London’s police department vowed greater transparency in dealing with charges against its officers Friday, even as the chief refused to name two officers charged recently and left a brief news conference refusing to answer questions from reporters.

Chief John Pare and police services board chair Jeannette Eberhard held the suddenly called news conference in the wake of London Free Press stories revealing that charges against one officer in the spring had not been made public and that the complainant in a case against another officer wants the name of the accused released.

The Free Press has pushed for answers from Pare, Eberhard and other board members over transparency in criminal charges and disciplinary hearings against officers.

“In a commitment to transparency, effective immediately, a media release will be issued if a London police officer is charged with any Criminal Code offence,” Pare said Friday in a statement he read at police headquarters.

Pare then released a list of seven officers facing criminal charges.

The charges against two officers had not been previously released to the public. The Free Press had revealed the charges against one of them Thursday.

The names of those two officers were not released, and Pare said police will continue not to release names of anyone charged with domestic violence to protect complainants.

“The decision has been made that information about any Criminal Code charges against any officer will be made public. That speaks to transparency,” Eberhard said, reading her prepared statement.

As The Free Press asked how the police force could be transparent without answering reporters’ questions, Pare and Eberhard left the board room.

Despite the promise to change how criminal charges are made public, questions continue to surface about how London police manage complaints against its officers and how transparent and accountable is the process for handling those complaints.

The Free Press has learned that at least one officer is facing an internal disciplinary hearing, but there appears to be no mechanism for releasing notice of those hearings to the media or public.

“Too many police forces think they are private organizations and not responsible to the public even though the public pays for them,” John Sewell, a former Toronto mayor and longtime advocate for police accountability, said.

“Police officers think they are above it all. They don’t see themselves as public servants. They think of themselves as a private organization that the world doesn’t need to hear about.”

In response to Free Press questions, spokesperson Const. Sandasha Bough said Friday London police are reviewing how information about hearings is released.

“The service is presently reviewing its process relating to public notice and disclosure of information in regards to such hearings,” she said.

Other police forces, such as Niagara’s, have a regular, publicly known schedule for hearings and send out media advisories for hearings.

Friday’s news conference capped two months of concerns over how London police disclose information.

Police took heat from women’s advocacy groups in November after they learned a man arrested in the killing of a sex worker had been charged earlier in the year for assaults on two women, but no information about those assaults or his subsequent release on bail was released to media or the groups themselves.

London police were also criticized for refusing to answer questions about a standoff involving an officer inside police headquarters Dec. 7.

Pare has refused to respond to requests for interviews from The Free Press about the charged officers.

In contrast, St. Thomas police Chief Chris Herridge answered questions about an officer in that force charged with sex-related offences the day the charges were laid.

Mayor Matt Brown, also a police board member, said he welcomed the news Friday that police are changing policy on releasing the names of charged officers.

But he said more work needs to be done to make the service more transparent.

Brown cautioned that the charges against the officers have not been dealt with in court, but said it’s frustrating to hear about them.

“Police officers are not above the law,” he said.

How police are investigated, and how boards oversee police operations, would change under legislation proposed by the Liberal government in response to concerns across Ontario about police transparency.

In Ontario, police boards are directed by law to oversee policy but board members can feel constrained by regulations saying they can speak as individuals expressing disagreement with a board decision, but cannot speak on behalf of the board unless authorized to do so.

That left board member and London lawyer Susan Toth reluctant to speak about the sheer number of charges against officers after a regular board meeting Thursday, but willing to talk about a policy she introduced, and which was approved, at the same meeting.

The board agreed to seek feedback from groups and individuals about what they want to see in a policy on sexual assault investigations in general. That may include listening to complainants who want the names of the accused released, Toth said.

Police boards are made up of appointees from the province and local municipalities to represent the public.

The London police board expanded from five to seven members earlier this year.

The expanded board with new members voted Thursday to move its monthly meetings outside of police headquarters to city ­council chambers in order

to become more welcoming to

the public and increase transparency.

“I think that you are seeing a board that is evolving,” Brown said.

rrichmond@postmedia.com

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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LONDON POLICE OFFICERS FACING CHARGES

Name: Const. Achille Currado

Charges: Breach of trust, obstructing justice, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence

Date charged: Nov. 30, 2017

Charged by: Ontario Provincial Police

Status: Suspended on Sept. 27, 2017

Name: Const. Stephen Williams

Charges: Sexual assault, breaching an undertaking, three counts of criminal harassment, being in a dwelling unlawfully, marking harassing phone calls

Date charged: Nov. 23, 2017, and Dec. 4, 2017

Charged by: London police and Waterloo Regional police

Status: Suspended on Nov. 23, 2017

Name:Unidentified officer

Charges: Assault, mischief under $5,000, uttering threats, criminal harassment, intercepting a private communication and breach of trust

Date charged: April 5, 2017, and July 19, 2017

Charged by: Waterloo Regional police

Status: Suspended on March 30, 2017

Name:Const. Nick Doering

Charges: Criminal negligence causing death, failure to provide the necessaries of life in connection with the death of Debra Chrisjohn

Date charged:July 13, 2017

Charged by: Special Investigations Unit

Status: Administrative duties

Name:Sgt. Peter Paquette

Charges: Assault

Date charged: June 13, 2017

Charged by: London police

Status: Administrative duties

Name: Const. Omar Hassan

Charges:Assault causing bodily harm

Date charged:Aug. 15, 2017

Charged by: Special Investigations Unit

Status: On leave

Name: Unidentified officer

Charges:Two counts of assault

Date charged: Oct. 22, 2016

Status:Administrative duties

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ONTARIO POLICE SERVICES ACT

A police services board shall: