TORONTO

If only everyone had such understanding bosses: A Toronto traffic cop will keep his job despite going AWOL for almost four years after he was asked to take a breathalyzer test when he reported to duty allegedly smelling of alcohol.

At the long-delayed disciplinary hearing for Const. Duane Boodle, Acting Insp. Peter Callaghan recommended that he be fired.

“The prosecutor questioned whether someone who refused to work for this Service for three-and-a-half years and who refused the lawful orders of his superior officers should still be allowed to be a police officer,” noted Insp. Richard Hegedus in his decision Friday.

“The prosecutor submitted that the public would think it was absurd and in any other employment context Const. Boodle would have been dismissed a long time ago.”

That’s for sure.

Instead, Hegedus demoted the 25-year veteran from a first to a second class constable for five months because he accepted that the mutinous cop was “dealing with personal and psychological issues.”

Boodle, though, will remain on administrative duties — he’s been in the records department since his return in August — and hasn’t been cleared to carry a firearm.

Boodle finally appeared before the tribunal in September and pleaded guilty to neglect of duty and insubordination involving an incident that happened Dec. 1, 2012: He swore at a supervisor and fled Traffic Services, defying an order to report to the officer in charge to determine if he “might be unfit for duty due to the consumption of alcohol.”

According to the agreed statement of facts, Boodle took off in a taxi, still in uniform and armed with his gun, setting off a concerned search and “consultation regarding the notification of the Emergency Task Force.”

When he soon returned to hand in his weapon, Boodle was apprehended under the Mental Health Act and taken to St. Joseph’s hospital where he was examined and medically cleared.

He was then arrested for impaired driving but then released and not charged.

Years of cat and mouse ensued as Boodle refused to return to work and evaded being served with notices of hearing that he was being charged under the Police Services Act.

Hegedus said they tried to reach him by telephone, text messages, in person, via mail and e-mail — all without success. He also ignored efforts to find him a position that would accommodate his “psychological issues.”

They bent over backwards, it seems, until they eventually cut off his pay and benefits.

Boodle told the tribunal he didn’t come back because he didn’t trust anybody and warned a doctor that he will “react if they mess with me.”

“A reasonable member of the public, informed of all the circumstances,would have a hard time understanding how someone after that period of time, abandoning their employment, refusing to follow the procedures, and treating the process contemptuously, could still be entitled to be a police officer,” Hegedus said, quoting the prosecutor’s submissions.

Boodle finally showed up at work this past August after he was told his disciplinary hearing had been rescheduled for September and after all these years, it was going ahead with or without him.

At the tribunal, lawyer Gary Clewley argued that Boodle had been suffering from depression since 2007 after the break up of his relationship, the loss of his home, estrangement from his daughter and death of his father. Since his return to work in the fall, he’s proven that he’s been rehabilitated.

The hearing officer wasn’t convinced.

“Overall, I have concerns for the potential to reform or rehabilitate Const. Boodle,” Hegedus said. “However, I further note that every attempt must be made to reform or rehabilitate an officer. That includes providing accommodation.”

So despite thumbing his nose at his employers for almost four years, Boodle can keep his job. But with a warning. “Should he find himself before this tribunal in the future, his position as a police officer would be in jeopardy.”

That may come sooner than not. Boodle currently faces a criminal charge of domestic assault.

Read Mandel Wednesday through Saturday.

mmandel@postmedia.com