Ombudsman welcomes province’s commitment to improving police de-escalation training

(TORONTO – April 3) – Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé today welcomed a news release from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, confirming it is taking steps to transform how police use force across the province, as he recommended in a 2016 report.

Read the Ministry’s bulletin here: https://news.ontario.ca/mcscs/en/2018/04/ontario-transforming-police-response-and-training.html
 
“I am pleased to see the Ministry is moving forward on my recommendations to improve police de-escalation training across the province,” Mr. Dubé said. “A new use-of-force model that emphasizes de-escalation techniques, particularly in incidents involving people with mental illnesses or who are in crisis, will help save lives, and improve public confidence in police.
 
“I look forward to seeing the Ministry’s new framework for how officers will be trained, both at the Ontario Police College and on the job,” he said.
 
Last month, the new policing bill (now the Safer Ontario Act) was amended to include de-escalation training in the requirements for all police officers, after the Ombudsman made a submission urging MPPs to do so.

To learn more, read the Ombudsman’s submission.
 
The Ombudsman’s 2016 report, A Matter of Life and Death, made 22 recommendations to the province to improve police training in the use of force, after an investigation that included scores of interviews with policing experts, families of people killed by police, and the review of best practices in other jurisdictions, and hundreds of recommendations from coroner’s inquests into police-involved deaths.
 
All of his recommendations were accepted.
 
For more information, read the Ombudsman’s report: A Matter of Life and Death.


For more information, contact:
Linda Williamson, Director of Communications
416-586-3426, lwilliamson@ombudsman.on.ca