DATE:	22 May 2007
TO:	Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board
FROM:	Chief of Police, Ottawa Police Service
SUBJECT:	OUTSTANDING INQUIRY # 02-76 – NUMBER OF SENIOR OFFICER REDUCTIONS AND REDEPLOYMENTS TO THE FRONT LINE

RECOMMENDATION

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

BACKGROUND

At the 25 February 2002 meeting of the Ottawa Police Services Board, Vice Chair Legendre referenced page 2 of the Strategic Staffing Initiative Report where it states that one of the key initiatives to maximize efficiency since 1995 has been the reduction of Senior Officer ranks and the redeployment of these positions to the front-line.

The Police Service was asked to identify and report back to the Board on the number of positions cut from the Senior Officer ranks and the number of positions that were redeployed.

DISCUSSION

This report has been broken into two periods of time:

1. 1995 to 1997 - The source of the data for this section is derived from a report tabled in November 1996 with the Ontario Civilian Commission on Policing Services (OCCPS) entitled “Ottawa-Carleton Police Amalgamation Report”. It sets out the staffing changes made in the initial years of amalgamation. In 1995, Bill 143 brought together the three police services of Gloucester, Nepean and Ottawa to form the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Service. Also under Bill 143, and an agreed-to transfer policy, policing responsibilities for the remaining local municipalities was also taken over from the Ontario Provincial Police with sworn and civilian employees being hired by the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Service.

2. The second is a comparison of complement from 1998 to 2007. The source of this data is the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) and OPS budget documents.

Comparison of Sworn Complement 1995 - 1997

The complement of the new Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Service was 1,195 on 1 January 1995, including civilian employees. To facilitate the restructuring process at the time, staffing initiatives such as an early retirement incentive were implemented. In addition, as attrition occurred, positions were left unfilled to provide flexibility in implementing the recommendations of the organizational change process.

Table 1

Change in Sworn Complement 1995 – 1997

Rank	1995	1997	Variance
Chief	3	1	(2)
Deputy Chief	5	2	(3)
Sub-Total: Executive	8	3	(5)

Staff Superintendent	1	0	(1)
Superintendent	4	6	2
Staff Inspector	11	2	(9)
Inspector	20	19	(1)
Sub – Total: Senior Officers	36	27	(9)

Staff Sergeant Major	1	0	(1)
Staff Sergeant	41	43	2
Sergeant	175	173	(2)
Constable	595	627	32
Sub-Total: Other Sworn Officers	812	843	31
Grand Total	856	873	17

Table 1 shows the changes that took place in the sworn complement during this period, which increased by 17 positions. The key highlights include:

1. A centralized command structure was reduced by 5 sworn positions. It was comprised of three sworn positions and one civilian: the Chief, two Deputy Chiefs and one Director General. Eliminating the positions of two Chiefs, two Deputy Chiefs and civilianizing one Deputy Chief position to create the Director General position achieved this structure.

2. The senior officer structure was reduced by 9 positions to a level of 27 sworn officers as a result of a retirement incentive offered to senior officers in early 1995. This facilitated the elimination of the rank of Staff Superintendent and the phasing out of the Staff Inspector rank. Two senior officer positions at that time in Financial Services and Human Resources were converted into civilian Director positions.

3. The number of front-line positions grew by 31. According to the report, the budget savings from the senior officer reductions over the 2-year period were used to increase the number of front-line constable positions.
Comparison of Sworn Complement 1998 - 2007

In 1998, a command structure was put in place, which required 31 senior officers; an increase of 4 from the level reported to OCCPS. In 1999, with the move towards District Policing and the resulting delegation of responsibility and accountability to the lower ranks, the Police Service conducted a review of its senior officer command structure. Using a retirement incentive, six senior officer positions were eliminated bringing the senior officer complement to a level of 25. A corresponding increase in the number of constable positions occurred on the front-line. Starting in 2002 through the Strategic Staffing Initiative, two senior officer positions were added to the complement, bringing the current number to 27 – the same level as 1997.

Table 2

Change in Sworn Complement 1998 - 2007

Table 2 above also provides a detailed breakdown of the budgeted sworn complement between 2000, following the introduction of the new service delivery model, and 2007. The highlights include:

1. Superintendents

a. In 2001, 1 Superintendent rank was added when the Patrol Services area went from 2 Divisions (East and West) to 3 Divisions (Central, East, West). This was achieved by decreasing the number of Inspectors from 20 to 19.

b. In 2002, the Superintendent complement increased by 1 to allow for the creation of the Emergency Operations Division. The Staff Inspector position was re-classified to achieve this result.

2. Inspectors

a. In 2002, the Inspector complement grew by 1 to allow for the creation of a position within the Emergency Operations Division. The Strategic Staffing Initiative created this opportunity.

b. In 2007, the Inspector complement increased by 1 under SSI to create the Quality Assurance Inspector position.

3. Staff Superintendent, Staff Inspector – These ranks are not active.

CONSULTATION

N/A

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

N/A

CONCLUSION

The analysis shows that since 1995 the complement of Senior Officers has decreased from 36 positions to 27. This number represents a decrease of 25% and it has occurred despite an overall growth in the sworn complement of the Police Service of 48%, including the OPP transition. Reductions in Senior Officer positions have been used to create front-line positions, a key initiative to ensure that the maximum number of sworn officer positions are deployed in operational roles in the service delivery model.

Vernon White

Chief of Police