Province to ask Ottawa police for results of their glove audit
Lalonde says provincewide equipment review needed as basis for new policies
The provincial corrections minister says she’ll ask the Ottawa police for results of an internal audit into all gloves issued by the force to police officers, prompted by criminal charges laid by the Special Investigations Unit.
Chief Charles Bordeleau, however, said he has yet to receive any formal request to provide the results to the province, and won’t send any audit information elsewhere unless expressly told to do so.
“I have no direction from the minister, as far as performing an audit for the province,” Bordeleau said Monday.
“There are systems in place as far as who reports are provided to and until I receive direction from the ministry, that report is an internal audit that I’m doing for the Ottawa Police Service.”
Bordeleau himself ordered the audit of the gloves that are in use by his force following the SIU’s decision to charge Ottawa police Const. Daniel Montsion, 36, with manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon after the in-custody death of Abdirahman Abdi, 37, last July. It’s believed the police watchdog laid the assault with a weapon charge specifically because Montsion was wearing hardened-knuckle gloves during the arrest.
Montsion, as a member of the direct action response team — a group of gang-suppression officers — is a carbine rifle operator, a special designation that allows him to use the force’s long guns. The gloves were issued to Montsion by his unit, which purchased them with police approval. Other members of the unit also have the same gloves.
Notice of the glove audit was delivered to senior officers on March 13, with the initial deadline set for Wednesday. Bordeleau said the audit report is “expected in the coming weeks.”
The audit asks officers to document the brand and model of the gloves, rationale for issue, unit to which they were issued, who approved the purchase, who purchased the gloves and whether they have hardened knuckles.
The audit, however, does not include documenting gloves that have been purchased by officers for their own use without approval of the force. That suggests to some insiders the audit is not only about addressing the lack of an overarching policy and need for uniformity, but also about assessing and limiting the force’s civil liability for glove-involved police incidents.
In a statement, Marie-France Lalonde, minister of community safety and correctional services, said she is aware “an equipment audit is underway at the Ottawa Police Service and I will be requesting the results of the audit.”
The Ottawa-Orléans MPP also said she thinks “all police services in Ontario should consider undertaking an equipment audit to ensure the use-of-force guidelines continue to reflect the realities of front-line policing in the province.
“This will help inform any future potential provincial policy decisions.”
Though Lalonde would like to see forces consider auditing their equipment, the government does not have the authority to order a provincewide audit of equipment that is not currently under their regulation.
“Gloves, boots, clothes — they’re not weapons,” Bordeleau said. “It’s in the manner that they could potentially be used. We’re doing an audit right now. Gloves are not part of any listed equipment that the ministry regulates, nor are boots, nor are pants.
“There’s a specific list of equipment that’s under direction by the ministry and if that changes, then the ministry will change it and we’ll abide by (that), but I haven’t seen that direction yet.”
If gloves or other equipment were to be considered weapons by the province, their use would also be subject to additional police training.
Lalonde said “officers are increasingly interacting with vulnerable individuals, often with complex mental health issues.
“That is why we need to modernize police training. Police officers need the necessary tools to defuse crisis situations and protect both themselves and their communities.”