This Spotlight Report

In the context of more recent public order events across Ontario, the IoP chose to embark on an inspection of compliance with provincial Public Order Maintenance requirements, with a focus on POU requirements, by all municipal police services in the province, as well as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). The inspection was conducted while the PSA remained in force. The inspection identified areas of compliance with the now-repealed PSA, as well as recommendations for improvement in some cases. Overall, we observed a significant rise in the demand for deployments of POUs in Ontario, a trend anticipated to continue, emphasizing the need for continuous provincial oversight to ensure consistent adherence to public safety standards across the entire province.  

This is the IoP’s first Spotlight Report, which places our inspection findings in a broader, Ontario-wide context. In this report, we highlight our findings as factors the policing sector can consider in improving policing performance and governance in relation to their public order maintenance functions and its delivery. The report only includes these factors as ‘recommendations’ because the inspection was not conducted under the now-in-force CSPA, which provides the Inspector General (IG) the authority to issue binding ‘directions’ for non-compliance. While our inspection primarily focuses on compliance with the requirements of the now-replaced PSA and regulations, our goal in this report is to encourage the sector to apply still-pertinent findings to their work as they transition to Ontario’s new policing legislation, under the CSPA, and to promote efforts towards continuous improvement. Sharing the insights learned from this inspection is not only vital to the sector, but also in the interests of public transparency and accountability. 

We are committed to publishing future Spotlight Reports to further develop the overall provincial picture of policing and police governance in various areas of interest to the policing sector, the government, and the public. We will shine a constructive light on any compliance shortfalls we discover, identify how to improve compliance overall, and promote leading and promising practices across jurisdictions so that Ontario can continue to distinguish itself as a leader internationally. Importantly, in line with the legislative commitment to transparency, and to enhance the public’s understanding of key aspects of policing delivery in our province, all our reports will be publicly available on the IoP’s website: www.iopontario.ca.