Oftentimes, when the police are phoned about an incident, they will report back to the caller that they are not getting involved because is a 'civil matter'. But what exactly does that mean?
In Canada, the police officers are employed as public servants. This means that the government is their boss. In Ontario, police services are primarily funded by their geographic municipalities, with the Provincial government adding to the budget when necessary. Therefore, the police are mainly paid through municipal income tax. A police officer's job is to apply and enforce our federal, provincial, and municipal laws.
A matter is labelled as 'criminal' when there is deemed to be a risk to other people outside of the initial parties involved in the incident, or it is of interest to the general public.
For example, if a man is arrested by the police for the crime of robbing my local corner store, he will be charged with theft, because he broke the law (as per The Criminal Code). I, as a taxpayer, am happy to see my tax money paying the wages of my local police service, because I enjoy shopping at that store and am rooting for the owner to get back his stolen things. Although I wasn't directly involved in the robbery itself, I was inadvertently effected by it.
Criminal vs. Civil Matter
When trying to gauge between a criminal and civil matter, first identify who is effected by the incident. In this context, the word 'private' could be interchanged with 'civil'. If it's a dispute over money owed between two people, and neither have committed a criminal act that effects the general public, it is a civil matter. The individual parties involved in the dispute will need to use the legal system to resolve it.
Who are the players? How many people are involved in the action? What was the action that led to the police being called? There are a variety of different factors that need to be considered when determining if a matter should be considered as civil or criminal.
Grey area.
One service Agent K specializes in is the location of vehicles for repossession after the lesser has defaulted on payment.
Recently I have been working on a challenging file where I have been unable to locate the vehicle or the lessor, and am suspecting fraudulent activity.
I asked my client, the owner of a used car dealership, how long he was supposed to wait before reporting the vehicle as stolen?
To my surprise, and against my previous assumptions, he advised that his lawyer said it was a civil matter. Huh?
By the lessor defaulting on payment he broke the signed lease agreement, the civil contract. He didn't steal the vehicle. He didn't break a law where the greater public are effected. Yet.
Should, through further digging, I find evidence that he had the intent to deliberately steal the vehicle, then I could provide my findings to the police and request they open a criminal investigation.
If he was able to steal this vehicle in this manner, then why would he not try to steal more in the same manner? It also takes more than one person in one place to steal a vehicle and ship it out of the country. Based on further evidence, the matter could now switch from being civil to criminal because more people are effected.
Private Property
Another factor to consider when deciding on a matter as being criminal or civil, is to see at what location the action of the incident occurred.
If your angry neighbour deliberately rams into your car, damaging it, in your driveway, the police will likely write you up a report for evidence purposes, but advise you it is a civil dispute. You and your neighbour were the only two parties involved, and you will need to sue your neighbour for financial damages in Small Claims Court if you choose.
If a person slips and falls and is injured in a Walmart, although the police may come to the scene if 911 is called, this would be considered as a civil matter between Walmart and the person who got injured (or more likely, between their insurance companies).
Intent
Was the action deliberate? Is there a risk to other people?
If, after your angry neighbour deliberately rams into your car, then backs out and rams into all of your neighbour's parked cars, then the police could likely find a legal reason to charge him criminally.
Hierarchy of Law
If needing to clarify the answer to a legal question, it is always a good idea to look at several different references for guidance. However, different weight is given to information from different levels of the legal system.
A final decision should be based primarily on higher court laws and previous court decisions. For example, more credence is given to a Federal law than to a Provincial law, or a Provincial law over a Municipal law.
If there are directly clashing statutes, use case law (the outcome of previous similar court cases) to decide which to use. For example, case law has dictated that if a landlord has a case against a tenant renting his condo, the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) will be referred to before The Condominium Act.
The Ontario Landlord Tenant Board applies and enforces laws primarily based on the RTA. Therefore, this written law will trump any questionable terms listed on an executed Landlord-Tenant Lease Agreement. A private contract is considered as a civil agreement, so it is located at the bottom level of the legal hierarchy.
A common example of this clash is when landlords write 'no pets' on a Landlord-Tenant Lease, but the tenant brings in a small dog after taking occupation. As the RTA states that pets are allowed in rented Ontario premises, should the landlord want to evict the tenant based on that term, his case would likely be dismissed as the term is unenforceable.
(Remedy: ensure to openly discuss the pet term between parties and specify on the written lease exactly what you said. Rather than use a 'no pets' umbrella term, you could say "please no cats as the tenant upstairs is allergic" etc.)
When to phone 911?
According to The Toronto Auditor General's report, 57% of the over 5000 phone calls received to the 911 Emergency Service number daily are for non-emergency situations. A large portion of that number is from pocket dials.
If we distract our police service with our trivial and personal matters, nevertheless through simple administrative errors, then they won't have time to do the criminal level work that we need them to do, such as arresting robbers and murderers.
Before phoning 911, take a step back and think about the purpose of why you are calling - is there someone in physical distress? Is there a genuine emergency? Who are the people involved in the situation?
Find a mediator
If you phoned the police for help but were told your case was a 'civil matter', they may be able to refer you to a local mediation or arbitration service if they believe it may be helpful towards resolution. Otherwise, one of the parties involved may wish to speak with a legal representative or start a self-represented claim in Small Claims court to resolve the matter.
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Agent K Private Investigations Inc. not only offers a debtor and asset location service, they'll help you fill out your legal paperwork too. www.agentkpi.ca
