Gatineau, June 12, 2014. – Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau (SPVG) management was recently informed about a criminal allegation against one of its police officers. After being informed about a complaint against one of its officers concerning an event of a criminal nature that would have occurred several years ago, SPVG management requested assistance from the Sûreté du Québec with the investigation.

Upon being informed about this allegation, Quebec's ministère de la Sécurité publique (MSP) assigned the criminal investigation into this event to the Sûreté du Québec. At the same time, SPVG management requested that its Division des normes professionnelles et des affaires internes conduct an administrative investigation.

The officer in question is a patrol officer with the SPVG, and is currently on administrative leave.

Gatineau police chief Mario Harel would like to inform the public that "any criminal allegation against a police officer or employee of the SPVG is taken very seriously, and leads to measures aimed at protecting the integrity of any criminal and administrative investigations under way. For this reason, we decided to relieve the officer of his duties."

Given that no charges have been laid against this officer, his identity is being protected.