Hamilton's police board asks for bigger role directing police operations
Kelly Bennett | CBC News | Posted: March 31, 2016 4:14 PM | Last Updated: March 31, 2016
As province overhauls Police Services Act, how much will police oversight boards' roles change?
Three big Ontario police boards have signed on to a letter asking the province to give them more power in directing policing operations.
On Thursday, Hamilton's board decided to join them.
"There's some great things in this document," said Coun. Terry Whitehead, who sits on the board.
It's the first formal step the Hamilton board has taken to weigh in on the Ontario government's attempts to define what modern policing should look like in Ontario.
At issue in the letter is where the line is between making policy for police and treading on their "operations." It's not consistently understood or interpreted across the province.
Amid that confusion, some chiefs are quick to shut down accountability attempts from their boards that they deem to be meddling in the day-to-day work of policing.
Now at least one major board is weighing in to ask for more control, and the association representing Ontario boards is also pushing for an increased role in governance without interfering in the specific investigations the police conduct.
There's a real need for effective, independent governance of police. - Fred Kaustinen, executive director, Ontario Association of Police Services Boards
"They're asking to more clarity to the legislation so that in the training of board members we can have a better understanding of not only our role but what questions on the operational side we can actually get into," Whitehead said.
Showdowns over this question happened in Hamilton, and in Peel, in the span of just a few days last fall when boards in both places wanted to pause the "carding" practice in response to negative reaction from the community.
Both chiefs said their boards didn't have the right to weigh in. The Hamilton service's attorney, Marco Visentini, opined that the motion would tread on the chief's control of operations.
A motion to get another legal opinion for the board's rights didn't get enough votes.
- READ MORE: Why can't Ontario's police boards make police stop carding?
- READ MORE: Ontario rewriting Police Services Act, seeks Hamilton input
The "operations" question earned the Toronto board a slam from a retired judge Justice John Morden, over its apparent lack of oversight of the G20 summit there.
'An inaccurate reading of the law'
That judge's findings showed up in a letter from Durham Regional Police's board chair to the province, advocating for language clarifying a strong governance role for boards. The province is seeking input as it overhauls Ontario's Police Services Act.
"We agree with Justice Morden that the assumption that boards may not be involved in operational matters represents an inaccurate reading of the law," the letter reads.
"The board's existence is premised on an informed understanding of the operations of the police service," it continues.
Halton and Ottawa's boards have signed on to that letter, too. All three letters were included in the materials for Hamilton's board before its meeting Thursday.
The Ontario Association of Police Services Boards, on which Ferguson sits, also calls for clearer language about board roles.
The association says in a letter to the minister that language is needed to help boards "reorient" toward "fundamental governance responsibilities: representing the community, strategically directing the police, and evaluating the results."
"There's a real need for effective, independent governance of police," said Fred Kaustinen, the association's executive director. "And that governance of police includes what the police activities are or aren't."
Police in the province's cities face increasing scrutiny and criticisms over things like ballooning budgets, their use of force and their treatment of minorities, aging populations and people living with mental illness.
'Always a tense situation'
In Ontario, police boards are made up of elected officials and civilian members, and are charged with the responsibility of oversight. The Police Services Act outlines how the boards set policies for the police, and police come up with "operations" from those policies.
The boards are to deal with the "what" while the police chiefs manage the "how" of policing.
Ferguson said the operations question "was always a tense situation between the former chief (Glenn De Caire) and this board," he said.
But he said he doesn't want any new era to resemble a "them versus us" between the police and the board.
'You've got to pick your fights'
Beyond the governance question, the Durham letter deals with other things like police approaches to aging populations, people living with mental illness and mandatory training for board members.
Those are priorities the Hamilton board shares, too, Ferguson said.
"Everything in it is exactly what we're saying," Ferguson said Wednesday.
Though the board backed down in the October showdown with former chief De Caire, Ferguson said he actually believes the board should have more say in operations.
"We should be able to ask questions about operations issues," he said.
The letter also calls for reform in the way that police officers being disciplined are often suspended with pay.
That's one of Ferguson's pet issues.
"You've got to pick your fights."