Ontario's police chiefs, including Chatham-Kent's police chief who is the new President of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP), are calling for changes to the police disciplinary system, including the end of suspending officers with pay.
The group of police leaders said “substantive and sweeping” changes are needed in order to address issues of public trust, confidence, and transparency when an officer commits a serious offence.
A resolution requesting changes to the police discipline system was passed at the association’s 2021 Annual General Meeting in June. The resolution said policing is under "unprecedented scrutiny" as it relates to its ability to ensure public trust, confidence, and transparency when an officer commits serious misconduct. It also said the current disciplinary system has "arguably devolved" and not evolved.
The police chiefs go on to say the controversial issue of suspension with pay has existed without a satisfactory solution for years and needs to be amended.
Chatham-Kent Police Chief Gary Conn said the public is clearly demanding greater transparency and accountability from all police personnel, including Chiefs of Police and senior police leaders.
“The current and proposed police discipline system puts officers, senior managers, and the public through unnecessary procedural laden processes that take far too long to complete, don't meet normal labour law standards, don't protect subject officers and witnesses from pointless public exposure to intimate and personal details, and are far too costly at the provincial and/or municipal level. We can and must do better,” said Conn.
The association is calling on the Government of Ontario to make changes, including shifting internal police discipline to a full disciplinary, grievance, and arbitration model, where suspension without pay is among the disciplinary options.
Chief Bryan Larkin of Waterloo Regional Police sponsored the resolution and calls the current discipline system archaic and paramilitary, adding it simply no longer instills public trust, confidence, and transparency. He also said the issue of officer suspension with or without pay may be the most prominent of the issues facing police organizations in the province but warns it is not the solution to the underlying issues with the police discipline system.
Police chiefs are also calling for more public transparency by requiring all disciplinary decisions that involve a penalty of more than 40 hours to be made public without exposing a police officer, witness, complainant or victim of misconduct to unnecessary shame or public disclosure. OACP noted that the publication of certain details such as personal and intimate details, mental health issues, and the exposure of protected investigative techniques or operations must be vetted and banned if necessary.
The association also requests a separate public complaints process similar to other professional oversight bodies like the College of Physicians and the Law Society of Ontario to allow for complaints about violations of the Code of Conduct to be investigated and adjudicated where the chief of police only has standing in the penalty phase and not during the investigation.
Under the current disciplinary system, several suspended officers have collected pay for many years until they were sentenced.
The full resolution can be read here.
