The widow of Toronto Police Sgt. Ryan Russell says she is “extremely upset and shocked” her husband’s killer will be allowed supervised visits outside his medium-security psychiatric hospital.

The Ontario Review Board ruled that Richard Kachkar, who was found not criminally responsible in Russell’s death, will be held at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in Whitby, Ont.

Kachkar fatally struck Russell with a snowplow in 2011.

“Deciding to give Mr. Kachkar community access privileges that he did not even ask for is both an insult and a slap in the face to my husband, our family, the police community, the public at large and victims of violent crime,” Russell’s widow Christine said in a statement.

In the ruling, released Monday, the board indicated that authorities at the hospital could allow 46-year-old Kachkar to occasionally leave the hospital and enter the community, if accompanied by staff.

Both Kachkar’s lawyer, Bob Richardson, and the Crown asked that he be held at Whitby hospital during the ORB hearing on Friday.

Calling the move “completely unacceptable,” Christine Russell is urging the government to appeal the decision.

The ORB reviews the status of those who have been found not criminally responsible or unfit to stand trial for criminal offences on account of a mental disorder.

During Friday’s hearing, Christine Russell delivered an emotional victim impact statement.

She told the board she wanted Kachkar to know that “the man you killed was an outstanding person.”

“He sacrificed himself trying to protect all of us from Richard Kachkar.”

Following Kachkar’s seven-week, first-degree murder trial, Russell had said she would lobby for the federal government’s Bill C-54, which seeks to tighten restrictions on people found not criminally responsible.

The board also heard hours of medical testimony on Kachkar’s mental state two years ago.

Psychiatrist Dr. Philip Klassen testified that he believes Kachkar has more symptoms of a serious mental disorder than he’s chosen to disclose. He also said that loss and rejection appear to trigger his illness.

Sgt. Russell, 35, was struck dead in the early-morning hours of Jan. 12, 2011 after attempting to stop Kachkar as he was careening a stolen snowplow on a downtown Toronto street.