By Cecilia Nasmith
The Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation has teamed up with the Cobourg Police Service to announce a policetech initiative that will launch the next generation of Smart Policing technologies, the Venture 13 Policetech Accelerator.
While Venture 13 is known for its track record of accelerating a wide variety of entrepreneurial enterprises, the Policetech Accelerator – in partnership with the Cobourg police – will focus on technologies that have the potential to make communities safer. It is expected that its launch on Tuesday morning will establish Cobourg as a test bed for small- to mid-sized police-force innovations in such areas as Predictive Analytics, Evidence-based Policing, Distributed Sensing, Virtual Patrols and Community Relations Optimization.
This is perhaps Venture 13's third first-in-Canada initiative, following on the heels of the N100 technology start-up competition (whose prize includes mentorship from successful professionals) and its Microfactory Co-operative that allows budding innovators to pool resources and expertise to accelerate results.
Now that innovative mindset is behind the Policetech Accelerator, along with $100,000 in Federal funding through the Rural Innovation Initiative Eastern Ontario, matched with a $150,000 investment from the Cobourg Polcice Service to enable the development of transformative police technologies and creates up to 10 new full-time jobs. The CFDC has added an investment of up to $150,000 through a competitive-intake process that should result in demonstration projects that leverage technology to enhance the Cobourg Police Service's operational excellence, create efficiencies and put more officers on the street.
CFDC chief executive officer Wendy Curtis said that Canada's police forces spend $15.1-billion a year. While much of that is for personnel, a lot of it goes to the support systems and IT infrastructure that allow front-line officers to stay ahead of the curve.
Curtis used a term one hears more and more frequently – disruptive technology. Simply put, this refers to an innovation that changes one's behaviour or way of operating, and it has begun to affect everyone. In recent years, it has begun to be developed in the service of Smart Policing.
Curtis quoted Harvard Kennedy School Fellow Simon O'Rourke: “In order for police to protect the community from future threats, we require highly adaptive organizations, where a culture of innovation is fostered and prized. And future police may even rival start-ups as a hotbed of innovation for the benefit of all.”
She also supplied a quote from Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages Melanie Joly: “This project will better position Cobourg to be a hub for innovation in the area of smart policing. We are proud to support partnerships like the one between Northumberland CFDC and the Cobourg Police Service. Through investments like this, we are helping foster local entrepreneurs and their innovative ideas, while improving community safety. We've got your back.”
As far as Curtis is concerned, this project aligns perfectly with the government's vision of Canada's future development.
Cobourg Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf said they are able to invest so heavily into this project because of their strong position as what he termed the best single processor of criminal-record checks. That work has made it possible for more than a million people to obtain jobs, get an education and pursue volunteer service.
“Accelerator seems to be a buzzword today. Smart Policing, Big Data Policing, Evidence Based Policing are all legal buzzwords as well. When these two cultures collide, it redefines our way of being – the choice of doing something the same way over and over or opening our minds to new possibilities,” VandeGraaf said, likening the turning point of launching the Policetech Accelerator to a pivotal scene in the movie The Matrix.
The main character Neo is given a choice by Morpheus of a red pill or a blue pill.
“This is your last chance. After this, there's no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes,” the eerie character said.
To go back to what once was a tried-and-true model of conventional practices and equipment would be to take the blue pill, the chief said. Instead, they are opting for what he termed red-pill thinking.
“The path through this Wonderland is through the rabbit hole of this Policetech Accelerator,” he said.
“Police innovation can be about the radar gadget, the latest app – but to be truly innovative, I think it's about enlisting unlikely allies, Innovation can take the form of new concepts, new methods, new policing,” he stated.
“We must begin by allowing incredible minds outside policing to land on solutions only they can imagine.”
VandeGraaf called this new project the largest proactive step he has witnessed in a policing career of more than 20 years.
But tech notwithstanding, he said that the police officer of the future will share such traits with today's officer as professionalism and tirelessly working to improve community engagement and public safety.
If the PoliceTech Accelerator draws the same kind of talent and creativity that has already come to Venture 13, Cobourg Mayor John Henderson predicts great things. He cited notice from Betakit that endorsed the centre as having redefined what a small-town success story can be through powerful partnerships and complementary visions.
“It is indeed an innovation centre, entrepreneurial magnet and partnership centre,” Henderson stated.
“In my personal opinion, it's a centre of boundless possibilities.”
As Assistant to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini finds Venture 13 is making people sit up and take notice in many communities around the province.
As the province moves to a model of tying funding to outcomes, Piccini also predicts great things for Venture 13.
VandeGraaf will be reaching out to leaders in policing in small to mid-sized communities across the province to share the news and invite their involvement in pinpointing their most urgent challenges. This will guide them as they evaluate the results of their April 27 call for applications.
