The province’s new Community Safety and Policing Act went into effect on April 1 but Belleville’s Police Chief says it will be likely be a couple of years before all the act’s regulations are fully developed.
Chief Mike Callaghan says while there are a lot of moving parts, it does contain a regulation the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police has long been advocating for.
Callaghan says the new act contains legislation making it easier for chiefs to suspend officers without pay.
“In the previous Police Services Act, there really wasn’t a position or a provision for us to be able to be in a position to suspend an officer without pay when that individual was either under investigation for a criminal act and/or charged with a criminal act.”
“And it even extends itself further, is that there’s significantly more legislation in around the duties or the requirements of a police services board in the areas of the accountability, performance standard and mandated training.”
The new act is replacing its 34-year-old predecessor and has 263 sections making it more than 100 parts longer than the previous act.
