Report on police oversight states the obvious

The agencies that investigate police in Ontario should be more transparent.

It’s a conclusion so mindblowingly obvious, it’s almost laughable that another review had to make that suggestion to the Ontario government, or more to the point, that it took until now to compel the government to actually take action. But that’s where we are.

On Thursday, the police oversight review, which began last April, came to an end, with Justice Michael Tulloch, who headed it, releasing his report — and 129 recommendations — into how police oversight can be improved in the province.

“This report will not sit on a shelf, that’s my guarantee to you,” said Attorney General Yasir Naqvi before a restless and outspoken crowd in a conference room at a Toronto hotel.

There are three oversight agencies in Ontario: the Special Investigations Unit, which investigates serious injury, death and sexual assault that may be the result of criminal offences by officers; the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which handles public complaints; and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, which looks at police chiefs and police services boards.

Of the three, the SIU is by far the most high-profile, has received the most public criticism and scrutiny for its actions, and handles the major incidents that are of the most concern to the public.

Tulloch’s report is wideranging, dealing with the everyday operations of the three bodies — such as vetting of former police officers who want to become SIU investigators, or suggesting that entirely new legislation codify the agencies’ existence. The two central issues Tulloch was investigating, however, were the public release of SIU reports and whether officers under investigation should be identified, either while the investigation is ongoing, or if charges are never laid.

Yes to the former, Tulloch suggested, and no to the latter.

Naqvi committed to releasing historic SIU reports involving guns and physical altercations, plus accidental deaths, by this December. They will, presumably, shed some light on previous incidents involving police in Ottawa, and across Ontario. Future reports, too, should be released in instances when officers aren’t charged; Naqvi has pledged legislation by fall on how to make it happen. This is not new; a review in 1998 from Justice George Adams said that should happen.

It never did. Yet it is, if done right, a win for both police and the public. Officers in Ontario have long bemoaned the quality of investigations carried out by the SIU.

The reports being released will allow for that scrutiny — but perhaps only to a point. While Tulloch’s report calls for video and photographic evidence to be released, for example, the identities of witnesses — both civilians and officers — plus the names of officers specifically under investigation will remain secret.

Unions have pushed back against release of officer identities, saying it puts cops at risk of vigilante justice. Tulloch’s review pointed out that police will simply get the same standard as other Canadians — their identities won’t be disclosed until charges are laid.

Yet, skepticism reigns, justifiably so. There could be other pushback from policing unions and chiefs. There hasn’t been much reform in the past, even in the face of scathing ombudsman reports. There’s an election in June 2018 — just how much work can be done in the next year or so?

Karyn Greenwood-Graham, whose son was killed by police in 2007, and who leads the Affected Families of Police Homicide, was cautious.

“We want to see those reports,” she said, “and can we critique them is really what I want to know.”

It’s a fair concern, and Greenwood-Graham wasn’t the only skeptic on Thursday. Is the province all talk? I don’t think so. The concern in that hotel in Toronto was palpable, the pain genuine and the frustration directed at Naqvi entirely real.

Whatever happens, the province isn’t going to stop hearing about it. “It is important that we work hard to restore that trust in police oversight,” Naqvi said.

He knows it, the community knows it. Having the nerve to make bold changes to ensure transparency is going to be the hard part.