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JUNE / JULY 2008 2 BLUE LINE MAGAZINE June / July 2008 Volume 20 Number 6 This month’s edition features the Niagara Regional Police Service’s Marine and Underwater Search and Recovery Unit on a recent practice dive. For more on this year’s Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police conference host agency, turn to page 6. Photo: Denis Cahill, St.Catharines Standard 6 Policing the Niagara frontier 16 Impact projectiles deserve another look The border and waterways challenge traditional Another less lethal force option policing in the Niagara region 22 Getting it back in line 10 Violent video games desensitize Surveying recruitment in Canadian policing youth 24 Juvenile justice in Canada - Part 5 14 Saving lives through improved communications 27 Blue Line Trade Show in Print 46 Advertisers Index 40 K9 sniffs require reasonable suspicion 46 Back of Book 37 Book News 44 Dispatches 38 Deep Blue 21 Education & Training 36 Health & Fitness 45 Market Place 23 Odditorials 5 Publisher’s Commentary 34 Technology BLUE LINE MAGAZINE 3 JUNE / JULY 2008 JUNE / JULY 2008 4 BLUE LINE MAGAZINE The ‘three ring’ rule by Morley Lymburner tion to the problem. “That’s why like qualities of this they pay me the big bucks son,” one and I was initially The recent news flash of a donut shop he responded without look- impressed. employee being fired for giving a child a free ing up. My first hint that treat brought back memories of days gone by. The superintendent ar- all wasn’t quite right The offending supervisor hasn’t been heard rived at 7 am and picked in paradise was when from and I am sure there is more to the story, up his mail at the front I noticed that everyone but it does bring up the topic of appropriate desk. I thought he in the station quickly leadership. might scrutinize it dropped what they were Poor management skills are nothing new and be impressed doing to answer the phone and the infamous ‘Timbit’ scandal of 2008 with the order, but if it rang more than twice. took me back to my first days as a station duty he paid it no heed There was a “three ring” rule, operator at the glistening new district head- and instead barked I was told. The phone must be quarters building. We were faced with a prob- at the sergeant. “I picked up on the third ring or lem of the utmost importance one morning. A noticed a scout car has the superintendent would pick it cadet and two constables huddled around a parked over a yellow line up on the fourth and everyone at stack of letters and envelopes, unable to agree in the parking lot. I want the desk would be documented for on which order they should be stacked. the driver of the car in my neglect of duty. The superintendent had issued an edict that office.” The phone rule, along with the his mail was to be “properly sorted,” with the Without any emotion, the sergeant turned orderly envelopes, properly aligned cars and largest envelopes on the bottom and smallest and asked me to get the fleet number of the strict discipline were just a few examples of on the top. Addresses were to be face up and offending car. I did as ordered and our in- a long list of rules which ensured the HQ properly displayed. Those not complying vestigation revealed the officer had gone off was run properly and efficiently. There was a would be disciplined. duty an hour before. The sergeant called and price to pay for such efficiencies, of course, The cadet charged with sorting the super- ordered him to report back to the station. He including a difficulty attracting people willing intendent’s daily mail became very red in the mentioned as he hung up that the superintend- to work in such an environment. face as we argued. All but one of the envelopes ent was on vacation. Perplexed, I asked how The experience made me determined to were neatly stacked. The remaining one was a he knew this. avoid a promotion. On one level, I did not little shorter than its immediate predecessor, “He isn’t wearing a tie and he has started wish to risk playing monkey in the middle, but also a little wider. We measured and dis- two hours later than normal – for him that is administering the tyranny of a superior to those covered it had the exact same square inches as vacation time,” he replied. He was right. The below me. It also became painfully obvious its predecessor. What should we do? superintendent was indeed wearing a white how climbing the ladder affected people such The dilemma escalated and, just as our open necked dress shirt and black dress pants as that superintendent. voices were rising, the duty sergeant walked and was two hours later than his normal 