1. That the contents of this report be received by the Board for its information.

Section 31(b) of the Adequacy Standards Regulations requires that the Board receive a report on public complaints in the Annual Report. It is a practice of York Regional Police to report to the Board at the beginning of each year on public complaints. The information contained in this report will also form part of the 2006 Annual Report.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND:

The Police Services Act states that a member of the public may complain about the conduct of an officer or officers, or about the policies of or services provided by a police force. The complainant in a public compliant must be the person who was directly affected by the conduct, policy or service complained of. A complaint must be in writing and signed by the complainant, and may be delivered personally or by mail or fax to the police service involved or to the office of the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services (OCCPS). The Commission, in turn, will forward the complaint to the police service to be dealt with as appropriate.

The Chief of Police shall review every complaint that is made about the policies of or services provided by a police force and shall take appropriate action in response to the complaint. The Chief of Police shall cause every complaint made about the conduct of a police officer to be investigated and reported on in a written report.

Policy/Service Complaints

The Police Services Act requires the Chief of Police to submit a written report to the Board respecting every complaint about the policies of or services provided by the police force and the dispositions of same. There was a complaint filed in 2006 that was considered to be both a policy and service complaint and it was brought before the Board in November 2006. The complaint involved concerns regarding the apprehension of the complainant's child by the York Region Children's Aid Society and subsequent interactions between the complainant, York Regional Police and the Children's Aid Society. As a result of our investigation, it was determined that York Regional Police Procedure LE-024 (Domestic Violence Occurrences) is not in contravention of the Child and Family Services Act and that investigations into incidents reported by the complainant were undertaken in accordance with York Regional Police procedures.

Service Complaints

A second service complaint filed in 2006 continues to be investigated by the Professional Standards Bureau. The complainant in this matter was requesting an explanation as to why the police did not respond to her call for service. The complainant has been kept aware of the investigation and is satisfied with the investigative actions to date of the York Regional Police regarding her complaint. A Board report will be submitted upon completion of this investigation.

Conduct Complaints

In regards to complaints made about the conduct of a police officer, the Chief may resolve the matter informally if the conduct is not of a serious nature. If, at the conclusion of the investigation and on review of the written report, the conduct of the officer may constitute misconduct pursuant to the Police Services Act, the Chief shall hold a hearing into the matter.

In accordance with Section 59 of the Police Services Act, the Chief of Police may decide not to deal with any complaint about the police force or about a police officer that the Chief considers to be:

• frivolous or vexatious or made in bad faith
• is made more than six months after the facts on which it is based occurred
• or it is decided that the complainant was not directly affected by the policy, service or conduct that is the subject of the complaint.

Since 2004, public complaints against officers have decreased annually. Informal resolutions for public complaints continue to increase. The majority of the nature of complaints are classified as police procedures, followed by complaints of verbal abuse, physical assault and misuse of authority.

During 2006, York Regional Police received 116 public complaints compared to 119 in 2005 and 124 in 2004. Forty public complaints from 2006 remain outstanding. As the attached chart indicates, 76 public complaints have been investigated with 27 being informally resolved, 21 withdrawn, 11 determined to be unsubstantiated and 12 were not dealt with in accordance with Section 59 of the Police Services Act.

In 28 matters following notification of the disposition to the complainant:

• 18 requests were made to O.C.C.P.S. to review the decisions made by the Chief of Police
• 16 decisions were upheld by O.C.C.P.S.
• 2 decisions are still before O.C.C.P.S. pending review

A program of visiting uniform platoons during their daily parades was initiated by Public Complaint investigators of the Professional Standards Bureau in 2004, in response to a substantial increase in the number of public complaints received in the first part of the year. This endeavor resulted in a decrease in public complaints during the latter part of 2004. Professional Standards Bureau has continued with this initiative and investigators are now attending Level III Recruit Training, Experienced Officer classes and Supervisor Seminars to familiarize members with the investigators, the complaint investigation process, as well as the common reasons that complaints are made and how members might avoid complaints. This initiative may be a factor in the decrease of public complaints each year since 2004.

York Regional Police continues to be vigilant in communicating our Values and Code of Professional Ethics internally and externally. Living the Values and abiding by the Code of Professional Ethics is reflected in community feedback. One measure of community feedback is public complaints which have been decreasing since 2004.

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