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Ontario Court of Appeals orders access to police records

TORONTO, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Toronto police lost an appeal and were ordered to make all of their electronic records accessible to the media by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The case dates back to 2003 when a Toronto Star reporter working on a story about racial profiling was denied access to police records. The Toronto Police Services Board said at the time it would be too time-consuming as it would require the use of a special computer program to redact or mask personal information, the Star said.

A lower court sided with the police last June, and the Star appealed in July. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association joined the appeal, whose verdict was hailed as a "landmark" by Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ann Cavoukian.

The three appeals judges wrote in their unanimous ruling the lower court's "narrow" interpretation of access to electronic records failed to consider the objectives of "access to information" laws and allowed governments a way to skirt access requests.

The police board has other exemptions it can use to deny access, and can also appeal Tuesday's ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada, the report said.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/14/Court_orders_access_to_police_records/UPI-23431231938830/