Blacklisted in Quebec, cop gets job with Nunavut RCMP

JANE GEORGE AND KIRSTEN MURPHY

A man barred for three years from working as a police officer in Quebec has been working with the RCMP in Iqaluit since April.

Last month, Quebec’s police ethics committee, le comité de déontologie policière, found that in 1997, Peter Lambros, 35, contributed to the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl by refusing to come to her assistance, in violation of the Quebec police code.

The committee barred Lambros from working as a police officer in Quebec for three years.

“His error in conduct is on a very high level of seriousness… his inaction caused irreparable damage to the young victim,” the committee’s judgment said.

A woman in a Nunavik community contacted police for help in 1997 after she learned her young daughter was alone with her intoxicated father.

Lawyers for Lambros said he approached the house but did not enter. The committee’s judgment did not explain why Lambros refused to help.

After the drunken father sexually assaulted his 10-year-old daughter, the mother filed a complaint with the Quebec provincial police ethics committee. After a lengthy process, her complaint was upheld last month.

No reference check?

But by then Lambros had left the KRPF’s employment. Last spring, he left Quebec and landed a job with the RCMP, which sent him to Iqaluit.

Brian Jones, chief of the KRPF, told Nunatsiaq News last week that no one from the RCMP contacted him directly for a reference check on Lambros.

Staff Sgt. Mark Hennigar, of Nunavut’s V Division of the RCMP, would not say if the divsion knew Lambros was under investigation when he started work with them.

Hennigar said RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, not individual detachments, is responsible for hiring officers.

Cpl. Benoit Desjardins, media relations officer with RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, also declined to say if RCMP headquarters staff knew of the Quebec investigation prior to hiring Lambros. However, Desjardins said all RCMP officers are subject to record checks.

“We are examining the recruiting process followed in this particular case,” Desjardins said. But he could not say how long the RCMP review will take.

Hennigar added that Lambros’ employment “will be dealt with as a priority by the RCMP and appropriate action will be taken if necessary.”

Until then, Lambros will continue working in Iqaluit. Nunatsiaq News could not reach him comment.

“Lack of professionalism”

In its judgement, the Quebec police ethics committee said Lambros “showed a total lack of professionalism by refusing to go to the girl’s assistance four years ago.

Lambros, who is non-aboriginal, served on the KRPF — an aboriginal police force — from 1995-2001. He joined the RCMP last spring.

“Given his experience in the native community, (Lambros) could not ignore the social context of the environment where he was working and he should have judged the young girl was in real danger,” the judgment said.

The ethics committee could not suspend Lambros, because he no longer worked for KRPF when they issued their judgment.

Its jurisdiction extends only far enough to ban Lambros from working in Quebec for three years.