Article content continued

“It’s absolutely disgusting,” he said, of a provincial system that doesn’t empower police chiefs to withhold the pay of suspended officers.

Never criminally charged, and facing no internal disciplinary charges, Howe’s case is different than some egregious cases Ontario has seen of suspended officers riding out long court or discipline processes on full pay and benefits, sometimes quitting before they can be fired or disciplined by their employer.

This week, another disgraced officer, ex-sergeant Robert Mugridge of the Chatham-Kent force, was sentenced to jail time and probation for defrauding friends and family after racking up almost $250,000 in loans to beef up his lifestyle. Paid to stay home while the court case dragged out for three years, at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $400,000, Mugridge resigned days before what was expected to be fired by the force in its internal disciplinary process. His sentencing delayed to give him a chance to repay his victims, Mugridge still has about $113,000 to pay back.

Because London police haven’t said why they were investigating Howe, and because his retirement ends the internal investigation, Londoners will never know — one way or the other — how the probe into the veteran officer might have ended.

The Free Press was unable to reach Howe for comment at his home or through his former employer.

Ontario’s former Liberal government, defeated in the June election, had introduced sweeping legislation to overhaul police oversight, including giving chiefs greater power to suspend officers without pay. But Premier Doug Ford put that on hold after his Progressive Conservatives swept to power.