Mountie feels RCMP has not treated him fairly

[grumpydigger]

http://www.sprucegroveexaminer.com/Arti ... ?e=3235028 A former Stony Plain RCMP officer is discouraged with how his harassment complaints were handled by the national police force.

Gerry Hoyland, who has been a Mountie for 34 years, was a corporal with the Stony Plain detachment for eight years between 1998 and 2005 and says that he was the victim of some form of harassment almost every day during his duration with the unit.

"The harassment consisted of vandalizing my personal vehicle, saving pornography on my computer and tampering with my food," Hoyland said. "They called these things 'practical jokes' but I don't think I'd call it anything other than harassment. It got to the point where I felt safer on the streets than I did in the detachment."

Hoyland also recalled an incident where a photo of his face was pasted on the body of a Sunshine Boy and displayed to people around the office.

Although Hoyland said he complained numerous times to many superiors during his tenure at the detachment, he says nothing was ever done to stop the harassment, causing him to leave for stress relief in 2005.

In 2006 he filed his first formal complaint with the harassment that occurred, but after the complaint being dismissed by both the commanding officer of 'K' division and the Level 1 commanding officer in B.C., it was never recognized that Hoyland had been harassed and no disciplinary action ever occurred.

Then in 2008, Hoyland submitted his case to the RCMP External Review Committee (ERC) where last May they found that the initial findings of his complaint were erroneous and recommended to the Commissioner of the RCMP that he acknowledge the harassment and apologize for the fact that the harassment investigation and decisions in his case were inconsistent with the applicable harassment policies.

Hoyland has not yet received an apology.

Although he can only speculate, Hoyland feels that he was singled out because he would hold other officers accountable for poor investigations and for their personal use of RCMP equipment.

This is not a unique case Hoyland said, and according to the ERC, as of last December there were still a total of 67 outstanding grievances dating back to 2007 that the RCMP had not yet taken action on, so Hoyland doesn't expect a resolution any time soon.

This type of harassment goes well beyond the Stony Plain detachment, Hoyland said, and while he recognizes that most of those involved in his own harassment case are no longer working for that detachment, these weren't isolated incidents.

"I wish very good things for the RCMP but I don't think that that'll happen for at least a generation," Hoyland said. "This kind of stuff is going on right across the entire RCMP."

During the last RCMP Employee Opinion Survey conducted in 2009, 34 per cent of employees felt that their complaints were not dealt with effectively.

Thirty per cent of employees felt that their health, safety and well-being wasn't being promoted.

Forty-nine per cent felt that the employees are respected and trusted.

Hoyland has been off-duty sick since 2005, but was surprised to get a notice that he was deemed unemployable in any capacity, followed up with a notice of intention to seek discharge because of a physical or mental disability, but says that he has never been told what that disability is, something he feels is happening all too often in the RCMP.

"It's disappointing because a lot of the people going on ODS are the top performers that the RCMP has," Hoyland said. "My career has certainly been ruined. What I had to put up with made me ill for a while, but I'm certainly healthy now."

"I'm one of the hundreds that this is happening to."

Hoyland has currently filed a harassment lawsuit against the RCMP and several former members of the Stony Plain detachment and is expected to go to trial sometime next year.

[email protected]

[grumpydigger]

This is what happens, when one RCMP officer Tries to hold other police officers accountable for their actions

Childish arrogant bullying.

But then again, that's the way they're trained way anyhow

[Fancy]

This year, RCMP employees overwhelmingly affirmed their commitment to the RCMP and to serving Canadians. In all, 92% of respondents said that they are strongly committed to making the RCMP successful, and 87% are proud to be RCMP employees.

Increased efforts by managers to provide employees with more feedback on their performance has led to a 10% increase in satisfaction with more timely performance evaluations, as well as improvement in employee’s opinion of the value of performance evaluations.

Employees are also more satisfied with training opportunities, and feel more strongly that learning and development are encouraged and that supervisors facilitate their career development.

A less positive finding is the decrease in satisfaction regarding fairness, trust, and respect. The RCMP is also concerned that about half of respondents do not believe that the results of the survey will be acted on. Further, a significant number of employees indicated that they have been harassed, by either superiors, co-workers, clients or the public.

The Commissioner has directed senior managers to work with employees to develop initiatives to resolve those issues that were identified.

