Proposed legislation puts thousands of police jobs at risk. It puts unfair oversight rules on the table. We need your help to stop these damaging rules.
On November 2, 2017, the Ontario Legislature introduced Bill 175, the Safer Ontario Act 2017. This bill is a comprehensive public safety law representing the largest policing transformation in years if it’s passed.
While there are some positive aspects to this bill, there are also some dangerous precedents. It reduces our officers’ efficiency through oversight limiting due process.
If passed, the bill would make it easier to dismiss officers seeking treatment for physical and mental health problems. The bill also makes it easier to bring for-profit policing firms into the province. Key jobs like public disturbance calls, ticketing and burglary response are at risk.
In short: police and support staff around the province need your help.
The PAO, OPPA and TPA created a website www.keepontariosafe.ca that outlines the problem to officers, their families, and to concerned citizens. The goal is to convince lawmakers the Ontario police must remain public, effective and accountable.
Private police services are not an option for Ontarians. A public police force is answerable to the communities they serve. Private security is not.
On the website, there are pages to learn more about Bill 175. I urge you to check out the webpage and support police services personnel in Ontario by clicking on a quick and easy message that e-mails MPPs directly. The correspondence will show the Ontario government we are unified behind this issue: for-profit police have no place in the province.
Sincerely,
President Rob Jamieson & the Board of Directors
Ontario Provincial Police Association
Late yesterday, Canadian Police Association (CPA) President Tom Stamatakis issued a response to commentary from former SIU Director Ian Scott regarding Bill 175 that appeared on thestar.com on January 31st. The text of that response is shown below.
Your Board of Directors is in complete agreement with President Stamatakis’ comments and we continue to work in conjunction with other police associations to advocate for changes to this proposed legislation.
Police oversight bill needs significant improvement
As police associations have suggested, the simple solution is to split the oversight bill, quickly adopting the common sense elements to address immediate concerns, but to take the time necessary to get the more complex areas right. The public deserves nothing less.
Former SIU Director Ian Scott continues a disturbing trend where he attempts to paint police associations as opponents to reform, particularly with respect to police oversight, as he makes his case for the Province to quickly adopt Bill 175.
The fact of the matter is that Bill 175 has a number of very positive reforms that the Wynne government should absolutely pursue. It may surprise Scott to learn that even associations believe the province has struck a reasonable balance on issues such as suspension without pay for officers charged with serious criminal offences that were not committed during the course of their duties, as well as increased training for municipal police services boards, to allow them to more effectively pursue their mandate.
However, this doesn’t change the fact that by introducing a single, sweeping omnibus Bill, there are a number of serious issues that must be addressed, only some of which are directly related to the proposed new oversight regime.
Bill 175 will also make it easier for police services to dismiss officers who seek treatment for serious physical and mental health problems. This raises a number of significant red flags, particularly as research indicates first responders are four times more likely to screen positive for serious mental health challenges than members of the general public. We’ve made significant strides in increased awareness for these issues, and to try to end the stigma that prevents officers from seeking help when they need it, but this legislation threatens to undermine those efforts.
The proposed legislation also opens the door for private, for-profit police to begin operating within the Province. If adopted, the very real possibility exists that even key policing functions such as surveillance, explosives disposal, or even K9 handlers could be outsourced to private enterprises, without any guarantees of oversight or accountability for the public.
Of course, the very public focus of Bill 175 has been on the need for a reformed oversight regime. We should be clear, independent and effective oversight of police functions is absolutely necessary for police services to build and maintain the trust they have with their communities. Police officers are endowed with extraordinary powers necessary to exercise their duties, and I have yet to meet a police officer across Canada who doesn’t recognize the need for those powers to be subject to rigorous oversight.
That being said, there is also no other profession in this country that is subject to the same level of oversight as police officers, and Scott should recognize that the only way oversight can be effective is if it has the trust of both the public, who should be confident officers are held accountable by an independent investigation of their actions, as well as the officers themselves, who must believe they will be treated fairly and in a manner that is as expeditious as possible under the circumstances.
This is where Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has fallen short, as Scott will be keenly aware from his past tenure as a Director of the organization. While SIU is able to boast of closure rates within 30 business days in the majority of their investigations, this doesn’t tell the whole story. The majority of those closures are done by memo, which basically means SIU acknowledges they shouldn’t even have been called in the first place.
