Ombudsperson to investigate fairness of Toronto police practices
Police work the scene of a shooting in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Toronto’s ombudsman has reached a "landmark" agreement with the Toronto police, granting the impartial official authority to independently investigate the fairness of the force’s policies, procedures and practices.
“This is a breakthrough for local accountability of municipal police forces in Ontario,” Ombudsman Kwame Addo said in a statement on Friday.
“If, as expected, the Toronto Police Services Board approves the Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) next week, Ombudsman Toronto will be able to review the policies, practices and procedures of the TPS and investigate the fairness of their implementation.”
As a first step towards this “breakthrough,” on April 8, 2021, Toronto city council unanimously asked the ombudsperson to develop the MOU with the Toronto Police Services Board and the Toronto Police Service.
At the time, the ombudsperson called it “the biggest change in police oversight” in the city’s recent history.
It came at a “critically-important time” when public trust in policing reached a low point, now former ombudsperson Susan Opler said at the time.
A Toronto police review released a year later revealed people of colour were 1.2 to 1.6 times more likely to face violence when interacting with Toronto police in 2020, and Black residents were more likely to have a police officer point a firearm at them when they appeared to be unarmed than white people.
Soon, Toronto’s ombudsperson will announce their first topic of investigation. TPS’s Criminal Record Checks and online reporting or Victim Services could be potential programs of focus, Addo said.
“Our work will be fully independent of the Toronto police. We will have full discretion and control over what we investigate.”
Addo will not be able to probe complaints against individual officers or matters under review by other oversight agencies.
“This is the beginning of a new chapter in local police oversight,” Addo said.
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