DATE:	21 June 2004
TO:	Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board
FROM:	Chief of Police, Ottawa Police Service
SUBJECT:	THE OTTAWA POLICE SERVICE BUSINESS PLAN: 2004-2006

RECOMMENDATION

That the Ottawa Police Services Board approve the 2004-2006 Business Plan.

BACKGROUND

In accordance with provincial Adequacy and Effectiveness Regulations, the Ottawa Police Service has developed a new Business Plan to guide the Service through 2004 to 2006. Our partners in this venture include the Police Services Board, our sworn and civilian members, and the citizens of our community.

Our two previous Business Plans focused on specific themes — amalgamation (1998) and ensuring police excellence (2001). Through the conversations held with the community, our partners and our members, as well as through the various planning sessions that have been part of the development of this Business Plan, the following theme has emerged:

Excellence, Service and Performance …From Mission to Outcomes.

This current theme continues to build on the previous business plan, while reinforcing the idea that excellence, service and performance are found throughout the organization, from its purpose (mission) through to its results (outcomes).

The Ottawa Police Service’s 2004-2006 Business Plan establishes a blueprint that will help guide our program and service delivery decisions over the next three years. Its overriding goal is to ensure that the citizens of Ottawa will continue to receive a high level of police service well into the future.

DISCUSSION

The multi-phased process to develop the current plan began with an Environmental Scan that included public and members’ surveys and a review of demographics, policing and legislative trends, calls for service and criminal occurrences, and achievements and accomplishments under the previous plan. The strategic direction was initially set at a joint Police Services Board-Associations-Executive Command session. Work Teams expanded on the strategic direction, contributed further ideas, and developed goals and objectives to support the identified strategic direction. Prior to finalizing the Business Plan, a draft was presented to and reviewed by the Ottawa Police Association, Senior Officers Association, and the Board’s Policy Sub-Committee.

Mission, Vision and Values

Our mission statement remains unchanged. The Ottawa Police Service is dedicated to:

· the safety and security of our community;

· working cooperatively with the members of our community; and

· supporting our members personally and professionally.

The vision statement originally developed jointly by the Police Services Board and the Executive Command remains relevant and forward-looking. It has, however, been slightly modified to better reflect the extent to which ‘integration’ has become an important part of our business — both in what we do and how we do it. As such, the Ottawa Police vision is:

A partnership within the community that reflects its values and make up, while committed to information and intelligence sharing and integration to ensure that people’s rights, lives, communities and property are secure.

Our organizational values were first identified and agreed-to by members in early 1995 when the former Gloucester, Nepean and Ottawa Police Services amalgamated.

The Ottawa Police Service believes in:

being an integral part of the community;
providing quality service in an equitable and accessible manner;
working together to find solutions;
the importance of respect for the Rule of Law;
openness and accountability;
the safety of our members;
providing our members with the supports necessary to do their job; and
maintaining the highest ethical and professional standards

The core value of the Ottawa Police is:

Working together for a safer community.

This embodies much of the spirit and intent of how the Ottawa Police Service approaches its community policing and community problem-solving relationships.

Strategic Framework

The overall Strategic Framework (Attachment A) captures what the organization will be focusing on over the next three years as it moves towards its longer-term strategic outcome of a safer and more secure community. The key components of the Strategic Framework are discussed below.

While continuing to fulfill its core policing responsibilities (emergency response, enforcing the laws, investigating crimes, crime prevention and education, problem-solving, and assisting victims), the Ottawa Police will also focus on the top community-identified concerns of Traffic Enforcement and Road Safety, and Youth Issues, as its short-term priorities.

Key Result Areas (KRAs) are the identified areas where action is needed for the organization to achieve its strategic outcome. They are linked to the short-term priorities, as activities undertaken within each of these should be mindful of and focus on supporting the short-term priorities.

· Pride and Identity – …Proud of our traditions, culture and values, and displaying this pride through our professionalism and commitment to serving the community;

· Access and Accessibility – …Welcoming, open, accessible and responsive;

· Partnership and Integration – …A national model of partnership and integration, both with the community and with our policing/public safety partners; and

· Quality Service and Performance – …doing the traditional or little things well, and looks for innovative means of dealing with people, places and problems.

Although not a KRA, the organizational strategy of People Learning, Supports, and Growth complements the strategic direction and allows the Ottawa Police to …be progressive, supportive and welcoming.

Woven throughout the Plan is shared responsibility, with accountability for results being the critical driver for performance measurement of policing services.

CONSULTATION

In addition to regularly obtaining residents’ feedback through the Public Survey, the Ottawa Police Service is also engaged in ongoing consultation processes — our relationships with various key community associations, Partnerships in Action (PIA), various liaison committees, and the monthly Police Service Board meetings, as well as regular community meetings held across the City. Activities such as these help ensure that our Plan is responsive to the needs of the community. As we engage in ongoing consultation, we are also able to increase the community’s awareness of policing issues and are able to build capacity and alliances that contribute to the overall public value of our service.

Further, the citizens of Ottawa have been invited to participate in many important consultation exercises over the past several years, including:

Human Services Plan (that resulted from the Ottawa 20/20 Smart Growth Plan);
Program Review Process; and
Budget Consultation Process, including individual ward meetings.

Being a partner in these broader consultation initiatives enabled the Ottawa Police to hear citizens’ feedback and to use that feedback to help develop our organizational responses.

CONCLUSION

We strongly believe that this Business Plan provides clear and concise tasks that will improve the Service and make it even more responsive in the future. It will truly enable us to offer excellence, service and performance, from mission to outcomes.

As we have in the past, we will continue to report on the implementation of the Business Plan. We will also continue to report on matters of significance, using mechanisms that are already in place in our organization.

Vince Bevan

Chief of Police