Envision the safest and healthiest community. What can we do, as individuals, organizations, neighbours, and businesses to make our communities thrive and be more alive?
Or, what is working in your community that makes you feel safe, connected, inspired, supported and at home? And who contributes to making you feel this way?
These are some of the questions Hintonburg residents were asked on Thursday, May 14th at a meeting in the Hintonburg Community Centre. Dubbed ‘let’s chat coffee shop,’ the town hall style meeting was hosted by Ottawa Police Services Board to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Partnership in Action and to mark Police Week – May 10th to 16th.
Chief of Police Vernon White was in attendance, along with members of the OPS board and other police officers. Community groups that represented Hintonburg included The Hintonburg Community Association; West Wellington Business Improvement Area and Hintonburg Economic Development Committee. The event was facilitated by Leadership Ottawa.
Superintendent Peter Crosby explained they were three other meetings held around the city that week and they will serve as part of OPS three year strategic business plan. The purpose of these meetings is to give OPS a sense of how the Ottawa community feels about security and policing issues.
“I think it’s incredible that people take the time to come out; because it’s really important for this community and other communities to tell us what’s really on their minds,” he said. Crosby went on to say the next step in the process will be to make an analysis of the information gathered.
The central messages of the Hintonburg voices at the meeting were about developing a more neighbourly community with residence actively involved in the security of the community. And having more community related policing and more programs that would allow police officers engage or even mentor to the youths in the community.
The point was made that deterring potential criminals when they are young is more beneficial to the community. A comparison was made between the costs of implementing programs that would allow officers to engage and mentor young people and the cost of putting a criminal through the justice and penal systems. Another point raised was the need for sustainability of community policing programs.
Constable Nathan Hoedeman, the only uniformed officer in attendance, said he liked the ideas he heard; however, he was more concerned about another important issue.
Here’s how Hoedeman explained himself: “I get the sense we’re preaching to the converted. The people who are here are definitely part of the solution. They have great ideas. I know a lot of the people here are already engaged [in the community].”
“I think one of the challenges is how do we make it relevant to all the people who are not in the room. As an officer myself, I look around the room and it would be nice to see some of my colleagues, who are not into community policing, here as well cause they need to hear this more than someone like myself who works in the field of community policing all the time.”
“And for the community members as well, how do they go out and make this relevant to the people who are not involved in mobilizing things in the community or getting engaged [in community activeness].”
Superintendent Crosby agreed with Hoedeman in principle. He too thinks more police officers need to get involved in community policing. He pointed out the current trend in policing is a shift towards law enforcement and away from community engagement.
“We need to push the envelope a little bit as a police service. We have to take on more of a community development role. We have to be more connected to the community; we’re part of the community,” Crosby said.
He also addressed one aspect of the issues around the sustainability of community policing by admitting that OPS has done a poor job of training and mentoring new community police officers to replace an officer that has been moved to another assignment or has been promoted.
He said there needs to standards created within police services that will allow officers who enjoy doing community work, like Heodeman, to remain in the communities they serve. One idea he mentioned would be to allow a six month period for the relinquishing officer to mentor the replacement officer.
Posted on October 18, 2009
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