Facing a budding scandal involving a veteran Durham cop permitted to co-own an unlicensed medical marijuana dispensary, the police brass called in the Ontario Provincial Police to investigate.The OPP soon concluded Const. Phil Edgar intentionally misled Durham police about his marijuana side gig. The officer committed multiple counts of professional misconduct, the provincial police said.Edgar never faced discipline from his bosses at the Durham Regional Police Service.Durham police would not say why it did not pursue disciplinary charges against Edgar. The police service, which patrols the region east of Toronto, including the cities of Oshawa and Pickering, will also not comment on what it calls a personnel matter.The force’s handling of Edgar’s case is part of a mounting pile of allegations before the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, which is reviewing complaints by several Durham police employees accusing senior command of corruption, abuse of power and coverup. Durham police say the allegations are false and defamatory, lobbed by disgruntled employees with axes to grind.The OPP investigators determined that early on in the secondary-employment approval process, Durham police should have denied Edgar’s November 2015 request to own a medical marijuana dispensary.In approving it, Durham police failed to do basic due diligence, including verifying whether Edgar’s company had been licensed to sell medical marijuana as he claimed, the OPP concluded.“Const. Edgar was deceitful throughout the approval process,” OPP officers wrote in an investigative report for Durham police. Edgar’s superiors were aware as of June 2016 that the dispensary did not have a licence but had not initiated disciplinary charges, the report said.Reached by phone, Edgar was surprised when told OPP investigators concluded that he had committed deceit and discreditable conduct, saying it was the first he had heard of it.“Then charge me. That&# ...
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