5 Everyone at that gleaming new police by and seized the envelope. He quietly told am start. station was happy when our problem was everyone to get back to work and, without We had our orders and tried to follow resolved and the superintendent was promoted a glance or another word, fed the offending them. As a newly minted station duty opera- to deputy chief – until we saw his replacement. envelope into a shredder. He glided back to tor this was my christening under fire to the I’ll tell you about him another day. his desk, picked up his pen and continued to internal workings of a large police facility. It write. We stared briefly at the sergeant and then was also my first inkling that perhaps being busily hurried back to our duties. promoted wasn’t the gleaming ideal I had As I returned to my desk I complimented once imagined. The smaller station I had come the sergeant on his quick, if not risky, solu- from was orderly but did not have the jewel- BLUE LINE MAGAZINE 5 JUNE / JULY 2008 Policing the Niagara frontier The Border and waterways challenge traditional policing in the Niagara region by Jacquie Forgeron • A CBSA officer at another bridge detains gating a suspicious pair of men prowling an impaired driver for a breath test. If the the parking lots. Calls for service driver fails, he/she will be arrested and As the police service of jurisdiction and on a typical summer taken to a NRPS holding facility. first responder to border requests, nights can evening see Niagara • US Border Patrol calls for the NRPS Ma- present a unique challenge in meeting the Regional Police Serv- rine Unit’s assistance to pursue a vessel demand and ensuring the safety and security ice (NRPS) officers which refuses to stop and is heading to the of officers, citizens and visitors. dispatched to widely Canadian shore. The NRPS patrols one of the largest geo- varying calls across • There’s a disturbance outside a night club graphical areas of any Canadian municipal the 12 municipalities in the popular Clifton Hill tourist area of police service (1,840 square kilometres), they police. A typical Niagara Falls. Many in the growing crowd policing 12 municipalities totalling some evening shift might go as follows: are young Americans taking advantage 430,000 permanent residents. Also unique • A Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) of Ontario’s lower drinking age (19), to the region is the estimated 15,000,000 officer seizes a firearm from a person at- significantly younger than the New York annual visitors. tempting to enter Canada at one of the State age (21). The Niagara region has seven internation- region’s several international bridges and • Casino Niagara security personnel call the al border points – four vehicular (Queenston- calls in police. NRPS Casino Patrol Unit for help investi- Lewiston, Whirlpool, Rainbow and Peace JUNE / JULY 2008 6 BLUE LINE MAGAZINE two lakes separating the two countries, Trained and equipped to meet the needs it’s likely illegal entries under the cover of of the service and public, the marine unit darkness have also increased. serves in three primary job functions – polic- The NRPS and Niagara Parks Police ing area waterways, assisting the emergency (NPP) are the first to respond to calls of il- task unit on high-risk calls such as armed legal entry attempts, which are often made in persons and executing warrants, and carry- overloaded and unsafe vessels or under the ing out diving operations, both in the region railway bridge which crosses the treacherous and under contract for surrounding police Niagara Gorge. These calls frequently result services. in rescue efforts by police, endan- Members inspect vessels, gering the officers involved. investigate accidents and enforce A single agency can not ad- the Criminal Code, provincial dress both the workload and statutes and marine and naviga- security concerns that challenge tion laws, including the Canada the Niagara region. It has be- Shipping Act, small vessel and come clear that a protracted and boating restrictions and collision multi-agency response must exist. regulations, to name but a few. NRPS Chief Wendy E. Southall The unit, which consists of contends that to be effective, ef- one sergeant and ten constables forts on the waterways and land – six from the NRPS, one from must be co-ordinated. the NPP and three from the “The horrific events of Sep- RCMP – uses a secure dock at the tember 11, 2001 served to re- Canadian Coast Guard station in inforce the vital importance of Port Weller. The two agencies co- border security and vigilance Chief Southall operate in numerous search and against terrorism,” Southall states.