Police can now share photos of charged or convicted individuals when keeping the public informed
DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION — under the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019
Plain-language summary · AI-assisted · not legal advice
The regulation governing what personal information police may disclose to the public has been expanded to explicitly permit chiefs of police or their designates to release images of individuals who have been charged with, convicted of, or found guilty of an offence. Previously, the list of disclosable information covered personal identifiers, offence details, court outcomes, custody status, and release dates, but did not mention images. This change adds images as a permitted category alongside those existing items. Police services and their legal or compliance teams should review their disclosure practices and policies to reflect that images are now an expressly authorized category of public disclosure.
Who this affects: police chiefs and their designates · police services compliance and legal teams · individuals charged with or convicted of offences · members of the public seeking information about offenders
Source of truth: O. Reg. 412/23 on ontario.ca · consolidated version 2 → 0
Legislative text © King's Printer for Ontario. This page is not an official version of the law and is not legal advice. Verify against the official source before acting.
Get changes like this in your inbox, every Friday.