Every year, millions of taxpayers’ dollars are spent in Ontario on the salaries of police officers who have been suspended due to “discipline issues” or charged of a criminal offence. Though these officers have been suspended from service, Police Chiefs have their hands tied.

According to the 1990 Ontario Police Services Act, Chiefs can only suspend officers WITH PAY. Officers can only be suspended without pay after being sentenced to a term of imprisonment. That means that officers who have been suspended due to their on-the-job conduct continue to collect pay. 

In 2016, over 50 officers were actively collecting salaries in Ontario while on suspension. That means that the police force was short at least 50 officers, as funds to cover active officers were being utilized to pay suspended officers. Months, often years, can go by while these officers collect salaries. Even if the officer is imprisoned by the courts, there is still no obligation to pay back the income received while on suspension.

 
Tax paying citizens deserve better than this! Ontario is the ONLY province in Canada where the law requires suspended officers to stay on payroll. The Ontario Association of Chiefs Police have been asking the province to change this law for years. Give Ontario police chiefs the power to suspend officers in their command without pay, just like every other province and territory in the country.