The Police Services Board met Monday for the first time since the release of two videos showing people being kneeed and kicked while in Ottawa Police custody created a public relations nightmare for the force.
Police are expected to ask the board for approval to have the Ontario Provincial Police handle the investigation of two additional incidents uncovered during an internal review of cellblock surveillance.
At least three cases involving police officers or civilian employees are under investigation. Stacy Bonds, the 27-year-old Ottawa woman who was shown being kneed and having her top cut off in a cellblock video released last month, launched a $1.2 million lawsuit against the police Friday.
The fall-out from the videos has also lead to the Ottawa police hiring a public relations firm to help repair the force's image. The force has also pledged to review existing files, add audio to cellblock video, increase cellblock supervision and require more cellblock training for officers.
Eli El-Chantiry, chair of the Police Services Board, said that officials are working to address the problems and prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.
"Obviously we have problems in the cellblock and now we're dealing with it," he said. "We make measures in place to make sure what happened does not happen again."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Catherine Lathem and files from the Canadian Press
