Special Investigations Unit
Encyclopedia
The Special Investigations Unit (“SIU” or the “Unit”) of Ontario
, Canada
, is a civilian agency responsible for investigating circumstances involving police and civilians that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault. However all full-time SIU investigators are former law enforcement personnel or have worked for law enforcement agencies. The SIU claims to be dedicated to maintaining one law
, ensuring equal justice
before the law among both the police
and the public
. Their goal is to ensure that the criminal law is applied appropriately to police conduct, as determined through independent investigations, increasing public confidence in the police services.
Complaints involving police conduct that do not result in a serious injury or death must be referred to the appropriate police service or to another oversight agency, such as the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services.
police officers with criminal offences. The SIU is a unique investigative provincial body, representing approximately 23,000 police officers from municipal, regional
, and provincial
services. However, the SIU does not have the authority to investigate First Nations
constables, or Federal police officers such as Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) officers or Military Police.
Ontario is the first province to have such a civilian oversight agency in place, and one of the few jurisdictions worldwide with an independent civilian agency. (In 2007 Alberta created the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, and in June 2011, B.C. passed Bill 12, creating an Independent Investigations Office) As a result, the SIU has become a model of civilian oversight for other jurisdictions in the light of the international movement towards greater civilian accountability of the police.
Civilian oversight of police services has become an important accountability mechanism to police powers. The role of the SIU is not necessarily to lay charges against police officers but to investigate and to assure the community that the conduct of the police is subject to independent scrutiny.
The SIU strives to maintain community confidence in Ontario’s police services by assuring the public that the actions of the police are subject to independent investigations. They are completely independent of the police and have an arms-length relationship with the government. This means that although the SIU Director reports to the Attorney General
, the decision-making on cases and their day-to-day activities are independent of the government.
Before the SIU, police services investigated themselves or in some instances, another police service was assigned to conduct the investigation.
In 1988, the Ontario government established the Task Force on Race Relations and Policing as a result of a fatal shooting by police of two black men. During the hearings conducted by the Task Force, there was public concern about the integrity of the process in which police officers investigated other police officers, particularly of police shootings where a member of the public had been wounded or killed. There was a lack of public confidence in a system where police policed themselves.
The Task Force’s report recommended changes in the law on the use of force by the police. As a result, the SIU was formed in 1990 under a new Ontario Police Services Act. Initially, the SIU was headquartered in Toronto
, but in 2000 it moved to the current location at 5090 Commerce Boulevard, Mississauga, Ontario
, L4W 5M4.
, lawyers, coroners, medical professionals, and people who feel the police have injured them.
Once the SIU is notified, an Investigative Supervisor gathers information to determine whether the complaint/incident falls within their mandate. If so, they will begin investigating.
The objective of every SIU investigation is to determine whether there is evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of the police. Although the circumstances of every case are unique, the approach to most investigations is the same. The investigative process begins by assigning a lead investigator and as many investigators, forensic identification technicians, and resources as necessary.
Investigations typically involve:
Once all of the facts are gathered, the Director then makes a decision whether there are reasonable grounds to lay a criminal charge against a police officer.
and police backgrounds. In the 2006-07 fiscal year, the majority of the full-time investigators came from civilian backgrounds. All of the Unit’s investigators have extensive experience investigating serious incidents, such as deaths, sexual assault allegations, serious assaults, shootings, and motor vehicle incidents. The average investigative experience among over 40 investigators and forensic identification technicians is 29 years.
SIU investigators now have state-of-the-art audio video rooms, secure evidence and file storage facilities and project rooms.
In the beginning, due to a shortage of resources, the SIU often relied on the OPP for forensic investigation assistance and would involve the police services for interviewing witnesses. Similarly, there were also many cases where the SIU would allow the police service involved in the investigation to investigate the entire incident, while the SIU oversaw that investigation. This was a problem because the public still saw the police being policed by the police. As a result, the SIU's budget was increased to $4.7 million in the 1999-2000 fiscal year.
