York Regional Police reported an increase in public complaints in 2021 with more than 200 complaints lodged against the service.
In an annual report presented to the police services board today, Chief Jim MacSween said there were three service complaints and 213 conduct complaints in 2021. This is up from 2020 when there was one service complaint and 179 conduct complaints.
"In 2021, York Regional Police received 216 public complaints compared to 180 in 2020 and 162 in 2019. This represents a 20 per cent increase in public complaints from 2020," the report said.
Any complaints about service or policy are referred to the chief by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD). The chief then has to determine the appropriate actions to respond, if necessary.
Of the three service complaints received in 2021, two were withdrawn by the complainants and one was referred to the chief.
In an investigative report, the chief determined there were no issues in relation to the complaint. However, the complainant requested that the board review the matter. The report was submitted to the board at its meeting in January, where they accepted the chief's finding and determined no further action was required.
For conduct complaints, they can either be referred to the chief by the OIPRD, referred to the chief of another police force to investigate, or held by the OIPRD for investigation. None of the complaints against YRP were held back by the officer of the director in 2021.
Of the 213 complaints received, five complainants made requests to the OIPRD for the chief's decision to be reviewed, however, in all five cases, the OIPRD held up the chief's position that the complaints were unsubstantiated.
In total, 96 of the complaints were investigated by YRP and three of them resulted in disciplinary actions against four officers involved. Fourteen complaints were informally resolved, 35 were withdrawn and 18 were determined to be unsubstantiated. The OIPRD did not accept some of the 119 complaints for several reasons, including that they were made in bad faith, frivolous, or more than six months old among other reasons.
As of Dec. 31, 2021, 24 complaints were still under investigation.
"The failure to follow police procedures was the most common category of public complaints received in 2021. Other common complaints included allegations of misuse of authority, physical assault and verbal incivility," the report said.
The nature of the complaints against YRP were as follows:
Police Procedure (146 complaints total)
- 44 for neglect of duty
- 44 for improper detention, which includes stopping cars
- 8 for improper search of person
- 20 for improper arrest
- 2 for improper entry
- 16 for improper charge
- 29 for improper use of discretion
- 3 for service and policy
Physical Assault (17 complaints total)
- 2 for sexual assault
- 5 for excessive force
- 10 for excessive force with injury
Verbal Abuse (8 complaints total)
- 6 for verbal abuse/incivility
- 2 for implied harassment/threat
Misuse of Authority (24 complaints total)
- 1 for theft
- 2 for disclosing confidential information
- 5 for improper driving
- 17 for improper use of position
The report also compared the number of complaints made against YRP to other police forces of similar size and geography. Compared with Durham, Halton, Hamilton, Niagara and Waterloo police services, YRP had the lowest percentage of complaints per officer.
"The actual strength of the service at the end of 2021 was 1,698 sworn officers. The ratio of conduct complaints per officer for the year is 0.13 and this remains one of the lowest ratios in comparison to other large services in Ontario," the report said. "The low complaints per officer ratio and the low number of substantiated complaints can be attributed, in part, to our members consistently upholding the values and code of ethics of York Regional Police."
With this in mind they found that no additional training or resources are required in response to the public complaints made in 2021.
