The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, is legislation that covers Ontario’s municipalities and local boards, including Police services. 

Under the Legislation, the "head" of the Corporation is responsible for decisions made under the Act. The Niagara Regional Police Services Board is the "head" as defined under the legislation and has delegated the responsibilities as head to the Chief. The day to day administration of the Act is carried out by the Information and Privacy Unit.

The Act provides two separate rights:

1. The right of access to government held information subject to some limited and specific exemptions.

2. The protection of personal privacy where personal information is held by local government offices.

The Act has a number of provisions dealing with the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. To access detailed information about exemptions and procedures relating to the act or its regulations, refer to the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s website : www.ipc.on.ca.

How to Make a Request

An information request form is provided for your assistance in filing, and can be downloaded in PDF format: 

• Freedom of Information:   Information Request and General Information

You must provide sufficient detail in your request to enable us to identify the record(s) you wish to access upon a reasonable effort. If you don’t provide enough detail for us to locate the record(s) you wish to access, we will ask you for clarification. If clarification is not sufficient, we will not process your request.

A record can be more easily located if you describe the information you want as precisely as possible. Describe the record in as much detail as you can. For example, indicate the subject of the record, specific events, dates or locations which might be relevant.

If you are seeking access to your own personal information, and your personal information may be under a former name, please provide that name as well.

Indicate whether you wish to obtain a copy of the records, or if you just want to examine it. 

Upon completion of this form, and any other appropriate documents, the application may be dropped off at any Niagara Regional Police Service District Front Desk, located at:·

1 District -- St. Catharines
68 Church Street, St. Catharines
24 hours

2 District -- Niagara Falls
4343 Morrison Street, Niagara Falls
24 hours

3 District -- Welland
5 Lincoln Avenue, Welland
24 hours· · 

5 District -- Fort Erie
1200 Thompson Road, Fort Erie
8am-4pm, Mon.- Fri.

6 District -- Port Colborne
501 Fielden Avenue, Port Colborne
8am-4pm, Mon.- Fri. 

8 District -- Grimsby
25 Bartlett Avenue, Grimsby
8am-4pm, Mon.- Fri.

When dropping off applications at District Desks, you must pay the $5.00 legislated application fee. A receipt will be provided. To confirm your identity, be prepared to show 2 pieces of government issued identification, one being photo identification.

If you are unable to attend the District Desk, you must mail in your request with notarized copies of your identification.

Please do not send cash in the mail. We will accept cheques or money orders made payable to the Niagara Regional Police Service.

Completed forms along with a payment of request fee ($5.00) should be forwarded to:

Normally, a request must be processed within 30 calendar days. This means that the Service must either provide access to the requested record or notify the individual that the information is exempt under the specific provisions of the Act. If the institution requires a time extension for any reason, then the requestor must be notified.

How to Correct Information Held About You

The Act provides that individuals have the right to correct their own personal information if it is in error. This applies only to personal information to which the requester has been given access. After access has been granted to personal information, the individual has the right to request:

1. correction of personal information; 

2. a statement of disagreement be attached to the record; 

3. notification of correction or disagreement be sent to those to whom his/her personal information was disclosed within the previous year The right of correction applies only to personal information to which an individual is provided access.

Again, requesters must complete an Access/Correction request form and remit a $5.00 payment.

The Service decides whether the correction will be made. Once it has been decided whether or not the information is to be corrected, the FOI Analyst notifies the requester. These decisions may be appealed to the Commissioner.

Fees – General

In addition to the $5.00 application fee, the Act provides that costs are to be borne by those who request access to information, or in certain instances where fees can be waived (Section 45).

Where a unit presently charges a fee for a copy of a type of document under the "traditional access" or where another Act provides that certain costs can be charged for access to records, it can continue to do so after January 1, 1991.

All cheques must be made payable to the Niagara Regional Police Service. Fee Schedule:

Established by Regulation 823/96, applicable costs which can be charged to the requester are listed below. If, however, the cost to prepare a request is over $25.00 the requestor may be given a fee estimate before completing the request. NOTE: The records will not be severed, copied or released until the fee is paid or waived.