Clarke’s March 2024 story looked at police transparency, comparing Greater Sudbury Police Service’s public statements to that of other area police services, and showing that the city police are far less communicative than their counterparts
Sudbury.com reporter Tyler Clarke has received national recognition for a 2024 story he did on police secrecy.
Clarke won first place in New Media Canada’s 2025 Canadian Community Newsmedia Awards in the Best News Story, (Print Circulation up to 9999/Digital Sites Market Population up to 100000) for his story “Sudbury’s police service far more secretive than counterparts”, which was published March 6, 2024.
Clarke’s story began when Sudbury.com happened to learn firefighters had discovered human remains GSPS while battling a brush fire a month prior. We soon learned the local police service hadn’t issued a news release about the body.
This got us thinking: How many other incidents are occurring in town that Greater Sudbury Police aren’t telling the public about? Turns out, Clarke’s digging dug up quite a bit.
What followed was month’s of work on Clarke’s part trying to access the GSPS media policy (which many police services publish on their websites but which GSPS forced Sudbury.com to jump through the hoops of filing a Freedom of Information request to access), seeking input from the Attorney General (which ignored our requests), attempting to interview then Police Chief Paul Pedersen (we were stymied in that effort and never got the interview), and comparing and contrasting GSPS’s public statements (press releases and social media posts, excluding promotional or public relations-type material) with those of other police services over periods of time.
Clarke, after a few months of work, was able to demonstrate how Sudbury’s police service is far less transparent than other police services in Ontario of similar size.
His work showed GSPS releases fewer media releases than at least two Ontario police organizations roughly comparable in the population base they serve: Barrie (population 147,829) and Guelph (population 143,740). GSPS serves a population base of 166,004 people.
This, despite Greater Sudbury’s violent crime severity index hitting a record high of 137.9 last year, which is significantly higher than Barrie’s 70.5 and Guelph’s 67.3.
To put this into context, while the Nickel City has a much higher violent crime rate than these two comparable communities, GSPS allows the public to know far less about what their officers are doing on a day-to-day basis.
For a direct comparison between police services, Sudbury.com compared media release output on each police organization’s website. Greater Sudbury Police Service issued 123 media releases on their website in 2023. Barrie issued 213 and Guelph issued approximately 350.
We would encourage you to read Clarke’s complete report to get the full picture of what he uncovered.
Sudbury.com editor Mark Gentili congratulated Clarke on the work that earned him the award.
“Hats off to Tyler Clarke for taking the first place spot in the Best News Category of the CCNAs — it’s very much deserved. Despite continual roadblocks thrown in his way by Greater Sudbury Police and the Attorney General’s office, Tyler persisted in chasing the story and refused to take no for an answer,” Gentili said. “This is what good journalists do: They sink their teeth in and don’t let go. They don’t do it for awards and they don’t do it for accolades (although those are nice); they do it because readers deserve answers; they deserve to know how their money is being spent and how their communities are being protected. Readers deserve answers and it’s our job to get them.
“Congratulations to Tyler Clarke on consistently getting answers for readers in Sudbury.”
Working on a story like the secrecy piece requires time and effort, and for his part, Clarke said he appreciates the support that allowed him to spend several months building the story.
“I’m glad to work within a creative atmosphere that allows reporters time to develop stories that matter to them and that they believe matter to the community,” Clarke said.
The CCN Awards honour the outstanding achievements of local journalists, photographers, editors and newspapers from coast to coast. This year’s awards recognize achievements in 30 unique categories, selected from more than 1,000 entries for work published in 2024.
Organizers say the award-winning entries from newspapers and digital news sites highlight the vital role of community journalism in connecting and informing local audiences.
“Across Canada, local journalists keep Canadians informed and communities connected with fact-based, fact-checked reporting,” said Paul Deegan, president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada. “This year’s honourees tell important stories and represent the very best in local journalism.”
Elsewhere across Village Media, which operates Sudbury.com, BarrieToday reporter Kevin Lamb won first place for Best Feature Series for a collection of stories about the local homeless community, including ”I don’t live like this – I hate it’: Barrie shed dwellers battle elements. SooToday’s Random Acts of Kindness team won for Outstanding Community Service.
-With files from Barrie Today
