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<h1 class="entry-title">Fredericton police broke language and conduct guidelines, investigation finds</h1>
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<span class="gmail-posted-on"><i class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-calendar"></i><time class="entry-date gmail-published" datetime="2018-02-02T17:33:07+00:00">February 2, 2018</time></span><span class="gmail-byline"> <span class="gmail-author gmail-vcard"><i class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-user"></i>Kaplan Contributor</span></span>
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<p>A complaint filed against the Fredericton Police Force over the way
two officers responded to a request for service in French during a
traffic stop last summer has resulted in disciplinary action and three
recommended changes.</p>
<p>An investigation by the New Brunswick Police Commission found the two
officers did not comply fully with the province‘s Official Languages
Act or with the force‘s language policies and procedures.</p>
<p>“The Fredericton Police Force takes the findings of the commission‘s
investigative report very seriously,” Chief Leanne Fitch said in a
statement Thursday.</p>
<p>“We will continue to make improvements to address a number of recommendations outlined in the report.”</p>
<p>Katherine d‘Entremont, the commissioner of official languages, could not immediately be reached for comment.</p>
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<p>The complaint was filed June 13 by two women who said they had
received unprofessional and intimidating treatment after their car was
pulled over by police on Smythe Street on June 11.</p>
<p>In an interview with CBC News in July, the passenger said the driver
told police she did not speak English and would need to be addressed in
French, which was her right.</p>
<p>The first two police officers who came to the car, however, would
speak only in English, the passenger said, and one of them told her he
was sure she, too, spoke English.</p>
<p>The passenger told CBC News that after the driver informed police she
would wait the 30 to 45 minutes for a French-speaking officer, the
officer conducting the traffic stop yelled that he would fine her for
failure to produce insurance. </p>
<p class="gmail-figure-caption">The names of the two officers involved will
not be released and details of their settlement agreement are also
confidential. (Daniel McHardie/CBC)</p>
<p>Eventually, a third officer, who was bilingual, arrived to handle
the traffic stop. The driver was issued tickets for an expired
registration and failure to produce proof of insurance.</p>
<p>The complaint contained seven allegations, but only two were upheld, said Fitch, without elaborating.</p>
<p>The New Brunswick Police Commission investigated a conduct complaint
against the two officers and a service complaint against the force under
two sections of the New Brunswick Police Act, according to executive
director Steve Roberge.</p>
<p>“There were indeed disciplinary processes” against the two officers, confirmed Roberge.</p>
<p>But he said he could not release the names of the officers, the
nature of their conduct or details about the disciplinary action because
the matter did not proceed to a public arbitration hearing.</p>
<p>Fitch said the officers had to attend a settlement conference, but settlement agreements are confidential under the Police Act.</p>
<p>“We acknowledge that traffic stops can be challenging,” she said.
“Officers must consider a number of variables with each encounter to
ensure the public and officer safety.”</p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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