TwitterStaff
Sgt. Kal Ghadban, right, who took his own life in his office at
Ottawa police headquarters.
There will be difficult days ahead as the Ottawa Police Service mourns the loss of a well-known officer and 22-year veteran who took his own life Sunday, Chief Charles Bordeleau told reporters.
Staff Sgt. Kal Ghadban, 43, was found dead in his office Sunday shortly after 1 p.m. at the city police headquarters on Elgin Street. Police believe he used his service-issued firearm to end his life.
“He was a dedicated police officer, committed to his community,” Bordeleau said in the lobby of the Elgin station on Sunday night, flanked by deputy chiefs Ed Keeley and Jill Skinner and director general Debra Frazer. “The media and the community know him very well. He spoke passionately about policing and he was loyal to the Ottawa Police Service and we mourn his loss.
“It’s important that as a police service and a community that we come together to support Kal’s family and his colleagues.”
Ontario’s civilian police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, which investigates incidents of death, serious injury or sexual assault involving officers, is now investigating, and beginning to piece together answers to questions that plague Ghadban’s family, friends and colleagues.
Ghadban’s death came the same day as the Canadian Police and Peace Officers Memorial was being held on Parliament Hill. The national memorial is held annually to honour officers killed in the line of duty.
As officers began to turn their attention to the week ahead after days of memorial events, news of Ghadban’s death began to ripple through police circles — a reality that Bordeleau said was nothing less than tragic.
“This is difficult, it’s not a day that you want as a chief,” Bordeleau said. “It shows the fragility of life.”
Officers are being supported while they continue to work and those who need to talk are encouraged to speak out. Supervisors, the victim crisis unit and a stress management team have all been tasked to assist other members of the service.
“We’re 2,000 men and women, sworn and civilian, who care passionately about our community and Kal was one of those individuals who touched many of us in this police service,” Bordeleau said.
Ghadban was most recently the officer in charge of the break and enter, street crime and human-trafficking units for the Ottawa service.
He had a significant public profile — thanks in large part to his outreaching Twitter account and having been the pointman for media and the public on several prominent investigations. Those included the recent case of a drunken teen who mistakenly entered Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s home and an ongoing investigation into a string of break-ins targeting valuables in homes of the Asian community.
“Kal had a way to dealing with people,” Bordeleau said. “He got his message across. He was very direct with people. He was compassionate. He was professional.”
Ghadban had also seen scrutiny on the job. After an altercation on Canada Day in 2005, a then-18-year-old aspiring hockey player sued the officer and the service for a hit to the face that left him unconscious. Ghadban was charged with unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority under the Police Services Act, but was never charged criminally. The next year, he was acquitted of the internal disciplinary charges when a hearing officer found that his actions were justified.
The service reached a confidential settlement with the man in September of last year.
Ghadban, a longtime Dallas Cowboys fan, was hired by the Nepean police force right out of high school. That service and others amalgamated to form the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Service in 1995. It was renamed the Ottawa Police Service in 2001.
Ghadban believed in bridging the gap between communities and police. In 2006, during a blitz for nuisance enforcement, Ghadban told the Ottawa Citizen that police have to take a proactive approach and be the “solution” if they ever want anything to change.
Kal was one of those individuals who touched many of us in this police service
“Imagine you have to live in this neighbourhood and you have to wake up to the smell of urine and beer bottles on your front lawn,” he reasoned with a 20-year-old, standing his ground as he wrote the young man a $125 ticket for walking down the street drinking a beer. He’d give out five tickets more in the span of an hour.
The officer had served on several community organizations and was always quick to point out fine police work done by his officers.
Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod told her social media followers that when abuse of potent painkiller fentanyl began to take grip in her community in 2012, Ghadban helped her and the people of Manotick. “I will always be grateful to him,” MacLeod tweeted.
Addicted teenagers in the area had resorted to breaking into homes and looking for anything they could sell to get high. It spiked the crime rate and the community’s concern.
“It’s a problem everyone can help with and must help with,” Ghadban said at an information session held by MacLeod and police.
The SIU has not set a timeline for its ongoing investigation.
Ghadban is survived by his wife, two sons and daughter.
Feel like you need some help and want someone to speak with? Contact a local crisis centre or call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868 or reach out online at kidshelpphone.ca
Commentary by the Ottawa Mens Centre
The Ottawa Police are what is called "Old School", that's a name for a Cartel
of Criminals who abuse their power to run Ottawa like its own crime family.
It means laying criminal charges against those who criticize the Ottawa Police,
it means victimizing victims of abuse, it means abusing the process of law.
Ottawa Criminal Courts are full of cases where the Corrupt Crown Attorney's like
Tara Dobec prosecute male victims of domestic violence to protect the most
violent of female perpetrators.
The Ottawa Police protect their Criminal Friends like Marguerite Isobel Lewis,
just one of evidence fabricating lawyers that are employed by Ottawa's Gestapo,
The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa.
The Ottawa Police don't give a dam about Child abuse when it's done by their
partners in crime, the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa.
The Ottawa Police Don't give a dam about the "Rotten Cops" of the Ottawa Police
like Detective Peter Van Der Zander who personally fabricates evidence in order
to protect, violent females.
The Ottawa Police promote crime, domestic violence, child abuse as long as it's
done to protect what is called "The Old School".
The "old School" means, crime is ok as long as its done by police.
The "Old school" means you fabricate evidence, omit evidence, fail to provide
disclosure and tie up the criminal courts, the family courts and civil
litigation courts with an endless stream of cases that have no other purpose
than to hide the endless Criminality of the Ottawa Police.
OttawaMensCentre