Video Transcription:
I’m going to try to answer a question, which is: can an off-duty police officer issue a ticket? The answer to the question is yes, and here’s why. Any police officer here in Ontario, whether they’re actually working at that time or not, can simply be a witness to what happened.
What would happen in a situation like that? If the officer felt, after he has gone home for the day, that something happened—despite the fact that he’s no longer on the clock—he has a responsibility to do something about it. So the answer is, if they know which vehicle it was and they’ve identified who was driving, they’re likely going to either send a colleague to serve you a summons or, the next day or when the officer does return to active duty, they would show up and present you with a ticket.
So again, the answer is yes. It does not matter whether the officer is on duty or off duty. It is important to note that when an officer is off duty, it’s usually something that’s really significant. You’re not going to be dealing with a minor transgression or a minor rule of the road. For the most part, an officer would ignore the minor stuff when they’re off duty because it becomes too cumbersome to deal with at that time.
But, if there’s behavior that is seen by an officer at any time during the day, despite whether or not they’re officially employed at that time, the reality is they can and will issue a summons for whatever they saw, in the interest of public safety. That being said, to circle back to the question: can they issue a ticket when they’re off duty?
The answer is definitely yes. Officers have a duty that survives the end of their service that day. They are on duty 24/7, 365 days a year. They have a duty and responsibility to protect the public, and they’re sworn to do that.
They’re actually registered as peace officers in Canada under the Canadian Criminal Code, and it’s important to note that it’s a significant duty. They take it very seriously, and it’s very important to them. So, whenever you’re driving out there, the person driving beside you could actually be an off-duty police officer, and there is no defense in the fact that they’re not working at that time.
