Dear Editor,
In May 2024, I will have lived in my owned home in Kemptville for eighteen years. I live peaceably, am not a flight risk and have no criminal history. At 8:20 am on March 20th, 2024, there was a loud knocking at the front door of my home. I tried ignoring it, thinking it was my difficult neighbour, but then I heard my name shouted and realized that it was two male OPP officers. They told me that I had to talk to them. My dogs were barking, so I opened the door slightly and told the officers I couldn’t talk to them as I was not wearing clothes. One of them said, “Ma’am, if you do not talk to my associate right now, we will get a warrant to arrest you”. I exited my house and stood on my front porch in a towel in front of the two officers. They did not identify themselves or explain why they were at my home. I was told that I had to come with them. I explained that I was getting ready to go to a class and they looked visibly shocked. They told me I had to ‘turn (myself) in or there would be a warrant issued for my arrest’. I must ‘surrender’ to them because, “The paperwork is all done” to have me arrested. I asked if it was over the targeted bullying I have been enduring for two years. I told them that it was an ongoing issue and asked why they hadn’t spoken to me before deciding to arrest me. I told them I had written to their Superintendent about the ongoing misuse of OPP and by-law officers by a local volunteer fireman. One of the officers informed me that, “We don’t have superintendents, we have constables and sergeants, that’s it”.
When my class ended, I tried to ‘turn (myself) in’ in Smiths Falls but the OPP there had no idea what I was talking about. I was told that the paperwork was in Kemptville and I must go there. I refused to ‘surrender’ to the officers who forced me to stand outside without clothes. A sergeant (Cadieux) was helpful and facilitated the presence of other officers to ‘surrender’ to. I still had not been told what I was ‘surrendering’ for. I was again told that if I didn’t surrender, then a warrant would be issued for my arrest.
When I reported to the Kemptville OPP detachment, I was read my rights, photographed and fingerprinted but still not told the reason for my arrest. When I said that I’d never been arrested before, the officer taking my handprints said, “Well, you have now”.
I asked repeatedly what I was being charged with and finally was told it was ‘mischief’. Sergeant Cadieux found out for me that it had to do with me wobbling a concrete bollard of a disconnected gas meter that is located on my property. I am trying to have the useless bollards and disused meter removed. He couldn’t explain how that constituted ‘mischief’ but he also told me that an officer can’t reverse an arrest of another officer and that I have no choice but to attend court on April 12th, 2024. I asked again why there would be a decision made to arrest me over a disconnected gas meter. The OPP ‘nurse’ told me that “They have evidence or you wouldn’t have been arrested”. I still have no explanation for how I am supposed to have damaged the disused meter, if that is even possible, or why I would be arrested over it. I was told I detached it from the falling building, but Enbridge Gas technicians disconnected it on January 23rd, 2024. I have repeatedly reported the meter for being disconnected and falling into my driveway.
The paperwork I was made to sign for my release tried to trespass me from my own property. I have no idea why any police officer would have me charged and arrested without doing the most basic of easy research. If he can find me to order me out of my home naked then why couldn’t he find me to ask about the encroachments on my driveway?
North Grenville has had some great OPP officers. Sean Tobin was and still is a wonderful, helpful and reasonable supporter of our community. I wonder what has happened to OPP training if new OPP officers think it is reasonable to order a woman out of her home without her clothes on at 8:20 in the morning over alleged damage to a disconnected gas meter. Why would any officer take the word of their buddy without at least asking to hear the other side? When police officers act arbitrarily to favour their friends, we become an authoritarian state. This is happening currently in our town, and if you can’t feel empathy for me, then imagine if it was your wife or daughter or sister ordered out of her home nude and then arrested based on the allegations of someone who hates her.
Susan Hunt
The Times contacted the OPP about the allegations in this letter and received the following statement: “all I can confirm is that a 60 year old woman from North Grenville has been arrested and charged with mischief.
