface and chal- leriged their qualifications or promo- l nithinknqt 3 r j during the social gontract some v training hah tolbe reduced none of the reductionsput any member of the force l u j4 jrt l from other forces attehdedi doubt the college would want to dqthis if they though our trying pfdgram was inade- quate while i was chief we constructed and opened a newstateoftheart training k facility in our new4 district v- headquartersxvaughan training is important and i ani of the opinion our training staff did and are still doing a commendable job allegations were also levelled that money was used from the criniirial inves tigation branchpetty cash for other items such as retirement tickets for offi cers from other forces office supplies model police cars etc js there is a large pettycash in head- quarters under the control jof the fihah- cial officer this was kept in the event members of the force heeded asiibstan- tial amount of cash eg 2000 may be needed for a potential drug buy in order to apprehend a drug dealer or if officers had to travel for an investigation articles were purchased throughthis petty cash arid were always reconciled to the proper budget account this is a com mon practice with any petty cash 1 wish the new chief luck given the associations trade record hell need it j- 0 a number of senior officers were issued credit cards i assume the opp investigators were satisfied that the cards were used properly by all senior officers including myself at each board meeting the police ser vices board was given adetaued list of expenditures from the previous month t the invoice or reason for each experidi- c tiife was available should they have required an explanation inact it was m common for board members to ask aboiit those expenditures it seems strange to me that after my leave of absence the board managed to v funds for a number of purchases and programs i wonder if this was akheejjerk reaction by the board in response tp complaints by certain membersjpfthe police association w it is also unfortunate thatsomemem- of the association feel they should mahagetne policeforce and not trie chief m6thboadc ztt r i wish the new chief luclcgiyen the f associationsttrack record hell need it- u these are just some of the issues l i wanted tovddress space limitations pro- hibit me from more details r- 1 v jamue i was yourchief york regional police was compared to several other- t forces we were tiie most economical to operatewe hah the lowest incidents of my opinion that the taxpayer wj nwell served bythe members of the force land if has been my privilege to have served you as chief of police r f a ir -ft- j 1 maple andneny wa v bedropm dining room suites r 1 tvtcentresgunoeabinetsr4w k reddie bauer reclinersofas chairs 4 a 1 1 c- j i m