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A report released on the heels of Mayor Jim Watson’s vow to continue to cap taxes if re-elected at a level that will further constrain police budgets finds that Ottawa’s police force is among the most understaffed in the country.
Police forces in the national capital region are the third-most understaffed of all metropolitan areas in the country, according to a report by the Fraser Institute, a public policy think tank that focuses on the bottom line for taxpayers.
In 2011, according to the report’s formula, which weighs crime rates against staffing levels, Ottawa and Gatineau ought to have had 162 officers per 100,000 people. Instead, the forces employed 141 officers per 100,000 people.
The report, Police and Crime Rates in Canada: A comparison of resources and outcomes, written by Livio Di Matteo, calls the services that are understaffed “efficient” — a buzz word well known in Ottawa thanks to recent efforts by Ottawa Police Service to make the force just that.
Watson announced Friday his promise to keep tax hikes at two per cent or less ever year in the next term. The problem, however, is that police contracts in the city continue to be negotiated in a province where the contracts awarded to other forces impact what Ottawa officers get, independent of whether the municipality can afford it, and in a country where the costs of policing, largely due to blooming salaries, continue to rise.
For a mayor seeking re-election, the police budget can’t amount to more than its fair share of city council concerns.
“Well, lookit, we have many groups — the police, housing, library — that rely on the city,” Watson said Friday after making the announcement. “But the message that I perceive very loud and clear is: continue to control expenses, keep the tax-rate as close to inflation as possible, and we all have to learn to live within those means.”
Chair of the police board, Coun. Eli El-Chantiry said the board has been working with the city’s budget and continuing to deliver good service within the numbers.
While the board hasn’t physically approved new hires, it has approved looking at shaving costs to make room to hire more officers, or to free current officers from some of the time-consuming aspects of their jobs through ventures like collision reporting centres. The service has been clear that come 2015, it will need to hire new officers and not just fill vacant spots as it has been doing.
The board stands firm that service to the public hasn’t been compromised and it will continue to support the police force’s efforts to shave costs.
“If there’s a way to find efficiencies without compromising the safety of the public and the officers, we’re there to do it,” El-Chantiry said. “That’s our commitment.”
Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof says that commitment has put a strain on officers. Crime rates are on the decline, but the Ottawa force hasn’t expanded even though the population has increased.
“The platoons have been the same size for over a decade,” Skof said.
Add to those capped platoons an exponential increase in time and steps required to clear patrol calls and declining crime rates can’t make up for the fact that officers continue to have their resources stretched, Skof said.
“I’m not opposed to looking for efficiencies,” Skof said. “But, what we’re seeing already is a strain on the officers on the road.”
The report, however, did highlight that there seems to be no discernible pattern as to why some forces are falling below predicted staffing levels or soaring above them.
“Substantial differences in staffing remain that are the result of local circumstances,” the report said. Among those factors are the type and volume of calls, geographic issues, policing styles and collective bargaining requirements.
Ottawa officers are currently awaiting arbitration awards for salaries in 2013 and 2014. News that Watson intends to cap the tax hike will worry the association if the board follows suit.
“If the police services board takes the same position, we’re going to have the issues that we’ve had in the past where they’ve made an artificial threshold for us (in bargaining),” Skof said.
“It’s unfortunate that we are seeing that rhetoric in the public again.”
Top 3 overstaffed metropolitan policing areas in Canada:
1. Saint John, N.B.
2. Winnipeg, Man.
3. Windsor, Ont.
Top 3 understaffed metropolitan policing areas in Canada:
1. Kelowna, B.C.
2. Moncton, N.B.
3. Ottawa-Gatineau, Ont.-Que.
With files from Joanne Chianello
syogaretnam@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/shaaminiwhy
查看原文...
Police forces in the national capital region are the third-most understaffed of all metropolitan areas in the country, according to a report by the Fraser Institute, a public policy think tank that focuses on the bottom line for taxpayers.
In 2011, according to the report’s formula, which weighs crime rates against staffing levels, Ottawa and Gatineau ought to have had 162 officers per 100,000 people. Instead, the forces employed 141 officers per 100,000 people.
The report, Police and Crime Rates in Canada: A comparison of resources and outcomes, written by Livio Di Matteo, calls the services that are understaffed “efficient” — a buzz word well known in Ottawa thanks to recent efforts by Ottawa Police Service to make the force just that.
Watson announced Friday his promise to keep tax hikes at two per cent or less ever year in the next term. The problem, however, is that police contracts in the city continue to be negotiated in a province where the contracts awarded to other forces impact what Ottawa officers get, independent of whether the municipality can afford it, and in a country where the costs of policing, largely due to blooming salaries, continue to rise.
For a mayor seeking re-election, the police budget can’t amount to more than its fair share of city council concerns.
“Well, lookit, we have many groups — the police, housing, library — that rely on the city,” Watson said Friday after making the announcement. “But the message that I perceive very loud and clear is: continue to control expenses, keep the tax-rate as close to inflation as possible, and we all have to learn to live within those means.”
Chair of the police board, Coun. Eli El-Chantiry said the board has been working with the city’s budget and continuing to deliver good service within the numbers.
While the board hasn’t physically approved new hires, it has approved looking at shaving costs to make room to hire more officers, or to free current officers from some of the time-consuming aspects of their jobs through ventures like collision reporting centres. The service has been clear that come 2015, it will need to hire new officers and not just fill vacant spots as it has been doing.
The board stands firm that service to the public hasn’t been compromised and it will continue to support the police force’s efforts to shave costs.
“If there’s a way to find efficiencies without compromising the safety of the public and the officers, we’re there to do it,” El-Chantiry said. “That’s our commitment.”
Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof says that commitment has put a strain on officers. Crime rates are on the decline, but the Ottawa force hasn’t expanded even though the population has increased.
“The platoons have been the same size for over a decade,” Skof said.
Add to those capped platoons an exponential increase in time and steps required to clear patrol calls and declining crime rates can’t make up for the fact that officers continue to have their resources stretched, Skof said.
“I’m not opposed to looking for efficiencies,” Skof said. “But, what we’re seeing already is a strain on the officers on the road.”
The report, however, did highlight that there seems to be no discernible pattern as to why some forces are falling below predicted staffing levels or soaring above them.
“Substantial differences in staffing remain that are the result of local circumstances,” the report said. Among those factors are the type and volume of calls, geographic issues, policing styles and collective bargaining requirements.
Ottawa officers are currently awaiting arbitration awards for salaries in 2013 and 2014. News that Watson intends to cap the tax hike will worry the association if the board follows suit.
“If the police services board takes the same position, we’re going to have the issues that we’ve had in the past where they’ve made an artificial threshold for us (in bargaining),” Skof said.
“It’s unfortunate that we are seeing that rhetoric in the public again.”
Top 3 overstaffed metropolitan policing areas in Canada:
1. Saint John, N.B.
2. Winnipeg, Man.
3. Windsor, Ont.
Top 3 understaffed metropolitan policing areas in Canada:
1. Kelowna, B.C.
2. Moncton, N.B.
3. Ottawa-Gatineau, Ont.-Que.
With files from Joanne Chianello
syogaretnam@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/shaaminiwhy
查看原文...
