Further misconduct gets Mountie kicked off force

A Manitoba RCMP officer — previously disciplined for abuse of authority and discreditable conduct, which included calling a teenage girl “jailbait”— has been kicked off the force for further misconduct.

Const. Stephan Shewchuk, who worked for the Portage la Prairie detachment, was found by a disciplinary panel earlier this year to have violated the RCMP’s code of conduct.

In December 2023, he worked overtime in Portage when he had been told earlier that month by the detachment commander that he was no longer allowed to — a violation of a lawful order, conduct adjudicator Sandra Weyand found after a hearing earlier this year.

Given Shewchuk’s prior misconduct, Weyand found she had no confidence in his potential for rehabilitation and that any sanction less than dismissal would not be harsh enough.

“Constable Shewchuk has been given several opportunities to show he can uphold the RCMP’s core values and abide by the code of conduct. He has failed to do so now on several separate occasions. The public trust and public confidence have been significantly eroded,” wrote Weyand.

“His chances have run out … I simply cannot justify retaining … Shewchuk as a member of the RCMP.”

Weyand gave Shewchuk two options: resign within two weeks or be fired. He also had the opportunity to file an appeal. His lawyer did not respond Friday when asked whether he had done so.

Shewchuk had been an officer for 10 years.

The conduct board heard that in an email on Dec. 7, 2023, the acting inspector in charge of the Portage detachment told Shewchuk he was no longer permitted to work overtime shifts in Portage, after speaking with the RCMP professional responsibility unit.

Shewchuk was in the process of being transferred from the detachment, on orders from the commanding officer of the provincial force, as a consequence for his prior misconduct in Portage.

But on Dec. 21, Shewchuk worked an overtime shift at the Portage detachment.

He had been asked by a corporal on Dec. 9 if he was available to work that month. Shewchuk told the corporal he would like to, but advised him to check with the commander as the issue of his working overtime there had “become political” between the RCMP and the union, the decision said.

Shewchuk did not advise the corporal, who was unaware of the commander’s order, that he had specifically been directed not to work overtime in Portage.

He testified that he assumed, based on his conversation with that corporal, that he was allowed to work overtime again.

He also assumed another supervising corporal would have been aware of the order when Shewchuk offered to take an overtime shift for him on Dec. 21, but that corporal wasn’t.

Weyand found Shewchuk did not take any steps to confirm his assumptions. She noted the detachment commander had made it clear to Shewchuk to come to him or his direct supervisor for clarification, which he did not do.

She deemed it a conduct violation.

Shewchuk was also accused of knowingly making false or misleading statements in response to RCMP officials giving him a transfer planning notice in November 2023. The notice indicated they were considering moving him to work out of the detachment at the Winnipeg airport.

But Weyand found that Shewchuk had not intentionally misled his superiors, nor intentionally made an inaccurate statement. What he did do was outline concerns about what the transfer would mean for his child custody arrangements in a clumsy manner, she found.

After his earlier misconduct hearing in late 2022, Shewchuk was disciplined for improper interactions with two females after two traffic stops in Portage in 2020.

After pulling over a vehicle and conducting a sobriety check on Oct. 31, 2020, Shewchuk found and followed one of the passengers on Instagram and contacted her.

When he learned she was only 17, he called her “jailbait” and asked when she was turning 18. “Jailbait” is a term used to describe a person who is younger than the legal age of consent for sexual activity, but could be seen as appearing older.

On Oct. 20 that same year, he gave another driver a warning for speeding and later sent her a message, saying she looked familiar and asking where he knew her from, but that woman did not respond.

The conduct adjudicator in that case docked Shewchuk 45 days’ pay and ordered he be transferred to another detachment at the divisional commander’s discretion. He also was not to be promoted for three years. The lawyer acting for the federal justice department at that hearing had asked that he be told to resign or be fired.

Shewchuk went off work sick in early December 2022, shortly after the first disciplinary decision, and gradually returned to work at the Treherne detachment in April 2023. He returned to full duties at the Portage detachment on Aug. 31 that year, before the overtime incident in December.

Adjudicator Weyand noted his second act of misconduct occurred just four months after he returned to work full time.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca