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Bordeleau said that “all of the candidates had gone through the rigorous OPS selection process and I believe met the qualifications for employment with our service.”

In an email to all officers sent Monday evening after Postmedia asked him for comment, the chief said two of the candidates that were made offers had “items in their background checks” that he was asked to review. “I looked at the cases in their totality and established offers should be made to both individuals.”

The applicant is active in the Somali community in Ottawa. All potential police officers are heavily screened prior to being hired.

Abdi’s arrest and his subsequent death have rippled through the city and have resulted in community allegations of police brutality and racism.

Benson, a background investigator on the force for more than five years, alleged in her resignation letter that the service has “disregarded their own hiring standards.”

Benson said it was with “great regret” that she “must resign,” in a letter dated Aug. 4. Benson had conducted the background investigation on the applicant.

The decision was made to offer the job to the applicant on July 25, after the force had previously sent him a rejection letter, according to sources, and Benson wasn’t notified until the next day.

“I was shocked since I indicated in my report that the applicant was not recommended for the position of constable,” Benson wrote in her resignation letter. “This was not a case of a candidate being borderline on the scale of hiring as is sometimes the case.”