Ottawa Police Services Board

 

Minutes

 

Monday, 30 May 2005, 5:00 p.m.

 

Champlain Room, 110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa

 

 

 

Present:          Councillor H. Kreling (Chair), D. Morin, (Vice Chair), Councillor M. Bellemare,     D. Doran, Councillor E. El-Chantiry, D. Guilmet-Harris, H. Jensen

 

 

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board confirm the Minutes of the 26 April and                   16 May 2005 meetings.

 

                                                                                                      CARRIED

 

INQUIRIES

 

1.         Update – 95 Abbeyhill Divisional Police Building Lease

 

Member El-Chantiry requested an update on the status of the Abbeyhill Drive lease.  Chief Bevan indicated a response would be submitted to the Board at the 27 June 2005 meeting.

 

 

2.                  Update – 2005 Ottawa Police Services Budget

 

Member El-Chantiry requested an update on the status of the Police Service 2005 Budget.  Chief Bevan indicated a response would be submitted to the Board at the 27 June 2005 meeting.

 

 

ITEMS OF BUSINESS

 

1.   CHIEF’S VERBAL REPORT

 

 

The Chief reported on the following items:

(A copy of the Chief’s verbal report will be kept on file with the Board’s Executive Director and is available online at www.ottawa.ca)

 

·                 2004 Activity Report

·                 Introduction of RCMP Inspector Paul Hébert

·                 Police Week

·                 150th Anniversary Sponsorship Update

·                 Routine Traffic Stop

·                 Prostitution Sweep

·                 Partnership in Action

·                 Ottawa Police Service 150th Tattoo

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                RECEIVED

 

 

2.      2004 ACTIVITY REPORT

Chief’s report dated 19 May 2005

 

 

Chief Bevan asked that this item be withdrawn from the agenda.  He explained that in compiling the annual crime statistics for the Activity Report, two data tables from the Ottawa Police Records Management System needed to be merged.  Unfortunately, a human error occurred during the merging process and it was noticed at the last minute.  The error resulted in an under-representation of the decrease in reported criminal incidents in Ottawa between 2003 and 2004.  
 
The Chief apologized for any inconvenience this may have inadvertently caused.  The 2004 Activity Report will be presented to the Board at the 27 June 2005 regular meeting.

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                            WITHDRAWN

 

 

3.      2004 FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL REPORT

      Director General’s report dated 24 May 2005

 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                          RECEIVED

 

 

4.      AWARD OF TOWING CONTRACT

Chief’s report dated 19 May 2005

 

 

D/C S. O’Sullivan introduced S/S R. Lavigne, Supt. P. Hayes and Mr. M. Carbone, Officer, Purchasing, Supply Management Division for the City of Ottawa.  S/S Lavigne told the Board that the current towing contract expired on 30 April and was extended for 30 days in order to prepare this evaluation for the Board’s approval.  There were some amendments and changes made to the new contract, for example:  the number of tow zones has been reduced from five to three, causing the geographical areas per company to be larger. 

 

Mr. E. Canturk, Owner, J & E Towing & Recovery, expressed his concern about the police contract and the future of his business.  He felt that the two firms Ottawa Metro Towing and Metro Towing were affiliated, as he had never heard of Metro Towing until approximately three weeks ago.  He felt it warranted a review.  Ottawa is a rapidly growing city and he sees no point in reducing the zones.  On the contrary, he said they should be increasing the zones so that response times would be quicker.  Another concern he had was that by awarding two zones to affiliated companies, he suggested the police were giving more buying power to that company and within the next few years there would be no way for smaller companies to compete against them.  He thought there were about 10 or 12 towing companies in Ottawa, of which only four or five would be capable of handling a contract such as this.

 

Mr. J. Gervais, Co-owner, Gervais Towing, took the opportunity to thank the OPS for choosing Gervais Towing, who has been dealing with the Police since 1948.  His concern at this time is the size of the zone that Gervais was assigned.  Gervais is a large company and should have been geared towards a larger towing zone.  While not wishing to appear ungrateful or disrespectful, Mr. Gervais felt the committee should review the process as he thought that within five years there would be a monopoly on tow services. 

 

Mr. Carbone explained the indication staff received was that Ottawa Metro Towing and Metro Towing are separate entities with different owners, who happen to be family members.  This information was disclosed in their submission.

 

Mr. D. Dion, Dan’s Towing, thanked the Board for allowing him to speak.  He stated he was representing and speaking on behalf of five other companies.  He expressed their displeasure with the process and wanted to know how a company that did not previously exist could score better than a company that has been in existence for many years.  He acknowledged that his is a smaller firm, however they are established and have worked on police contracts before.  At the de-briefing there were many questions that were not answered to his satisfaction.  He felt the RFP guidelines were not followed.  He indicated for these and other reasons, he would be seeking legal advice.  He asked that the Board postpone awarding the contract for 30 days.

 

Member Bellemare requested Mr. Dion to be more specific as to which RFP guidelines were not followed in this particular RFP.  Mr. Dion indicated he could not elaborate at this time as they are awaiting legal advice. 

 

Mr. P. Larmour, Ottawa Towing Service, stated he agreed with Mr. Dion that the five criteria for awarding the contract were not followed.  He believed the RFP was written in a hasty manner and is a copy of one from five years ago.  One addition to the RFP is Section 2.14, which is intended to restrict the cost of deliveries from a contractor’s compound to any point within the City of Ottawa.  Over the past five years, companies have bid $50 or $60 to bring a car in, and then charged $200 to deliver the car to a repair facility 10 km away.  Before the contract is awarded, Mr. Larmour believed the clause in Section 2.14 should be re-worded to reflect the intent for which it was designed. 

 

A discussion followed the public delegations during which the following points were clarified:

·                 The police tow contract takes into account the needs of the organization and the public they serve.  Practical issues from a police point of view were considered, such as:  the responsibility to be cost effective; the number of premises that officers must attend to do their follow-up investigations; and the many practical considerations in terms of continuity and chain of evidence. 

·                 There were approximately 14,000 tows (not solely police tows) in 2004.  The actual tow costs to the police budget were in the range of $10,000 to $11,000 (including crime vehicles, collision vehicles being held and safety checks being done by experts). 

·                 A better job must be done communicating to the public that if they are involved in an accident, they have the option of calling the tow company of their choice in the majority of cases. 

·                 This RFP was developed with the cooperation of City partners in Supply Services to ensue that all City guidelines were followed.  The guidelines in this RFP were followed according to the requirements of the Municipality. 

·                 Fiscal management was considered when the zones were reduced from five to three.  With fewer zones there will be less confusion for Communications, therefore reducing response times.  The fewer the locations to administer, the more cost effective it will be.

·                 One RFP requirement stipulated that only one tow zone would be awarded per company; if a bidder bid on all three zones and was awarded one zone, they would automatically be disqualified from being awarded a second.

·                 The three tow zones are different in size and tow volume.  The actual boundaries for the tow zones reflect the divisional boundaries the Police Service currently has in place, which helps with the administration of dispatching tow trucks.  West and East zones are considerably larger than Central geographically.  However, in terms of number of towings Central and East are quite high, with West being the lowest.

·                 The intent of Section 2.14 was to ensure that clients having their vehicles towed to any one of the compounds would be fairly charged.  The section was added by the Police to maintain the integrity of charging no more for having the vehicle towed out than having it towed in.  An amendment to the section would clarify that the companies presently contracted to the Police would not charge more for “tow outs” than “tow ins”.  This certainly does not void the process or the proposal.

·                 All bidders to the RFP have been offered, in writing, the opportunity to attend a de-briefing with respect to their bids and the outcomes.

·                 The total number of companies that responded to the RFP was seven.  The RFP allowed for two or more smaller towing companies to put together a consortium to bid on one zone.

 

Chair Kreling thanked everyone involved in the towing contract for their assistance with the report. 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board award the contract for the provision of towing services in the Municipality of Ottawa for the period 1 June 2005 to 30 April 2008, with an additional two one-year extensions clause, to:

·        East Zone - Ottawa Metro Towing;

·        Central Zone - Gervais Towing;

·        West Zone - Metro Towing and Recovery Group.

 

                                                                                                      CARRIED

 

 

5.      PURCHASE OF TWO DIESEL FORD EXCURSION TRUCKS

Director General’s report dated 19 May 2005

 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board approve the award of a contract for the purchase of two Ford Excursion trucks from Donnelly Ford at a total cost of $105,440.05, inclusive of all taxes.

 

                                                                                                      CARRIED

 

 

6.      BREAK AND ENTER REVIEW REPORT

Chief’s report dated 25 May 2005

 

 

Chair Kreling thanked D/C L. Hill and Supt. K. Roberts for providing this informative and interesting report.  The Chair referred to page 22 of the report; “Short-term Initiatives” and the bullet referring to the definition of break and enter (B&E).  He asked why the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics was using a different definition from what the OPS was using. 

 

 Supt. Roberts explained that at amalgamation the different police services used various definitions of B&E, depending on the software and application being used at the time.  A common definition was agreed upon and utilized.  In the process of the Break and Enter Review, it was identified that the Ottawa Police Service should apply the Criminal Code definition of Break and Enter when reporting to Statistics Canada.  That change has been implemented.

 

Chair Kreling queried the appropriateness of the “Break & Enter Response Team” (BERT) being identified as a “Longer-term Initiative” rather than a more immediate term initiative.  D/C Hill explained the surveillance issue is complex and cannot be addressed solely by BERT.  It will take more work with an internal collaborative working group to put a policy in place that affects the various sections.  It involves patrol officers as well as the various specialized equipment and training orientations necessary for a full surveillance team operation.

 

Chair Kreling suggested the Advisory Committee on Performance Measurements receive a copy of this report in their next mailing so that they are kept apprised of the work being done in this area.  The Advisory Committee on Performance Measurements is comprised of members from the community, police service and one individual from the Canadian Centre on Crime Statistics. 

 

Chief Bevan agreed the report should be distributed to the working group and said he would also forward a copy to the citizens who filed a police complaint related to a B&E a few years ago, in order to keep them current with the progress being made.  The information contained in the report will be revisited in the fall after a survey is conducted that will gauge the community’s current response to this problem and its future needs.  He then thanked D/C Hill and Supt. Roberts for their efforts in upgrading the level of response to the community’s concerns.

 

Responding to a question about the collection of DNA evidence at B&Es, D/C Hill explained part of the B&E service standard checklist is that Scenes of Crimes Officers (SOCO) or Forensic Identification be consulted to attend the crime scene to collect evidence.  Awareness of the usefulness of collecting this type of evidence is being heightened with patrol officers.

 

Chief Bevan spoke to the solving of serial B&Es through the use of DNA samples.  There have been some very good successes with sample submissions to the crime laboratory.  Over the past 18 months periodic reviews have been conducted on responses to B&Es to determine the percentage of times that SOCO and fully trained forensic identification technicians are consulted.  Feedback is constantly being given to front line officers.  As well, presentations are


given on training days to raise awareness of the significant effect that B&Es and the solving of these crimes has on the community.

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                      RECEIVED

 

 

7.      LEASE RENEWAL 1327B AND 1329 WELLINGTON STREET – COMMUNITY POLICE CENTRE

Director General’s report dated 19 May 2005

 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board approve the lease extension for a community police centre located at 1327B and 1329 Wellington Street, for a two-year term from 1 August 2005 to 31 July 2007, at a cost of $89,480.86 plus G.S.T

 

                                                                                                            CARRIED

 

 

8.      AWARD OF CONTRACT - INTEGRATED SECURITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR GREENBANK STATION

Director General’s report dated 24 May 2005

 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board approve the award of a contract to SunoTech Canada Inc. for a total amount not to exceed $220,000.00, including applicable taxes, to supply and install the City’s integrated security management system at Greenbank Station.

 

                                                                                                      CARRIED

 

 

9.      S.I.U. INVESTIGATION – INJURY DURING ARREST – OCTOBER 2004

Chief’s report dated 19 May 2005

 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                      RECEIVED

 

 

10.  S.I.U. INVESTIGATION – INJURY DURING ARREST (LOWERTOWN) –      FEBRUARY 2005

Chief’s report dated 19 May 2005

 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                      CARRIED

 

 

11.  S.I.U. INVESTIGATION – INJURY DURING ARREST (CENTRETOWN) –     FEBRUARY 2005

Chief’s report dated 19 May 2005

 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                      RECEIVED

 

 

12.  2005 THOMAS G. FLANAGAN, S.C. SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

Chief’s report dated 19 May 2005

 

 

Member Doran wished to express his pleasure with the uniqueness of this scholarship award.

 

Chair Kreling told Board members he had been a member of the selection panel this year and that a number of excellent submissions had been received.  The 2005 recipient will be recognized at the Police Community Awards Ceremony on 16 June 2005.

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                      RECEIVED

 

 

13.  LETTERS OF COMMENDATION (SINCE MARCH BOARD MEETING)

Chief’s report dated 24 May 2005

 

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

 

                                                                                                      RECEIVED

 

 

OTHER BUSINESS

 

 

14.  UPDATE – NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH                                 

 

 

Ms. S. Noble, Neighbourhood Watch, has read the newspapers and wished to thank the Ottawa Police for the crackdowns that are occurring across the city.  She requested, again, that Bay Ward Public Safety and other community organizations be notified of media releases and be invited to the media events so that their presence can show a community partnership exists with the police. 

 

Ms. Noble reiterated her concerns and frustrations about the challenges she is facing with having the Neighbourhood Watch in Michelle Heights recognized.  They still have not received any follow-up since speaking at a previous Board meeting.  Their community definitely believes that the program can work if the right individuals are working together.  She stated that nobody has approached her to find out what she has had difficulties with in regards to getting the cooperation from her CPC officer.

 

Chair Kreling agreed that this conversation has occurred before, however, there was a need to rely on the Police Service to engage Ms. Noble in this discussion to get the answers she needs to rectify the matter.  Chief Bevan assured Chair Kreling there would be follow-up and Ms. Noble would receive the information she has requested.  He stated the Board would receive a response to this matter also.

 

 

CONSIDERATION OF MOTION TO MOVE IN CAMERA

 

      Moved by E. El-Chantiry

 

That the Ottawa Police Services Board adjourn the public portion of its meeting to move In Camera to discuss confidential items pertaining to personnel matters, in accordance with Section 35(4)(b) of the Police Services Act.

     

                                                                                                            CARRIED

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

      The meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

      ____________________________                      _____________________________

      W. Fedec                                                               H. Kreling

      Executive Director                                                  Chair