THUNDER BAY – The city’s police chief is pleased his force has received a relatively low number of formal complaints through the first three months of the year.
The Thunder Bay Police Service’s quarterly review of public complaints, which was released on Tuesday during the monthly police services board meeting at city hall, revealed there have only been two complaints.
Both of those are for accusations of excessive force.
“With that type of complaint you don’t like to see that but it’s under investigation and we’ll see what happens,” police chief J.P. Levesque said after the meeting.
“Two in the first quarter is exceptionally low so I’m pleased to see that.”
Last year the police service received a total of 29 complaints, nine of which were for allegations of excessive force. Seven were for claims of an inadequate investigation while another six were for quality of service.
All but two of the 29 overall complaints were found to be unsubstantiated.
Neither of the two received in the first quarter of this year are being retained by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, a watchdog body tasked with overseeing the complaint process.
The police service still takes a thorough look and keeps track of all received complaints.
“It’s something we monitor ourselves,” he said. “If we notice a pattern, particularly the same type of complaint, even if it’s not found to be true we’ll sit down and have a look.”