Currently, the SIU is equipped with their own in-house forensic identification team, staffed entirely by civilians. They are now well equipped with tools and personnel. The in-house forensic identification team is an important part of most investigations. It is managed by two supervisors and staffed by a handful of forensic identification technicians and includes a fully equipped laboratory. They are not equipped with enough scene examination and evidence gathering supplies to investigate effectively.
The forensics identification team is responsible for protecting, collecting, preserving, and analyzing the physical evidence. Their duties include the interpretation of trace evidence and recording of the autopsy
process. The team has particular expertise in several areas of forensics
, including collision reconstructions, scene mapping, and bloodstain pattern analysis
. They also liaise with scientists at the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Ontario and other external experts for DNA analysis and ballistics
.
If the director believes that a criminal offence has occurred, a charge is laid and the SIU refers the matter to the Justice of Prosecutions of the Criminal Law Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The charge is then prosecuted through the courts.
List of directors:
The APC takes the lead in liaising with affected individuals and/or families. The primary function of the APC is to do a very specific kind of outreach by helping persons impacted by the SIU investigations access required support services, such as professional counselling, financial assistance or admission into rehabilitation programs.
The APC also sends condolences to families that experience a death as a result of the police action that the SIU is investigating, and follows up to offer further assistance. The Coordinator’s services are available on a 24/7 basis and can be offered over the telephone or in person.
Ontario Ombudsman Andre Martin launched an investigation and released a scathing 121 page report, for allowing the Police to conduct their own investigations into officers and for adopting an impotence stance when challenged by Police. Marin said "There's no doubt in my mind that an SIU investigation is one which is currently done through blue-coloured glasses. There is no doubt that there is a police bias in their approach to investigations". "The SIU has not only become complacent about ensuring that police officials follow the rules, it has bought into the fallacious argument that SIU investigations aren't like other criminal cases and it is acceptable to treat police witnesses differently from civilians," the report said.
However, the attorney general states that;
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, is a civilian agency responsible for investigating circumstances involving police and civilians that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault. However all full-time SIU investigators are former law enforcement personnel or have worked for law enforcement agencies. The SIU claims to be dedicated to maintaining one law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, ensuring equal justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
before the law among both the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
and the public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
. Their goal is to ensure that the criminal law is applied appropriately to police conduct, as determined through independent investigations, increasing public confidence in the police services.
Complaints involving police conduct that do not result in a serious injury or death must be referred to the appropriate police service or to another oversight agency, such as the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services.
Overview
As a civilian law enforcement agency, the SIU has the power and authority to investigate and chargeCriminal charge
A criminal charge is a formal accusation made by a governmental authority asserting that somebody has committed a crime. A charging document, which contains one or more criminal charges or counts, can take several forms, including:* complaint...
police officers with criminal offences. The SIU is a unique investigative provincial body, representing approximately 23,000 police officers from municipal, regional
Régional
Régional Compagnie Aérienne Européenne, or Régional for short, is a subsidiary airline wholly owned by Air France which connects hubs at Paris, Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, and Bordeaux to 49 airports in Europe. The airline operates in Air France livery, retaining its name in small titles and logo on...
, and provincial
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
services. However, the SIU does not have the authority to investigate First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
constables, or Federal police officers such as Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) officers or Military Police.
Ontario is the first province to have such a civilian oversight agency in place, and one of the few jurisdictions worldwide with an independent civilian agency. (In 2007 Alberta created the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, and in June 2011, B.C. passed Bill 12, creating an Independent Investigations Office) As a result, the SIU has become a model of civilian oversight for other jurisdictions in the light of the international movement towards greater civilian accountability of the police.
Civilian oversight of police services has become an important accountability mechanism to police powers. The role of the SIU is not necessarily to lay charges against police officers but to investigate and to assure the community that the conduct of the police is subject to independent scrutiny.