The RCMP is experiencing progress in its transformation agenda and it is our hope that increased employee satisfaction in key survey areas is a reflection of this. We believe this progress will benefit employees, their workplaces and their careers. This in turn will enhance programs and services that benefit the safety of Canadians.

The RCMP continues to create an environment in which people can excel. And when individual employees excel, the RCMP as a whole excels.

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/surveys-sonda ... ex-eng.htm

[Oxl3y]

I can just tell that Hoyland is one of those type of coworkers. The guy that refuses to take a joke, the guy that if given a nickname (even the shortening of his name) would claim that it is rude and inconsiderate, the guy that instead of rolling with the punches and giving a few back goes and cries to management.

My point is these guys are losers, instantly make people around the job hate them and make targets of themselves. I doubt very much his work life was as bad as he claims it is, normal people are the brunt of the occasional joke which are never meant with any malice. This is how working men bond and I would like to think a police officer would have thicker skin, how long before he would have beaten a perp for insulting him??

[grammafreddy]

I can just tell that Hoyland is one of those type of coworkers. The guy that refuses to take a joke, the guy that if given a nickname (even the shortening of his name) would claim that it is rude and inconsiderate, the guy that instead of rolling with the punches and giving a few back goes and cries to management.

My point is these guys are losers, instantly make people around the job hate them and make targets of themselves. I doubt very much his work life was as bad as he claims it is, normal people are the brunt of the occasional joke which are never meant with any malice. This is how working men bond and I would like to think a police officer would have thicker skin, how long before he would have beaten a perp for insulting him??

I think if this is how "working men bond" they should think about doing it differently - in such a way that it doesn't subject the object of their affection emotional and physical distress.

I'm with the cop on this one. I think he was trying to be a morally right and honest policeman and was, as he said, reporting members who lacked morals and honesty in their dealings as members of Canada's police force. He (and I) expect better than what some members of law enforcement are providing. Some members are corrupted - and they need to be weeded out and the reputation of the force and the public's trust in it restored.

[Captain Awesome]

I can just tell that Hoyland is one of those type of coworkers. The guy that refuses to take a joke, the guy that if given a nickname (even the shortening of his name) would claim that it is rude and inconsiderate, the guy that instead of rolling with the punches and giving a few back goes and cries to management.

My point is these guys are losers

I wouldn't call such men losers. Inter-office politics and relationships can be quite complex but mob mentality is present as well. These things can go either way, really - sometimes it's worked out and the individual fits into the organization rather nicely, or he's pushed out of organization like in this case. Blame can go both ways, really.

When I served in the army this type of relationships could have been observed more vividly and intense, sometimes violent. Yes, sometimes individual's behavior plays a huge role in the outcome, but to say that they're solely to blame for it is a stretch.

If anything, commanding officer should have stepped in and stopped the shenanigans. I would call it an error in leadership.

[Fancy]

The public never gets the whole story when there's only one side being portrayed. If harrassment was the reason for stress leave, that should have been in a doctor's report and the commanding officer should have been privy to it. Doesn't seem logical then for his complaints to be dismissed. There will be much more information to be revealed and it remains to be seen what the truth is.

[Oxl3y]

If anything, commanding officer should have stepped in and stopped the shenanigans. I would call it an error in leadership.

Ok loser was a strong word, perhaps a little frustration spilling over because of a guy at my work like that (with a side of undeserved arrogance and "things will change around here when I'm the boss!" attitude). I also agree his CO should have stepped in, informed the guys that he was to be left alone but that is hardly a solution imo. He would have been an outcast, guys don't like walking on eggshells so they would just limit their interaction with that person leading to feelings of alienation which leads me to believe this guy should not be working in a boy's club type job such as emergency services/trades etc.

Oh and grandma don't get me started on how women act in the workforce I have worked in both male dominant and female dominant jobs and while I agree men are a lot more juvenile, there is no malice and its all out in the open.

[fvkasm2x]

Although he can only speculate, Hoyland feels that he was singled out because he would hold other officers accountable for poor investigations and for their personal use of RCMP equipment.

That wouldn't surprise me at all.

[fvkasm2x]

I can just tell that Hoyland is one of those type of coworkers. The guy that refuses to take a joke, the guy that if given a nickname (even the shortening of his name) would claim that it is rude and inconsiderate, the guy that instead of rolling with the punches and giving a few back goes and cries to management.

