For the first time, Windsor's Police Chief Al Frederick is speaking out about the 911 call placed from his residence and the investigation following it.
Frederick admitted a call was placed from his home on November 12 by a family member, calling the reason for the call a deeply private "personal matter."
Frederick said he was deeply saddened for putting his colleagues in a position of conflict of interest.
"I apologized following that call for service to all of the officers who were there that day, that they had to be in the uncomfortable position of dealing with their chief of police in a family matter," he said.
Frederick was adamant that Windsor police policy requires officers to follow specific protocols, regardless of if there is a conflict of interest or not.
"On this day our officers performed their duties with professionalism," he said. "They did everything that they were supposed to do."
Federick added that the investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) confirmed that the officers acted appropriately on the call. The OPP was brought in to conduct an independent review of the circumstances surrounding the 911 call and how the police handled it. After two days of investigating, a 14-page report was released that cleared the police service of wrongdoing.
However, it took the Windsor Police Services Board nine days to contact the OPP to review the matter, something they received heavy criticism for. Frederick told Blackburn News that regardless of OPP involvement, Windsor's police officers are trained from the get-go to not let a conflict of interested interfere with their response to a 911 call.
"Realistically, the requirements for the officers to act comes right out of our oath of office and right out of our conflict of interest directive which says 'regardless of the conflict we have to act in any situation.' Even if its the chief of police involved, they have to do their job."
The nine-day wait is currently the subject of an integrity complaint by a Windsor resident. However, Mayor Drew Dilkens said previously that the period of time between the call and investigation was needed in order for all involved parties to gather necessary information.
