By Jim Mauro
Thunder Bay – OPINION – As a police officer you take an oath to serve and protect the public. It is an oath that the majority take seriously. That is what this article is about today, the oath I believe is long overdue from the people who live in this city.
For far too long your police service has been tasked with supplying a regional policing service funded by a municipal tax base. We see this every day in services that are overrun due to funding shortfalls or simply trying to provide services to a population that is far greater than our “official numbers”.
Recently, a consultant’s report was issued after another review of our police service. It seems every other week, another review/investigation/study needs to be done to see what the problems are and most often, they miss the true mark of what needs to change. We can leave that for another day. This recent report came to the “shocking conclusion” that more resources are needed on the street. At the risk of being that “guy” once again: I was raising this issue 25 years ago, and we are still talking about it.
I have not read this report and do not believe it is public. I have read what was issued internally and have spoken to a few people about it. I was advised that the number of hires suggested/required is 31. While I do not have confirmation on where those positions should be, I am going to assume they would be assigned to patrol.
There are currently eight patrol units consisting of approximately 9-11 officers each. Two of those units work at one time, however these numbers do not consider vacation time, possible court assignments, injuries or sick leave, training or other assignments that may be required. It is common to have anywhere from 8-12 officers on the road for the city. So, when it takes 15-20 minutes, or hours for an officer to arrive, that is the reason why.
The report indicated that staffing levels in speciality units like intelligence or gangs should be maintained so reducing those numbers is not an option to address the lack of officers on the road.
The demands on front line officers have continued to increase. From having every interaction recorded by a public looking for a mistake, to agencies whose sole mission is to persecute, oops prosecute police officers. Police notebooks used to be utilized as a refresher of the call, now they must be the complete story, that is then repeated in reports, then summarized in the same report, all to assist other processes of the legal system. All of this takes time and decreases the availability for officers to do what they are designed to do; prevent and respond to crime while keeping the peace.
There is also another issue that impacts how road officers can do their job: a common belief among many of rank that the road officers support everyone else. In my view, that is a ridiculous position to take.
In my experience, those who were promoted through the ranks, usually congratulated themselves as the smartest people in the room. It seemed the higher you were promoted, the smarter you became. I recall one specific individual knowing that they won the lottery with their promotion, tell me directly 2 years later when they received the next promotion, they were the only one qualified for the job. I always believed, I was the smartest person in the room, because I knew I was not the smartest person in the room. Please read that line carefully.
I witnessed brilliant police officers investigators, and committed individuals who provided exceptional work to this city, not move up the command chain because doing the work was far more important, then getting another braid on their uniform.
I have always believed that those who serve on the road are the tip of the spear in public safety. Everyone above the rank of constable should be dedicated to supporting those on the road. That is where crime is prevented, violence encountered, and most of the danger exists.
Without denigrating the work that others do, they do not bear the risk of those on the front line, so reducing front line numbers not only decreases service levels to a point that should be unacceptable, but it also increases the danger to those officers.
I have previously spoken about the staffing levels of fire protection, and this is not a criticism. The other day, they attended the home of a friend to check the fire area for a permit and four firefighters were there. I assume it is because they stay with the truck in the event an emergency takes place. That makes sense, but that is their minimum on any call at any time of the day. How many calls in this city do you think are attended by four police officers at two in the morning? The city is lucky if there are four available for the city, given the demands of this community.
With the current 8 patrol units, adding four to each unit, would provide an additional 8 officers on the road. That would mean calls answered faster, more patrols of problem areas, more suspicious activity investigated and perhaps something that has disappeared these past twenty-five years, a level of deterrence that prevents crime from happening. More importantly, the safety of our officers would be greatly improved.
Back in the day, when an officer stopped a vehicle, you would routinely have 1-3 officers drive by, to check on that officer’s safety to make sure there are not problems with whoever is stopped. Today, there might not be anyone on the road to drive by that officer at 2 am, or they may be coming from the other side of town. Where we once routinely had 18-22 on the weekend, that number is now routinely around 8-12 and often it is lower. How can we turn this around?
