Despite an uptick in one area, the South Simcoe Police Service continues its trend of receiving few complaints from the community.
The service released its semi-annual report on complaints covering Jan. 1 to June 30, as part of the Bradford West Gwillimbury/Innisfil Police Services Board meeting at the Innisfil Town Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 25.
The first half of 2024 saw four conduct complaints — down from seven in the first half of last year — of which three were screened out with the remaining complaint referred to the service for investigation and resolved informally.
There were no policy/service complaints, down from one in the first half of last year.
“I feel good about it,” Chief John Van Dyke said in an interview after the meeting of receiving so few complaints. “I think we’re doing our job and it means that at least the policies and the way we police the community, we don’t get a lot of complaints about it.
"It’s not that we’ve never had them, but we don’t get many, so that’s good," the chief added.
That’s part of an ongoing trend for the service of “very low” numbers of complaints seen in previous reports.
“To me as chief, it means our members are out there doing a good job and being civil,” Van Dyke said.
While the new Community Safety and Policing Act came into effect in Ontario on April 1, the complaints covered in this week’s report fall under the previous Police Services Act, through which a member of the public could file a complaint with the Office of Independent Police Review Directorate (OIPRD) about the policies or services of a police force, or about the conduct of a police officer.
The Director of the OIPRD then reviews the complaint and determines whether to proceed or screen it out for being frivolous, vexatious, made in bad faith or if it is made more than six months after the incident occurred.
The only area of increase was the four internal chief’s complaints, up from just one in the first half of last year, with three of the four against a single officer for similar behaviour in three separate incidents, according to the chief.
“Everybody is innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “But it’s concerning, and it was a rather serious complaint that I can’t discuss.”
Van Dyke requested all three complaints be investigated by another chief to ensure the process is “open and transparent and as bias free as possible.”
Reports of those investigations are only made public if they result in charges, and otherwise remain part of the internal disciplinary process, according to the chief.
While those complaints remain under investigation, the remaining unrelated complaint was handled internally and resulted in informal discipline.
There was also one Special Investigations Unit (SIU) probe — the same amount as in the first half of 2023.
First reported to the SIU on Oct. 7, 2023, the case involved an allegation of sexual assault, and the investigation concluded in February this year, according to the report.
While the SIU says no charges have been laid, they have not said if the accused was fully cleared.
“It’s always good when the SIU doesn’t lay charges,” Van Dyke said, but added the service still has an ongoing investigation into the matter on which he couldn’t comment.
According to an investigation status update from the SIU, the director has chosen to withhold publication of their report on the matter, but has provided a copy to the complainant.
“The release of information related to investigations of sexual assault allegations is always associated with a risk of further deterring what is an under-reported crime,” the update says.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of police officers and some other officials that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
