Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Chief Hugh Stevenson says that city police responsible for the erroneous release of James Bolan have been disciplined by the police service.
Bolan was released from custody at the Sault Ste. Marie Courthouse Jan. 27 and picked up by police four days later.
Stevenson would not confirm how many officers were involved in Bolan's release from custody.
“We’ve done a full audit of the cells. We are doing audit inspections that are done across the province,” Stevenson told reporters during Thursday’s Police Services Board meeting. “The ministry has reported that there were other erroneous releases across the province as well during the month, and they’ve also been updating their policy on prisoner security.”
Stevenson would not elaborate on the disciplinary actions handed down.
“In this particular situation, there was an error of judgement. That individual - or individuals - was spoken to, and appropriately disciplined for the severity of the issue - and we move on,” he said. “What we do is that we ensure that it never happens again, like I said, through full policy review and a full audit of all of our security issues - not only at the courthouse, but also with the police station.”
Bolan faces charges of attempted murder, assault with a weapon, weapons dangerous and unlawfully in a dwelling in relation to a May 2019 incident on James Street.