An Ottawa police constable, Jerome Rabiha-Stevens, has been demoted for 18 months due to serious misconduct involving unauthorized searches of police and Ministry of Transport databases. Rabiha-Stevens, who joined the Ottawa Police Service in 2022, admitted to using these databases multiple times to look up people he personally knew, as well as members of the public, for personal reasons.
During the disciplinary process, Rabiha-Stevens pleaded guilty to four counts of misconduct. The settlement document outlines that he conducted 17 searches for individuals within his personal circle, including the parents of his ex-partner, a woman with whom he was having an affair, and that woman’s partner. Additionally, he sought out women he encountered at the gym, attempting to identify them or connect with them through social media platforms.
The officer's unauthorized searches extended to the general public as well, with a total of 49 searches occurring between December 2024 and May 2025. These searches were conducted for personal motivations, both while on and off duty, including instances where he sought out a woman he found attractive on the street. His misconduct was brought to light following an incident where Rabiha-Stevens confronted his partner and the partner of the woman he was involved with in a Tim Hortons parking lot, leading to some property damage. Fortunately, no criminal charges were filed against him as a result of this confrontation.
The investigation into this incident revealed that a woman identified as G.L. disclosed her affair with Rabiha-Stevens during questioning. Despite having never revealed her home address, G.L. reported feeling uncomfortable when Rabiha-Stevens mentioned driving by her house, which raised her suspicions that he had accessed her information through illegal database searches. This was corroborated by evidence showing that Rabiha-Stevens had looked up her license plate around the time they first met at the gym.
In his defense, Rabiha-Stevens stated that he recognized G.L.'s car and believed it was reasonable to research her address, albeit he failed to provide any substantial justification for his actions. He acknowledged that querying personal information was not part of his lawful duties, indicating he was “consumed by the situation” regarding his personal relationships.
Further inquiries into Rabiha-Stevens’ searches uncovered additional instances where he looked up license plates of various women he found attractive, whom he had met in the gym setting or around his neighborhood. One such instance involved a woman who barely knew him, illustrating his inappropriate use of police resources out of mere curiosity. He ultimately expressed an inability to explain his intrusive searches beyond stating he was curious and wanted to know more about them.
The settlement resulted in Rabiha-Stevens being demoted from first-class constable to second-class constable for a period of 18 months. The terms also stipulate that he could return to his previous rank following this period, dependent on demonstrating satisfactory work performance as evaluated by the police service.