The SIU strives to maintain community confidence in Ontario’s police services by assuring the public that the actions of the police are subject to independent investigations. They are completely independent of the police and have an arms-length relationship with the government. This means that although the SIU Director reports to the Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, the decision-making on cases and their day-to-day activities are independent of the government.
History
In 1988, the Ontario government established the Task Force on Race Relations and Policing as a result of a fatal shooting by police of two black men. During the hearings conducted by the Task Force, there was public concern about the integrity of the process in which police officers investigated other police officers, particularly of police shootings where a member of the public had been wounded or killed. There was a lack of public confidence in a system where police policed themselves.
The Task Force’s report recommended changes in the law on the use of force by the police. As a result, the SIU was formed in 1990 under a new Ontario Police Services Act. Initially, the SIU was headquartered in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, but in 2000 it moved to the current location at 5090 Commerce Boulevard, Mississauga, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, L4W 5M4.
Notification
There are two ways that the SIU becomes notified: by police officers or by public request. The police are legally obligated to notify the SIU to report any incidents that may fall within the SIU’s jurisdiction, which is set out in section 113 of the Police Services Act. Also, the SIU receives and acts on many requests from members of the mediaNews media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
, lawyers, coroners, medical professionals, and people who feel the police have injured them.
Once the SIU is notified, an Investigative Supervisor gathers information to determine whether the complaint/incident falls within their mandate. If so, they will begin investigating.
The investigation
Investigations typically involve:
- Examining the scene and securing all physical evidence;
- Seeking out and obtaining the cooperation of witnesses and taking their statements;
- Monitoring the medical condition of those who have been injured, notifying the families in death cases and keeping them informed on the progress of the investigation;
- Consulting with the coroner if there has been a death;
- Securing potentially relevant police equipment for forensic examination; and
- Submitting an investigation brief, which is reviewed by the Investigative Supervisor, the Executive Officer and finally, the Director.
Once all of the facts are gathered, the Director then makes a decision whether there are reasonable grounds to lay a criminal charge against a police officer.
Investigators
SIU investigators come from both civilianCivilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
and police backgrounds. In the 2006-07 fiscal year, the majority of the full-time investigators came from civilian backgrounds. All of the Unit’s investigators have extensive experience investigating serious incidents, such as deaths, sexual assault allegations, serious assaults, shootings, and motor vehicle incidents. The average investigative experience among over 40 investigators and forensic identification technicians is 29 years.
SIU investigators now have state-of-the-art audio video rooms, secure evidence and file storage facilities and project rooms.
Forensics identification team
Currently, the SIU is equipped with their own in-house forensic identification team, staffed entirely by civilians. They are now well equipped with tools and personnel. The in-house forensic identification team is an important part of most investigations. It is managed by two supervisors and staffed by a handful of forensic identification technicians and includes a fully equipped laboratory. They are not equipped with enough scene examination and evidence gathering supplies to investigate effectively.
The forensics identification team is responsible for protecting, collecting, preserving, and analyzing the physical evidence. Their duties include the interpretation of trace evidence and recording of the autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
process. The team has particular expertise in several areas of forensics
Forensics
Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...
, including collision reconstructions, scene mapping, and bloodstain pattern analysis
Bloodstain pattern analysis
Bloodstain pattern analysis is one of several specialties in the field of forensic science. The use of bloodstains as evidence is not new; however, the application of modern science has brought it to a higher level...
. They also liaise with scientists at the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Ontario and other external experts for DNA analysis and ballistics
Ballistics
Ballistics is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.A ballistic body is a body which is...
.
The Director
Most SIU investigations lead to a decision by the Director about whether she or he has reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal offence has occurred. If the director does not feel that a criminal offence has occurred, the Attorney General is notified in a written report and the case is closed.If the director believes that a criminal offence has occurred, a charge is laid and the SIU refers the matter to the Justice of Prosecutions of the Criminal Law Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The charge is then prosecuted through the courts.
