THE VICE-CHAIR OF OUR POLICE BOARD BRIEFLY SUSPENDED

Saturday's Waterloo Region Record has the following story "Probe of police board incident may stay secret". As I was getting the link for this story I noticed that the vice-chair has been restored to the police board and we will see that story in tomorrow's Record. It is all very strange and I would like to know as the Ontario Civilian Police Commission have already concluded their investigation and restored Kim Denouden to her position on the board; then why was she even briefly so suspended?

This police board has never been transparent or accountable to the public and this whole incident is very disturbing. Is the tail wagging the dog when a police board member makes a comment to a police officer and she is suspended until OCOPS do an investigation? Who is in charge here? Apparently the police board could have investigated this incident themselves but chose not to. Why not? Are they that subservient to the Waterloo Region Police Service that they fear their reaction to a dismissal of a complaint against a board member? The public have a right to know who is driving the bus and under what authority. Is our civilian oversight really on such shaky ground that comments from a vice-chair to a police officer can get her suspended? None of this fosters confidence in the public that our police service are under control. Based on the behavior of many officers over the last few years it is becoming clear that they aren't under control. Looking at Toronto are we here in waterloo region headed in the same direction?