Chief’s Verbal Report April 2009 Board Meeting
The Tamil community demonstration began on 7 April 2009 and
continued uninterrupted for 15 days, ending early in the morning hours of
Wednesday, 22 April and put a significant drain on Ottawa Police
resources. This demonstration was
unprecedented in duration and number of participants (including many women and
children).
I recognize that there were disruptions to many people and
many services provided by both public and private sector. We did in fact receive numerous complaints,
however, we also received many complimentary messages relating to policing this
event. As you are aware, demonstrations
are constitutionally protected under the Charter – freedom of speech and lawful
assembly. There are on average over 150
planned and/or unplanned political protests (demonstrations) in Ottawa
yearly. In order to effectively manage
these events, taking into consideration the safety of the community, it may be
necessary to have road closures. Unplanned
road interruptions by participants are assessed by police operations and
generally a measured response is affected to ensure the democratic right to
protest is balanced with the need to maintain public order.
It is indeed a difficult task to police this type of
demonstration. The sheer volume of
participants necessitated recruitment of additional police personnel from the
OPP (to assist OPS and RCMP). Thanks to
both of these agencies.
On this occasion, the Tamils had arrived on the Hill at
approximately 2:30 pm on Tuesday, 7 April.
The following morning another thousand demonstrators joined in and
essentially clogged Wellington Street.
They remained on the street for approximately 24 hours when police
personnel cooperatively moved them.
They then continued to line Wellington Street for days leading up to
their last demo on the Hill, which occurred on 21 April.
Of interest, this is the third time that the Tamils had
come to protest in Ottawa this year.
The goal is always to reduce traffic disruptions and keep
road closures to a minimum. Although
some may feel that Ottawa Police should make mass arrests and shut down the
protests, these types of actions are used only when absolutely necessary and
traffic disruptions do not meet that threshold. All decisions are based on the behaviour of the crowd.
During the course of the entire period from 7-21 April
inclusive, the Ottawa Police made no arrests.
In fact during the mass protest on 21 April, I attended at the Hill and
found the demonstrators to be quite courteous.
The preliminary cost for this event is $900,000.00. This includes the cost of bringing in
Ontario Provincial Police officers to assist.
It was expensive as it required 24 hour policing.
On 25 April at approximately 7:20 pm, a severe storm, possibly a tornado, struck in Ottawa affecting mostly West Division but also impacting both Central and East Division. The storm/tornado was significant but did not last very long. Resources were coordinated citywide and all divisions were advised to ensure officers remained on duty until cleared by the Duty Inspector. Ms. Nathalie Rochefort, Duty Officer, City of Ottawa's Emergency Management Group, was kept informed throughout the incident and was in a position to provide support as required. It did not become necessary for her to activate her resources.
A total of 54 calls were generated in West Division dealing mostly with damage to property, downed power lines, hydro poles, trees and damaged roofs. The most severe incident occurred at 1438 Morisset Ave where the roof of a 4-story apartment building was torn off. Occupants were evacuated resulting in 30 people being displaced.
Central officers responded to over 30 calls for service related to the
storm and were assisted by RCMP officers who provided support with road
closures. Some afternoon units were
held over until conditions were deemed safe and under control.
East Division was not significantly impacted by the storm
with the exception of an increased number of calls for service related to
alarms. A number of aircraft were
ripped from their moorings and flipped over and 14 private aircrafts suffered
damage ranging from minor to being completely destroyed.
This past weekend Ottawa Police conducted a three-day zero tolerance initiative targeting impaired drivers, enforcement of licensed establishments, unruly behaviour and street level prostitution in the downtown core. From 23 - 25 April Central District neighbourhood officers assisted by Ottawa bylaw, OC Transpo special constables, Alcohol and Gaming Commission officers and the Ottawa Fire Inspectors Office worked jointly enforcing Provincial statutes and Criminal Code violations. During this initiative, officers issued 741 Provincial Offence Notices and laid 27 Criminal Charges: 3 for impaired driving; 15 for prostitution; and 9 for various other criminal offences. Four bars were charged with overcrowding and serving minors. The Fire Inspector’s office noted 15 fire code violations were issued to licenced establishments.
Board members will have seen the front page story last week about the OPS’s record for solving crime; coincidently, it was followed the previous day by the headline that Ottawa has among the lowest rates of “serious” crime in Canada and according to the new Crime Severity Index our City is relatively safe.
While the article referred to 2007 statistics the facts are still valid and yes, our overall clearance rate was the lowest in the Province for 2007. Having said that I want to express my fullest confidence in our investigators assigned to criminal and forensic investigations – they carry their duties with diligence, integrity and skill.
We are aware of a few critical dynamics that affect our clearance rates:
· Impact of “high volume and low solvability” crimes like mischief/vandalism to property and minor thefts:
- Michief = 20% of Criminal Code of Canada (CCC) offences versus an average of 12% for other Big 12 police services…in 2007 our citizens reported 8,900 incidents, the next closest is 4,100 in Durham;
- Similarly, thefts under $5,000 = 32% of offences versus ± 30% for other Big 12 police services;
- Combined in Ottawa, mischief + theft under$5,000 = 53% of all offences with 16% clearance.
· Jurisdictions such as Thunder Bay and/or Sudbury are slightly more isolated and have a less transient population.
As well, the OPS compares favorably with Calgary (31%), Edmonton (32%), Montreal (28%), Vancouver (25%), and Winnipeg (21%).
My reason in raising this tonight is that our annual Crime, Police and Traffic Statistics report for 2008 will be presented to the Board at the next meeting in May. We will also have ward profiles ready for release at that time, much earlier than other years. Without pre-empting the annual report, I can say that our overall solvency rate is 36%, 4 basis points higher than 2007, continuing a trend of constant improvement in clearance rates over the past five years.
Crimes against person/violent = 65%; crimes against property = 25%; other CCC offences = 77%.
Our job however, is far from done. I am convinced we can do better, in fact Ottawans deserve better.
Some recent activities to improve our solvency rates include:
· Clearance rate review – 30,000 + cases reviewed and 34 recommendations being actioned
· Presentation to Canadian Committee of Judicial Stats (CCJS)/POLIS that resulted in a national data quality committee being struck.
· Strategic Deployment Plan looked at volume of CCC offences and solvency in other services across Canada.
· Creation of centralized Robbery Unit and its recent successes, plus centralized B&E Unit pilot
Up next….
· CIS review
· Weighted clearance rates in July, CCJS release will account for severity of incident/offence (greater impact for solvency of crimes against person)
Finally, we continually review how we measure ourselves, and report on performance measurement; for example the quarterly performance report on tonight’s agenda.
Lastly, I am pleased to introduce Kathy Murray our new Director of Finance. Kathy is a CMA and has over 20 years experience working in the private sector as a controller. We are very happy to have her with us as part of our team.