The deputy chief of the Saint John police has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing after an investigation into an allegation made at the second-degree murder trial of Dennis Oland.
Glen McCloskey was accused at the trial of trying to get another officer to lie about him being in the crime scene in uptown Saint John back in July of 2011, but there’s no evidence to support charges being laid in this matter according to a statement from the Saint John Police.
Halifax Regional Police conducted the investigation, which also involved consulting with the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service, and it took approximately eight months to complete.
The investigation was ordered by Saint John police chief John Bates, who says they were looking for an external agency and they thought going out of province would offer the most transparency.
“Deputy chief [Glen] McCloskey is and was a highly regarded member of the policing community here in New Brunswick, and just to that added level of transparency we thought it would be best to ask an agency from outside the province,” Bates tells us.
Now that the criminal investigation into the matter is finished, the Police Act investigation into this will resume.
“The Police Act investigation was suspended during the Halifax investigation and that Police Act portion of this will be unsuspended, if you will, and re-activated and that will take its course,” says Bates.
The police chief says he’s pleased with the outcome.
“I’m happy that this matter, at least from the criminal point of view, is behind us.”
(Glen McCloskey on the left, former Saint John police chief Bill Reid on the right).
