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MANOR PARK CHRONICLE
APRIL
2002
Un système de justice plus juste
Saviez-vous qu’un agent de police qui, après avoir subit un procès
et qui a été trouvé coupable d’un acte suffisamment sérieux pour
mériter d’être congédié de ses fonctions, peut néanmoins, pendant
la période d’attente de son appel qui pourrait s’étendre sur
plusieurs mois, recevoir son plein salaire et ses bénéfices. Chose
extraordinaire, la loi ontarienne qui contrôle les services
policiers de la province ordonne et crée cette situation aberrante,
situation qui a pour effet de récompenser un malfaiteur et de
miner la réputation de nos gendarmes. La Commission de services
policiers locale n’a pas d’autre choix que de continuer à verser
le salaire et les bénéfices. J’ai soumis une résolution à la
Commission de services policiers (adopté de façon unanime) afin
que la Commission demande au Solliciteur général de la province
d’amender la loi. La résolution demandait également l’appui de
l’Association provinciale des commissions de services policiers
lors de leur réunion à Sudbury au début du mois de mai.
Police Complaints – How is the system supposed to work?
In any ordered society the Police are accorded special and
extraordinary powers. Democratic societies, of necessity, have put
in place mechanisms for the civilian oversight of its police
forces. There exists as yet no one universally recognised ideal
model for accomplishing this very important task. Canada is known
internationally for the attention that it gives to the oversight
of law enforcement.
One basic element of the oversight function is monitoring the
manner in which complaints against the Police are handled. In
Ontario, complaints against the Police must be submitted in
writing and are referred to the Chief for investigation and
resolution. The Chief must respond within a reasonable and fixed
time period. The concern that arises immediately is that, up to
this point, the police are investigating the police. The next step
should give reassurance however. If the complainant is not
satisfied with the Chief’s response, an appeal may be filed with
an independent agency - in fact, there are two of them! Appeals
regarding complaints related to the quality of the local service,
something over which the local Police Services Board has control,
are directed to a committee of the Board. Appeals having to do
with police conduct are referred to the Ontario Civilian
Commission on Police Services (OCCOPS).
The recent articles in the media really posed the following
question regarding those complaints for which appeals are never
filed: “How is the Police Services Board to know if the complaints
are being resolved according to its policies if the Board is not
provided with any information on those complaints?” In fact,
statistical quarterly reports are provided but that is all. No
information is provided which gives the Board an idea of the
specifics of the complaint and how it was resolved, presumably to
the satisfaction of the complainant. If you would like more
information on the complaints process, I encourage you to consult
the Ottawa Police web site at www.ottawapolice.ca or ask for a
pamphlet on the subject at one of our community police offices.
CFB Rockcliffe - Housing
I continue to try to convince the Department of National Defence (DND)
that unused (but serviceable) houses on the base ought to actually
be used for housing for as long as redevelopment plans for the
base are yet undetermined. I have asked Claudette Bradshaw, the
federal minister responsible for homelessness, to intervene with
her colleague Art Eggleton, minister responsible for DND. I will
be meeting shortly with federal MP Mauril Bélanger on the issue.
You can communicate with me at (please include a telephone
number):
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa ON K1P 1J1
Tel: 580-2483, Fax: 580-2523
e-mail:
jacques.legendre@city.ottawa.on.ca
Web Site:
www.rideau-rockcliffe.com
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