These arguments are made with the use of examples from police services across the country, including the RCMP, and a case study of the governance of the Toronto Police service, to demonstrate how police are actually regulated, and the ways that the theory of accountability to the rule of law operates at different sites. [...] It will provide an overview of the multiple sites where the legal governance of police in a democratic society is negotiated, with examples and solutions drawn from the recent history of police governance in Ontario where the pendulum has swung between reforms introduced in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s to increase the scope and 4 For example, the decision of Justice Anne Molloy of the Ontario [...] A case study of the response to the 1989 misconduct of two officers of the Toronto Police Service illustrates the operation and effectiveness of the system those reforms replaced. [...] From the initial shaping of the facts of an incident or arrest to conform to policing goals and legal or psychiatric discourse, through the presentation of the same facts in court, to portrayal of the case or of police work generally in the media police control of information is extraordinary. [...] Each board is composed of the head of the municipal council (or their designated representative), members of council, a civilian, and members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor.19 Police Services Board continue to be charged with the provision of police services in the municipality and are empowered to appoint the members of the force (including the chief), determine police objectives and priori