The efficiency of a Police Service can be improved if work that does not need a fully trained and armed Officer is delegated to others. Cobourg’s Police service now has Auxiliary Police and Special Constables as well as civilians typing up reports. They are making a big effort to be part of the Community and in the announcement today about tiered policing, Deputy Chief Paul VandeGraaf placed a major emphasis on Community Engagement and how the Auxiliary Police and Special Constables help with that. As a result, the 34 regular Officers can devote more time to things like patrols downtown (typically two per day according to DBIA Chair Adam Bureau). The quality of their work is also improved with the recently announced Mental Health Liaison Unit.
At the announcement at the Police station, not only were many of the Police staff there but also in attendence were MPP Lou Rinaldi, Mayor Gil Brocanier, Councillors Brian Darling and Aaron Burchat, CAO Stephen Peacock and DBIA chair Adam Bureau.
Auxiliary police
These are volunteers who also have a paid job elsewhere. They help primarily with community events. There are currently 11 of these.
Special Constables
These are part time and paid. They are called upon when there is need for additional help and may have special skills such as knowledge of forensics. They were originally used only for court security and although they still do that, their role has expanded such as to help with liquor licence enforcement. There are currently 15 special constables although some are currently in training.
Police Kai Liu said that the use of tiered policing improves efficiency and saves money and allows the Police service to respond to crime more effectively as well as gives them more time for social development.
Overall, DBIA chair Adam Bureau rated Cobourg Police as “By far the best proactive Police service in this area”. He said that the Chief, Deputy Chief and all officers “really care about the community” and are community oriented. Adam was pleased that the Deputy Chief recently joined the DBIA board.
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If Trump had hired these sworn-in nincompoops, he would now fire them…so much for Cobourg policing.
I guess this is an example of Cobourg Police tiered policing.
https://www.todaysnorthumberland.ca/2018/03/26/victim-of-break-in-says-overwhelming-trail-of-evidence-but-still-no-arrests-by-cobourg-police/
I recommend that everyone read Pete Fisher’s report at the above link. With one instance, the Police have lost credibility in doing a good job. If they have a response, it is so far nowhere to be seen.
I do believe John that this is pile-on when you add Pete’s other report about a man who was bothering a convenience store attendant in the middle of the night. In that story not only did the CPS not arrive after many requests but reading the story the policeperson who finally arrived was quite ‘officious’ and not really responsive to the public in the store.
The Police brass obviously have some polishing to do to offset both of these reports.
The omnibus police bill (Bill 175) passed just recently, rewrote the decades-old Ontario Police Act.
“The new measures define the core function of police officers — namely, codifying what work must be done by a highly paid, sworn police officer. The change would allow police services boards to contract out certain police-related tasks that can be done by a security guard or a civilian.”
The idea here is to reduce policing costs for Ontario – the highest in Canada – while the province has the lowest crime rate.
Predictably, police unions have claimed that the new measures will “privatize” police work and put the safety of Ontarians at risk.
Kudos to the Chief and the Deputy for being pro-active in using their new powers.
No doubt more contracting out will follow.
We are all watching as Chief Liu builds his empire in Cobourg…when will it end?
Empire builder…perhaps, but he runs an efficient shop.
What Town manager (other than perhaps Northam) runs a business that generates revenue of $2M+ that pays for the capital repairs and additions required by his department. Of the Town managers, which one not only manages the largest departmental budget ($6M+) and held the line on the 2018 budget increase to $16.3K. (0.3%)
Compare other departments:
General Govenment $2.5M 14.5%,
Culture & Community $1.4M 6.7%,
Parks & Rec $3.3M 4.7%,
Commercial & EcDev $575K 6.8%.
At least he is pro-active in finding ways to manage costs while maintaining/improving service. Other Town managers would do well to adopt some of his methods.
In 2013_, Metro Toronto had 16.2 police officers per 10K population. Coburg currently has about 19.5 police officers per 10K. Published crime is reported to be down vs. a few years ago. With policing at about 38% of our budget, could we not reduce the size of our force by 3 officers and bring us in line with Toronto? Coburg does not have as much serious crime as compared to Toronto.
I agree, however at least Chief Liu is being pro-active and trying lower cost alternatives to hiring additional sworn officers. Of the Northumberland municipalities, based on the 2015 FIR data, Cobourg has the highest police cost per capita followed by Port Hope (3/4 of Cobourg’s per capita cost), The police per capita cost of the other Northumberland municipalities is lower still…. as much as 50%.
Reducing the number of sworn officers is not an easy task….Police Services Act, severance costs, union contract, etc. This is a long term process, not an overnight one.
Your first sentence says it all. Chief Liu should not be hiring anybody…he’s got too many officers already and should have a plan or be making a plan to eliminate a few high price bodies from the payroll. It’s called “downsizing”.
And achieved by attrition – how many officers are up for retirement in the next five years?
I like the fact Adam says it’s the best police force around haha .. it’s the only police force in town . After last summer where everyone got broken into . I think 30 in total you can’t say it’s an effective force. Problem with the downtown is it’s completely empty past 6 pm and half empty all day . As far as the police being on a business board it’s completely ridiculous. They should work with the board but not sit on it . Cobourg is in a world of trouble as people and businesses leave everyday to find jobs and better places to live . It’s creating a California effect . The working class leave , the wealthy buy the nice houses and the drug addicts take over the down town . Plenty of pawn shops to sell your stolen goods at or to get a loan from. So then the rich people demand more cops . We don’t have a police problem here . We have an education problem as most of the people in the working age are unable to get the jobs avaible here . The good kids who graduate leave because there is very little industry here …. I mean i guess we are growing weed now but not much eles. Just watching this place destroy itself is to much.
So, you are going to hire a bunch of lower paid part time uniform people so the 100K paid people can walk up and down the main street holding hands and msybe give out a parking ticket? No wonder we have crazy policing costs.
There have been ongoing requests for an increased police presence downtown. And, we have a separate group (not part of the police force ) issuing parking tickets. So, Kyle, get your facts straight before making your very negative comments.
So you find it reasonable to spend over 100k each ( check latest Sunshine list) to have police officers walk around the downtown, forgetting about all the other areas of taxpayers in the town? Maybe some of those resources could be used to try and solve the Racheal Russell murder.
The Rachael Russell murder is OPP, not Cobourg Police Service. And I don’t think think a couple spending half an hour to an hour patrolling the downtown area during business hours is going to hurt the rest of the community. As a matter of fact, it is a necessity, as bank robberies have gone up significantly along the 401, and most of our banks are downtown.
Rachel Russell murder occurred in Cobourg and OPP assisted.