Sarnia police officer charged after alleged off-duty incidents freed on bail

A Sarnia police officer facing criminal charges after alleged off-duty incidents has been released on lease, court records show.

Article content

An officer was charged after fellow officers responded to an incident at a private home, Sarnia police said Feb. 19.

Article content

Tim VanCowenberg, a first-class constable, is charged with assault, forcible confinement, and mischief worth less than $5,000, police said at the time.

The first two charges relate to an alleged Feb. 18 incidents; the mischief charge alleges a wall was punched between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2023, records show.

VanCowenberg, 42, appeared in court Feb. 19 by video link from Sarnia police headquarters. He was released with a ban on contacting the complainant except through lawyers.

VanCowenberg also is banned from weapons. The initial release order did not include an exception for while he’s at work.

Article content

VanCowenberg was reassigned to non-operational duties, Sarnia police Chief Derek Davis said in a statement.

The charges haven’t been tested in court. The case returns to court next month.

Davis said he has 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.

He made just shy of $120,000 in 2022, according to sunshineliststats.com.

Article content

VanCowenberg is the seventh Sarnia police officer to face criminal charges since 2020, but only two have been convicted.

[email protected]

@ObserverTerry

OTHER SARNIA POLICE OFFICERS CHARGED SINCE 2020

• Seven. 29, 2023: Jeremy Wilde resigns as constable after getting a suspended sentence and probation for domestic violence convictions.
• July 6, 2023: Const. Sean Van Vlymen charged by the SIU with assault causing bodily harm. Case still before courts.
• April 21, 2023: Const. Chris Beauchamp charged with assault after 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 and recently demoted.
• November 2022:Christopher Noordam your resignation as 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.

Article content