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Unbeknownst to his direct supervisor, Beebakhee took it upon himself to book dates with escorts, showing up in full uniform and having what he called a “safety briefing” with sex trade workers, trying to build rapport with the women. He would often bring along junior officers.

Some sex-trade workers on an online forum said the officer was genuinely trying to help, but others thought he was using his position to try to get sex.

An internal affairs investigator, who had more than 100 pages of documents turned over to him from the Special Investigations Unit after it was clear that whatever Beebakhee was doing fell outside the civilian police oversight body’s mandate but still needed to be looked at, ordered in 2011 that Beebakhee stop all contact with escorts. He didn’t.

Beebakhee has been suspended with pay since the summer of 2012, when the second of three internal investigations against him was launched. The first resulted in the order to cease contact with escorts. The second began when his personal cellphone was found in the call logs of an escort company under investigation. While the disciplinary hearing was underway in 2013, a third investigation was triggered when Beebakhee admitted on the stand that he used the police database to speed up the background checks on people who wanted to volunteer with Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

The sergeant, who has worked at the Elgin Street courthouse and as a detective in the sexual assault and child abuse section, was charged with sexual assault by the SIU after a woman alleged the officer groped her in his cruiser in 2007. That charge was withdrawn in 2009.

Skof said the union will review the decision and determine whether it will appeal but that given the severity of the charges, Beebakhee is prepared for the service to ask for dismissal.

Both defence and prosecution submissions on what penalty should be doled out to the officer are scheduled for Feb. 18.

syogaretnam@ottawacitizen.com

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