List of directors:
- Ian D. Scott QC 2008-
- James Cornish 2004-2008
- John SutherlandJohn SutherlandJohn Andrew Sutherland is an English academic, emeritus professor, newspaper columnist and author.John Sutherland is now Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. After graduating from the University of Leicester in 1964, he began his academic...
LLB 2003-2004 - former provincial Crown Attorney - Peter A. Tinsley LLB 1999-2002 - (now Chair of the Federal Government's Military Police Complaints Commission)
- Andre MarinAndré MarinAndré Marin is the Ombudsman of Ontario. He was appointed in April 2005 and reappointed in June 2010 to a second five-year term...
1996-1998 - James M. Stewart QC 1996 - acting director
- Mr. Justice John Osler 1990-5
Affected Persons Coordinator (APC)
Dealing in a compassionate and respectful manner with injured persons and families of those whose deaths are subject of an investigation is a top priority. To highlight this commitment, an Affected Persons Coordinator (APC) position was developed in 2005, contributing to the ability of the Unit to respond meaningfully to the social needs of those persons impacted by the SIU investigations.The APC takes the lead in liaising with affected individuals and/or families. The primary function of the APC is to do a very specific kind of outreach by helping persons impacted by the SIU investigations access required support services, such as professional counselling, financial assistance or admission into rehabilitation programs.
The APC also sends condolences to families that experience a death as a result of the police action that the SIU is investigating, and follows up to offer further assistance. The Coordinator’s services are available on a 24/7 basis and can be offered over the telephone or in person.
Occurrences
There were 238 occurrences in the 2006-07 fiscal year. The most the SIU has had in a given year.| Types of Occurrences | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firearm Deaths | 9 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| Firearm Injuries | 12 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 11 |
| Custody Deaths | 24 | 12 | 18 | 21 | 18 | 19 | 17 | 26 | 15 | 22 | 35 |
| Custody Injuries | 42 | 52 | 65 | 68 | 85 | 75 | 86 | 90 | 58 | 107 | 129 |
| Vehicle Deaths | 8 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 5 |
| Vehicle Injuries | 57 | 56 | 64 | 43 | 36 | 31 | 21 | 41 | 30 | 25 | 28 |
| Sexual Assault Complaints | 8 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 15 | 9 | 16 | 11 | 23 | 24 |
| Other Injuries/Deaths | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 160 | 148 | 180 | 156 | 177 | 162 | 151 | 192 | 137 | 204 | 238 |
| Number of cases in which charges laid (number of officers charged in parentheses) | 3 | 2 | 3 (6) | 6 (6) | 5 (9) | 4 (5) | 4 (4) | 2 (2) | 3 (4) | 4 (4) | 2 (2) |
Accusations of bias
Some have criticized as the SIU have almost always cleared the officers they investigated.Ontario Ombudsman Andre Martin launched an investigation and released a scathing 121 page report, for allowing the Police to conduct their own investigations into officers and for adopting an impotence stance when challenged by Police. Marin said "There's no doubt in my mind that an SIU investigation is one which is currently done through blue-coloured glasses. There is no doubt that there is a police bias in their approach to investigations". "The SIU has not only become complacent about ensuring that police officials follow the rules, it has bought into the fallacious argument that SIU investigations aren't like other criminal cases and it is acceptable to treat police witnesses differently from civilians," the report said.
However, the attorney general states that;
Civilian oversight in the form of the SIU was intended to assist chiefs of police in shouldering their daunting duties, not to be an irritant. The fact that the SIU overwhelmingly clears officers should be seen by the [public] as an endorsement of good policing.
Affiliations
- CACOLE – The Canadian Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement
- First Nations Liaison Program – to foster a constructive growth in the SIU’s relationship with First Nations communities.
- The SIU also runs several presentations and lectures at academic institutions, community centres, trade shows, jobs of professional associations. This is a positive interaction with the community, police officers and young people to educate them about the role and responsibility of the SIU.