RCMP officer convicted of sexual assault may keep his job

19 May 2006
CBC News

A senior RCMP officer in New Brunswick has been given a six-month conditional sentence for sexual assault.

Inspector Alain Heon was convicted of repeatedly groping and touching the wife of an officer who worked for him.

According to internal documents obtained by CBC News, it’s a much harsher penalty than the RCMP planned to give Heon, who is a district commander in the province. He’ll serve two months under house arrest and be entered in the National Sex Offender registry, but he still has a job with the force, at least for now.

“Discharging Mr. Heon remains a possibility,” said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Terry Kennedy. “However, no decision has been made today.”

Chose fine over dismissal

Before Friday’s sentence, the Mounties had a clear plan to keep Heon on the job. Internal RCMP documents obtained by CBC News show, “The board seriously considered . . . dismissal from the force.”

But in the end, it decided “a fine equal to 20 days of pay” is “fair to Insp. Heon. . . [and it] clearly demonstrates the board’s reprobation of such conduct while allowing him to continue to contribute to the RCMP.”

The victim of Heon’s sexual assault said earlier, in a phone interview with CBC News, that she was outraged that Heon may end up keeping his job.

The RCMP has dealt with this kind of situation before.

Others kept on the job

Heon’s internal discipline report cites four previous similar cases involving other officers who were allowed to keep their jobs.

One officer received a “demotion,” “counselling” and “a transfer . . . [for] initiating unwanted sexual contact with two different women and harassing a third.” Two other officers received “the confiscation of 10 days pay . . . having initiated unwanted sexual contact with sleeping women.”

Daisy Kler is a crisis worker with Vancouver’s Rape Relief and Women’s Shelters.

She says the RCMP’s actions send the wrong message “for ordinary raped and battered women who are trying to use the RCMP to seek justice when they know the internal politics within the RCMP is to accept this behaviour, and that men that do this behaviour within the RCMP are able to keep their jobs.”

Under RCMP rules, if a member receives a sentence in custody, the force does have the discretion to fire the officer. Now that Heon has been sentenced to house arrest, the RCMP administration will be meeting to decide if he’ll be fired.