Ontario police reforms would 'completely subvert' watchdog's independence, director says

Ontario police reforms would ‘completely subvert’ watchdog’s independence, director says

JEFF GRAY QUEEN'S PARK REPORTER, The Glock & Spiel

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/canada/article-ontario-police-reforms-would-completely-subvert-watchdogs/?__twitter_impression=true

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The head of Ontario’s civilian police watchdog has warned the provincial government that its proposed police reforms would “completely subvert” his agency’s independence and open the door to “political interference.”

Tony Loparco, director of the province’s Special Investigations Unit, says Premier Doug Ford’s Bill 68, introduced last month, could “impede the SIU’s future ability to conduct timely and thorough investigations” of potential police wrongdoing.

In a nine-page letter to the the Ontario Legislature’s standing committee on justice policy, which is reviewing the draft legislation, Mr. Loparco calls for changes to the bill’s proposed rewording of the SIU’s mandate, which would restrict the agency to investigating police officers only when an incident “may have resulted from criminal conduct by an official.”

He warns this could expose the SIU to accusations of “anti-police bias,” as it requires making a determination before any evidence has been collected. But he also says it means that police chiefs, when considering whether to call in the SIU, will first need to decide if one of their own officers likely committed a crime. (Under the current rules, the SIU investigates any case of serious injury or death or allegations of sexual assault involving interaction with police.)



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