Ontario’s police oversight agency is looking into two recent claims regarding alleged sexual assaults involving Ottawa police officers, which raises the total number of ongoing investigations related to sexual assault within the force to three.
The latest claim was submitted to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) on Sept. 10, stating that a sexual assault occurred in November 2023, according to information from . The individual making the claim is female, as reported by the SIU.
An additional complaint was filed with the SIU on Sept. 4 by a woman against an Ottawa police officer who was on duty at that time. The date of the alleged incident has not been disclosed.
The two new allegations follow another report received by the SIU on July 24 regarding a different sexual assault involving an on-duty Ottawa police officer.
This earlier allegation came from a woman in public and relates to an incident that took place in January of this year, which is still under investigation. By late July, two witness officers had been identified, according to the SIU.
The SIU investigates serious injuries, deaths, allegations of sexual assault and discharges of firearms involving active police officers in Ontario.
It can also look into incidents that happen off-duty if the officer was using equipment provided by their employer or if they were engaged in investigating, pursuing, detaining or arresting someone at that moment.
Sexual assault is described by the watchdog as “any form of unwanted contact that is sexual in nature and violates the sexual integrity of the victim. It includes, but is not limited to, inappropriate contact during a search, rubbing, grabbing, kissing and [sex acts].”
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