By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. April 28, 2013. The originator of this media release from the Halton Regional Police Service was Superintendent Signy Pittman, Professional Standards. That’s the first clue that there is a problem.
The contact person was a Staff Sergeant, Peter Hodgson, 30 Division The event took place in Burlington.
The subject line was “Collision Involving a Motorcycle: SIU Investigating
The media release goes on to say that: “At approximately 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, April 27th,2013, an officer of the Halton Regional Police Service was in the area of Snake Road and Waterdown Road in Burlington. The officer commenced an investigation of a motorcycle. The motorcycle was involved in a collision and the driver received non-life threatening injuries. As a result, the Ontario Special Investigations Unit is investigating.”
The release doesn’t say that the police cruiser was involved in the collision with the motorcycle. Perhaps it should have. Whenever a person is involved in an accident with the police the SIU – Special Investigations Unit is called in.
But this media release doesn’t say. Transparency went out the window on this one.
The Special Investigations Units would like any witnesses to this incident to contact them at 1-800-787-8529.
I must disagree with you on this one. Nothing about this media release seems especially secretive or “opaque”. You don’t know a police cruiser was directly involved in the collision. It’s possible, but it’s also possible the motorcyclist sped away from police and collided with a tree. Either way, SIU would be called in, and it’s their policy not to communicate details of the investigation until the investigation is complete. I think that’s fair. https://www.siu.on.ca/en/transparency.php