Fredericton police officer faces criminal harassment charge
Sgt. Jason Forward, 53, is accused of stalking his spouse around the city for months, and he's been placed on administrative duty
A Fredericton Police Force officer with more than 20 years on the job is slated to appear in provincial court later this month to face a charge of criminal harassment.
Sgt. Jason Michael Forward, 53, is scheduled to make his first court appearance March 23 on a single count alleging criminal harassment.
The charge alleges Forward “without lawful authority did repeatedly follow Sarah Forward from place to place, causing Sarah Forward to have reasonable fear for her safety.”
It indicates the events were reported to have occurred in Fredericton between March 10 and Sept. 28, 2022.
The Miramichi Police Force investigated the complaint and laid the charge.
Fredericton defence lawyer T.J. Burke confirmed Friday he’s representing Forward, and said his client has no comment about the charge.
Burke said Forward is still a member of the Fredericton Police Force and wasn’t on suspension, though he didn’t know his status on the job at the moment.
A Fredericton Police Force spokesperson confirmed Forward is still on the job, albeit not on the street.
“Sgt. Jason Forward is currently on administrative duties,” Megan Barker wrote in an email to the Fredericton Independent on Friday.
“A Police Act investigation has commenced which was placed in abeyance during the criminal investigation.”
Municipal police officers in New Brunswick are subject to the provisions of the Police Act, and when a complaint is filed under that legislation, the New Brunswick Police Commission handles associated investigation and any possible professional consequences.
However, as Barker noted, that process is on hold as the criminal charge makes its way through the courts.
A May 2020 post on the Fredericton Police Force’s Facebook page marking Forward’s 20th year as a member stated he served as a member of the force’s emergency response team for 17 years.
He’s also served an investigator with the force’s major-crime and drug-enforcement units, and as of the spring of 2020, he had been the officer in charge of A Platoon, one of four platoon shifts in the force’s patrol division.
The social-media post also indicated he first started with the Fredericton Police Force as an auxiliary member prior to 2000.
Forward was a key witness at the first-degree murder trial of quadruple murderer Matthew Vincent Raymond, who shot and killed two Fredericton police officers and two civilians Aug. 10, 2018.
Testifying at Raymond’s trial in September 2020, Forward said he was the first officer on the scene at Brookside Drive after the two slain officers, Constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns, and he saw his colleagues on the ground upon his arrival.
He testified he realized it was an active-shooter situation and feared he could be the next victim.
Forward was one of the officers who breached Raymond’s apartment door after another member of the police force managed to shoot him and take him down from outside the apartment building.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
I hope he got the proper counseling after that horrific tragedy.