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MO-1313

Document		MO-1313


Institution/HIC		Toronto Police Services Board


Summary		BACKGROUND AND NATURE OF THE APPEAL: The appellant submitted a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the provincial Act ) to the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services (the Ministry) for access to "... all records, logs, notes, forms, etc. including medical records by attending physicians and/or nurses" pertaining to the requester during his incarceration at a named detention centre. The Ministry located a number of responsive records, including 18 pages of Toronto Police Services Board (the Police) records. The Ministry issued a decision relating to all records other than these 18 pages, and transferred the portion of the request relating to the 18 pages to the Police, pursuant to section 25 of the provincial Act . [The appellant appealed the Ministry's decision (Appeal PA-990190-1), which I have since dealt with in Order PO-1772.] The Police issued a decision to the appellant under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ), granting full access to 14 of the 18 transferred pages, and partial access to the remaining four pages. The Police claimed sections 9(1)(d) and 14(1) of the Act as the basis for denying access, and relied on the "presumed unjustified invasion of personal privacy" in section 14(3)(b) and the factor listed under section 14(2)(g) in support of the section 14(1) exemption claim. The pages at issue consist of the withheld portions of a "Crown Brief Cover" (page 3), a "Confidential Crown Envelope" (page 4) and a one-page Record of Arrest (page 6). Page 13 is a duplicate of page 6, so any decisions I make with respect to page 6 will apply to page 13. The appellant appealed the decision to deny access to the severed portions of these pages. He also claimed that more responsive records should exist. During mediation, the appellant pointed out that the portion of page 5 which contained his photograph was not legible, and asked for a new digital copy of the photo. The Police acknowledged that the quality of the photograph was poor, but explained that it was a printout of a digital black and white photo stored on its computer, and they were unable to produce a better copy. The Police also took the position that the appellant's request for a new digital photo was outside the scope of his original request. This issue was not resolved during mediation, and has been added to the scope of this inquiry. Also during mediation, it was determined that pages 1 and 9 of the records, which were both disclosed to the appellant, include the notation "Page 1 of 2"; however the appellant did not receive the second page of either of these records. This issue was also not resolved during mediation, and has been added to the scope of this inquiry. I sent a Notice of Inquiry initially to the Police. Because the records appear to contain the appellant's personal information, I included sections 38(a) and (b) of the Act within the scope of the inquiry. One paragraph on page 4 and part of page 3 are not legible on the copies of these records provided to the appellant and to this Office. The Police were asked to provide clear copies of these records and/or an explanation as to their content in their representations. The Police submitted representations. I then sent the Notice of Inquiry to the appellant together with the relevant and non-confidential portions of the Police's representations. The appellant did not submit representations in response. PRELIMINARY MATTERS : Three preliminary matters need to be addressed before I proceed with the substantive issues in this appeal: Whether the appellant's request for a digital copy of his photograph which appears on page 5 is an expansion of the original request. Whether the Police should be required to search for the "page 2" portions referred to on pages 1 and 9 of the records disclosed to the appellant. Whether the Police should be required to produce more legible copies of pages 3 and 4 of the records. The Police submit the following with respect to these issues: Needless to say, these 18 pages were not created during the stated time period, nor were they created at the locations referenced in the request. These 18 pages were located within a Ministry's file and transferred to this institution. Had the pages themselves not been transferred, and the request on its own sent, this institution would not have been in a position to reply as the request is specific as to the records sought. In keeping with the spirit of the Act, and in order to resolve an issue related to Appeal PA-990190-1, this institution agreed to accept the transfer. ... The only Toronto Police Service records at issue, therefore, are those transferred by the Ministry, as a result of their search (how else could this institution possibly know what records [of ours] were responsive?). During subsequent telephone conversations with the appellant, it was suggested that he forward a new request to our office in order to apply for access to records not contained within the Ministry file. Such records may include a mug shot, which is a distinct and separate record from the small photo portion on the Prisoner Transfer Form (page 5). ... Concerning page 5 ... it should be noted that the report forwarded to us from the Ministry was prepared and printed on 1998.10.19, the day of the appellant's arrest. This document would have accompanied the prisoner during movement from a police facility to other institutions, such as the detention centre or to a court appearance. Such record would follow the prisoner until his release on bail, at which time, it would be forwarded to the detention centre for filing. As explained during mediation, a better copy of this "exact" record does not exist within Toronto Police Service files, since the report's date and time, preparing officer's name and badge number, and any handwritten notations on the document make it a unique record.


Legislation		MFIPPA 14(3)(b) 38(a) 38(b) 9(1)(d)


Subject Index		scope of


Published		Jun 22, 2000


Type		Order


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