Jun 25, 2012

Manitoba Ombudsman has released a report about the performance of the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) under the office's FIPPA Access Practices Assessment initiative. The initiative was established to examine key components of a public body's processing of applications for access made under The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

While complaint investigations can resolve problems for individuals, they do not necessarily assess whether systems are working effectively for everyone. In addition to the authority to conduct individual complaint investigations, the Legislature has given the Ombudsman the authority to conduct broader audits. These broader audits can benefit public bodies by helping them improve their practices, which in turn benefits the public.

Audits under the FIPPA Access Practices Assessment initiative focus on four components: compliance with time requirements of FIPPA; compliance with the requirements of a response to an applicant; adequacy of the contents of the FIPPA file; and adequacy of a public body's records preparation.

The WPS audit, which occurred in early 2012, examined 101 FIPPA files from 2010 where decisions were made to refuse access to records in full or in part, or where it was indicated that records did not exist or could not be located.

An overall performance of 97% indicates that WPS does an excellent job processing FIPPA requests. The audit report provides details on WPS's efficient, organized and thorough FIPPA process. While it was not necessary to make formal recommendations in this case, suggestions for further improvement were provided.

Section 49 of FIPPA outlines the Ombudsman's authority to conduct investigations and audits and make recommendations to monitor and ensure compliance.