Suspended Kennebecasis Police Officer Retiring

A suspended Kennebcasis Regional Police Force officer accused of inappropriate conduct against a civilian employee is retiring.

Police Chief Wayne Gallant confirmed to our newsroom that Insp. Jeff Porter plans to retire at the end of the year.

“I won’t be offering any further comment,” said Gallant in an email to our newsroom Tuesday morning.

Porter has been suspended with pay since June 2016 after a complaint was filed by a female civilian employee of the force.

The complainant, according to a 2020 court ruling related to the matter, detailed “various incidents of inappropriate conduct by the applicant against the complainant.”

An investigative report presented to the New Brunswick Police Commission in June 2018 identified 16 specific allegations of misconduct by Porter.

The commission scheduled a settlement conference in September 2018, but after the parties failed to reach an agreement, an arbitration hearing was launched the following month.

Porter sought a judicial review of the case, arguing he was not served with a notice of settlement conference within the six-month time limit.

But a Court of Queen’s Bench judge declined the judicial review in a decision released in February, saying Porter “failed to establish any exceptional circumstances that would justify judicial intervention before the administrative process has been completed.”

Under the Police Act, the New Brunswick Police Commission no longer has authority over an officer once they leave the force.

But Jennifer Smith, the commission’s executive director, said the arbitrator now has jurisdiction over the complaint.

“It will be up to the arbitrator to determine whether that jurisdiction is lost if an officer retires,” said Smith.

The arbitration hearing for Porter has now been adjourned until Dec. 31.