Pubdate: Tue, 24 Jun 2014
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Shaamini Yogaretnam
Page: A5

TOP COPS TALK TURKEY

Police chiefs from across Ontario are gathering in Ottawa to get 
'candid' with each other on how best to serve and protect in an era 
of shifting attitudes. Shaamini Yogaretnam reports.

BIG BUCKS

Salaries now consume 85 to 90 per cent of the operating budgets of 
most police services in the province. Salaries are going up, with 
those of first-class constables in some municipalities approaching 
the $100,000 mark - a salary Halton Region police Chief Stephen 
Tanner said is well-earned for a difficult job.

"Budgets are always going to be an issue and we need to be as 
effective and efficient as we can be," Tanner said. "The arbitration 
process in some ways has driven salaries up." But it's not just 
police: paycheques for all first-responders and emergency services 
are going up and finding ways to manage personnel costs with funding 
for essential services is a challenge across the province.

But what's the solution? "I think we have to look at different levels 
of government for sustainable funding as well," Tanner said, calling 
police salaries a "shared responsibility" across all levels that 
currently is burdened on the municipal tax base.

BAD COPS

Further frustrating chiefs is that officers charged with serious 
criminal offences continue to collect these increasing salaries 
because the provincial legislation that governs policing in Ontario 
restricts what forces can do with these officers. "The Police 
Services Act hasn't been opened in quite a long time," said Peel 
Region's Chief Jennifer Evans, incoming president of the OACP. "We 
are hoping to have the new government open up the Police Services Act 
and address the issue of suspending officers without pay who are 
doing serious misconduct."

"Officers are doing off-duty conduct (which led to) criminal charges 
and then they're being paid to stay at home because we can't bring 
them back because we have no public confidence in them, so we're 
hoping that's one of the issues that we're going to be addressing in 
the near future," Evans said.

PUFF, PUFF, PASS NEW LEGISLATION

Laws will change as attitudes do and the legislation surrounding 
marijuana possession and use continues to be a hot topic in policing.

"Society's views on marijuana are changing. I think our laws are 
going to change and we will change and be flexible with what the laws 
are," Tanner said.

"We've talked about decriminalization as opposed to legalization, and 
there's a big difference there sometimes."

Tanner said sending a 15-yearold boy or girl who has a marijuana 
cigarette in the streets of Ottawa or the town of Oakville, Ont., 
through the criminal court system isn't always the best use of resources.

BUYERS OF SEX BEWARE

Ontario chiefs had been eagerly anticipating the proposed federal 
prostitution legislation that targets human traffickers and the buyers of sex.

Tanner said the draft legislation is "very new and we're still 
looking at it." But police services have been focusing on "the human 
trafficking issue even more than perhaps the prostitution issue 
itself, so that's something we will be studying."

RACIAL PROFILING BY POLICE

Ottawa police have begun the largest collection of racial data at 
traffic stops of its kind and will be looking to share with other 
forces how they engaged with the community. But the discussion around 
how to provide bias-free policing won't end there.

"There's a lot of practices around Ontario that have evolved. Some 
forces call it carding; some forces call it contact cards. At the end 
of the day, police officers have to do a lot of police work in our 
communities. They're going to have interactions with people in a 
variety of settings, and it's certainly important to us to collect 
information, which is often helpful in very serious investigations. 
So it's a very fine balance between what we may need in a certain 
circumstance for evidence and an individual's human rights," Tanner said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom