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  • Getting police reports

    Has anyone ever applied to get a police report using the Freedom of Information Act?

    Is it difficult? Were you successful?

    Thanks!

  • #2
    Originally posted by HappyMomma View Post
    Has anyone ever applied to get a police report using the Freedom of Information Act?

    Is it difficult? Were you successful?

    Thanks!
    Yes I did it and yes I was successful.

    You will get a lot of lines blacked out though. But the important stuff was there for me to add as an exhibit in my affidavit.

    Photocopy few pieces of ID, add the money ($5.00 it was here I believe) and you're good to go.

    Add the dates (i.e Feb 2014 - Jan 2015).
    Records, officer's notes, 9-1-1 calls and anything else in the letter. Cover everything.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by LovingFather32 View Post
      Yes I did it and yes I was successful.

      You will get a lot of lines blacked out though. But the important stuff was there for me to add as an exhibit in my affidavit.

      Photocopy few pieces of ID, add the money ($5.00 it was here I believe) and you're good to go.

      Add the dates (i.e Feb 2014 - Jan 2015).
      Records, officer's notes, 9-1-1 calls and anything else in the letter. Cover everything.
      If I give them my ex's name, dob, and address can they pull up everything in the last few months? Or would I need more info than that?

      Comment


      • #4
        Only the person seeking the information can make the request. Be sure he/she has signed the letter as well.

        Yes they require, DOB, Address, date of occurrence and the types of things you're looking for (police notes, reports, 911 calls, etc). Be very thorough.

        And yes they can pull all the things up in the past few months. Although it may take a month or 2 to process. Mine took 1 month.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by HappyMomma View Post
          If I give them my ex's name, dob, and address can they pull up everything in the last few months? Or would I need more info than that?
          I have a little bit of experience with this through work: if you want a police report, you'll need to provide specific dates on which an arrest or a reportable event occurred (i.e. you can't just ask for everything the police have on file for a particular individual). This is different from a criminal record check (but a private individual can't request a CR check on another private individual - only if you're a potential employer or supervisor or have some reason for needing the check). This is frustrating because it makes it almost impossible to confirm whether an individual is someone you should be concerned about or not, unless you have a lot of specifics.

          If you know what police station would have handled any cases involving the individual, and you have time on your hands, and you know pretty clearly the date on which an arrest would have occurred, if there had been an arrest, you can sometimes go in and ask if they have an arrest record for the individual - this is much faster than Freedom of Information.

          Comment


          • #6
            ^^^That's what I did, (in Quebec) I went to local police station, presented my case ref. number with STBX's info and they produced his permanent record. I actually got more information than I was looking for - there was everything he had been involved in for the last 30 years or so.

            Actually learned about stuff that happened before we even met. (Was very useful in building my case). The clerk printed out the entire 16 pages for me and it did not cost anything.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by HappyMomma View Post
              Has anyone ever applied to get a police report using the Freedom of Information Act?

              Is it difficult? Were you successful?

              Thanks!
              So its now clear that you are after full custody. First he was homeless now you want police records. I bet its because of child support. And I truly hope you fail in hurting these kids by taking them away permanently from a father who happens to have no income ATM.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by The Iceberg View Post
                So its now clear that you are after full custody. First he was homeless now you want police records. I bet its because of child support. And I truly hope you fail in hurting these kids by taking them away permanently from a father who happens to have no income ATM.
                I've been on this forum long enough to have read many of your posts and understand that you frequently jump to inaccurate conclusions about people's intentions so I'm going to ignore that comment.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I think you need to decide on what you are going to use police reports for... simply put, if you believe that the father of your children poses safety issues for your children then that warrants a call to CAS to investigate. Personally, I do not believe you will be able to demonstrate sufficient concern unless an authority can substantiate this. And it appears that you are trying to do this via a backdoor versus going the normal route - through CAS.

                  What is your intent with the police reports?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    A lot of jumping to conclusions here. The request for police reports may be to figure out whether the person in question poses a danger to the children - someone who has a criminal history involving violence is more of a concern than someone who does not. It sounds like the person in question has an unstable lifestyle (evictions, sporadic homelessness), so perhaps the OP is trying it get a clearer idea of how irregular his life really is. The OP may be not worried about immediate danger to the children - which would be a CAS matter - but may still want to know more about what is going on with the father.

                    I don't know if any of my speculation is correct either, because all we have to go on is a few words on a screen here.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I'm not jumping to conclusions I ASKED what the intent is with the police reports.

                      However, freedom to information requests are limited and will not include:

                      Unavailable records

                      Not all information is available through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. Some records cannot be released under Freedom of Information laws.
                      Exclusions and exemptions include:
                      • cabinet records
                      • court records
                      • records containing certain law enforcement information
                      • records that could prejudice intergovernmental relations
                      • personal information that could invade the privacy of an individual
                      • certain records supplied in confidence by a third party
                      • most labour relations records

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by stripes View Post
                        The request for police reports may be to figure out whether the person in question poses a danger to the children - someone who has a criminal history involving violence is more of a concern than someone who does not. It sounds like the person in question has an unstable lifestyle (evictions, sporadic homelessness), so perhaps the OP is trying it get a clearer idea of how irregular his life really is. The OP may be not worried about immediate danger to the children - which would be a CAS matter - but may still want to know more about what is going on with the father.
                        B-I-N-G-O

                        However, my intent is irrelevant. I asked a simple question hoping to get a simple answer. That is the purpose of this forum. It's no one's job on here to police any one else's intentions.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          HappyMomma - I believe this is the source for Serene's post:

                          https://www.ontario.ca/government/ho...mation-request

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            This forum and our opinions are free. If you want to micromanage what other forum members have to offer - it won't happen.

                            And by the way, for what its worth, even though you didn't ask, I think you will spend a lot of time and effort and energy in getting police reports/records and won't be able to do what you hope. Simply put, because dad may have a record that lets say he assaults someone - doesn't mean he is a threat to the children. A criminal history does not dictate a threat to the children. You have to PROVE A THREAT TO THE CHILDREN, not prove he has a criminal history....call CAS and ask this yourself. You're jumping at straws in my opinion and quite frankly I think this will backfire on you...

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              If you are able to get a copy of a police report through FOI for a specific incident, would it contain statements made by the accusers to the police??

                              I had false allegations made against me of domestic violence last year, which have now been withdrawn with no conditions. In the disclosure materials provided to my criminal lawyer by the crown I was able to read both my ex and her mother's statements made to the police when they reported "historical" domestic assault.

                              My understanding is that the disclosure itself cannot be used in our family court case for custody of our son but some of the statements made by my ex and her mother were outrageous claims that they had seen me trying to smother the baby in their presence (covering his mouth and nose) and went as far as telling the police "you will be arresting him for the murder of this child soon".

                              Custody has not been decided and I feel the family court should know how far my ex and her mother went to try and prevent me from having contact with my then baby son to see the level of alienation they are prepared to stoop to.

                              Any advice on how to get FOI access to their statements or steps to take to get the criminal disclosure admitted to my family case would be greatly appreciated.

                              Thanks!

                              Comment

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