Thorough investigations undertaken by SIU often stretch past 18 months, even in cases as ridiculous as a recent Windsor investigation, where SIU themselves acknowledged the officer acted in heroic fashion to save the life of a man who had locked himself in a garage and set fire to his building.
Eighteen months to eventually determine the officer acted appropriately in the course of his duties is simply too long, and if Bill 175 is passed, as-is, with a massively increased mandate for SIU, these delays will only get worse, which will certainly lead to a deterioration in public confidence, something we should take efforts to avoid at all costs.
Associations aren’t opposed to reform, but rushing an omnibus Bill that makes the most significant changes to the Police Services Act we’ve seen in almost 30 years is the wrong move.
As police associations have suggested, the simple solution is to split the bill, quickly adopting the common sense elements to address immediate concerns, but to take the time necessary to get the more complex areas right. The public deserves nothing less.
Sincerely,
President Rob Jamieson and the Board of Directors
Ontario Provincial Police Association
TORONTO, Nov. 2, 2017 /CNW/ – With today’s release of the Police Services Act update, Ontario’s top policing representatives are warning the public that the Ontario government’s legislation opens the door to privatization of core duties normally carried out by police – a troubling move that risks public safety.
Together representing all sworn and civilian members of law enforcement in Ontario, the Police Association of Ontario (PAO), the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) and the Toronto Police Association (TPA) are united in their concerns about the consequences that schemes to reduce uniformed police officers and use private security providers will have on public safety.
Organizations like the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) have lobbied the Ontario government for the ability to privatize policing in Ontario communities. Groups like these are calling for the transfer of specific policing functions to “private security providers,” such as crime prevention initiatives, investigative support including forensics, crime scene analysis, and collision reconstruction.
“There is no place for private policing in Ontario, it is nothing more than policing for profit,” said Bruce Chapman, President of the Police Association of Ontario. “There is language in this legislation that gives Police Service Boards and municipalities a lot of freedom to allow bids from for-profit corporations as well as not-for-profit organizations.”
In a recent poll of 2,000 Ontarians across the province, only 6% of respondents indicated they were in favour of privatizing police services. 92% indicated they felt safe or very safe in their community and wanted to maintain or increase police presence.
“Ontario’s police officers are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters who serve because they care about their communities and feel a duty to help make Ontario a safer place,” said Rob Jamieson, President of the OPPA. “As police services personnel who live, work and raise families in the neighbourhoods we service, we’re dedicated to our communities. Can we trust private security providers to have the best interests of Ontario’s communities at heart?”
In 2006, Ontario transitioned its only privately run jail back to the public sector after the government found a publicly-managed correctional facility was better for community and public safety. Monte Kwinter, Ontario’s Community Safety Minister at the time, stated that “the outcomes were better in the publicly run facilities”, including better security, prisoner health outcomes and reduced repeat offender rates. “The results just didn’t justify a for-profit facility.”
In 2015, Public Safety Canada identified Canada’s failure to ensure effective oversight of our private security sector, resulting in an inability to ensure that private security companies are not vulnerable to organized crime or illegal behaviour. They also noted an absence of research that demonstrates any cost savings in outsourcing police services.
“We can’t let community policing decisions be made by politicians who focus solely on budget reduction rather than keeping our neighbourhoods safe,” said Mike McCormack, President, Toronto Police Association. “This government must do their duty to respect Ontarians’ wishes and ensure that strong community policing is here to stay.”
About the Police Association of Ontario
The Police Association of Ontario (PAO) is the official voice and representative body for Ontario’s front-line police personnel, and provides representation, resource and support for 52 police associations. PAO’s membership is comprised of over 18,000 police and civilian members.
About the Ontario Provincial Police Association
Headquartered in Barrie, the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) is the bargaining agent for almost 10,000 civilian and uniform members of the Ontario Provincial Police.
About the Toronto Police Association
The Toronto Police Association (TPA) is the largest, single association of its kind in Canada and one of the most influential police associations in North America. The TPA represents over 8,000 uniform and civilian members.
For further information: Media inquiries:
Police Association of Ontario: For further information: Bruce Chapman, PAO President, Bruce.Chapman@pao.ca, 905-599-4813; Stephen Reid, PAO Executive Director, Stephen.Reid@pao.ca, 416-435-4455;
Ontario Provincial Police Association: For further information: Rob Jamieson, President, OPP Association – Rjamieson@oppa.ca, 705-984-6772;
Toronto Police Association: For further information: 416-491-4301