Who we oversee
The Inspector General provides oversight of policing entities in Ontario, including:
- The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)
- Municipal police services
- First Nation police services subject to the Community Safety and Policing Act
- Police service boards
- Special constable employers
- Organizations that provide policing services under Ontario law
- Any other policing entity or prescribed organization that falls within the Inspector General's oversight authority
Complaints we handle
The types of complaints the Inspector General has authority to handle include:
- Complaints that a police service may not be providing adequate and effective policing, as defined in regulation.
- Complaints that a member of a police service board has violated their code of conduct, as defined in regulation.
- Complaints that a police service, a police service board, or an organization that employs special constables has failed to comply with any other part of the Community Safety and Policing Act or its regulations.
- We also accept complaints about police service board policies and complaints about procedures established by Chiefs of Police.
In addition to public complaints, we accept disclosures of misconduct from police officers and special constables.
Inadequate or ineffective policing
You can file a complaint with us if you believe a police service or police service board is not providing adequate and effective policing, as described in the Community Safety and Policing Act and its regulations.
This applies to the Ontario Provincial Police and municipal police services, as well as any First Nations police service that opts into the Community Safety and Policing Act.
Police service board member misconduct
You can file a complaint with us if you believe a member of a police service board has violated the Code of Conduct, as outlined in the Community Safety and Policing Act.
This applies to all members of municipal and OPP detachment boards, and to any First Nations police service board that opts into the Community Safety and Policing Act.
Other policing complaints
You can file a complaint with us if you believe that a police service, police service board, or organization that employs special constables is not in compliance with any relevant part of the Community Safety and Policing Act or its regulations.
This applies to the Ontario Provincial Police and municipal police services, as well as any First Nations police service that opts into the Community Safety and Policing Act.
Complaints regarding a police service board’s policies or procedures established by a Chief of Police may be referred to responsible police service board. When this happens, the police service board must inform us of the outcome.
Disclosures by police officers and special constables
If you are currently a member of a police service or a special constable employed by a special constable employer, you may disclose misconduct to the Inspector General if you believe it would not be appropriate to do so under existing procedures of your police service/special constable employer, you have concerns the matter is not being dealt with appropriately, or the applicable procedure has not been established under section 183 of the Community Safety and Policing Act.
In these circumstances, you can submit a disclosure through our online disclosure form or contact us by email at iopdisclosures@ontario.ca or by phone at 416-314-4130 or 1-888-333-5078.
Other policing oversight bodies
The Inspectorate of Policing is just one part of Ontario’s policing oversight system. If we don’t have the authority to act on your complaint, we may be required to refer it to the appropriate organization.
The Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA)
The Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA) is responsible for receiving, managing, and overseeing public complaints about the conduct of all municipal, regional, and provincial police officers in Ontario, special constables employed by the Niagara Parks Commission, Peace Officers of the Legislative Protective Service, and First Nations police officers if the police service opts into the Community Safety and Policing Act.
Special Investigations Unit (SIU)
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is an independent government agency that investigates any conduct of police officers, special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All SIU investigators are civilians.
Make a complaint
We handle complaints related to compliance with Ontario's Community Safety and Policing Act and its regulations by police services, police service boards, and organizations that employ special constables.This includes complaints about the provision of adequate and effective policing.
We also handle complaints regarding the conduct of police service board members.