A veteran constable who faces criminal charges ranging from sexual assault to making child pornography is back on the job, according to sources within the Durham Region police service.

Officers who requested anonymity said Thursday that the surprise return of Const. Scott Andrew Terry to the force’s Oshawa station for duty after more than a year under suspension with pay has baffled some staff.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit charged Terry in January 2012 with single counts of sexual assault, sexual exploitation, breach of trust, and making and possessing child pornography. The force immediately suspended him.

SIU director Ian Scott said at the time he had reasonable grounds to believe the officer, a 26-year Durham veteran, committed criminal offences involving a female during 2000 and 2001.

Terry did not return a call from the Star seeking comment. Speaking on the officer’s behalf, Lee Gagnon, who described himself as a friend, said Terry would not comment.

“(Terry) asked that I call you and say that he’s got nothing to say,” said Gagnon, a former police officer. “His lawyer has instructed him to say nothing. Just leave him alone. … He was forced by them to go back (to work).”

Durham police confirmed a suspended officer had come back to work and is involved in a “back to work” program, but is keeping the identity of the returning employee secret.

“His case is still before the courts, so we have to respect that process,” said David Selby, director of corporate communications for Durham police.

“However, he is working in a non-policing role, supporting the basement renovation project in our downtown Oshawa station. He has no contact with the public and is being supervised by a staff sergeant when at the station.

“We are ensuring compliance with bail conditions, and he has no policing responsibilities or authority. He is not in uniform.”

Two officers independently confirmed the force had confined Terry, who is in his late 40s, to menial jobs with no public contact after his return late last week. For example, Terry was relocating police cruisers from the station basement and driving other cars to a local auto shop for maintenance, one officer said.

“People over here are confused and upset over this,” said the officer, who feared internal reprisal if he revealed his name. “They don’t understand why he is being allowed to return while these charges are unresolved.”

The police service did not respond to a question about whether Terry’s return is having an impact on other staff at the Oshawa station.

One source familiar with police protocol in Ontario said it is “extremely rare” for a police service to recall an officer who is already under suspension with pay for work duty while he or she still faces serious criminal charges.

“Something may have happened in the (criminal) case,” the source added.

Terry, who also faces Police Act charges connected to the alleged sex offences, is scheduled to appear for a pre-trial hearing on the criminal charges in an Oshawa court on May 17.

Randy Henning, president of the Durham Regional Police Association, would not comment on the situation. But he noted the decision to recall a suspended officer would be solely up to Durham Police Chief Mike Ewles.

Alan Young, associate professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, said the officer’s return is unusual because of the outstanding charges.

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“It’s very difficult to imagine that you could have confidence in the continuing ability of an officer to discharge his duties with integrity if he is facing serious charges,” Young said.

“But there is also the argument that it would be better than paying him to sit at home on a couch by having him doing something that might be away from dealing directly with the public. And there is the presumption of innocence.”

Kent Roach, a professor of law and public policy at the University of Toronto, said a police force would also need to consider, as a budget issue, whether it can recall an officer who could be useful in the workplace.

“That’s a dilemma all police forces face,” he said.