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Can police overseers be trusted?

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Another police shooting of a young man. Another family left with questions about why police shot to kill their son.

So far, all we know for sure about the police shooting of Alwy Al Nadhir in Riverdale Park on Halloween night is that the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) will be investigating.

That gives the SIU’s critics little comfort.

Ontario Ombudsman André Marin announced his own probe of the workings of the unit back in June. He promised to put eight cases in particular under the microscope.

That announcement followed a rash of complaints by defence lawyers and family members that the SIU cannot be trusted because of its perceived bias in favour of police.

The SIU rarely charges police. In more than 660 cases investigated by the unit since 2004, charges have been laid in only 11 instances.

Marin, as a former director of the SIU, knows full well the political minefield in which the unit operates.

But we’ll have to wait a little longer for findings of his probe, originally scheduled to be released two weeks ago.

According to Marin spokesperson Barbara Theobalds, the special ombudsman response team has interviewed 100 “key stakeholders” and is reviewing more than 60,000 pages of documentation.

Marin’s office wields significant power — at least on paper. Theoretically, he can recommend that cases already closed by the SIU “be referred to the appropriate authority for further consideration.” Or he can ask that laws governing police use of force be reconsidered.

But the ultimate authority to make any changes in the Police Services Act or the SIU rests with the attorney general’s office. And it has never shown a willingness to take on the cops in the past.

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