Community policing pilot prompts questions days before launch

With less than a week before the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) launches a new community safety pilot, city councillors had dozens of questions Tuesday about how the initiative will unfold in their communities.

Launching May 6, the initial four-month phase includes a reorganization that will result in a fourth OPS division covering the city's southern sector.

Each division will have its own inspector who will be responsible for roughly six city wards.

It's all part of a broader community policing strategy developed alongside the Ottawa Police Services Board in 2023, and which is meant to set the force's direction over the next three years.

"We want to get back to a community policing model, one where we are adapting our approach to specific ward priorities and needs be it rural, suburban or urban," said Chief Eric Stubbs during a technical briefing for councillors about the pilot.

Some councillors demanded specifics, however.

"What, practically, can I tell residents that they're going to see that's going to be different as a result of this changing system?" asked Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill.

Chief Eric Stubbs says the first phase of the pilot will focus on gathering feedback from councillors and residents. (Jean Delisle/CBC)

Some aspects still unclear

Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr said she understands why so many of her council colleagues are looking for greater clarity.

"It's not concrete as of yet exactly how things are going to change and evolve and … how it's going to strengthen those ties within the community," she said.

"It's difficult for me to imagine what I see on paper and until we really see it in the pilot phase, I'm probably not going to have those answers."

Carr, who also sits on the police board, said she agrees that a more community-focused approach to policing is needed, and said it's something she hears often from her constituents.

Carr said despite calls from residents to improve police service in their neighbourhoods, there's also been "a growing recognition that policing is not the answer to many of the challenges that we face in our communities."

The pilot could be a first step toward addressing that, and toward improving trust and accountability, she said.

Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr says there are still plenty of questions about the pilot, and says she's looking forward to hearing the answers in the coming months. (Zoom/CBC)

Officers to remain 'in their wards'

Many councillors were keen to know how these changes will help address the problem of officers being pulled away from their communities to respond to frequent demonstrations downtown.

"I am assuming that for at least the short term, we will continue to see that if there is a need in the core that we will lose some of our officers in our communities, in suburban and rural areas," said Orléans West–Innes Coun. Laura Dudas.

Coun. Geroge Derouze echoed her concerns, saying it's normal for his office to receive two or three emails a week about potential protests and demonstrations requiring increased police presence.

Stubbs said officers will continue to be pulled away from the communities they serve to patrol downtown demonstrations such as the Rolling Thunder rally in 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

"There's no doubt that there will still be some draw into some of our major events," Stubbs said, adding that neighbourhood resource teams are often the first to get tapped in those situations.

"That's where we want to mitigate those units and keep them in their wards, in their areas that they should be working," he said.

Stubbs said the top priority of the first phase is to gather feedback from councillors and residents on what they'd like to see in their districts. Where possible, those requests will be incorporated into later stages of the pilot.

The pilot is slated to run until December 2025.