Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA) comes into effect April 1st

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, March 26, 2024  10:40 am

(Ottawa) — In December 2023, the Province announced sweeping changes to the law governing policing in Ontario with Bill 68, Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019 (CSPA) that included 30 proposed Regulations that apply and extend to municipal police service. The new Bill, scheduled to come into effect on April 1st 2024, will replace the current Police Services Act (1990) and will focus on addressing community safety, enhancing police oversight, modernizing policing, and establishing consistent mandated training requirements.

Some key changes to note include:

• The public complaints process;
• The new role of the Inspector General of Policing;
• The definition of Adequate and Effective Policing; and
• Codes of Conduct for Sworn Officers and Special Constables.

The OPS presented a report to the Police Services Board yesterday and highlighted a phased approach for the implementation of the new Regulations. Our approach will consider five key factors: 

• The policing needs of the community.
• The geographic and socio-demographic characteristics of the police service’s area of policing responsibility.
• The extent to and manner in which the policing function is effectively provided in similar communities in Ontario.
• The extent to which past provision of the policing function by the police service has been effective in addressing the policing needs of the community.
• Best practices respecting the policing function. 

For years the Ottawa Police Service and the Ottawa Police Services Board have written to the Province and requested changes to the PSA, including the modernization of the discipline process, to provide the Chief of Police the ability to suspend a member without pay when the member has engaged in conduct that constitutes misconduct or unsatisfactory work performance.

Now, under the CSPA, officers can be suspended without pay if they are charged with a serious offence, while not in performance of duties, and the Chief intends to commence proceedings to seek termination.

The OPS is also pleased to see a new active attacker regulation that addresses assistance to victims and their families. It also updates required equipment standards, to increase safety for our officers.

New Public Complaints Process

The Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA), formally known as the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) will take effect as an important change to the public complaints process. LECA will retain authority over all public complaints about the conduct of police officers and issues of a systemic nature and will have the power to investigate, even absent a public complaint if it is in the public interest to do so.

The Ottawa Police Service has been working to ensure our policies and practices are in compliance with the CSPA and understand the new Act and Regulations’ impact on our Service's operations, policies and procedures.

You can consult the full CSPA that will soon come into effect on the Government of Ontario’s Website.

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Through the Community Safety Data portal data.ottawapolice.ca, members of the public can view, download, and interact with data released by the Ottawa Police Service.

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