Workplace review adds to CPS’ long history of culture investigations

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The Calgary Police Service’s long history with investigations into its workplace culture entered a new chapter Wednesday when its civilian oversight body ordered a fresh review on the heels of allegations of bullying and discrimination from a former human resources director.

Despite the handful of reviews undertaken over the past decade-plus, Calgary’s police association and an employee who resigned in 2017 cite several long-standing issues still impeding its ability to improve the service’s culture.

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While the Calgary police commission said a culture review has been discussed in recent months, the need for one came to a head after Angela Whitney, the former director of human resources at CPS who resigned in 2021, posted on social media a number of accusations citing toxic behaviour at the service.

CPS has filed a lawsuit seeking an order that would remove Whitney’s comments and posts from social media and media coverage. It’s also seeking an injunction barring her from further posts or interviews.

“My own experiences — as noted as a high-ranking leader during an HR reform ordered by commission — included gender and equality, abuse of authority, harassment, an inability to properly ensure a workplace free of harassment,” Whitney said Wednesday evening.

When current police Chief Mark Neufeld stepped into the role in 2019, “he inherited a very dysfunctional human resources structure,” said Doug King, criminologist at Mount Royal University.

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CPS has long been plagued by issues related to workplace culture. Former chief Roger Chaffin in 2018 spoke of a “dark struggle” against systemic sexual harassment and mistreatment within the service during his tenure.

The service has also been subject to a handful of reviews over the past two decades. One 2013 internal review revealed claims of sexual assault, sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation. That year, an earlier report that hadn’t been public had found in 2009 a “pervasive theme” of bullying. The report urged CPS to take action and warned those conditions would continue if steps weren’t taken.

“There were serious and verifiable issues related to sexual harassment and bullying that was going on within the police service,” King said.

King said he doesn’t believe the audit is a tacit admission that CPS’ workplace culture is failing to change.

“Having a third party coming in every once in a while when you and your agency is experiencing a crisis and to do periodic checkups, I think is a great idea,” King said. “The fact, though, is that if things are not changing, things will have to be addressed, and who knows what that could be.”

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Former officer ‘frustrated that this is still happening’

But Jan Magnus, a former officer who resigned from the service in 2017 over claims of ongoing bullying, has reservations that the audit will change CPS’ culture in the near- or long-term. Magnus now owns a consulting company that does workplace culture reviews and investigations for companies in the not-for-profit and private sectors.

“My concern when I saw the police commission was going to do a culture review was it was going to be nothing but a checkmark,” she said.

Several friends and former colleagues have told Magnus that morale at CPS has dropped to levels seen during former chief Chaffin’s tenure, Magnus said. Those former colleagues have also told her upper management has minimal trust from frontline officers, she said.

“There’s no trust and they don’t feel supported — at least the people I’ve talked to now,” said Magnus, who had expressed cautious optimism over the service’s trajectory after Neufeld’s appointment to police chief in 2019.

“It frustrates me that this is still happening.”

However, because Neufeld was given a vote of confidence last May from the commission when his contract was extended until 2027, it’s unlikely the review will have an impact on his tenure, King said. At the time, the commission called Neufeld an agent for both stability and change amid a turbulent period for CPS.

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Neufeld told media on Wednesday that change at CPS is difficult to enact due to its male-dominated workforce while citing the province’s Police Act as an impediment for answering complaints in a swift manner.

King said the Police Act legislation in its current form is “slow” and “cumbersome,” which he called a “major stumbling block” to allow police to respond to complaints as they arise. But he also said the traditional organization of police forces makes it difficult to adapt into a modern workplace.

“The big question that people always have is, ‘Are police agencies so old fashioned that they cannot address the issues?’” King said.

‘Lack of resources’ a problem: Calgary Police Association president

John Orr, president of the Calgary Police Association, hopes the review focuses on CPS culture and not only the actions of “individual rank-and-file members.”

Internal complaints aren’t currently handled in an efficient manner — largely because CPS’ human resource departments are understaffed and lack the authority to swiftly handle complaints, Orr said.

“I think there’s a lack of resources available to them to deal with these issues properly … they tend to drag on a lot longer than we would like them to,” he said.

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While amendments to the Police Act would be helpful, he said, better supporting human resource departments would expedite the complaints process.

“We need to properly empower these areas to deal with these issues properly so that our members have faith — that when they bring forward these concerns … they will be taken seriously and dealt with swiftly.”

Morale at CPS has been low for several years now. Its most recent survey, released last October, found 77 per cent of members disagreed with the statement “morale at CPS is good” — 10 percentage points better than the previous year.

“The numbers are still very poor,” Orr said, referring to the morale data, “and I think until we have a system in which there’s clear process, members feel that their complaints are being taken seriously, I don’t see those numbers improving until that happens.”

mscace@postmedia.com
X: @mattscace67

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