A London police officer facing a string of charges, including assault and intercepting a private communication, is the eighth officer on the force to be criminally charged this year.

Waterloo Regional police arrested a London officer in April and charged the officer with assault, mischief under $5,000, uttering threats, harassment and intercepting a private communication, The Free Press has learned.

Though the unidentified officer was arrested eight months ago, neither London police nor their counterparts in Kitchener-Waterloo released any information about the charges until the newspaper asked this week.

The charged officer’s name isn’t being released, said Insp. Mike Haffner of Waterloo Regional police.

“As with our procedure, we are unable to provide the name of the individual to protect the identity of the victim, as these allegations are domestic in nature,” Haffner wrote in an email.

It’s unclear whether the alleged offences happened in London or Kitchener-Waterloo.

The officer was suspended on March 30, London police spokesperson Const. Sandasha Bough said Wednesday.

“It is not unusual for another police service to conduct an investigation into allegations regarding a serving member,” Bough wrote in an email.

Chief John Pare wasn’t available for an interview Wednesday.

London police on Wednesday also announced that a 41-year-old officer, already charged by both his own force and Waterloo Regional police, now faces an additional charge.

The officer was charged with sexual assault last month for an alleged off-duty incident involving an ex-girlfriend on Nov. 17.

London police withheld the name of the two-year service member, citing the need to protect the identity of the complainant.

But The Free Press identified the officer as Const. Stephen Williams after the complainant argued that not naming him could pose a public safety risk.

A harassment charge was filed against Williams, London police said Wednesday. He’s to appear in court Dec. 21.

Williams, who is suspended with pay, was charged with breaching a court order not to communicate directly or indirectly with the complainant or go within 100 metres of her home, workplace or school, court documentation shows. The alleged offence happened on Nov. 26.

Earlier this month, Waterloo Regional police charged Williams with two counts of criminal harassment, being unlawfully in a dwelling and making a harassing phone call.

The alleged incidents happened between April 15, 2016, and Nov. 23, 2017, involving a single complainant, who can’t be identified under a publication ban, according to court documents.

The complainants from the alleged London and Kitchener-Waterloo incidents aren’t the same person.

Eight London police officers have been charged with a combined 21 criminal offences this year. Charges against two of the officers later were withdrawn.

At least three of the officers have been suspended with pay, while the others remain on the job, some of them reassigned to administrative duties.

Police officers can’t be suspended without pay in Ontario, the only province where police chiefs lack the authority to do so. New provincial legislation, proposed last month, would give chiefs the ability to suspend charged officers without pay.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

twitter.com/DaleatLFPress

--- --- ---

London officers facing charges