University lost trust in campus cop

This instalment of You Make the Call puts the focus on a case out of Windsor, Ont,, where a campus police officer was fired after using a company cell phone to make personal long-distance calls.

Russell Wilson was a special constable at the University of Windsor. He was fired in February 2005 after the university conducted an investigation into unauthorized calls to Welland, Ont., that were placed on the cell phone while he was on duty. He had only been on the job for about 18 months.

Wilson was confronted by the university about the calls. His first reaction, according to the employer, was to laugh it off and accuse the university of directing harassment towards him. Shortly after, Wilson sent an e-mail to management and his union denying any responsibility for the phone calls and accused the director of campus community police of making false allegations based on “personal agenda, biasness, intimidation and harassment.” Wilson characterized the investigation as a “witch hunt” and accused the director of unprofessional conduct.

During the investigation, the university was able to determine that Wilson made unauthorized long-distance and local phone calls on 57 separate occasions during December and January, resulting in 519 minutes of personal calls. More specifically, the university said it was able to confirm that both the local and long-distance numbers were associated with a person with whom he had a personal relationship.

It also said that, on Jan. 13 and Jan. 15, he had been dispatched to calls for service. The official dispatch records indicated that Wilson reported attending those calls. Yet during the timeframe he reported being occupied by the calls for service, he was in fact placing unauthorized phone calls, the university said. It characterized this behaviour as a neglect of job duties and responsibilities.

The university said Wilson was guilty of misconduct and insubordination and he had “irrevocably” breached its trust in him and the integrity of his position as a sworn special constable. The director said there is a need to have a high level of trust in campus police officers because they are frequently working alone, have master keys that provide almost unlimited access to all offices and buildings, have the power of arrest and detention, are involved in the transfer of large sums of money and because they are to be a visible, present and active deterrent to any criminal element.

Wilson never admitted doing anything wrong and never apologized.


You make the call

Did the university have just cause to fire the campus police officer?
OR
Should he have been reinstated by an arbitrator?

If you said the university had just cause, you’re correct. The arbitrator said Wilson demonstrated his dishonesty and insubordination with the employer in many ways. He denied making the long-distance calls to Welland when, in fact, he did.

The e-mail Wilson sent was disrespectful, insubordinate and untruthful.

“The position of special constable with the Windsor Campus Community Police is one that requires integrity of character among other attributes,” the arbitrator said. “Honesty is an important and essential element in integrity of character. Mr. Wilson has demonstrated dishonesty and insubordinate behaviour with the employer in many ways.”

Therefore, the employment relationship based on trust had been broken, the arbitrator said.

“Mr. Wilson still has not admitted he has done anything wrong, has not apologized for his conduct, in giving his testimony accused two employer witnesses of conspiring to give the same evidence and lie at arbitration, and admitted making the cell phone calls in question only during the course of arbitration and when faced with conclusive proof,” the arbitrator said.

For more information see:

University of Windsor v. CAW-Canada, Local 195, 2006 CarswellOnt 5706 (Ont. Arb. Bd.)

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