Suspended police officers make Ontario's Sunshine List

At least 15police officers in Ontario earned more than $100,000 each in 2016 while sitting at home for most or all of the year, suspended over criminal charges yet collecting their full pay, an exclusive CBC Toronto analysis reveals.

Their salaries are revealed on Ontario's 2016 Sunshine List of top public sector earners.

Ontario is the only province in Canada where suspended police officers mustbe paid untiland unless they are sentenced to serve time. The Liberalgovernment is currently reconsidering that lawas part of a sweeping review of policing in the province.

• Highlights from Ontario's new Sunshine List
• At least 50 police officers suspended with pay in Ontario

All four Toronto Police officers charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly plantingheroin on a suspect's dashboard made the 2016 Sunshine List, even though they were suspended in January last year.

• Const. Michael Taylor: $109,148
• Det.Const. Benjamin Elliot: $103,810
• Det.Const.FraserDouglas: $103,561
• Const.Jeffrey Tout: $101,174

Two other suspended Toronto Police Service members are on the Sunshine List:

• Sgt. ChristopherHeard: $119,921(suspended in May 2016, charged with sexual assault, accused of sexually assaulting a woman in his cruiser).
• Sgt. RobertGoudie:$116,524 (suspended in November 2015,charged with assaultin connection with analtercation in a Scarborough parking lot that sent a man to hospital).

Two Ottawa police officers suspended in 2016 appear on the Sunshine List:

• Const. Peter Dawson: $102,330 (suspendedin February 2016 over allegations of falsely issuing traffic warnings).
• Const. Christian Nungisa:$102,462 (suspended in May 2016 and later charged with unsafe storage of a firearm). He was also charged with impaired driving in February of this year.

CBCTorontoalso asked the province's three other largest police forces, the Ontario Provincial Police, Peel Regional Policeand York Regional Police to provide the names and ranks of their officers currently suspended with pay.

The OPP declined to provide a list of its suspended officers and said a Freedom of Information request would be necessary to release the names.

However, by examininginformation in news reports and searching the Sunshine List, CBC Toronto determined thatat least five OPP officers spent all of 2016 on suspension yet earned more than $100,000.

All three members of the OPP Association union executive who were suspended in March 2015 over allegations of fraud and money laundering appear on the Sunshine List for 2016:

• Det.-Sgt. James Christie: $121,795
• Const. Karl Walsh: $106,474
• Const.Martin Bain$106,440

As well, OPP Brockvilledetachment Const. George Duke, charged with theft over $5,000 and suspended in November 2015, earned $107,857 in 2016, according to the Sunshine List.

OPP Alexandria detachmentConst. Luanne MacDonaldwas suspended in July 2014 over allegations she secretly filmed a naked female prisonerwhile on duty and then shared the recording. She waspaid $100,626 in 2016. She pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice this January and resigned from the force last month.

Other police forces with suspended officers on the Sunshine List include:

• Peel Regional Police Const. Adam Cate has been suspended since 2013, charged with sexual assault over an off-duty incident. He earned $100,486 in 2016.
• Chatham-Kent Police Sgt. Robert Mugridgehas been suspended for more than two years, but was still paid $110,809in 2016. He pleaded guilty in February to 50 counts of discreditable conduct.

In total, 62 officers on the province's five largest police forces are currently suspended with pay.

The issue of suspending police officers with pay has been under "serious discussion" for the past year, said Marie-France Lalonde, minister for community safety and correctional services.

"We have not made any final decision, but certainly this issomethingthat, as we move forward on ourstrategyfor a safer Ontario, it will be part of the modernizing," Lalondesaid in an interview with CBC News at Queen's Park on Monday. "I think we are coming around to think that we need to do somethingand to ensure that we find the right solution."

Lalondeis promising to unveil her strategy forreforms to policing by June.