Ontario’s police complaints system is taking a “step backwards” with new legislation that will reduce the independence of its investigations, says the departing head of the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.
Gerry McNeilly — who has been the OIPRD director since the watchdog’s creation in 2008 — left his role Friday, the same week Doug Ford’s government passed its Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act (COPS) governing policing and civilian police oversight.