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Document
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PO-1708
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File #
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PA-980337-1
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Institution/HIC
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Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services
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Summary
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BACKGROUND: On July 22, 1992, the Ontario Provincial Police (the OPP) received a complaint that two OPP officers had failed to thoroughly investigate an incident involving an alleged assault on a man by another individual. The complaint was submitted pursuant to Part VI of the Police Services Act (the PSA ), in force at the time of the complaint. The complaint against one of the officers was subsequently withdrawn. An OPP Staff Sergeant was assigned to conduct an internal investigation. After completing the investigation, the Staff Sergeant issued a final report to the OPP Professional Standards Branch (now the OPP Professional Standards Bureau) on February 22, 1993, which concluded that the complaint was not substantiated. This finding was subsequently reviewed by the Police Complaints Commissioner (PCC) under Part VI of the PSA . NATURE OF THE APPEAL: The Ministry of the Attorney General received a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ) for access to the contents of the public complaint file relating to the complaint made to the PCC. The request letter, along with 124 pages of responsive records was transferred by the Ministry of the Attorney General to the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services (the Ministry) on the basis that this Ministry had a greater interest in those records. The Ministry also received a separate request for these same 124 pages of records. The requester was the wife of the man who made the original complaint to the OPP. The Ministry denied access to the records in their entirety, claiming they fell outside the scope of the Act pursuant to sections 65(6)1 and 3 of the Act . The requester (now the appellant) appealed this decision (Appeal P-9800108). Following my review of the records and the representations received respecting the above appeal, I issued Order P-1618, in which I found that sections 65(6)1 and 3 did not apply and that the records were subject to the provisions of the Act . I ordered the Ministry to issue an access decision to the appellant, in accordance with the provisions of sections 26 and 29 of the Act . Shortly after the issuance of Order P-1618, the Ministry applied to Divisional Court for a judicial review of my order. In addition, the Ministry brought a motion to the Court seeking an interim order staying the effect of Provisions 1 and 4 of Order P-1618. I decided to stay the effect of the provisions of Order P-1618 pending the outcome of the motion. The Court dismissed the Ministry's motion for a stay of Provisions 1 and 4, and the Ministry then complied with Order P-1618 and issued a decision respecting access under the Act . The Ministry denied access in full to all records pursuant to sections 14(2)(a), 49(a), 21(1) and 49(b) of the Act . The appellant appealed this decision (Appeal P-980337-1). A Notice of Inquiry was sent to the appellant and to the Ministry, and representations were received from both parties. RECORDS: The records at issue in this appeal consist of 124 pages of documents all of which relate to the original complaint made to the OPP. They consist of occurrence reports, "will say" statements, duty reports, a witness list, police officer's notes, Reasons For Judgement in a case involving the appellant's husband, a summons, an Information, correspondence, and interim and final reports prepared following completion of the OPP investigation into the original complaint. The records are numbered by the Ministry as pages 79-202, and I will use this numbering scheme in my order. DISCUSSION: PERSONAL INFORMATION Under section 2(1) of the Act , "personal information" is defined, in part, to mean recorded information about an identifiable individual. All records relate to the investigation by the OPP of the complaint made by the appellant's husband, and I find that they all include his personal information. Several pages also contain information gathered from or about the appellant during the course of the investigation, and I find that these portions also contain her personal information. The appellant has provided a signed consent from her husband, agreeing to the disclosure of any of his personal information to her. Therefore, the appellant and her husband are acting together in this matter, and I will at times refer to these individuals interchangeably as "the appellant" for the remainder of this order. All of the records at issue in this appeal were prepared by the OPP in the course of investigating a complaint regarding the conduct of a police officer under the PSA . Investigations of this nature could lead to a finding of violation of the provisions of the PSA . As such, I find that all of the records, in the context of this complaint investigation, also contain the personal information of the police officer who was the subject of the complaint. Some records or parts of records also involve statements and notes taken by the OPP during the course of the investigation from other witnesses; duty reports prepared by the OPP summarizing investigative activity; and documents reflecting other related complaints made to the OPP during the same time period. I find that these records or portions of records contain the personal information of other identifiable individuals, as well as the appellant. Section 47(1) of the Act gives individuals a general right of access to their own personal information held by a government body. However, section 49 provides a number of exceptions to this general right of access. INVASION OF PRIVACY Under section 49(b) of the Act , where a record contains the personal information of both the appellant and other individuals, and the institution determines that the disclosure of the information would constitute an unjustified invasion of another individual's personal privacy, the institution has the discretion to deny the requester access to that information. Sections 21(2), (3) and (4) of the Act provide guidance in determining whether disclosure
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Legislation
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FIPPA
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14(2)(a)
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21(3)(b)
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49(a)
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49(b)
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Subject Index
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Signed by
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Tom Mitchinson
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Published
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Aug 25, 1999
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Type
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Order – Interim
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Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
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