Hamilton’s police board is undergoing another shakeup.
After former chair Pat Mandy abruptly left her post April 1, acting chair Fred Bennink announced at a board meeting last week he too would be leaving the role he overtook just a month ago.
Bennink — who spent five years on the oversight body, including four as vice-chair — attributed his departure April 25 to the province’s recently introduced Community Safety and Policing Act, which is replacing the decades-old Police Services Act. The new legislation prohibits former auxiliary officers from sitting on police boards in jurisdictions where they once volunteered.
“It’s been an honour,” said Bennink, who once held a volunteer role with Hamilton police.
The retired business leader served only one meeting at the helm of the board, which now has no chair or vice-chair. The roles will be filled after members vote at the board’s next meeting in late June.
Initially appointed to by council in 2019, Bennink was recently at the centre of a city ethics probe, which explored whether he learned through a leak before the announcement of a new city citizen appointee that he wouldn’t be reappointed to another term.
The investigation headed by integrity commissioner David Boghosian found Bennink suspected he wouldn’t be reappointed, but couldn’t establish if confidential information was leaked from a selection committee tasked with filling the vacant seat.
Boghosian’s report said there was “ample evidence” Coun. Esther Pauls, who sat on the selection committee for the board but then resigned, was a “strong supporter” of Bennink’s reappointment and “upset” he hadn’t been shortlisted.
The “most likely” conclusion, according to the report, was that Bennink had “a strong suspicion” he wouldn’t be chosen due to the reopening of applications and applied for the board’s provincial appointment role “as a backup plan in case that turned out to be the case.”
In November, Bennink was announced as the board’s provincial appointee, while Anjali Menezes, a family doctor and anti-racism researcher, was named the city’s citizen representative.
Menezes’ appointment was the first time a citizen board member was hired through a revamped selection process that included six councillors and six community members at the hiring table.
The ethics report stated Coun. Nrinder Nann said the selection committee wanted more representatives of vulnerable communities on the board.
“Mr. Bennink (who I note is a conservative, white male) did not fit this profile,” Boghosian wrote in his report.
Before a new citizen member was announced, Bennink made public remarks “to the effect of ‘I’m being thrown out like trash’ and other statements that made it clear” he knew he wouldn’t be up for reappointment, the report said.
Nann, committee chair, suspected Pauls disclosed such information to Bennink, given she had backed his reappointment and resigned from the selection committee after it decided not to interview Bennink, the report said.
Pauls denied that claim, according to the report.
Bennink, meanwhile, simply “saw the writing on the wall” with the committee’s decision to reopen the application process. The report said he denied knowing Pauls supported his reappointment and didn’t know why she’d resigned from the committee.
Bennink’s long stay on the board was met with gratitude from board members, who touted his commitment, knowledge of policing legislation and familiarity with front line officers and command.
“Our members know who you are and what you stand for,” chief Frank Bergen told Bennink.
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