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Toronto CBC Investigates


ONLY 1% OF PUBLIC COMPLAINTS AGAINST TORONTO COPS LED TO A DISCIPLINARY HEARING
IN PAST 5 YEARS

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'THE NUMBERS TELL A STORY OF FAILURE,' SAYS LAWYER WHO HAS DONE RESEARCH ON
OIPRD

Nicole Brockbank - CBC News



Posted: October 28, 2020

CBC News cross-referenced a decade of Toronto police disciplinary decisions with
all of the SIU investigations in which the police watchdog laid charges against
Toronto police officers, and against available data on public complaints. (Evan
Mitsui/CBC)

The complaints, investigations, and criminal charges handled by Ontario's
independent civilian police oversight agencies rarely lead to a Toronto police
internal disciplinary hearing against an officer. 

CBC News cross-referenced a decade of Toronto police disciplinary decisions with
all of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigations in which the
province's police watchdog laid charges against Toronto police officers, and
against available data on public complaints.

The review revealed that only 12 per cent of investigations where the SIU laid
charges against Toronto cops have led to a disciplinary hearing decision against
the officer involved in the last 10 years. 

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For public complaints the numbers are even lower. Just one per cent of
complaints made to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD)
about Toronto police officers in the last five years has led to a disciplinary
hearing. 

Experts told CBC News these numbers show that the system isn't working, and that
police are disciplined only for a fraction of allegations of misconduct in
Toronto.

"The numbers tell a story of failure," said lawyer Dave Shellnutt, who has done
extensive research on the OIPRD. "The lack of enforcement and penalty is
indicative of a broken, if not a failed system of review of police activity."



(Oliver Walters/CBC)



Between 2014 and 2019 there were 3,806 complaints made to the OIPRD about
Toronto police officers, and a little over half of those complaints were
investigated by either the OIPRD itself or were more often referred back to the
professional standards unit within Toronto police. 

Only 92 of those complaints, or two per cent, were substantiated, and only one
per cent have gone before the Toronto police disciplinary tribunal. 

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'I WAS DEVASTATED,' OIPRD COMPLAINANT SAYS

Shellnutt's client Amanda Henry filed one of the few substantiated complaints,
but a disciplinary hearing was never held because the OIPRD took too long to
complete its report.

"I was devastated," Henry told CBC News.

"It was kind of out of my hands … The system is not for the complainant and it's
in favour of the officers you're filing the complaint against."

Henry made her OIPRD complaint after a Toronto police officer entered her
apartment in October 2016 while she was at the doctor's office with two of her
kids. The officer was responding to a report from a police document server that
Henry's other two children, aged 9 and 10, had been left home alone. 

WATCH: How this Toronto woman feels about the public complaints system for
police based on her own experience.



Show more
Amanda Henry's complaint against a Toronto police officer was substantiated by
the OIPRD, but there still wasn't a disciplinary hearing for the officer.  1:03



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Once inside Henry's apartment, the officer phoned Henry and told her to return
home immediately. He placed the mother of four under arrest after she refused to
give him information about her kids — and then attempted to stop Henry from
leaving by grabbing her arm and twisting it, according to the OIPRD report.

As a result of its investigation, the oversight agency found that the police
officer did not have the authority to enter Henry's apartment, to arrest or
detain her, or to use force against her. 

"My father is a former police officer, so I'm quite familiar with what an
officer can do and what they can't do," Henry said. "That whole encounter really
impacted how I interact with law enforcement."



 * CBC Investigates Despite convictions for assault, drunk driving only 7
   Toronto cops fired at discipline tribunal over 10 years



Since her case never made it to a disciplinary hearing, Henry is now suing the
officer and Toronto police. Her lawsuit has yet to be heard before the courts. 

In a statement, the head of the union representing Toronto police officers told
CBC News that officers often face multiple layers of oversight for the same
incident. 

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"Police officers are subject to some of the most stringent and onerous oversight
mechanisms of any governed profession," said Brian Callanan, interim president
of the Toronto Police Association.


'THE SYSTEM IS NOT WORKING FOR THE PUBLIC'

The director of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic in Toronto told CBC
News that the slim chance of a public complaint ever going to a disciplinary
hearing is one of the reasons she explains the process to her clients, but
doesn't necessarily recommend it. 

"The system is not working for the public," said Avvy Go. "There is a disconnect
between what the people are experiencing and how the system is responding to
their grievances."



(Keith Whelan/CBC)



Some complaints don't go before the tribunal, according to Go, partly because
police disciplinary hearings are treated like criminal trials despite having a
different objective and burden of proof. In police disciplinary cases, the
burden is clear and convincing evidence, not the standard used in criminal
cases, which is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.. 

"The police should apply it in the same way as we apply a civil standard [of
proof]," Go said. "I think their failure to do so really does complicate the
matter and make it far more difficult to hold police accountable," she said. 

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One example of how the burden of proof in criminal trials and disciplinary
hearings might be conflated by Toronto police involves the aftermath of SIU
investigations where the police watchdog lays criminal charges against Toronto
officers.

The SIU investigates reports involving police where there has been death,
serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.


TORONTO COPS CHARGED BY SIU, BUT NOT CONVICTED NEVER WENT TO TRIBUNAL

In the last 10 years none of the 21 Toronto police officers who were charged by
the SIU — but weren't convicted in court —  ever appeared before an internal
disciplinary hearing to determine whether or not their actions still met the bar
for misconduct under the Police Service Act (PSA). 

Police chiefs are required to review any case where the SIU was notified for
officer conduct, service, or policy issues.

CBC News requested an interview with Toronto's interim police chief James Ramer
— in part to ask why the police service didn't pursue PSA charges at the
tribunal against any of its members who'd been charged by the SIU, but not
convicted.



(Chris Young/The Canadian Press)



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A spokesperson told CBC News Ramer was not available for an interview and
provided a statement instead. 

The statement did not address many of the specific questions posed by CBC News,
but did say that the Toronto Police Service, like all police departments in
Ontario, is "bound by the provincial disciplinary regulations under the PSA." 

"When an officer's conduct falls below the standard expected of them and under
the statutory guidelines, or is potentially criminal, a variety of disciplinary
outcomes are pursued depending on the severity of the offence," said the
statement from spokesperson Connie Osborne. 

 * CBC Investigates Here are 3 ways to improve police oversight and
   accountability in Ontario, experts say



Jihyun Kwon, a University of Toronto PhD candidate in criminology, studies
overlapping police oversight structures in Ontario and says it's an issue when
the cases involving SIU charges don't make it to the tribunal.

"It is a problem if the officer in question is acquitted by the criminal court
because of the higher standard of proof … and the disciplinary process doesn't
pick up thereafter," said Kwon. 

"The cases that come to the disciplinary tribunal are only the tip of the
iceberg."

TOMORROW: A look at how experts think Ontario's legislation governing police
conduct and oversight agencies need to change in order to hold officers more
accountable.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Nicole Brockbank
Reporter, CBC Toronto

Nicole Brockbank is a reporter for CBC Toronto's Enterprise Unit. Fuelled by
coffee, she digs up, researches and writes original investigative and feature
stories. nicole.brockbank@cbc.ca

With files from Farrah Merali, Derick Deonarain
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices


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