Discharge Him

Boot him out, remove him from public duty, for he no longer presents as a reliable, honourable officer of the law whose integrity and personal dedication to an onerous and necessary profession he has defiled. Chief Vern White is quite correct in his analysis of the fitness of Constable Jeffrey Gulick to return to duty as an Ottawa police officer.

His behaviour stands as a disgrace to the force he represented, and he presents as a potential danger to the public.

The fellow police officers who arrived at his home in response to an emergency call recognized the psychotic state this man was in. How to ignore it? They were, after all, skilled professionals, assigned to the very special unit that Constable Gulick himself was assigned to, the spousal assault response team. A highly stressful occupation to be certain. Little did they imagine that they would confront one of their own.

In his own home, an obviously demoralized, out-of-control man who turned to the abuse of drugs and alcohol to stem the tide of his own incapacity to serve, succumbing to stresses he was incapable of adequately dealing with, was on a path of violent destruction, when he was apprehended. The violence of his response to the arrival of fellow officers took them aback.

Constable Gulick turned his rage on those officers, he assaulted them, attempted to take into his possession the firearm of one of the officers, was stunned by a Taser in an attempt to take control of the situation by the officers. He was arrested, but managed to escape, before his final capture and incarceration.

Stunningly, despite this incredible behaviour, other officers on the Force stand with Constable Gulick, defending him.

And while they defend this disgrace to their uniform and pledged purpose to protect and defend, they have singled out the arresting officers as traitors, shunning and isolating them. One of whom is now on a prolonged sick leave as a result of the violent encounter, another despondent over her isolated status.

Constable Gulick is now on trial, facing a charge of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act for his violent assault of brother officers. A court order had mandated that this man see his wife only during supervised visits, once he was released from custody. He underwent drug addiction counselling and completed treatment.

Ottawa Police Chief Vern White, after his own testimony, gave his opinion outside the courtroom that this man must be held accountable for the dreadful choices he made. "...he chose to drink, he chose to assault officers, he chose to try to rip the gun out of the holster." He would not, he said, permit a police officer convicted of assaulting four colleagues to carry a gun even if he is reinstated.

Chief White's opinion is that Constable Gulick has no further "usefulness to the police service", and it was his further opinion that the public would be outraged if this man were permitted to carry a gun. Needless to say, Chief White faces opposition from the Ottawa Police Association, the police union.

The public stands staunchly in favour of Chief White's position. We do not need such an individual on the Force, ostensibly 'protecting' us from people just like himself. He must seek another profession.