Well, let me first say that what follows is not science based, nor discussed with any of the current leaders of the police service. This is simply an opinion piece but there is one thing that I believe is irrefutable; the people doing the work will have many ways to improve public safety if given the opportunity. One quick story that demonstrates the difficulty in having this happen took place earlier in my career.
One high ranking officer was critical of the work being produced by those on the road and for twenty minutes I sat there listening to those with rank, including the Chief, criticize the officers on the road. I finally said: “there are two options. There are 125 road officers who do not care, and you hired them all, or there are other reasons why this is happening”. The conclusion from the rank structure, they had 125 lazy officers. I am not convinced that this “belief” has changed to any great degree over the years.
As I indicated earlier, the bottom-up approach of the road supporting the other areas needs to change and every resource should be dedicated to supporting the road officers and those who work specific sections such as undercover, or criminal investigations to ensure they have the resources they need.
We have all seen the never-ending calls for re-investigations, but we never hear that some of these issues may be taking place because the resources to meet the demands simply are not there. As I indicated, funding for this police service comes from the municipality, but the demands are regional.
What is necessary in my view is that Mr. Holland, Mr. Powoloski and Ms. Hajdu need to find serious sources of funding to improve this city’s ability to meet the demands placed upon it. Simplistic, I’ll accept that. Accurate, I believe so. A much larger detox facility is just one example of a simple solution to assist this police service, and it is decades overdue.
While we are at it, how about exploring a partnership with the local OPP to have a joint regional tactical unit, consisting of enough officers to support the demands of this community and those areas the OPP are responsible for. A regional tactical unit, funded by the province that is also available for those areas patrolled by NAPS and APS police. This funding would free up 12 positions here in the city that could then support other needed areas of our police service. It would also free up OPP resources and provide greater service to our regional reserve locations. Yes, it will require money from other government sources, but it would be a serious step up for the entire region.
How about a regional identification unit. The province spent millions on building a state-of-the-art scenes of crime facility for the sole purpose of aiding in the prosecution of police officers. Is the province willing to provide that kind of funding to the North, that would aid in investigations while reducing the increasing burden this city faces with a regional population?
There are many other ideas that could be put forward to provide more resources to front line efforts. Most of those ideas could be from the people that are already doing the work. Who cares who gets the credit for them if it means providing greater public safety. I thought the idea to provide the public a safe place to complete online purchases with strangers was a great idea.
But finally, the single biggest area of improvement in my view is at 500 E. Donald St, which is home to city hall. Where have those who have been part of council for 10, 15, 20 years or longer been, on public safety? Are things better today, than 20 years ago? Has anyone thought to ask a member of council or a member running for council what they plan to do, to improve public safety? Have you the reader, demanded some accountability to those sitting in those seats or those looking for your vote at election time? Perhaps it is time you should.
A common theme among those on council is that it is the police services board who are responsible for this issue. But it is the city that pays the bill. That means the buck stops there. If the job is not being done, why is council not demanding answers or actively lobbying our four elected officials at the provincial and federal level to obtain significant funding to meet the regional demands here. Because this narrative of it being the Police Boards responsibility is seriously misleading, but it does allow council members to avoid accountability on the issue.
There are five seats on the Police Board, two provincial and two from City Council. The mayor is automatic, and the other currently is Councillor Etreni. The fifth is a council appointment so in reality, those three can control the Board and ensure community safety.
Those three represent the interests of council and therefor the city. The status quo should be unacceptable to everyone but given the last 25 years, I unfortunately don’t see an uprising demanding better results any time soon. Public safety is part of their role but far too often they have chosen to ignore it.
I titled this article “It is time for Thunder Bay to Serve and Protect. It is time that our elected officials and the people who live here take an oath to serve and protect the officers of the Thunder Bay Police Service. You have all asked them to do a job, but you have long failed to provide them with the necessary tools to meet the demands they routinely face. How do you provide those tools you ask?
Not by words in a coffee shop, not with a Facebook comment or an internal email that says the public supports police, but by a public demand that these positions recommended by the consultant be filled quickly. That the public shows that they have the backs of the officers who work there. Is it time for city taxpayers to take an oath that they will protect those who protect us? Each day is just another day that one of them may be seriously hurt or worse because they did not have the required resources to do their job. It is long past time this city serves and protects. Just a thought.
