By Cecilia Nasmith
Innovation was a running theme in the Cobourg Police Service 2021 annual report presented at Monday's committee-of-the-whole meeting of council by Chief Paul VandeGraaf and Police Service Board Chair Dean Pepper.
The result is a range of initiatives that not only explore new directions in enforcement but actually reduce pressures on the tax levy.
VandeGraaf noted that it came against a background of physical and mental-health challenges due to the pandemic and shifting expectations of the force.
Their analytics department works at identifying crime trends to inform their deployment and strategy as they handled almost 11,000 calls for service.
Their corporate services branch, whose work actually produces revenues for the force, has grown with the addition of six new administrative clerks. Not only does this money offset the tax levy, the chief said, it pays excellent salaries in the $27-an-hour range and results in $2-million in paycheques that get invested into the community.
As schools resumed, they heard that students and teachers wanted them back in the classroom, so that outreach has resumed.
Their special constable service allows the flexibility for such roles as being a presence at the mass-immunization clinics and enhancing security at such sites as the warming centre, outdoor skating rink and bus shelter – not to mention their auxiliary force of more than 36 volunteers.
While fewer than 1% of all police interactions involve any use of force, there were still 19 application-of-force incidents – but that's down from 31 in 2020.
Drugs continue to be a concern, with the deadly fentanyl of special note. Among drugs seized in 2021, there were 132.45 grams of suspected fentanyl, which would have represented perhaps as many as 2,640 individual sales on the street. And of 97 drug poisonings they dealt with, eight were fatal.
Of their $8.77-million budget, almost 74% came from the tax levy. But VandeGraaf said they are diligent about pursuing all available appropriate grants.
And almost 9% of their budget was transferred from their corporate-services division, making possible such innovations as body-worn cameras – funded as a five-year project entirely independent of tax levies.
Another innovation arose from a 50% increase in calls reporting suspicious persons – who so often turn out to be homeless individuals. Thus was born the Homeless Addiction Response Project that ran in July and August, working with 30 individuals. Their success has inspired the province to come up with $400,000 to offer the program over the next three years.
Their Venture 13 Policetech Accelerator resulted in seven smart cameras being installed. With their integrated software and their own analytics department, VandeGraaf said, “we are already beginning to solve a number of crimes.”
By the end of summer, he added, the number of cameras should more than triple.
The chief had some current news as well, like last week's announcement of the Community Safety Innovation Fund to award up to $50,000 in funding for qualifying initiatives that improve community safety. An information session is planned early next month, after which applications will be accepted.
Pepper agreed it had been a banner year in 2021, and predicted another one in 2022, especially with the recent completion of their Strategic Plan that runs from 2022 through 2025.
Council was especially impressed with HARP, which was the idea of two officers on the force. VandeGraaf said they found themselves engaging with “the highest-acuity people who cannot or will not access services.”
Having seen it in action, Councillor Adam Bureau said, “I can say that it actually helps.
“You can see the engagement they have. They are calm, they are caring, they are compassionate.”
