A feud over a speeding ticket has pitted Muskoka’s highest-ranking politician against the president of the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) in a bitter dispute involving allegations of “road rage” and police “intimidation.”

Muskoka District chair Gord Adams is leveling explosive accusations this week against the head of OPPA, the organization that handles labour and contract negotiations for OPP officers, after he was issued a speeding ticket after filing a complaint about a speeding cruiser.

Adams filed the complaint in May 2007, after witnessing two OPP officers in an unmarked police car travel at approximately 120 kilometres per hour along portions of Highway 11, near Barrie.

The posted speed limit along that particular portion of highway is 90 kilometres per hour.

Adams later testified against the officers during an internal investigation by the OPP’s Professional Standards Bureau. His claim was substantiated and one of the officers was reportedly reprimanded for the incident.

In what Adams now calls “retaliation” for the complaint, the longtime District chair was then charged with speeding by OPPA president and CEO Karl Walsh. Walsh laid the charge through a private prosecution. He reportedly used evidence from Adams’ sworn testimony against the speeding police officer involved in the May incident.

Walsh did so, he said, because Adams’ decision to follow speeding police cruisers is putting the public at risk.

According to Walsh, over the past three years Adams has filed several complaints with the OPP in regard to speeding cruisers. The former Gravenhurst mayor routinely follows the vehicles of OPP officers to substantiate his complaints, he indicated.

“Mr. Adams is getting a little carried away with his tenacity, and he’s starting to put all of our safety in jeopardy,” said Walsh. “I mean, now we have a guy who has (got) a vendetta, driving a vehicle. This is not somebody who’s got any driver training, and quite frankly, I think . . . he’s starting to display the signs of road rage.”

Walsh noted that OPP are authorized under the Highway Traffic Act to exceed posted speed limits without their lights and sirens on. Police routinely do so when responding to calls such as domestic disturbances, he said.

“Mr. Adams has no way of knowing what the officer behind the wheel of a police cruiser is doing,” Walsh said.

Although Walsh’s charge was withdrawn by the Crown Attorney’s office in Barrie Jan. 4, he and Adams both appear unwilling to back down from the argument.

Walsh indicated OPPA would charge Adams again if he continues to follow police cruisers. He called the Crown’s decision not to proceed with the charge “disconcerting.”

“I’m upset . . .” said Walsh, “because here’s a Crown attorney saying that he isn’t willing to hold a member of the public as accountable as anybody else.”

Adams, meanwhile, says Walsh’s actions, coupled with the Crown’s decision to withdraw his charge “in the interest of justice” is evidence OPPA was attempting to hit back at him for making his complaint.

During last week’s hearing, acting Crown attorney Donna Maw said proceeding with Walsh’s speeding charge would bring the justice system into disrepute. Maw declined to comment further on her office’s decision to withdraw the charge. Further calls to Crown attorney Lorne McConnery for comment were not returned.

“My gut feeling is, there’s something wrong in Kansas,” said Adams. “If you connect the dots, I don’t see how it could be anything other than (police) retaliation.”

Adams, who admits to lodging several complaints with the OPP over speeding cruisers, went on to question why Walsh was able to gain access to his complaint and then use it to lay a private charge against him.

“I do feel intimidated, and I do feel this is retaliation . . .” said Adams. “Something definitely feels wrong here.”

Adams’ concerns apparently echo those of others across the province when it comes to Ontario’s current system for filing a police complaint.

Last year, the Ontario government passed the Independent Police Review Act, which will create a new independent civilian body to administer police complaints. The legislation was born out of the recommendations in a 2005 report on Ontario’s police complaints system by former chief justice Patrick LeSage.

LeSage’s report said that while Canadians generally have high regard for police, the current system makes some reluctant to file complaints about law enforcement officials for fear of reprisal.

This occurs, LeSage’s report noted, because individuals wanting to make a complaint about a police officer are required to go through their local detachment.

While complainants can refer grievances to the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services (OCCOPS), which acts as an independent quasi-judicial agency during hearings on police conduct, OCCOPS refers the matter back to the local detachment for investigation, indicated Cathy Boxer, senior adviser to the agency.

LeSage recommended this process be changed and the new civilian body not be related to OCCOPS.

Brendan Crawley, spokesperson for the Ministry of Attorney General’s office, said the ministry is in the process of hiring a director to lead the new complaints body.

Crawley could not indicate when the new system might be in place.

While OPPA respects the government’s decision to create the new process, Walsh said it disagrees with the need for the additional civilian body.

“We’re (OPP) probably the most oversighted body in Ontario,” he said, pointing to OCCOPS, the Professional Standards Bureau and the OPP’s Special Investigations Unit.

“And now we’re adding another? We’re talking about a lot of oversight.”

Contrary to Adams’ allegations, Walsh said the District chair, or any other member of the public, does not have to worry about retribution when making a complaint about a police officer.

“We’re not doing this selfishly,” said Walsh about Adams’ charge. “We’re thinking about everybody in this. I have no issue with any public member holding us accountable. We’re all accountable. We should be accountable. . . . But Mr. Adams . . . is starting to put the public, and our officers, at risk.”