Overhaul of Ontario police law set to take effect 5 years after act passed

An overhaul of Ontario's 34-year-old law governing policing in the province is set to take effect next month, with its rules and regulations covering everything from oversight to discipline to more easily allowing the suspension of officers without pay.

The Community Safety and Policing Act now has an implementation date of April 1, a full five years after it was passed, following a lengthy process involving more than 30 meetings with municipalities, advocates and police services and the filing of more than two dozen regulations to accompany the law.

The new act is huge, with a whopping 263 sections — more than 100 sections longer than the law it replaces — but new rules allowing police chiefs to suspend officers without pay in some circumstances are among those likely to garner the most public attention.

Under the old Police Services Act, the only circumstance in which a police officer wouldn't get paid while suspended is if they were both convicted of an offence and sentenced to imprisonment.

An officer who was convicted of a crime but didn't have to serve time behind bars would remain suspended with pay unless and until they were fired through police disciplinary procedure. If the officer appealed their termination, they could remain suspended for months, even years.

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police has long advocated for more powers to suspend officers without pay. The new rules mark progress, said spokesperson Joe Couto, but may not go far enough when it comes to public confidence in the system, particularly since new rules largely only cover off-duty incidents.

"We might be a little further ahead, but not really, I think, what the public expects from their lawmakers," he said.

The new law goes beyond earlier rules — chiefs can suspend without pay if an officer is in custody or on bail with conditions that would interfere with their ability to do their job, or if the officer is charged with a serious off-duty offence that could also lead to their firing.

Police unions have expressed concerns about broadening provisions for suspension without pay, noting that unless an officer has been convicted, they are entitled to a presumption of innocence. But Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, said he believes the new rules strike a good balance.

"When we have some really serious and horrific cases that involve allegations that involve police officers, we understand the public's expectation that the member is not going to continue to be on the payroll," he said in an interview.

It's unclear if an officer could recover lost wages if they are ultimately acquitted, Baxter said.

There are big changes when it comes to the police discipline process, too. Currently, a police chief appoints an investigator to probe alleged misconduct, hires the prosecutor and hires the adjudicator, Baxter said.

"It really feels like the deck is stacked against a member from the beginning," he said.

The new law creates an arm's-length, independent body to conduct adjudication hearings.