To make a complaint, begin with the LECA complaint form. A link to this form can also be found on the homepage of the LECA website.

Most of the fields in the form are straightforward, but for unclear reasons, the date of birth field is required.

The most important field is the text box where you will provide the details of the incident. It's a good idea to write out this portion in a word processing document first, then copy it into the form. Try to ensure you have as much factual information as possible about the incident: the date and time, the location (including cross streets and intersections), and what the circumstances were when the incident happened (were you at a protest, or stopped while driving, etc.). It is not required, but certainly helpful, to have officers' names and badge numbers. If you have photos or videos that can help as well. Witnesses make your complaint stronger if you have them. While it's not necessary, it also helps if you can point to specific breaches of the officers' code of conduct under the Community Safety and Policing ActCSPA).

There's a checkbox in the form asking whether you would like to make use of "early resolution." This is essentially a means of diverting complaints from the full investigation process. We don't recommend checking this box.

Finally, you will have to make a declaration that the information you provided is true.

Before you submit the form, it's a good idea to print a (paper or PDF) copy of the complaint and keep it for your records. You should also save a copy of the document in which you wrote out the details of the incident.

Once you submit the complaint, you should receive an email within a couple of days indicating the case number of your complaint. Ensure you keep that case number. As the process continues you can check the status of your complaint, although the status is not very informative.

A Law Enforcement Complaints AgencyLECA case worker will assess your complaint. At this stage, Law Enforcement Complaints AgencyLECA can decide to reject your complaint or to accept it for investigation. It could be a few weeks or a few months before you receive a decision at this stage.

If the complaint is rejected, Law Enforcement Complaints AgencyLECA will send you a letter providing some reasoning for their decision. Depending on what reasons they give, you might want to simply correct whatever faults they found with your complaint and resubmit it.

If it is accepted, the complaint is sent to the police force where the officer or officers who are the subject of the complaint work.

Within the Ottawa Police Service (OPS), it's the Professional Standards Unit (PSU) that handles complaints received through Law Enforcement Complaints AgencyLECA.

The complaint is being investigated. An investigator from the Professional Standards UnitPSU will likely phone you to get your side of the story. This could be several weeks or months later. The Community Safety and Policing ActCSPA asks the police force conducting the investigation into their own member's conduct to "endeavour" to complete it within 120 days, and to provide updates every 30 days if they miss this target.

The Professional Standards UnitPSU has gathered your side of the story. They will then investigate the incident. However, this investigation is not what most of us would consider a true investigation: aside from the information you provide, the Professional Standards UnitPSU officer will ask for a “compelled statement” from the officer who is the subject of the complaint, and possibly from a select few other officers who witnessed the incident, but will not look for other (non-police) witnesses or evidence such as security camera footage. If the police have video from their side, the subject officer will be able to review the video during the investigation. You as the complainant, on the other hand, will not be given access the video.

The Professional Standards UnitPSU will send you their report on the investigation. It will provide the details of your allegation, possibly including the Professional Standards UnitPSU officer's subjective interpretations of what you alleged. It will summarize the subject officer's compelled statement claiming that they did nothing wrong and acted, for example, with “reasonable force,” as well as statements by other witnesses and any other evidence, such as videos. The Professional Standards UnitPSU report will cite the relevant sections of the Community Safety and Policing ActCSPA and/or code of conduct, and whether they determined that the officer did breach those sections. More likely than not, the Professional Standards UnitPSU report will find your allegation to be "unsubstantiated."

Assuming the Professional Standards UnitPSU finds your allegation to be unsubstantiated, you have 30 days from the day you received the report to ask LECA for a review. It's best to take your time, while ensuring that you don't miss the deadline. Read the report thoroughly. Find any mistakes, misinterpretations or falsehoods in the report. Write your rebuttal based on the errors of the report. Submit the rebuttal. Send it to lecareviews@ontario.ca as well. You should print or PDF a copy of the submitted rebuttal for your records.

Law Enforcement Complaints AgencyLECA has 90 days to give you a decision. They will likely take the full 90 days. At that point you will get a letter indicating the outcome of their review. It's highly probable that the letter will say that they concur with the chief's (meaning the Professional Standards UnitPSU's) assessment. While Law Enforcement Complaints AgencyLECA can order the police force to conduct a new investigation or take over the investigation themselves, this is very rare.