RCMP officer receives probation for unlawfully entering couple’s home

Jason G. Antonio

For MJ Independent

A Moose Jaw RCMP officer who unlawfully entered a couple’s home and engaged in an altercation with an occupant will not face jail but will spend a year on probation.

Const. Steven Sharpen, 50, appeared in Moose Jaw Provincial Court on June 11, where he pleaded guilty to one count of being unlawfully in a dwelling house during the Jan. 13, 2025 incident.

As part of a joint submission, Sharpen received a conditional discharge and 12 months of probation, with conditions requiring him to take counselling and anger management classes. He must also pay a victim fund surcharge of $100.

If the RCMP officer obeys his probation, then — as part of the nature of a conditional discharge — he won’t have a criminal record.

Sharpen accompanied a colleague to a home in the detachment area around 8:30 p.m. to speak to the woman living there, Crown prosecutor Chris Brown said. While the officers were speaking with her, her spouse closed the door, ending the conversation.

Sharpen approached the door and opened it, while his partner told him that the woman was not under arrest, although Sharpen later claimed to not hear his colleague’s comment, Brown continued.

“Const. Sharpen proceeded to open the door and forced himself into the residence. Const. Sharpen then physically engaged with (the man) inside the residence,” the Crown prosecutor stated.

A struggle ensued, leading to Sharpen handcuffing the man — he was uninjured — and taking him to the police cruiser, Brown said. Officers later released the man, although they never charged him with obstruction; he filed a complaint with the RCMP the following day. 

“Const. Sharpen had no legal authority to enter the residence or to physically restrain and arrest (the man in the home),” the Crown added.

Brown then played a seven-minute video showing the officers’ arrival at the home, the encounter with the woman and pronouncement that she faced a new criminal charge, the man closing — but not slamming — the door, Sharpen barging in, the home’s occupants yelling at the officers, Sharpen yelling back and the eventual arrest of the man.

At one point in the video, the man yelled, “I have done nothing wrong.” At another point, he said, “It’s not a big struggle (because Sharpen) made it a big struggle,” to which Sharpen replied, “Yeah, I did.”

Afterward, Brown said this was “a fairly serious breach” by Sharpen, although his guilty plea demonstrated his responsibility. Meanwhile, the conditional discharge with probation promoted denunciation and deterrence and supported rehabilitation.

Defence lawyer Darren Kraushaar said Sharpen has been with the Moose Jaw RCMP since 2016, after moving west from Ontario. The lawyer noted that the officer had no criminal record or job-related disciplinary infractions when the incident occurred.

“This is really an aberration, sort of a one-off incident. It’s something that just kind of came out of the blue,” the defence lawyer continued.

Sharpen’s partner asked him to assist during the visit, with the former believing they were there to arrest the woman, Kraushaar said. Sharpen had attended to the home before, as officers had charged the man with domestic violence offences.

Continuing, the defence lawyer said Sharpen was concerned about weapons being present, since he had heard that the man allegedly kept a weapon by the front door.

“(Sharpen) also suffers from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) as a result of his employment with the RCMP. So he was on very high alert,” Kraushaar remarked.

The lawyer noted that Sharpen was concerned about the well-being of the woman, himself and his colleague. Therefore, when the door closed, he barged into the home to determine what was happening.

Kraushaar said that, as was heard on the video, Sharpen’s partner told him that the woman was not under arrest. However, he argued that Sharpen couldn’t hear that comment during the altercation.

Asked for comment, Sharpen said, “… I am not proud of that video at all. I just want to say I deeply regret not taking steps to confirm with my partner what was going on. I’ve learned a valuable lesson from this, and going forward, this will never happen again.”

Afterward, Judge Douglas Kovatch said, “In some respects, this is a serious mistake in judgement on the part of Const. Sharpen. But arguably, (it is) simply the misinterpretation of the law and circumstances.”

The judge added that he accepted the joint submission, but would have been reluctant to do so if there had been a “gratuitous force of violence” involved