When the Police Break the Law: The Investigation, Prosecution and Sentencing of Ontario Police Officers

Danielle Mcnabb,Kate Puddister

doi:10.1017/cls.2021.3

Abstract

AbstractCommunity trust in law enforcement and confidence in the administration of justice is put to the ultimate test when police officers act outside the limits prescribed by the criminal law. External and civilian oversight of the police can be essential to investigate and respond to allegations of police criminality and impropriety. However, little is known about the investigations completed by civilian oversight agencies and the prosecution of police officers. In this paper, we analyze 159 investigations by the Ontario Special Investigations Unit over a fifteen-year period. We examine each case from the laying of charges to prosecution through to sentencing. We provide an empirical analysis of how the justice system responds to police officers charged with a criminal offence. We situate these findings within the context of the broader justice system and police oversight. At the same time, we observe certain differences between the Canadian and American approaches to dealing with police offenders accused and convicted of criminal offences.

Highlights

When sentencing former police officer James Forcillo for the police shooting that killed Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar, Justice noted: “when a police officer has committed a serious crime of violence by breaking the law which the officer is sworn to uphold it is the duty of the court to firmly denounce that conduct in an effort to repair and to affirm the trust that must exist between the community and the police”
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) reports how often charges are laid, little is known about the nature of the offences committed; nor do we have an understanding of the prosecution, trial process, and sentencing for police officers, and how this mechanism of police oversight functions in practice
There is a growing body of American literature on the prosecution of police officers, there is no such scholarship in Canada

Summary

Introduction

When sentencing former police officer James Forcillo for the police shooting that killed Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar, Justice noted: “when a police officer has committed a serious crime of violence by breaking the law which the officer is sworn to uphold it is the duty of the court to firmly denounce that conduct in an effort to repair and to affirm the trust that must exist between the community and the police” The SIU reports how often charges are laid, little is known about the nature of the offences committed; nor do we have an understanding of the prosecution, trial process, and sentencing for police officers, and how this mechanism of police oversight functions in practice

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion