|
|
REPORT RAPPORT |
|
DATE: |
16 June 2009 |
|
TO: |
Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board |
|
FROM: |
Chief of Police, Ottawa Police Service |
|
SUBJECT: |
LETTERS
OF COMMENDATION |
RECOMMENDATION
That the Ottawa
Police Services Board receive this report for information.
BACKGROUND
Attached for the information of the Board are excerpts from letters of appreciation / thanks received from the public, since the last regular meeting, for services rendered by members of the Ottawa Police Service.
(original
signed by)
Vern White,
Chief of Police
Attach. (1)
LETTERS
OF COMMENDATION
Date
Received: 20 April 2009
From: Member
of the Public
OPS Members: Constable
Maria Keen, Superintendent Ralph Erfle and Sergeant James Devine
Excerpts from
Email: I am very proud to
recognize one of your CPC officers from West Division. These police officers work very hard within
our communities to foster strong and dynamic working relationships with
community associations and many small groups and individuals. This month it is my absolute pleasure to
draw to the attention of the Board the outstanding work of Constable Keen. In particular, I work with her directly as a
Board member of Crystal Beach Lakeview Community Association. Constable Keen is always very responsive and
thorough in any concerns and issues raised by our members. Recently, she quickly addressed theft and
break-in issues within Crystal Beach.
Maria is helpful, positive in communications, and provides very
professional guidance to all our citizens.
We do not take her level of commitment and service for granted. In addition, I have worked for many months
along side her in development work for new Watches established in Bay
Ward. In our Ward, her work with new
community volunteers has helped establish new Watches in the Foster Farm area
(and others), and she works diligently with the teams from West Division to
help improve the perception of effective community policing by our Ottawa
Police. This hard work over a long
period of time is very much appreciated by all the citizens she tries to
serve. Again, we do not take this high
level of commitment for granted.
Constable Keen is a respected ambassador for all the great work by the
Community Police Officer Team. We also
acknowledge the support of leadership in West Division in helping us to create
the positive partnership we need with the Police. Constable Keen, Supt. Erfle and Sgt. Devine, among others, are
held in high regard by the communities they serve.
Date
Received: 24 April 2009
From: Member
of the Public
OPS Members: Constable
David Pennock, Constable Garvin Chow Chang, Constable Lindsay LeClair and
Constable Hak Hor Taing
Excerpts from
Email: My girlfriend and I were
involved in an incident on 21 April 2009, 10:00 pm, 1310 Pinecrest Road. I had mistakenly parked in someone else’s
parking spot and the owner of the spot had cut two of my tires and wouldn’t let
me leave with the vehicle. By-law
services were on the scene when I arrived and were kind enough to radio the
Ottawa Police given the owner’s level of anger and the fact that he had
vandalized my vehicle. As there was no
evidence that the owner has actually vandalized my vehicle, however, the
officers obviously could not take any action in that regard but I do understand
why. The reason that I’m emailing is
that I would like to praise both of the officers that showed up on the scene
and the By-Law officer with whom I dealt.
Unfortunately I did not get anyone’s name or badge number, as I was not
thinking about it at the time. Both my
girlfriend and I however were extremely impressed with both the professionalism
and the friendly nature of the officers.
The very tall (and large) officer complimented us on how well we had
dealt with the situation and he really went above and beyond the call of
duty. I would really appreciate if this
sentiment could be passed on to the officers that were involved and their
superiors.
Date
Received: 04 May 2009
From: Member
of the Public
OPS Members: Constable
Matthew Caldwell
Excerpts from
Email: Yesterday, 03 May 2009,
we had to call for assistance to handle a deer that had gotten caught in our
fence at home. Constable Caldwell
arrived approximately 10 minutes after the call and proceeded to handle the
situation, cooperating with the Humane Society representative. My wife and I were extremely impressed with
the professionalism Constable Caldwell exhibited and his compassion for the
badly injured deer. His attention to
the safety of us and our neighbours and his skill at putting everyone at ease
was amazing. As you can imagine this
was a very uncomfortable situation for us.
We are ardent supporters of the Ottawa Police and our experience
yesterday only enhances our deep respect and admiration for the officers. Please convey our sincere thanks to Constable
Caldwell and congratulations on providing the City of Ottawa with such
outstanding service.
Date
Received: 05 May 2009
From: Member
of the Public
OPS Members: Constable
Tim Nolan
Excerpts from Letter: My daughter was jogging in the Market on her lunch hour
when she was struck by a car, suffering severe lacerations to her left elbow
and a fracture in her left foot.
Constable Nolan was the responding officer and was so professional in
his dealings with my daughter. He
showed compassion for her injury and obvious shock and was also concerned for
the well being of the driver who was also in shock. My daughter was taken to the hospital by ambulance and Constable
Nolan conducted a follow-up visit for further information on the incident and
once again showed his concern. It is
reassuring to know that my daughters, both of who live in Ottawa, are being
protected by wonderful young officers like Tim Nolan.
Date Received: 14 May 2009
From: Member of Public
OPS Member: Constable
Joseph Brownrigg
Excerpts from
Letter: Recently our mailbox
was set on fire. The report was taken
by Constable Brownrigg and by working with us, he was able to identify the boys
responsible. Although Constable Brownrigg
was very busy with the Tamil Protests and a drowning fatality in the Jock
River, he followed up on our case and also met with the boys responsible. We did not wish to press charges, however,
Constable Brownrigg did help us to secure an apology and restitution for the
mailbox as we requested. We realize
this was a relatively minor matter, but we were impressed with the help we
received from Constable Brownrigg and wanted to bring his good work to your
attention.
From: Assistant Crown Attorneys, Ministry of the Attorney General
OPS Member: Sergeant Roch Lachance, Sergeant Julie Vaillant, Major
Crime Section, Forensic Identification Section, Court Security and OPS Members
Excerpts from Letter:
Kindly accept
this belated letter of appreciation submitted by my colleague and myself to
show our heartfelt appreciation for the excellence demonstrated by all the
involved officers and civilian members of the Ottawa Police Service, in what
was arguably, one of the most difficult homicide prosecutions that our office
has ever had to present.
Date Received: 19 May 2009
From: W.
Fraser MacRae, Chief Superintendent, RCMP
OPS Member: Superintendent Knowlton Roberts,
A/Superintendent Ed Keeley, Inspector Dan Delaney and Inspector John Copeland
Excerpts from
Email: On 23 April 2009 both
Superintendent Wayne Rideout and I were provided a tour and briefing of your
operations by Superintendent Knowlton Roberts.
Superintendent Roberts took several hours out of his day to share with
us information pertaining to the structure and service delivery model of the
Ottawa Police Service. Following
Superintendent Roberts’ briefing, A/Supt. Keeley, Inspector Dan Delaney and
Inspector John Copeland spent several hours providing us with information
regarding patrol/specialized unit structure and peak shift options. The information supplied was very helpful as
we look for “best practices” in our own service delivery model. We ended our visit with several concepts
that we will examine for possible implementation here in Surrey. Please extend our thanks for the time that
your officers spent with us and for the information they shared throughout the
course of the day.
Date Received: 19 May 2009
From: Adrian
Geraghty, Chief of Police, Brockville Police
OPS Member: Constable
Ugo Garneau
Excerpts from
Letter: On May 13, 2009, Constable Garneau attended a post mortem
at the Ottawa General Hospital at our request, took photographs and obtained 2
copies of C216-T of the deceased. He
later obtained a copy of the C216 from the RCMP and confirmed who the deceased
was. He then submitted the RCMP
Notification of Death of a Person Known to Have a Criminal Record along with
the C216-T. At the time of the
occurrence identification of the deceased was unknown and our Forensic
Identification Officer was unavailable due to court commitments. The Brockville Police Service appreciates
Constable Ugo Garneau’s contribution to our investigation and thanks your
department for granting him the time necessary to assist our service.
From: Manager, Policing Standards Section, Ministry of Community
Safety and Correctional Services
OPS Members: Staff Sergeant Larry Colotelo
Excerpts from Letter:
On behalf of the
Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, I would like to thank
S/Sgt. Larry Colotelo for participating as a Committee Member for the Fourth
Annual Domestic Violence Coordinators’ 2009 Conference “Domestic Violence – A
Continuing Danger”. Please convey our
sincere appreciation to S/Sgt. Colotelo for his contribution. The planning and coordination of this
conference was very well received and helped make the conference a great
success.
Date Received: 25 May 2009
From: Commissioner
Julian Fantino, Ontario Provincial Police
OPS Members: Sergeant
Ann Lapointe
Excerpts from
Letter: It is my pleasure, now that the Cornwall Public Inquiry
(CPI) has come to a close, to thank you for your contributions during the CPI
and for your support of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) as a Party with
Standing. I am aware that you expended
a substantial amount of time and energy to prepare for your testimony before
the Commission. Even though you were
released from taking the stand, your efforts in preparing for your appearance
at the Inquiry were greatly appreciated.
I realize the significant pressure that officers were subject to prior
to testifying at the Inquiry, and I commend you for the dedication and
enthusiasm you demonstrated at all times.
Date Received: 27 May 2009
From: Pat
Seaton, Chair, OACP Networking Committee – Freedom of Information Police
Network
OPS Member: Chief White, Liz Monachan and Lou D’Ascenzo
Excerpts from
Letter: On behalf of the Executive of the Freedom of Information
Police Network, I would like to thank your Police Service for hosting the 2009
FOIPN Spring Workshop and the Hospitality Night. It was a pleasure meeting you.
Your warm and encouraging welcoming address was a great way to start the
Workshop and I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to greet
the attendees. I would be remiss in not
recognizing the dedication and hard work of Liz Monachan and Lou D’Ascenzo who
attended to every detail to ensure the seamless running of the Workshop. Based on the evaluations, I can tell you
that their efforts went a long way in making this Workshop a huge success. The success of the FOIPN Workshops is
dependent on the generosity of Police Services in Ontario hosting our Workshops
and the Ottawa Police Service assisted the FOIPN Committee in fulfilling its
mandate and for this we thank you.
Date Received: 27 May 2009
From: Member
of the Public
OPS Member: Constable Jack Woods and OPS Members
Excerpts from
Letter: The staff and students
of our school would like to thank you Chief White and your staff (especially
Constable Jack Woods – organizer par excellence) for the friendly competitive
basketball game on 26 March 2009 and the tour of the Call Centre –
outstanding! Next year we hope to
return. It was a pleasure to meet you.
Date
Received: 28 May 2009
From: Member
of the Public
OPS Members: Constable
Jennifer Froh
Excerpts from
Letter: My wife died at home on
12 May 2009. Despite everyone’s efforts
nothing could be done to save her. One
of your officers was present and she conducted herself in a way that was way
above the line of duty. Please express
my thanks and appreciation to this marvellous young officer.
Date
Received: 28 May 2009
From: Member
of the Public
OPS Members: Ottawa
Police Street Crime Unit - “Project
Crackdown”
Excerpts from
Email: The Military
congratulatory signal (navy origin) for such a successful action is BRAVO
ZULU! Please pass on the sincere thanks
of the 225+ St. George Condominium residents and all the members of the
Downtown Ottawa Coalition for a Safe Community to each of the Street Crime Unit
for another successful operation. We
really appreciate the work they are doing to make our community a better place
to live.
Date
Received: 01 June 2009
From: Jim
Watson, MPP, Ottawa West - Nepean
OPS Members: Constable
Adbi Abdulkadir
Excerpts from
Letter: I wanted to send you a
short note of thanks for both having invited me to the launch of the
Neighbourhood Watch program in the Caldwell area and also for your tremendous
good work and leadership in establishing this program in the community. It is because of the continued dedication to
our community shown by caring and involved officers as yourself that our
neighbourhoods grow safer, more vibrant and more inviting places to live and
raise our families. Thank you once
again for your leadership in this effort to enrich and strengthen our community.