University of Western Ontario President Amit Chakma says an independent review of the Oct. 14 incident involving campus police and a 22-year-old student will restore confidence in campus safety within the university community and the public.
“Very early on it became clear that an independent review was required, even if we are doing the right thing, to restore confidence in my mind,” says Chakma.
“It is not the safety of one individual; it is the safety of a community. All of us would like to know that even when something terrible happens, we have adequate policies and procedures in place, appropriate people in place, to deal with those issues.”
Western has enlisted the expertise of a lawyer and former commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to review the arrest that raised concerns about how a campus safety incident was managed.
The review will be conducted by Gwen Boniface, OPP commissioner from 1998 to 2006. Boniface holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Osgoode Hall (1988). After retiring from the OPP, Boniface served as the deputy chief inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate from 2006 to July 2009. The oversight body promotes excellence and accountability in the police service of Ireland.
“The fact that we have such a high profile individual has nothing to do with one thing or the other; it simply has to do with our desire to get the best possible advice we can and we just found the right person.”
Chakma is asking the community to reserve judgment until results from the independent review are released.
“There is no black and white in these sorts of things; probably there is a grey area. I have been begging with people not to come to any premature conclusions,” he says. “Yes, we can have our opinion, but at the end of the day we have to pay a great deal of attention to what experts say.”
Details released to date indicate the incident began when a student, who appeared disoriented, confronted individuals in the Social Science Centre, barricaded himself in an office, and was able to escape when campus police attempted to detain him. Soon after, the student was apprehended by campus police and London Police officers. A video of officers restraining the student was posted on YouTube, attracting national news media and thousands of viewers.
“From the day this incident happened, we said we would conduct a review to understand better the full context of the events of October 14th, of which only 90 seconds were shown on the video,” says Chakma. “I have confidence in our Campus Community Police Service and its officers. I believe this review will contribute to our ongoing efforts to ensure a safe campus community.”
The review will look at policies and procedures, including:
Whether the situation was preventable
Training and resources available to Campus Community Police Service
Procedures for response to calls for assistance
Procedures for securing areas where an incident may be occurring
Coordination with other responders such as London Police Service.
Western has not issued a timeline for the review process. Recommendations from the review will be made public.
The review will solely focus on Campus Community Police because Western does not have jurisdiction over London police.
In addition, Chakma says a committee has been established to look at how to support students who need help.
A separate “use of force” review of the actual confrontation seen on video is being conducted by the London Police Service in keeping with provincial standards and regulations. Chakma says Western is cooperating fully in that review.
