Ontario should create a new civilian body to take a first look at all complaints against police officers, a retired judge says.

		Patrick Lesage
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			Ron Charles reports (runs 2:09) RP   WP  QT

Patrick LeSage was commissioned by the provincial government to examine the police complaints system and make recommendations.

In the report released Monday, the former chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court said that police forces themselves should not be responsible for deciding which complaints about them should be investigated.

Instead, LeSage says all complaints about police should first go to an independent body, headed by a civilian who has never been a police officer.

That group would then decide whether to look into the complaint with its own investigators, ask another police force to investigate, or ask the police force in question to look into it.

LeSage said he had no trouble sending some complaints back to the same forces against which they are made.

"I have enough faith that the system can work and will work in the manner I have recommended," he said.

• MINISTRY OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: Report On The Police Complaints System In Ontario
  

New Democrat MPP Peter Kormos said LeSage made a mistake by suggesting that police could still investigate some complaints against themselves.

"Judge LeSage, although meaning well, may have underestimated the level of concern out there about police investigating police," Kormos said.

Conservative MPP Garfield Dunlop said LeSage's proposals went too far.

Dunlop said creating a new complaints board would divert funds that would be better used to put more police officers out on the streets.

The Liberals promised a review of the police complaints process in the election campaign that brought them to power.

Attorney General Michael Bryant said he would review the recommendations, but did not say whether or when changes would be made to the current system.