2. Learn about making a formal complaint

If your complaint is not right for Local Response, or if you want to make a formal complaint, fill out the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency's (LECA's) complaint form.

You can only make a formal complaint to LECA about:

• police officers from municipal and regional forces, and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)
• special constables of Niagara Parks Commission
• peace officers of the Legislative Protective Service
• First Nations police officers if the First Nation's police force chooses to follow the CSPA

Deadline

You must file your formal complaint to LECA within 6 months of the event. If you want to make a complaint after 6 months, you must explain why your complaint is late.

LECA may accept a late complaint in certain situations.

The process

LECA is allowed to dismiss complaints that are:

• not about police behaviour
• not important or do not seem true
• not in the public interest
• made more than 6 months after the event
• better handled under another act or law

If LECA accepts your complaint, they decide whether it should be:

• resolved using Early Resolution,  Informal Resolution, or  Mediation, or
• investigated more.

Read more about Early Resolution, Informal Resolution, and Mediation in Step 4.

If your complaint is investigated, the police service involved in the event usually investigates. But in some cases, LECA or another police service may investigate instead.

The investigators usually have 4 months to investigate and report their findings to you.

If the report finds that the police officer harmed you and should be disciplined or fired, the decision to do either is made by:

• the Ontario Police Arbitration and Adjudication Commission, or
• a person given this power by the police force.

An officer may be disciplined in many ways. For example, they can be formally criticized, suspended with or without pay, moved to a lower rank, forced to attend training or counselling, or fired.