SIU no longer investigates most off-duty sex assault complaints.
asserted
SIU → investigate → complaints
Advocates fear fewer people will come forward
Changes in police watchdog's jurisdiction over complaints about off-duty officers raises transparency concerns
The Special Investigations Unit's sexual assault caseload has been declining ever since new legislation narrowed the police watchdog's mandate and diverted complaints involving off-duty officers to local and provincial law enforcement.
CBC News compiled and analyzed data from a decade of SIU cases involving suspected sexual assault by police officers.
asserted
News → fear → officers
The independent civilian oversight body in Ontario is responsible for investigating police officers and recommending charges against them for potential criminal misconduct and is mandated to release reports on the status of their investigations.
asserted
body → investigate → investigations
In cases involving sexual assault allegations, some identifying information may be excluded for privacy reasons.
uncertain
information → involve → reasons
The Special Investigations Unit Act, which came into effect in December 2020, limited the watchdog's ability to investigate sexual assault allegations involving off-duty officers.
asserted
which → come → officers
Though there are dozens of ongoing cases so far this year, the figures have mostly been trending downward since 2021.
asserted
figures → be → 2021
What's not clear is if local police services are making up the difference by investigating cases that no longer go to the SIU.
asserted
that → make → SIU
Though some experts suggest law enforcement agencies are better equipped to investigate police-perpetrated sexual assault allegations, advocates say people could be more reluctant to report such crimes to police forces investigating their own officers.
uncertain
people → suggest → officers
They also warn that the changes could limit our understanding of the scope of the issue — unless police forces do a better job of collecting and sharing data.
uncertain
forces → warn → data
CBC News asked the Police Association of Ontario, a policing advocacy organization that represents thousands of police personnel from 46 police associations across the province, if police-led investigations into off-duty officers accused of sexual misconduct have risen correspondingly as a result of the changes to the SIU Act.
asserted
investigations → ask → Act
Mark Baxter, the organization's president, told CBC News in an email that there was no "comprehensive, publicly available" province-wide data detailing the number of those allegations, their investigations or charges.
asserted
Baxter → tell → allegations
He says SIU data shows the number of sexual assault allegations reviewed by the unit peaked in 2021, the year after the SIU Act came into effect.
asserted
Act → say → effect
"That immediately tells me that nothing changed.
asserted
nothing → tell → me
That actually, it made it easier for victims to report allegations of sexual assault," Baxter said.
asserted
Baxter → make → assault
He said he "didn't know what to make" of those numbers decreasing in subsequent years.
asserted
numbers → say → years
Power imbalance
Researchers like Danielle McNabb, an assistant professor of political science at Brock University who co-authored a study on police-involved sexual assaults using SIU data from 2005 to 2020, caution the changes to the SIU Act could limit the public's ability to understand the scope of police-perpetrated sexual violence.
uncertain
changes → co → violence
"Basically, the SIU is now empowered to investigate far fewer sexual assaults, and so I think that's why you're seeing that decline
asserted
you → empower → decline
," said McNabb.
asserted
McNabb → say → ?
Toronto police officer charged with sexual offences involving girl, SIU says
Police watchdog investigating alleged sexual assault by on-duty Ottawa officer
Ava Williams, a Toronto-based lawyer who has worked on cases involving police-perpetrated sexual violence, says the change could result in people being less inclined to report police-involved sexual assaults to law enforcement.
uncertain
people → charge → enforcement
"The SIU helps defuse the power imbalance between victims or survivors" and police, Williams said.
asserted
Williams → help → victims
She noted that she experienced a sexual assault in Ontario in 2010 that she then reported to law enforcement.
asserted
she → note → enforcement
Williams says in her experience as a lawyer, a perpetrator being a police officer "just adds another element or layer to how scary it might be to discuss a traumatic event that happened to you."
Gaps in reporting
In reference to the apparent decrease in sexual assault cases reviewed by the SIU, a spokesperson for the unit, Kristy Denette, told CBC News in an email that the overall number of reports they receive fluctuates "for a variety of reasons."
uncertain
they → say → reasons
In their 2022 study, McNabb and Kate Puddister, an associate professor in the political science department at the University of Guelph, found that more than 40 per cent of all sexual assault allegations investigated by the SIU between 2005 and 2020 had to do with off-duty police conduct.
asserted
cent → find → conduct
Puddister says their research identified cases where officers would meet their victims through their police work, then carry out assaults off duty.
asserted
officers → say → duty
"All of the concerns that we have about the power imbalance, the coercion that's possible, all of the deeply troubling things that are related to police sexual violence, are still relevant when the officer is off duty," she said.
asserted
she → have → duty
According to a 2021 Statistics Canada analysis, sexual assault is "vastly underreported" in Canada.
uncertain
assault → accord → Canada
A 2014 study found the majority of sexual assault incidents — 83 per cent — were not reported to police.
asserted
majority → find → police
StatsCan also found that the number of sexual assault incidents in Ontario's general population increased by approximately 37 per cent between 2020 and 2024.
asserted
number → find → 2020
McNabb says their research suggests underreporting is due to survivors fearing police won't believe them.
uncertain
police → say → them
"This is part of why I see this change as problematic," she said.
asserted
she → see → change
Their 2005-2020 study showed that in rare instances where the SIU laid sexual assault charges against an officer and the case went to trial, convictions were exceptionally uncommon.
asserted
convictions → show → trial
Of 689 SIU reports of sexual assault by on and off-duty officers between 2005 and 2020, only 1.59 per cent led to an eventual conviction and sentence.
asserted
cent → lead → conviction
The analysis of SIU cases by CBC News found that most sexual assault allegations investigated by the unit resulted in no charges, or were terminated without a full investigation, which could indicate the case fell outside their jurisdiction.
uncertain
case → find → jurisdiction
Sunny Marriner, a prominent Canadian sexual assault advocate whose work focuses on how survivors experience the criminal justice system, says the fact that there are numerous oversight bodies in Ontario handling police-involved sexual assault allegations creates a "fractured" information ecosystem.
asserted
fact → focus → ecosystem
That data is "probably in 10 different places" that might report it in different ways, Marriner said.
uncertain
Marriner → report → ways
She says what's needed is a centralized database of investigations into police-involved sexual misconduct to provide the kind of data that allows for progress on the issue.
asserted
that → say → issue
"The violence itself is what we have to look at, not who's addressing it."
asserted
who → have → it
Police, ex-SIU director weigh in
Howard Morton, who headed the SIU from 1992 to 1995, says limiting the independent body's mandate to exclude some off-duty conduct was "a huge mistake."
asserted
limiting → weigh → conduct
"The imbalance in power that the offender has over the victim is contributed to by the fact that that person is a police officer," Morton said.
asserted
Morton → have → fact
SIU investigating after sexual assault reported at Cardi B concert involving Hamilton police officer
SIU charges York Regional Police officer with sexual assault, breach of trust
asserted
SIU → investigate → trust
…and 9 more, not listed.
