Ottawa Police Services Board

December 15, 2014

Chief’s Verbal Report

 

Good evening,

 

I want to begin by congratulating and welcoming Councillor Tierney to the Board, we all look forward to working with you at the Board level and at the community level as well.  Félicitations!  I also want to thank His Worship Watson for his past four years of service on the Board and helping to deliver the service that the community expects.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 

Since this is our final meeting before the holiday season, I want to thank members of the Board for your dedication and leadership throughout 2014.  This year has been a challenging and rewarding year and I look forward to what we will accomplish as a team in 2015.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Yesterday, Chair El-Chantiry, Insp. Paul Johnston, Deputy Chief Skinner and I had the pleasure of joining other community members in serving Christmas dinner at the Ottawa Mission.  It was great to see so many people come out to volunteer to serve some of our most vulnerable members of the community during the holiday season.

 

Death of a member

 

I would also like to pass along our condolences to the family of OPS communications centre Member Karen Brûlé.  Karen passed away on December 5th after a battle with cancer.  She had worked with the OPS for over a decade.  Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and young children.

 

Update on Guns and Gangs Priority

 

The issue of guns and street gangs is one that our service continues to focus on.  Earlier today, our service announced the results of two projects we ran this year that were created to respond to street gang criminal activity, specifically firearms and drug offences.

 

The projects resulted in 27 people being arrested and charged with 254 offences.   Guns, drugs and cash were also seized.  Gang activity and the associated gun violence is a concern for our community and it is also a concern for the Ottawa Police Service.  Our officers are working closely with the communities that are most affected by these shooting and we are working to address their concerns.  

 

We have increased resources across this effort.  Our patrol officers, DART team, guns and gangs and drug investigators and neighbourhood officers are focused on holding offenders accountable and ensuring people can feel safe in their community.  While this update has focused on enforcement, our service knows that tackling the issue of guns and gangs has to be shared with the community.  We continue to work with our partners on the Gang strategy, of which enforcement, prevention and education are key pillars.

 

Carleton University Student Murdered

 

Our major crime investigators continue to investigate the tragic murder of Mr. T. Chowdhury.  The 23-year-old Carleton University student was discovered by cyclists on November 27 on a pathway along the Airport Parkway.

 

There was also a tragic incident at the beginning of this month where, sadly, Mrs. A. Haile was found stabbed to death in the basement of her east-end home.  The body of her husband, Mr. Y. Mender, was also found in the house and this incident has been determined as a murder-suicide.  The couple, aged 51 and 60, had three children.

 

Thwarted Suicide Attempt

 

Just last week, we received a call that a man was sitting on a window ledge of a fifth floor apartment.  When Sgt. Randy Brown attended with other officers, they discovered that the man was fully outside the building just barely sitting on a ledge and about to jump.  Sgt. Brown spoke to the distraught man and kept verbal contact with him. Eventually he was convinced to crawl back inside the apartment while Constables Chris Carr and Louis Simon positioned themselves outside of the apartment door with keys from the building superintendent.  The man told Sgt. Brown that he “just wanted to die”.  He again attempted to go out the window and Sgt. Brown alerted the Constables to enter the residence.  They were able to safely take custody of the man without any resulting injuries. 

 

I commend Sgt. Brown and the two constables for their work.  The leadership and skills of the NCOs (Non Commissioned Officer) in our patrol operation are vital to our success and this was demonstrated by Sgt. Brown’s actions.

 

Heroes and Helpers

 

OPS members and 12 children from the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa spent Sunday morning (December 7th) shopping together in a nationwide program from Target called Heroes and Helpers.

 

Each child, aged five to 16, was given a $150 gift card from the store to spend on Christmas presents – for themselves or others.  The program helps officers build positive relationships with youth and mentor children in the community.  I would like to thank Deputy Chief Keeley for attending and supporting this worthwhile program and thank Target for introducing this program last year.

 

Cop Shop

 

Once again, we have joined forces with the owners of Carlingwood Mall and Billings Bridge for the annual Cop Shop.  This is an initiative that brightens the holidays for about 50 specially chosen local children.  Officers are armed with wish lists and are looking forward to this rewarding day with the children who will have donated gift cards to spend at the mall.  This year, there will be over 300 children benefitting across Canada.

 

I would like to thank 20 Vic Management, which own the malls, for their partnership in this great event.

 

Leave the Phone Alone

 

Distracted driving collisions are on the rise and are a concern for all road users.  As part of our ongoing focus on distracted driving, officers are conducting another traffic blitz this week to remind drivers that texting while driving is both dangerous and illegal.  One of the goals of the Leave the Phone Alone campaign is to change driver behaviour around cell phone use while driving. 

 

We are partnering on this effort with Safer Roads Ottawa and CTV Ottawa.

 

We’re encouraging everyone to leave the phone alone when they are driving.

 

RIDE

 

Finally, every year, our service participates in RIDE programs across Ottawa.  We are grateful to work with our partners on these initiatives to support the safety of our community, as well as our long-standing relationship with MADD.  It’s important that we continue to reinforce the message that drinking and driving is not acceptable.

 

Thank you.