Police Oversight

We oversee the fairness of the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and the Toronto Police Services Board’s (TPSB) policies, practices, and procedures. We look at the impact of their policies, practices, and procedures on the lives of people in Toronto, leading to systemic improvements and fairer policing.

What We Can Do

Take a systemic approach.
Identify any unfairness and recommend ways that the TPS and TPSB can improve the fairness of their services.
Monitor the status of our recommendations to make sure they are successfully completed by the TPS and TPSB.
Have full independence, discretion, and control over what we investigate.

What We Can’t Do

When Toronto City Council directed this new oversight, they were clear that it should not duplicate the work of existing oversight agencies or offices. This means that we cannot:

Take complaints from members of the public, TPS personnel, or anyone else.*
Investigate individual police conduct.
Look into employment or labour relations issues.

*While we cannot look into complaints from the public, we encourage you to contact our office if you believe there is a fairness issue with TPS and TPSB’s policies, procedures, and programs that you think we should be aware of. Further, if we do receive complaints about TPS or TPSB, we will refer you to the right place to make your complaint.

More information about our Toronto Police oversight is available in our Memorandum of Understanding with the Toronto Police Service and Toronto Police Services Board.

Police Oversight Updates from Ombudsman Toronto

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Toronto Ombudsman finds major gaps with police’s registry for vulnerable persons

In his first Toronto police investigation, “An Investigation into the Toronto Police Service’s Communications About its Vulnerable Persons Registry,” Ombudsman Addo finds that the communications failures and poor management have prevented the registry from doing its job.

Ombudsman to Investigate the Toronto Police’s Vulnerable Persons Registry

Toronto's Ombudsman Kwame Addo has launched an investigation into the Toronto Police Service’s Vulnerable Persons Registry (VPR) to determine if its communication to the public about the registry is adequate and fair.

Ombudsman Toronto Announces Groundbreaking Agreement with Toronto Police

The City of Toronto Ombudsman has reached a landmark oversight agreement with the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB).