FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, July 20, 2016 1:15pm
(Ottawa) – An update on the Service Initiative (SI) program was released today as a part of the Ottawa Police Services Board agenda for the July 25 meeting.
The quarterly report covers the current work of the SI program and the public consultation recently carried out on the Frontline Deployment model and community policing.
Results of the SI Consultation
During May and June, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) engaged the community in a consultation process that included stakeholder sessions, an online questionnaire, presentations and meetings across the city. About 200 stakeholders were engaged face-to-face through the focus groups, meetings, and presentations. As well, over 800 residents completed the online questionnaire.
As discussed in the report, five key themes emerged consistently throughout the consultation, and made up the majority of the discussions, written submissions, and questionnaire responses. They are: Community Police Officers, the need for one point of contact, training, data and knowledge, and measurement of the model.
“We received some great feedback and had some important discussions during these sessions,” said Acting Chief Jill Skinner. “That input is being built into our model to ensure it reflects the needs of residents and stakeholders.”
The full consultation report, as well as more detailed information on how the community feedback is being incorporated, is detailed in the report.
Update on SI projects
The report also includes information on the five projects currently underway: Demand Management, Frontline, Investigative, Control Centre, and Courts.
“The SI program has been tasked with reviewing the operations of the OPS to ensure we can maintain and improve service to the community,” said Acting Chief Jill Skinner. “That means modernizing the way we operate; focusing on policing responsibilities so we can free up capacity and be more effective and adaptable; introducing new technologies to help better serve residents; increasing the use of data to better direct our resources; and updating our current structure and service delivery model.”
The models being developed are focused on sustainability, effectiveness, and adaptability. They will assist the OPS in delivering and strengthening community policing, as well as realigning available resources, which haven’t been able to keep pace with the expanding needs, challenges, and pressures facing policing in Ottawa, across the country, and even throughout the world.
This includes a new Frontline Deployment model that deploys officers more in line with where and when calls for service are occurring, the new Ottawa Police Strategic Operations Centre (OPSOC) that leverages data to identify and react to trends in crime and help direct resources, and various strategies looking at how to address calls for service that don’t require a response by an officer.
The report also contains a new organizational structure supporting our future Frontline Deployment model, OPSOC, and an improved and enhanced Investigative model. OPSOC and the Investigative model will come into effect this fall and the Frontline Deployment model is scheduled to be implemented in January of 2017.
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