A Calgary police officer on trial for harassment has a history of harassment of women she sees as romantic rivals and harassing a woman to the point that she leaves the province, according to an internal disciplinary decision obtained from CBC News.
In April Const. Jackie McNeill, a 16-year-old member of the Calgary Police Department, has been brought back to court on charges of harassment and unwanted communication stemming from allegations that she was targeted by a woman she believes is related to her boyfriend in 2018.
A year ago, McNeill’s accusations stemming from incidents in 2018 were dropped due to lost evidence. But five weeks ago, a high court judge ruled that the officer was either “negligent” or “strategic” in pursuing the video at the center of the charges. The judge returned the case for consideration. The next court hearing is on June 24.
But this is not the first time McNeill has been accused of harassing women who are reuniting with her boyfriend, who is also a CPS officer.
‘I was scared’
One of these women is Sabrina Naprava, who was a victim of McNeill in 2015 when a police officer harassed her with text messages, followed her, photographed where she lived and created a fake dating account to lure her to a meeting place.
In addition to the harassment, McNeill also admitted to searching Naprawa’s personal information in CPS internal databases 13 times.
“Every time a police officer comes after you, he has the opportunity to access your file online, they can find out where you live… and they carry a gun,” Naprava said in a telephone interview with CBC News.
“I was scared.”
McNeill is “actively hired” by the CPS
Details of McNeill’s harassment of Naprava come from retired superintendent Paul Manuel’s 2020 disciplinary decision after she pleaded guilty to two charges – defamatory conduct and disobedience – under the Alberta Police Act.
Navara says she is upset that McNeill is accused of harassing other women after her.
“I knew I would not be the only one. That’s the only reason I went out and said [police] several times that the only reason I do this is that no one else has to go through it. “
Asked if he wanted to comment or make a statement, McNeill declined.
“I cannot comment on matters in court as instructed by my lawyer,” she wrote in an email.
The CPS also declined to comment on the case and will only say that McNeill “is actively hired by the Calgary Police Department.”
‘I would be fired’
This is a big part of the reason Navara came out to tell his story. She is disappointed that McNeill can still be hired as a police officer.
“I would be fired,” Navara said. “She’s trained to obey the law. I’d like to see her stopped working.”
In late 2014 and early 2015, Nastava met briefly with McNeill’s boyfriend sometimes.
The current criminal charges before the court are related to charges from four years ago.
For a period of seven months in 2018, police claim that McNeill was excessively associated with the victim and threatened to ruin her reputation, both personally and professionally.
Past incidents
In his 2020 decision on the Naprava case, Manuel wrote that McNeill had a history of “similar behavior” and had been warned in the past about the inappropriateness of her actions.
Related behavior, Manuel writes, has been “considered at the supervisory level” in past cases.
In the case of Naprava, McNeill’s contact began with text messages, but “quickly became really aggressive” and intensified over several months.
“She embarked on a course of harassment against a man she saw as a romantic rival,” Manuel wrote in his decision.
CPS mobile phone used in harassment
After Naprawa asked MacNeil to stop communicating, the employee set up a fake dating account and pretended to be a lawyer interested in meeting Naprawa.
The two exchanged mobile phone numbers.
McNeill, pretending to be a suitor, made plans to meet with Navara and then did not show up, following her home.
She sent a message apologizing. McNeill was later found to be using a CPS-issued cell phone.
He reported McNeill to the police. The CPS’s Department of Internal Conflict investigated, but in the end the Crown Office decided not to press charges.
“Motivated by jealousy”
A year later, Naprava said, an investigator from the Professional Standards Division contacted her, saying McNeill would face internal charges under the Alberta Police Act.
Manuel noted that McNeill has gone from an “exceptional” officer who has gone “above and beyond” in his investigations to showing “embarrassing” and “unacceptable” behavior.
The officer’s “harassment campaign” lasted for months and was “motivated by jealousy.”
During the hearing and the disciplinary hearing, McNeill never apologized to Naprava and did not seem to regret it, Manuel said.
The purpose of McNeill’s “contempt.”
The chairman pointed out that Naprava had experienced “psychological trauma” and had moved out of the countryside, in part because of the harassment she had experienced.
“She innocently entered into this relationship, thus becoming a target of Const. [MacNeil’s] contempt, ‘said Manuel.
For these reasons, the President said that McNeill “must be treated quickly and severely”.
In 2020, Manuel imposed a one-year demotion and issued a one-week suspension without pay.
“I just wish they had done it in 2015,” Naprava said. “I wish she had received some of the help she needed and found a way to prevent that from happening.”
“He had to stop with me.”
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