Portions of internal reports created by Toronto police after a Special Investigations Unit investigation will now be made public, the Toronto Police Services Board announced today.
On Thursday, the board approved a motion to make select parts of section 11 reports, completed by a police service after an SIU probe into police conduct has ended, available to the public.
The Section 11 reports are required by the Police Services Act and usually contain an analysis of police policy, officer conduct or training in regards to an incident which prompted SIU involvement.
“The Board directed that the new process be implemented by June 17,” a letter from Board Chair Andy Pringle said.
But speaking after Thursday’s Police Services Board meeting, Chief Mark Saunders said that he could not be certain if actual portions of his Section 11 reports or whether it would just be some of the information contained in the report.
He said whatever information is released next month, it will not contain names of officers involved in incidents investigated by the SIU.
Saunders said he did not know if the information to be released next month would include anything the public had not heard before.
He said he is supportive of Pringle’s motion because it “helps enhance public trust when people see that we’re getting it right most of the time.”
In the meantime, Saunders said police lawyers will be working to see what information can be released from his reports without violating existing laws and regulations.
Pringle’s letter specifically calls on Saunders to release administrative reports concerning the widely-publicized shooting death of Andrew Loku.
Loku was fatally shot by Toronto police at an apartment on Gilbert Avenue, in the Caledonia and Rogers roads area, just after midnight on July 5, 2015.
Police were initially called to the apartment building for a report of a man threatening to kill a woman with a hammer.
Loku suffered from mental health issues and was a recent graduate of a construction program at George Brown College. He was shot dead by police after he approached officer in close quarters with a hammer. The SIU cleared police of any wrongdoing and as a result, did not name the officers involved in the shooting.
A protest group called Black Lives Matter Toronto has taken on the issue, camping outside Toronto Police Headquarters, demanding police release the name of the officer who killed Loku, pay compensation to his wife and children and make more information about his killing public.
The province responded by releasing a heavily-redacted, small portion of the SIU report into Loku’s killing on Apr. 29. They also pledged to review the organization’s process of how it reveals information to the public.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said he supported the decision to share elements of internal reports into police interactions with members of the public as part of a wider effort to change the way the city is policed.
“We’re in the midst right now of looking at a fundamental transformation of policing in this city,” Tory told reporters.
Pringle said the police report would help the transparency process.
“The board is confident this new process will strike the appropriate balance between the need for confidentiality and the importance of public disclosure, accountability and transparency,” Pringle said in the letter.
