Our Inspection

Maintaining public order is a core legislated requirement for police services in Ontario. This requirement previously existed under the now-repealed PSA and its revoked Ontario Regulation 3/99 Adequacy and Effectiveness of Police Services regulation,[1] and now exists under the CSPA, with specific requirements outlined in the Ontario Regulation 392/23 Adequate and Effective Policing (General),[2] which came into force on April 1, 2024. 

At the time of our inspection (May 2023 – February 2024), the PSA continued to be in force and therefore, this public order maintenance inspection was completed under the authority and requirements of the PSA. The CSPA has changed some of the requirements applicable to public order maintenance and POUs in Ontario. While the general delivery options of public order maintenance are fairly similar, the CSPA sets out more prescriptive standards and procedural requirements, along with more prescriptive requirements for entering into policing agreements with another police service board or the OPP, and the delivery of temporary assistance.

As with any inspection, the conclusions we reach represent the circumstances and context at a point in time – in this case, previously in-force legislation that has since been modernized. While the initial objective of the inspection was to determine technical compliance with the requirements at that time, the reporting phase of the inspection has been modified to highlight general themes that may support police service boards (the “boards”), police services (the “services”), Chiefs of Police (the “Chief”),[3] and the OPP Commissioner as they transition to the new requirements set out under the CSPA. 

[1] O.Reg. 3/99: Adequacy and Effectiveness of Police Services.

   http://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/990003

[2] O.Reg. 392/23: Adequate and Effective Policing (General).

   http://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/230392

[3] It should be noted that both the PSA and CSPA define “chief of police” as a chief of police of a police service maintained by a police service board or the Commissioner of the OPP and includes an acting chief of police.