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A Regina police officer has gone from defending the law to being accused of breaking it.
The Regina Police Service has accused Sergeant Robert Eric Semenchuck of using internal databases for non-work purposes and using the information to pursue personal relationships.
The sergeant with 22 years of service under his belt was charged with breach of trust and unauthorized use of a computer on March 11.
At a news conference at the Regina Police Headquarters, Chief Farooq Sheikh said the relationships that Semenchuk was pursuing were intimate.
“He’s accessed the data for his own personal gains, where he’s met a number of people,” Sheikh said.
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Sheikh would not reveal how many people were involved in Semenchuk’s alleged database search but did say that all were women so far.
Sheihk said Semenchuk may have made contact with some of the women he was accessing data on and the majority of them were not known to Semenchuk beforehand.
On March 12, police released Semenchuk’s photo to the public. Sheikh said the decision to publish his photo was a tactic police have used in previous investigations to help find more witnesses.
“Some of the affected people or witnesses out there may not know him (Semenchuk) by his name, but they may recognize him by his face,” Sheikh said.
Sergeant Robert Eric Semenchuck spent 22 years with the service. (Regina Police Service)
Sheikh believes this incident was isolated to Semenchuk and no other officers were involved.
People may be in the Regina Police database for a variety of reasons, according to Sheikh. People may be witnesses, victims of crime, or criminally charged.
Police were first aware of the allegations against Semenchuk in 2023 when a member of the public brought forward concerns.
The same year, Semenchuk was suspended with pay and was restricted from accessing internal police databases.
Sheikh said police want to be open and transparent about what happened, but said some details on what happened could not be revealed before Semenchuk’s case goes to court.
“Public trust and confidence is paramount to the work that we do here and in the communities,” he said. “We acknowledge that a police officer being charged can negatively impact trust and confidence.”
Every member of the police department goes through training on standards and expectations to use police systems, said Sheikh. When an officer logs onto a police data system, Sheikh said members will be greeted with a warning that the device should be used for policing purposes only.
Sheikh said this incident has prompted a full review of internal procedures.
“We’ve been working closely with our access and privacy unit to come up with ways to be able to prevent this from happening again,” he said. “We introduced new audit systems in May as a result of this investigation.”
Now that Semenchuk has been charged, Sheikh said he will sit down with senior leaders and the legal team at the station and make policy changes as necessary.
Semenchuck will appear in Regina Provincial Court on April 22. Sheikh said Semenchuk was released on bail until his court date.
People with more information on this case are asked to call 306-777-6514.
