7: Policing
Enhance proactive and visible policing Other Information:
Every effective organization monitors performance to measure delivery and to drive change and improvement. Policing is no
exception. Police performance is not solely about the setting or hitting of targets; it is about delivering the best possible
service to the public. The objectives of Quality Policing are to improve public confidence and to increase satisfaction of
police service users. A constant theme running throughout the Quality Policing literature is that evaluation should be part
of Quality Policing. This evaluation is concerned with the levels of police performance that produce broad outcomes: actively
involved in reducing crime, eliminating opportunities for crime, lowering the fear of crime, and increasing public safety.
The modernization of the VPD has brought about fundamental changes already, and effective Quality Policing is becoming firmly
embedded in the day-to-day business of policing our city. This policing reflects the needs and expectations of individuals
and local communities in our service delivery. The availability of continuous blocks of time sufficient for meaningful activities
is critical to Quality Policing. This can occur by increasing the number of police officers, reducing existing officer workload
or a combination thereof. A VPD Patrol Deployment Study examined various issues related to staffing and deployment options.
The study contains an analysis of patrol deployment and sets out a number of recommendations that have the potential to increase
the effectiveness and efficiency of patrol. This thorough assessment of existing resources will allow the VPD to move resources
from current activities and strategies that are no longer required and combine the effect of adding new resources to enhance
our approach to policing. Ongoing measurement of all patrol activity will assist the VPD in balancing the workload of every
officer in the organization, and ensure a consistent approach to call load management and investigations across the city.
Reduction of the incidence and fear of crime is the basic core of Quality Policing. Patrol units should respond to the scene
of a priority 1 and 2 call for service as rapidly as possible to make an arrest, minimize injury or property loss, and resolve
the incident. Proactive measures directed at the prevention of, and the resistance to, crime are equally important under Quality
Policing. Patrol officers now spend almost all of their available patrol time on reactive tasks. As resources increase, this
will change. While we increase staffing of patrol, we will be able to increase uniform visibility, redistribute and reduce
individual officer workload and reduce response time to high priority calls for service. By spreading the calls for service
workload among a larger number of patrol officers, sufficient time will be available so that each officer can initiate crime
control activities. This benefit will maximize the investment of the additional resources, and will allow time to engage in
innovative crime control while creating more opportunities to deal with public safety issues at the neighbourhood level instead
of adding to the already overburdened criminal justice system. MEASUREMENTS Key Performance Indicators: * Response times to
priority 1, 2 and 3 calls for service * Clearance rates Additional Measurements: * Percentage of total unallocated officer
hours used for proactive policing * Number of field interactions with known offenders * Number of traffic/bylaw tickets. *
Number of units deployed per shift * Number of general occurrence reports written * Number of persons charged * Number of
crime control plans
Objective(s):
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