Student admitted to Atlantic Police Academy despite disclosing 'deviant behaviour': report

A report released this week by P.E.I.'s Office of the Police Commissioner reveals how a student was admitted to the Atlantic Police Academydespite disclosing to the academy, what the reportdescribed as prior "significant deviant behaviour."

The investigator for the commissioner's officesaidthe information should have disqualified the person from consideration for admission to the police academy.

However the application process continued and the student graduated as a police constable, and was then hired by an Island police force.

When the officer later applied for a job outside of P.E.I., his interview with that force revealed similar information and led to a criminal investigation, according to the report. That investigation ended without charges.

The commissioner's report says the officer has since been dismissed from his position on P.E.I.

'This was a fairly serious situation'

In response to the report, Holland College said it's reviewingthe academy'sscreening process. The police academy is part of the college.

"We're undergoing a pretty extensive analysis of all our processes internal [and] external and I think we're going to be making some changes," said Sandy MacDonald, Vice President Academic and Applied Research at Holland College.

"I can't characterise them as extensive changes or minor changes, I'm leaning more towards serious changes because this was a fairly serious situation."

"Basically we're doing a critical analysis of did we do all the things that we should have done in terms of this particular case. And are we using the best possible assessment tools for example," MacDonaldadded.

MacDonald said he doesn't want police departments to lose faith in the academy's ability to train officers.

College confident in training standards

"We have trained thousands of cadets at this point in time, we feel very confident that our training standards are one of the best in the country," said MacDonald.

He said the college is compiling a response to the concerns raised by the police commissioner's office. That report should be ready late next week.

Aspokesperson for the Department of Justice and Public Safety said in a written statement,"It is of utmost importance that the public have confidence in the police and how they are trained.The department is considering what further measuresmay be required to mitigate any resulting concerns."

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