Harassment charge against cop withdrawn
Sgt. Jason Forward, 53, of Fredericton, agrees to peace bond, stemming from concerns that he stalked ex-wife over course of several months last year
A Fredericton police officer who’d been scheduled to go to trial next year on a criminal-harassment charge agreed instead to enter into a peace bond Friday.
Fredericton Police Force Sgt. Jason Michael Forward, 53, of Fredericton, pleaded not guilty in May to a charge of criminal harassment.
The charge alleged he repeatedly followed his former spouse, Sarah Forward, around Fredericton from March 10 and Sept. 28, 2022, causing her to be fearful.
The investigation was conducted by and charge laid by the Miramichi Police Force, as the Fredericton Police Force asked the outside policing agency to handle the case.
Forward’s trial had been set for April 23, 2024, but Forward was back in Fredericton provincial court Friday with defence counsel T.J. Burke.
“I believe we’ve come to a resolution,” Crown prosecutor Joanne Park told the court.
Burke said his client was maintaining his not-guilty plea to the harassment charge but was offering to enter into a peace bond
Forward admitted he engaged in conduct that gave his ex reason to be fearful of him and agreed to the peace bond.
Judge Scott Brittain imposed a 12-month peace bond during which Jason Forward is to have no contact with Sarah Forward except through legal counsel for matters in family court, and to stay away from her home and workplace.
Sgt. Bobbi Simmons-Beauchamp - the professional standards officer with the city police force - was present for Friday’s proceedings.
The Fredericton Police Force placed Forward on administrative duty as a result of the allegations.
Police spokesperson Megan Barker said Friday that Forward remains on administrative duty pending the Police Act process.
When concerns were initially raised about Forward’s conduct, the force filed a Police Act complaint with the New Brunswick Police Commission.
However, that process was put on hold once the criminal charge was laid.
Burke said the next step now is for that Police Act process to resume.
That will undoubtedly give rise to settlement conferences and a resolution if Forward agrees to suggested sanctions or remedial measures.
The defence lawyer said if the proposals were unacceptable to his client, then the matter would go to an arbitration hearing, which is a public process.
However, he said it’s not felt Forward’s employment is in jeopardy, pointing to the fact the officer wasn’t suspended when the concerns originally arose or when he was charged criminally.
The police force declined to address the forthcoming Police Act complaint and investigation process.
“Details of any Police Act investigation are not for public record unless they become matters for arbitration,” Barker wrote in an email.
When asked if people will think Forward got off the hook in court because he’s a police officer, Burke said the opposite is the case.
He said his client was charged because he’s a police officer.
“He oversees other officers,” the defence lawyer said, and that means he’s held to a higher standard.
Burke said the allegations against Forward were relatively minor in nature, and the notion of a peace bond was something the Crown had broached initially, not the defence.
Forward has been a member of the city police force for 23 years.
Among the roles in which he’s served with the force over that time was membership in the emergency response team and an investigator with the major-crime and drug-enforcement units.
A social media post on the force’s Facebook page in May 2020 indicated he was the officer in charge of A Platoon, one of four platoon shifts in the force’s patrol division.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.