Greater Sudbury Police Service members received 86 formal complaints from people through the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) last year.
This is a jump from the 49 formal complaints they received in 2022, and exceeds the five-year average of 51 complaints.
However, comparing previous years’ misconduct data is difficult because new thresholds and inclusion criteria have been adopted.
A report by Insp. Robert Norman highlighting these complaints was included in the agenda for the next police board meeting slated to take place at 10 a.m. on April 17.
The 86-complaint total for 2023 includes six complaints received in 2022 whose investigation concluded in 2023.
Of the 86 service complaints filed through the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) last year, seven were service/policy complaints and 79 were conduct complaints.
None of the service/policy complaints were substantiated or resulted in action taken by the service, according to Norman’s report, which noted that five have been investigated
Of the 79 conduct complaints
- 53 were not dealt with after being found frivolous, vexatious, made in bad faith or were determined not to be in the public interest to pursue
- Four were discontinued at the request of the OIPRD, with these complaints to be dealt with as determined by the director
- Seven complaints were withdrawn by the complainant prior to analysis
- One complaint was withdrawn by the complainant prior to assignment to the police service
- 13 were investigated and determined to be unsubstantiated
- Two were resolved with the complainant through an early resolution process
- Two were resolved through the OIPRD’s informal resolution process
- Six complaints are currently under investigation, to be completed in 2024
The 86 complaints encompass 140 allegations, including 51 for discreditable conduct, followed by 40 for neglect of duty and 32 for unlawful/unnecessary exercise of authority.
Last year, Chief Paul Pedersen also filed 13 complaints regarding the conduct of police officers with the Professional Standards Bureau.
This is more than double the six complaints he filed in 2022.
Of these complaints, four were unsubstantiated and three are either ongoing or to be included in 2024 statistics.
The six substantiated complaints included two for discreditable conduct, one for insubordination, two for neglect of duty and one for misconduct. Consequences included written reprimands, forfeiture of hours and training course requirements.
The April 17 board meeting agenda also includes a report on the recently released public sector salary disclosures (“The Sunshine List”), which lists 284 GSPS employees with salaries greater than $100,000 in 2023. This is an increase of 34 from the previous list.
“The main contributing factors to new members being on the list this year are wage step increases, collective agreement settlements, retroactive pay, pay equity, overtime, and paid duty,” according to the report.
The Sunshine List has been in place since 1996, and has always used a threshold of $100,000. Adjusted for general inflation, the report notes the threshold would be almost $175,000, which only eight GSPS employees hit.
Wednesday’s board meeting begins at 10 a.m. and will take place at police headquarters (190 Brady St.) in the Alex McCauley Boardroom on the building’s fifth floor.
Members of the public can attend the meeting in-person by requesting an escort to the fifth floor at the customer service desk on the main floor of police headquarters.
The meeting can also be livestreamed on Zoom by clicking here. The Meeting ID is 874 5553 5165, and the passcode is 532854.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
