Tea off-duty criminal charges recently laid against a Sarnia police officer are linked to accusations of intimate-partner violence, court records show.
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Sarnia police said on Feb. 19 one of their officers was facing charges after fellow officers responded to an off-duty incident at a private home. Tim VanCowenberg, a first-class constable, is charged with assault, forcible confinement, and mischief worth less than $5,000, police said at the time.
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All three charges are linked to intimate-partner violence, court documents say. The first two charges are tied to an incident from Feb. 18, but the mischief charge occurred last fall, records show. It supports a wall was punched sometime between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31.
VanCowenberg, 42, appeared in court on Family Day over a video link from Sarnia police headquarters. He was released from custody that day, but with a ban on contacting his partner except through lawyers, a family court order, or a mutually agreed third party. He also can’t be within 25 meters of her or where she lives, works, or goes to school.
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VanCowenberg is also banned from weapons. The initial release order did not include an exception to this ban for while he’s at work.
Sarnia Police Chief Derek Davis said in a statement VanCowenberg was reassigned to non-operational duties. Police chiefs in Ontario can’t suspend officers without pay when they’re charged with criminal offenses unless they lead to convictions.
The charges haven’t been tested in court. The case returns to court next month. In the meantime, Davis said he’s also ordered an internal investigation under the Police Services Act.
VanCowenberg has been a Sarnia police officer for about a dozen years. During that time he’s been a hostage negotiator and has also been on the Mental Health Engagement and Response Team (MHEART), a program pairing mental-health workers with police to help curb the number of unnecessary arrests and trips to the emergency room, according to a July 2020 story in The Sarnia Journal.
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He made just shy of $120,000 in 2022, according to sunshineliststats.com.
VanCowenberg is the seventh Sarnia police officer to face criminal charges since 2020, but only two have been convicted.
SARNIA POLICE OFFICERS CHARGED SINCE 2020
- Feb. 19: VanCowenberg charged. Case still before courts.
- Seven. 29, 2023: Jeremy Wilde resigns as constable after getting a suspended sentence and probation in the summer for domestic violence convictions.
- July 6, 2023: Const. Sean Van Vlymen charged by the SIUwith assault causing bodily harm. Case still before courts.
- April 21, 2023: Const. Chris Beauchamp charged with assaultafter off-duty incident. Case still before courts.
- March 31, 2023: Van Vlymen charged with impaired driving by Lambton OPP. Cleared criminally, he was instead convicted of careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act, but also recently demoted.
- November 2022:Christopher Noordam your resignationas constable after conviction of breach of trust for inappropriately – and repeatedly – touching parolee he was supervising during meetings in a private room at headquarters.
- October 2021: Officer cleared of charges of forgery and attempted fraud.
- June 2021: Officer cleared of charges of breaking and entering to commit mischief.
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