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Some of the victims of a former Regina police sergeant who used internal databases to pursue intimate relationships with them feel the sentence he received isn’t harsh enough.
Robert Semenchuck will serve a two years less a day conditional sentence in the community, with the first six months under house arrest, and three years of probation to follow.
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The 22-year police sergeant would send a wrong number message to the victims and create a relationship.
Bridgette Cyr is one of nearly three dozen victims who waved the publication ban on her name to speak publicly about her experience with Semenchuck.
She said she was disappointed by the sentence.
“I was expecting more,” she said. “I think that 33 women deserve more. We were victimized, we were stalked, we were taken advantage of.”
Robert Eric Semenchuck spent 22 years with the service. (Abby Zieverink/980 CJME)
Cyr first began texting Semenchuck when he messaged under the name Steve Perkins.
When she found out his true identity, she said she was filled with fear and anxiety.
“These people need integrity, that’s what the job’s about,” he said. “They’re public servants.
“They’re here for us and not to victimize us.”
Cyr chose to move away from Regina after a police investigation was launched into Semenchuck, because she said she was scared of retaliation from him or his co-workers.
Semenchuck faces a list of conditions for his sentence at home, including no access to a computer, phone, or any electronic device with access to the interne, unless it is for pre-approved educational purposes.
Cyr pointed towards Semenchuck’s prior history of improper access to information breaches before his charges, listed in the agreed statement of facts listed by the Crown and defence.
“It didn’t stop him before,” she said. “When he got reprimanded, he continued to do what he was doing, he just got sneakier.”
Cyr said Semenchuck’s sentence doesn’t show much accountability towards police.
“I think that it just says a whole lot to all the other police that, yeah, if we do this, we’re going to get a slap on the wrist,” she said.
Kerry Benjoe, a Regina journalist, was the first victim to file a complaint that launched the investigation against Semenchuck.
She said the police service needs something stronger than the honour system to prevent police from inappropriately accessing information.
“There has to be checks and balances for everyone working in this position,” she said.
“So that people like me, people like Bridgette, people who have gone to the police for support are no longer re-victimized. It’s so disgusting.”
Cyr said she would like to see improvements to police screening processes.
Benjoe said she looks at Semenchuck with pity rather than fear now.
“It’s not my shame,” she said. “I should not be embarrassed about what he did and I’m not embarrassed.
“He needs to carry that shame, not me.”
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