President's Annual Report 2018-19 Chief Kimberley Greenwood June 2019
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President’s Annual Report 2018-19 Chief Kimberley Greenwood June 2019 A Year of Opportunities and Challenges A year ago, Ontarians asserted their democratic right to elect those whom they entrust with the important task of governing. A total of 124 MPPs were elected last June and a new government sworn in. A new government represents an opportunity for Ontario’s police leaders to address important public safety issues. We pride ourselves as being Ontario’s police leaders. We are public servants who must work above politics. That is something all of us – Chiefs and Commissioner, Deputy Chiefs, Deputy Commissioners, senior officers, civilian managers – take seriously. Our role is to provide expert advice that safeguards communities and promotes the well-being of the people we serve. We are also advocates for our organizations and our members. I am proud that the OACP Board and Executive, staff, committee leaders, and subject matter experts who have spoken and worked on our collective behalf have done so with professionalism, honesty, and commitment that is a credit to them as police professionals and leaders. This past year, we have worked closely with two Solicitor Generals, Michael Tibollo and Sylvia Jones, on many issues, some of which I will speak to briefly. We have also worked with Caroline Mulroney during her time as Attorney General and look forward to working with the recently appointed AG, Doug Downey. Additionally, we have worked with Labour Minister Laurie Scott and two Transportation Ministers, John Yakubuski and Jeff Yurek and their staff on many issues. We welcome the opportunity to continue working with Minister Mulroney in her new role as Minister of Transportation. Developing relationships with members of government, as well as with all elected members of the Ontario legislature, is an incredibly important task we entrust to our Executive Director Jeff McGuire and especially to Director of Government Relations and Communications Joe Couto. I want to acknowledge that this year Joe is completing his 15th year of service with the OACP. I also want to specifically thank Deputy Solicitor General Mario Di Tomasso for his service this year. Mario’s policing career may have concluded but his decision to continue to serve with the Province in the role he now occupies has helped us and all police stakeholders on a number of fronts. I also thank Charles Payette, whom many of you got to know when he served both Minister Tibollo and Minister Jones before departing for a position in the private sector. Charles was a steady hand in the early days of the new government at our Ministry and 1 helped us address important issues. We are grateful to him and the many dedicated people in government and the private sector who take an active interest in the safety and well-being of all of our communities. Mental Health and the Opioid Crisis I want to start off a review of just some of the highlights of this past year with mental health issues. In what might be termed “normal times”, it would be tempting to focus on operational issues that are impacting our police services in Ontario, but I think these are not normal times. Our officers are now on the front-line of a health crisis involving mental health and opioid overdoses. Some might say that dealing with health issues is not the job of police officers. Unfortunately, we do not have a choice. We continue to see far too many people interacting with police due to mental health issues. That is why we continue to advocate for provincial investments in mental health services and programs so that people in need of medical services and support get the help they need. We also know that addressing the well-being of our own members is critical. That’s why we are actively engaging with Dr. Dirk Huyer in his review of officer suicides. These are tragic deaths and I know all of us in this room are committed to providing support for all our police service members. Our incoming President, Chief Pedersen, is a well-known champion for officer well-being and mental health, so I know it will continue to be a priority for the OACP. We also expect that opioid deaths will continue to challenge our police services in the foreseeable future. More than 10,300 people lost their lives in Canada between January 2016 and September 2018 that were related to opioids. In our Province, 388 people died from opioid-related causes from July to September 2018. Often, it’s our front- line officers who are first on scene dealing with those overdoses. The Board also took steps to update our association’s position on Supervised Injection Sites or SISs. While as police professionals, we may still have concerns about SISs, we know that harm reduction initiatives are part of the fight against overdose deaths. We must remain part of the conversation and the solution in preventing overdose deaths. I want to thank Chief Bryan Larkin and Deputy Chief Tim Farquharson in particular for their leadership on this issue. I am proud that the OACP led the fight to stop the Special Investigations Unit from automatically triggering an investigation into our officers’ interaction with these deaths. Our efforts to make Provincial support available to police services who wished to equip 2 their front-line officers with Naloxone not only to protect themselves, but possibly save lives is an accomplishment we can take great pride in. Cannabis At last year’s AGM, much concern was expressed about how police would be able to handle the legalization of cannabis in October 2018. Significant training and other challenges were expressed. Our police services worked hard to address those challenges for their organizations and the OACP Substance Advisory Committee, the OACP Alcohol and Gaming Committee, and the Board engaged in consultations with the Province to address issues related to the Cannabis Act. Part of our education efforts included a very-well attended meeting for police organizations on issues around the legalization of cannabis in June 2019. This one-day meeting was an opportunity for police services to share best practices, innovative approaches, lessons learned, and map out the way forward in relation to enforcing the new federal and provincial cannabis laws. I am proud of our work on this important issue. I want to especially thank Superintendent Dominic Sinopoli of Toronto Police Service and Deputy Chief Tim Farquharson of the Peterborough Police Service for the incredible time they both spent on this topic on our behalf. I anticipate that further changes related to illegal substances are on the horizon, including moves at the federal level to decriminalize all illegal substances. We will need to collaborate with and support the strong advocacy efforts of the CACP on this matter. COPS legislation As members know, prior to the 2018 Provincial Election, the OACP Board and our Police Legal Advisors Committee put in a great amount of time in engaging with the Provincial Government and stakeholders on the modernization of the Police Services Act (PSA). We supported Bill 175, the Safer Ontario Act, as a step forward in bringing the PSA up-to-date. We were clear about where the legislation fell short in addressing what we had advocated for in areas such as accommodation issues and others. The election of a new government meant that Bill 175 would be reviewed and new legislation introduced. We again relied on our PLA committee to produce recommendations on the new legislation that could improve Bill 175. Our Board was again very active in meetings with government officials. The Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act made significant changes to Bill 175, many of them positive. While we did not achieve some important changes in the area of suspension without pay and accommodation issues, we remain committed to advocating for changes that will support the modern needs of policing in the 21st century. 3 Grants Review One of the most significant challenges facing our organizations has been the new Community Safety and Policing (CSP) funding process. Our Board Executive met with senior officials from the Ministry of the Solicitor General as well as the Premier’s Office shortly after the Provincial Budget in April and were briefed on the direction the government would take on this issue. The bottom-line is that we will see a reduction in grant funding available to police services and an emphasis on “evidence-based” applications and measurements for funds. The OACP Budget, Finance, and Asset Management Committee has taken a leading role in analyzing the “re-purposing” of existing grants into the new Community Safety and Policing (CSP). It is obvious that the CSP introduces short-term uncertainties, including potential reductions to existing grant allocations, concerns with the completion of spending in the initial year 2019-2020, as well as potential legal and administrative grant requirements. We will continue to look to the Committee’s leadership as we move forward. Funding of Police Services The OACP Budget, Finance, and Asset Management Committee has produced a position paper that addresses the current funding regime in Ontario. The fact is that more than 90% of municipal police services expenditures are paid by local taxpayers. In contrast, policing in the United Kingdom is funded 76% by the federal government. It’s time to have honest conversations with government and key stakeholders, such as municipal government stakeholders, about a new, sustainable funding model for policing. I anticipate that as the results of provincial cuts in many areas of government services start to become a reality, this will become a major project for our association.