Eighteen police officers across Ontario were criminally charged by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in 2024–25, according to the agency’s newly released annual report.
The SIU — Ontario’s independent police watchdog — says it received 539 case referrals during the fiscal year, of which 361 led to full investigations.
siu.on.ca
Key findings from the report:
- About 60 per cent of those investigations involved injuries sustained while a person was in custody — the highest proportion ever recorded by the SIU.
- Vehicle-injury incidents were the second most common category, accounting for 11.3 per cent (41 cases).
- Cases involving firearm discharges at a person declined to 4.1 per cent of the caseload.
The SIU investigated 42 deaths (across firearm, custody, vehicle, and other categories), representing 11.0 per cent of investigations.
Of the 361 investigations:
- 365 cases were closed (some pertained to previous years).
- 73 cases (20.0 per cent) were closed by memo, meaning they fell outside the SIU’s jurisdiction.
- 275 cases (75.3 per cent) resulted in a Director’s Report, in which the SIU concluded no criminal charges were warranted.
The average time to close cases was 134.6 days. The SIU met its performance target by closing 86.6 per cent of cases within 120 days.
When charges were laid:
- 17 investigations resulted in criminal charges by the SIU Director, involving 18 officers — about 4.7 per cent of total cases.
The report notes that laying a charge does not equate to a finding of guilt; that is determined in court
The SIU also highlighted steps to modernize and expand its oversight capabilities, including:
Adoption of AI-assisted transcription tools to speed evidence processing by roughly 43 per cent.
Launch of an electronic race-based data survey for affected persons and subject officials