Ontario’s aggressive anti-racing law continues to nab unlikely suspects, including members of its own police force. According to The National Post, two OPP officers have recently been charged with ‘street-racing’ in separate incidents, and their cases are currently being investigated by the OPP.

“Two OPP officers have been charged this year with street racing offences, while on duty and driving their cruisers. Constable Lloyd Tapp, 43, was charged with two counts under the Highway Traffic Act after he was allegedly driving more than 50 kilometres over the speed limit on Highway 35-115, southwest of Peterborough.

The officer was charged last month, two weeks after the alleged incident. The charges were not made public until earlier this week, when reported in the Peterborough Examiner.

The OPP normally has a policy of issuing news releases when officers are charged, Inspector Dave Ross said yesterday. “There was an administrative oversight, which we have since rectified,” said Insp. Ross, a spokesman in the OPP’s corporate communications bureau.

The charge of racing does not mean the officer was allegedly speeding alongside another car, only that he is accused of driving more than 50 kilometres over the speed limit. As a result of what he described as “evidentiary issues,” Insp. Ross said he could not disclose anything more than that the officer was on duty in a marked car.

Const. Tapp has been moved to administrative duties while his case moves through the courts.

The other officer charged, Constable Michael Deyell, is recovering from injuries suffered during a late-night collision with two horses on a highway, also near Peterborough. Const. Deyell is accused of driving more than 60 kilometres over the speed limit and is facing several Highway Traffic Act charges. He suffered serious injuries in the collision and the horses were killed.

His case has been adjourned until July and defense lawyer Leo Kinahan said yesterday that he is waiting for more information from the prosecution before deciding how to proceed”.

While it’s refreshing to see that no one is above the law when it comes to legislation like this, cases like these still leave a lot of questions. What duties were the officers undertaking at the time of their charges? Did they require the officers to speed and if they did, why were they charged? And if those duties did not require speeding, why weren’t their licenses immediately suspended while those of other citizens’ are often immediately taken under the officer’s discretion?

How these incidents will affect the legitimacy of this ‘street-racing’ crackdown remains to be seen.