Thunder Bay Police Association worries about private policing
THUNDER BAY Ontario Canada Nov 5 2017 — Thunder Bay Police Association president Greg Stephenson is joining his provincial counterparts in warning that the Ontario government’s planned update of the Police Services Act opens the door to the privatizing of core policing duties.
The Police Association of Ontario has said the new legislation announced on Thursday raises concerns about “the consequences that schemes to reduce uniformed police officers and use private security providers will have on public safety.”
President Bruce Chapman said there is language in the legislation that gives Police Services Boards and municipalities “a lot of freedom to allow bids from for-profit corporations as well as not-for-profit organizations.”
Chapman suggested this could lead to transferring some policing functions to private security providers, such as crime prevention initiatives, investigative support including forensics, crime scene analysis and collision reconstruction.
Stephenson told tbnewswatch.com in an interview Friday that Ontario’s police services will be subject to extensive oversight under the new legislation, and his members “are not afraid of being accountable.”
“But,” he added, “what happens to these privatized units that come in and do core police functions? Are they going to be subject to the same scrutiny that we are?”.
Stephenson said he feels some of the provisions in the proposed legislation require more clarity.
“With privatization, I don’t believe there’s any real broad spectrum of definitions to decide who gets to do what. A lot of it is left up to the police services boards.”
Stephenson elaborated on the implications of the legislation providing “more authority and range” to oversight agencies.
He said the police association wants to work with all of them, including the Ontario Special Investigations Unit and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, but added “where do you draw the line? Now they’ll be able to go back, I believe, forever, and bring up public complaints…there’s no time limit and no time restrictions.”
Stephenson said the Thunder Bay Police Association will monitor the situation but will try to work within the system that’s set up by the legislation.
“We have to work within the bounds of that Act.”
The association represents 220 uniformed officers and 110 civilians.
