Dilkens 'excited' for Ontario Civilian Police Commission report into Windsor police
Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens says he is "excited" to get his hands on a long-awaited report by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission following an investigation into the Windsor Police Service and Windsor Police Services Board.
The report coming Friday will outline the findings of an investigation launched in May of 2018 after the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) received multiple complaints from members of the service raising serious concerns about the workplace environment.
Dilkens, who was elected chair of the police board in 2015, says the investigation was prompted after "five or six" officers issued complaints.
"This was a policy and procedures review," said Dilkens, during an interview with CBC Radio's Windsor Morning. "I'm sure the community will want to read it as well myself and the entire board and find out what the recommendations are."
The mayor says he was interviewed as part of the investigations, and so were many others who were linked to the original complaints, including current and past board members and chiefs. Dilkens says the interviews are a big reason why the investigation took so long.
"In my conversations with the investigator about why it was taking so long is that they started with a very discrete set of individuals and then they would meet with others who were believed to have information and that would ... [direct] them to other people," he said.
"I feel good in my conversations with the investigator that he's certainly left no stone unturned."
A 2018 statement from the Windsor Police Service outlined the terms of reference for the investigation from the OCPC but did not include specifics about the complaints, only stating that the complaints were received from multiple members of the WPS between January and April of 2018.
"These complaints raise serious concerns about the workplace environment of the WPS, the administration of the WPS, and the oversight provided by the Windsor Police Service Board," read the statement.
The investigation was to be conducted with regard to subsection 31 (4) of the Police Services Act, which states that "the board shall not direct the chief of police with respect to specific operational decisions or with respect to the day-to-day operation of the police force."
"We'll certainly review the recommendations as a board. We'll discuss it with the chief and the administration and our goal always is to have continuous improvement and to make that organization better tomorrow than it is today," said Dilkens.
"And so I look forward to seeing those recommendations and figuring out how we can implement some or all of them."
The OCPC, an independent oversight agency that rules on policing services under the Police Services Act, also investigated allegations of a "poisoned work environment" within the WPS by administration "in relation to workplace policies and/or accommodation requests."
The investigation also expanded its scope to include the police handling of a 911 call from then-Chief Al Frederick's home in November 2018.
