Investigation of Sault police by independent police review office expanded

Tim Mitchell says Sault Ste. Marie Police Services members have been waging a campaign of harassment against him since the extent of the injuries he sustained while being arrested by Sault police officers in 2016 became public.

The scope of an investigation by the Ontario Independent Police Review Director into allegations of excessive force by Sault police has been expanded to include these more recent allegations of harassment, the Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board heard during it's meeting on Tuesday.

The wait for more reports to be finalized concerning Tim Mitchell’s arrest continues after the Sault man’s legal counsel filed a civil lawsuit against the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service in connection with his March 26, 2016 arrest by city police officers heard members of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board on Tuesday.

Mitchell suffered several injuries stemming from a blow to the abdomen by a Sault Police officer when he was arrested, charged with resisting arrest and failing to comply with a recognizance condition that he not consume alcohol.

Mitchell and his family, on March 27, launched a civil lawsuit seeking $6.5 million in damages from the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, claiming officers actions during his arrest two years ago involved "excessive, unnecessary and unlawful" force.

In addition, the civil action, filed by Toronto lawyer Davin Charney, contains “an allegation that unnamed officers from our Service have harassed Mr. Mitchell by engaging him in traffic stops and charging him with provincial offences. This allegation is a new allegation and was part of the allegations filed with the OIPRD (Office of the Independent Police Review Director) on behalf of Mr. Mitchell,” wrote Sault Police Deputy Chief Sean Sparling in a written report prepared for the Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board.  

“It’s within the purview of the OIPRD and we’ll wait for their comments on it…it would be inappropriate for us to actually look into it at this point before the OIPRD. It’s for them to make the determination at this point,” Sparling told SooToday when asked to comment on the allegations of harassment, after the open portion of Tuesday’s Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board regular monthly meeting.

The OIPRD is an oversight body which carries out investigations involving police.

Police announced in March the OIPRD would look into the Mitchell arrest.

“It’ll take some time…how long it will take, we have no idea. It could be months,” Sparling told Police Services board member Marchy Bruni when he asked the deputy chief when the OIPRD report will be complete.

The OIPRD report is still being finalized and will be submitted to Sparling, but the deputy chief told reporters Tuesday “I don’t think that there will be more public information given out until the OIPRD has completed their side of the investigation.” 

Sault Police officers, Sparling said Tuesday, have been given refresher training in regard to treatment of arrested individuals.

“I’ve communicated with them recently at a supervisors training seminar that we have…and I’ll communicate back to the staff again and provide them with some direction to review different policies.”

“The policies and procedures already exist. They (the officers in charge of lockup procedures) are well versed in it already and this will just be a reminder to them,” Sparling said.

In its investigation, the OIPRD will examine how Mitchell was treated by officers in the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service building’s cell area the day of his arrest by examining video tapes of the cell area.

A portion of those tapes containing the image and voice of an adjacent prisoner in the cell area has been excised, however, for privacy reasons.

“What’s really important for the public to know is the entire event of what happened in the cells is captured on video, it’s all there, it’s just that there are multiple camera angles and some of the camera angles would have captured Mr. Mitchell as well as a cellmate next door, so it’s the cellmate next door piece which has been excised,” Sparling told SooToday.

A separate Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) investigation into the arrest and subsequent events wrapped up “a couple of weeks ago,” Sparling told reporters.

A report from Sparling to the board stated the PSB found “there was a gap identified in the policy (following Mitchell’s arrest). The gap was that there was no clear language directing the Officer in Charge of the lockup to ensure that a prisoner was searched prior to being placed in a cell…The policy will be updated to reflect this best practice.”

Ontario Police College (OPC) staff will begin their own review of use of force training in connection to Mitchell’s arrest May 13, Sparling said, “for a few days…to do some on site observations and inspections.”

Sparling told reporters he did not know when the OPC will issue its own report on the Mitchell arrest.

Meanwhile, Sparling said Sault Police will look into extending the period of time cell area video is retained.

Currently, tapes are retained for six months.  

Sparling said various police services have different video retention periods, and Sault Police will have to determine how long their own video retention periods will be in future. 

“I know from past experience there used to be probably about a year’s worth of data we have, and I think it’s about six months right now…we have to increase the capacity for the servers.”

Sparling said how much more video storage space to be added is something for Sault Police to decide when they go through their next budget discussions, as adding more server space comes with a cost.

Typically, Sparling said, police budget discussions come up in the summer, ready for the Police Services Board to look at in September in order for the budget to go before city council later in the year.

On Feb. 20, 2018, Ontario Court Justice John Condon ruled the actions of Sault Police officers violated Mitchell's rights under two sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, his right to security of person and right to retain and instruct counsel violated.

It was determined excessive force was used by police and the charges against Mitchell were dropped.

In Nov. 2016, the province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) determined there were no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against Constable Matthew Keating in connection with Mitchell's injuries.

Editor's note: Comments on this story have been disabled due to the fact that it is a current case before the courts.