A corrupt police officer who was ordered to resign or be fired back in June 2015 has abandoned his appeal bid and resigned from the force.

Sgt. Rohan Beebakhee’s resignation from the Ottawa Police Service was effective Feb. 16. The resignation signals the end of a policing career that was marred by multiple oversight investigations and allegations against the officer that first began to publicly surface in a 2008 SIU investigation.

His resignation also puts an end to a with-pay suspension that saw him collect a paycheque without working since 2012.

While suspended, the 21-year veteran officer collected more than $300,000 in pay, according the so-called Sunshine List of public sector workers paid more than $100,000 a year or more.

Beebakhee got in trouble because he socialized with escorts at Pink Kitty Escorts and made unauthorized use the Canadian Police Information Centre database and Ottawa Police records. He looked up information about "bad dates" escorts had and relayed it to them. He continued fraternizing with them even after getting a direct order to stop.

In June last year, a disciplinary hearing ruled dismissal would be his penalty for convictions on Police Services Act charges of insubordination, corrupt practices and deceit.

In his decision, hearing officer Terence Kelly, a retired York Region police deputy chief, said Beebakhee’s 37 queries in the Canadian Police Information Centre database (CPIC) and 400 searches in the Ottawa police records management system violated the privacy rights of 83 people.

“These flagrant breaches and lack of respect and trust bestowed upon Sgt. Beebakhee jeopardize his usefulness as a police officer,” Kelly said.

The repeated queries in police databases showed that Beebakhee didn’t have a momentary lapse in judgment, but deliberately planned the unauthorized searches, Kelly said. This elevated the seriousness of the conduct to the high end of the spectrum, he added.

Kelly said in his decision said that the officer’s actions have not only damaged the reputation of the police force but also his own. Beebakhee’s credibility on the stand during criminal trials will be at issue each time he testifies, since it’s the duty of a Crown prosecutor to disclose an officer’s disciplinary history, Kelly said.

But Beebakhee's lawyer argued that dismissal was too severe and didn't factor in years of good work he did and said demotion would have been a more appropriate penalty.

The Ottawa Police Association subsequently filed an appeal of the ruling, a move putting his dismissal on hold and kept him on the public payroll until he resigned in February.

— With Postmedia files