TORONTO - The new head of Ontario's civilian police watchdog hopes to restore public confidence to an agency described as a "toothless tiger" by the province's ombudsman, but says he isn't looking at reopening old cases.

Ian Scott, who was named director of the Special Investigations Unit last month, just days before ombudsman Andre Marin's scathing report, said responding to the recommendations was his first priority.

"The SIU will always be a bit of a lightning rod, it will always have to deal with issues in our society where ultimately there will not be an overall consensus," Scott said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"But I would like at the end of my tenure to say that the investigations were independent, the investigations were impartial, the investigations were thorough."

Scott, a well-known lawyer who has practised criminal and administrative law for 25 years, is taking over the SIU at a time when, according to Marin, public confidence in the watchdog has hit rock bottom.

The ombudsman said the agency, which investigates incidents involving police that result in death or injury to civilians, operates with a police bias and requires a massive overhaul to regain the trust of a public that views it as a "toothless tiger."

The report made 46 recommendations, including 25 aimed directly at the SIU. It suggested the agency aggressively seek the reasons for police non-co-operation and charged that an SIU investigation was one "which is currently done through blue-coloured glasses."

The SIU, Marin said, has an internal culture overly influenced by the number of ex-police officers in its staff.

While Scott was quick to point out that there were positive comments in the report, he did acknowledge that some of the ombudsman's recommendations raised concerns with him.

"I am concerned about response time, I am concerned about the witness-officer interview issues," Scott said.

"They're all going to be addressed by the ombudsman report response team, which will lead to a written report in six month's time."

But, he said, any overhaul of the agency will take time.

"At the end of six months, I'm not going to sit here and say that all of the recommendations will be fully implemented, but I will say that there will be a response to all of the recommendations," Scott said.

"I'd like to think that there will be an end game to the response process with the ombudsman, but I don't see this as a six-month process."

One thing Scott doesn't plan to do is to reopen old cases, noting the ombudsman didn't make that a recommendation.

"There hasn't been any reopening of prior cases, there hasn't been a call to reopen prior cases," Scott said.

"I have not addressed the issue. My focus is really to move forward on the investigations that I will be involved with and I will be overseeing."

He said he hopes families will be able to take some comfort in the future knowing that the investigation was a thorough one.

Lawyer Julian Falconer, whose client Hafeez Mohamed alleges he was the victim of a vicious beating after he was pulled over by police for driving under the influence, said if "there are recommendations that the attorney general and SIU are contemplating not implementing, they will have to give a very good explanation for why."

"I don't see how anyone can read this report and not understand the ombudsman's ultimate finding that there exists within SIU a pro-police bias.

"That lies at the core of the report."

Among his other plans, Scott said he will continue outreach by lead investigators, who currently meeting with the families of victims and keep them updated, and will offer to meet with family members himself in the more serious matters.

He is also hoping that the hiring of new, civilian investigators will help address the concerns of pro-police bias.

As part of its own response to the ombudsman's report, the Ministry of the Attorney General vowed an additional $700,000 to fund, among other things, eight new SIU staff.

"With this extra money, the anticipation is that we will have these trainees in position and they will work their way up through the SIU and become experienced investigators from square one," Scott said.

Scott was appointed on Sept. 23 to replace James Cornish, who served in the role since 2004, and took over Oct. 16.

The appointment was criticized for coming a week before the ombudsman's report, with opposition critics claiming it was the government's attempt to blunt the report.

Scott said the hiring process took six months, sticking to the attorney general's comments that the timing was a coincidence.

"The ministry had absolutely no control over the release of the ombudsman's report," he said.

"The ombudsman makes that decision completely on his own."