My point is these guys are losers, instantly make people around the job hate them and make targets of themselves.

Yes, but if the behavior was only directed at him, what then?

If we are to believe Hoyland (and I do) this type of behavior didn't happen to other people in the office. It happened to him, because he was a "rat" and tried to keep his fellow RCMP officers accountable.

The exact same thing happened to my best friend and he felt he was forced to leave the force.

[grammafreddy]

Ok loser was a strong word, perhaps a little frustration spilling over because of a guy at my work like that (with a side of undeserved arrogance and "things will change around here when I'm the boss!" attitude). I also agree his CO should have stepped in, informed the guys that he was to be left alone but that is hardly a solution imo. He would have been an outcast, guys don't like walking on eggshells so they would just limit their interaction with that person leading to feelings of alienation which leads me to believe this guy should not be working in a boy's club type job such as emergency services/trades etc.

Oh and grandma don't get me started on how women act in the workforce I have worked in both male dominant and female dominant jobs and while I agree men are a lot more juvenile, there is no malice and its all out in the open.

I think the situation at your work place is different from the situation at Hoyland's and the two can't really be compared.

It seems to me Hoyland is dealing with his honesty and integrity against the detachment's corruption.

I do mostly agree with you about women in workplaces - I would far sooner work with men than women in most instances. However, there is malice in both - women are just more underhanded and sneaky about it.

[Loed]

Ok loser was a strong word, perhaps a little frustration spilling over because of a guy at my work like that (with a side of undeserved arrogance and "things will change around here when I'm the boss!" attitude). I also agree his CO should have stepped in, informed the guys that he was to be left alone but that is hardly a solution imo. He would have been an outcast, guys don't like walking on eggshells so they would just limit their interaction with that person leading to feelings of alienation which leads me to believe this guy should not be working in a boy's club type job such as emergency services/trades etc.

Oh and grandma don't get me started on how women act in the workforce I have worked in both male dominant and female dominant jobs and while I agree men are a lot more juvenile, there is no malice and its all out in the open.

I think the situation at your work place is different from the situation at Hoyland's and the two can't really be compared.

It seems to me Hoyland is dealing with his honesty and integrity against the detachment's corruption.

I do mostly agree with you about women in workplaces - I would far sooner work with men than women in most instances. However, there is malice in both - women are just more underhanded and sneaky about it.

I've out right refused to work with women whom I have seen this trait in before. It's disgusting, not to say men don't do it, but they really are much worse at hiding things, so you tend to get the gist of things and you can cut the head off the snake long before it's an issue. Having to demote someone because of the way the sneakily cause drama(whether they know it or not) is depressing.

[Bestside]

Ok loser was a strong word, perhaps a little frustration spilling over because of a guy at my work like that (with a side of undeserved arrogance and "things will change around here when I'm the boss!" attitude). I also agree his CO should have stepped in, informed the guys that he was to be left alone but that is hardly a solution imo. He would have been an outcast, guys don't like walking on eggshells so they would just limit their interaction with that person leading to feelings of alienation which leads me to believe this guy should not be working in a boy's club type job such as emergency services/trades etc.

Oh and grandma don't get me started on how women act in the workforce I have worked in both male dominant and female dominant jobs and while I agree men are a lot more juvenile, there is no malice and its all out in the open.

I think the situation at your work place is different from the situation at Hoyland's and the two can't really be compared.

It seems to me Hoyland is dealing with his honesty and integrity against the detachment's corruption.

I do mostly agree with you about women in workplaces - I would far sooner work with men than women in most instances. However, there is malice in both - women are just more underhanded and sneaky about it.

I've out right refused to work with women whom I have seen this trait in before. It's disgusting, not to say men don't do it, but they really are much worse at hiding things, so you tend to get the gist of things and you can cut the head off the snake long before it's an issue. Having to demote someone because of the way the sneakily cause drama(whether they know it or not) is depressing.

My wife won't work for a woman either... some of her female bosses were horror stories...

Do women develop these traits because of their experience living with men (domineering, head of family)?
Is there a correlation between female manager undesirable traits and male police administrators substandard traits, having developed their MO dealing with domineering strong arm types of employees?