December 17, 2002

The Honourable Ernie Eves
Premier of Ontario
Room 281, Main Legislative Building
Toronto ON M7A 1A1

Dear Premier Eves:

I am writing to express our support for Bill 220, An Act to amend the Police Services Act with respect to the disciplining of police officers and to reinstate a fair and impartial process with respect to public complaints about police officers.

It is essential that the tremendous amount of power entrusted to the Police to enable them to protect and serve our community is balanced by an equally powerful standard of accountability. To ensure the trust of the public, and in particular vulnerable individuals and groups, a system for handling complaints against the police which is independent from the police themselves is imperative. It is also imperative that third party complaints are allowed to ensure a means of seeking protection for those who are unable to bring complaints themselves, and to help identify systemic problems which may not be evident to those overseeing the police services.

Such a system as is proposed in this legislation will provide an important step toward establishing the level of accountability and trust needed to reassure all citizens of Ontario that they will be treated fairly and safely. We urge you to support this Bill.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Richard L. Hudler
CLGRO Chair

cc:
Howard Hampton, MPP
Dalton McGuinty, MPP
George Smitherman, MPP
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