Dilkens 'excited' for Ontario Civilian Police Commission report into Windsor police

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says he is"excited" to get his hands ona long-awaited report by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission following aninvestigation into the Windsor Police Service and Windsor Police Services Board.

The report coming Friday will outline the findings of aninvestigationlaunched in May of 2018 after theOntario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) receivedmultiple complaints from members of the service raisingserious concerns about the workplace environment.

Dilkens, who was elected chair of the police board in 2015, says the investigation was prompted after"five or six" officers issued complaints.

"This was a policy and procedures review," said Dilkens, during an interview with CBC Radio's Windsor Morning. "I'm sure the community will want to read it as well myself and the entire board and find out what the recommendations are."

The mayor sayshe was interviewed as part of the investigations, and so were many others who were linked to the original complaints, including current and past board members and chiefs. Dilkens saysthe interviews are a bigreason why the investigation took so long.

"In my conversations with the investigator aboutwhy it was taking so long is that they started with a very discrete set of individuals and then they would meet with others who were believed to have information and that would ... [direct]them to other people," he said.

"I feel good in my conversations with the investigator that he's certainly left no stone unturned."

A 2018 statement from the Windsor Police Service outlined theterms of reference for the investigation from the OCPC but didnot include specifics about the complaints, only stating that the complaints were receivedfrom multiple members of the WPSbetween January and April of 2018.

"These complaints raise serious concerns about the workplace environment of theWPS, the administration of theWPS, and the oversight provided by the Windsor Police Service Board," read the statement.

The investigation was tobe conducted with regard to subsection 31 (4) of the Police Services Act, which states that "the board shall not direct the chief of police with respect to specific operational decisions or with respect to the day-to-day operation of the police force."

"We'll certainly review the recommendations as a board. We'll discuss it with the chief and the administration and our goal always is to have continuous improvement and to make that organization better tomorrow than it is today," said Dilkens.

"And so I look forward to seeing those recommendations and figuring out how we can implement some or all of them."

The OCPC,an independentoversight agency that rules on policing services under the Police Services Act,also investigated allegations ofa "poisoned work environment" withinthe WPSby administration "in relation to workplace policies and/or accommodation requests."

The investigation also expanded its scope to include the police handling of a 911 call from then-Chief Al Frederick's home in November 2018.