Matrix Review of Winnipeg Police Service
Matrix Review of Winnipeg Police Service
Matrix Review of Winnipeg Police Service
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1.
The President of the company, Dr. Richard Brady, who has consulted to public
safety agencies for over 33 years. He has conducted over 150 studies of
policing agencies.
Three former law enforcement managers who are now public safety consultants
Robert Finn, Byron Pipkin and Rob Sofie. These staff specialize in police
studies as well as other services such as training and accreditation assistance to
police services, including Canadian ones.
Page 1
In reaching the concluding point of the study, the project team has assembled
this final report, which summarizes our findings, conclusions and recommendations
where appropriate.
1.
STUDY METHODOLOGY.
In this Police Service Operational Review, the Matrix Consulting Group project
team utilized a wide variety of data collection and analytical techniques. The project
team conducted the following analytical activities:
At the outset of the Operational Review, the study team interviewed the Police
Chief and his management team. The project team also met with the Citys Chief
Administrative Officer, City Auditor and other municipal staff. The purpose of
these interviews was to develop an initial understanding of the issues and
background which led to this study.
The project team also met with several City Councillors, including the Chair of
Standing Policy Committee on Protection.
The project team also briefed the President and Executive Committee for the
Police Association and obtained their views on key study issues.
While on site, the project team collected a wide variety of data designed to
document workloads, costs, service levels and operating practices. The project
team developed descriptive summaries, or profiles, of each function within The
Police Service reflecting organizational structure, staffing, workloads, service
levels and programmatic objectives.
Page 2
The project team developed a comparative survey with other law enforcement
agencies in Central and Western Canada. The agencies which were targeted
and those which participated to some degree included:
Calgary
Regina
Saskatoon
Vancouver
can strengthen key internal processes to become more effective in its service to the
community.
Page 3
performance measures that can be applied both internally and externally to help senior
management track both the progress being made toward achieving goals as well as
progress being made internally to change the organization.
3.
into account relevant community trends, such as recent comparative crime statistics and
projections for growth moving forward.
According to a recent study commissioned by the City, Winnipeg is forecasted to
add 209,000 residents by 2035 nearly 10,000 per year, which over the 23-year period
amounts to a net population growth of nearly 30%. As a result of the Citys rapidly
evolving demographics, the Winnipeg Police Service must be in a position to adapt to
corresponding changes in its communitys public safety needs if it is to continue to
provide the same high level of service. For this reason, it is important that the
organization of the Police Service be structured in a way that facilitates such adaptation.
The recent past provides an indicator of these emerging issues.
Property-related crimes, for example, have changed significantly over the last
five years.
represented a nearly 25% five-year decline from 2006. Despite the decline, property
crime continues to occur at a greater rate (at 67.3 per 1,000), than in Vancouver (55.11
per 1,000), Calgary (36.89 per 1,000), Regina (57.97 per 1,000) or Saskatoon (57.98
per 1,000). In spite of this, and largely due to suppression efforts by WPS, auto theft is
now less prevalent in Winnipeg than in three of the four other jurisdictions surveyed.
Page 4
Total
Property
Offenses
Arson
Breaking
and
Entering Auto Theft
Theft
Mischief /
Willful
Damage
Other
Part 2
Crimes
Calgary
41,324
188
5,466
4,216
20,525
8,175
2,754
Regina
11,731
56
1,588
1,010
7,089
2,696
--
Saskatoon
13,857
99
1,724
1,474
5,638
3,374
910
Vancouver
33,256
274
5,032
1,133
14,448
4,861
3,413
Winnipeg
46,540
483
--
2,439
--
12,958
--
All
Property
Offenses
Arson
Breaking
and
Entering Auto Theft
Theft
Mischief /
Willful
Damage
Other
Part 2
Crimes
Calgary
36.89
0.17
4.88
3.76
18.32
7.30
Regina
57.97
0.28
7.85
4.99
35.03
13.32
Saskatoon
57.98
0.41
7.21
6.17
23.59
14.12
3.81
Vancouver
55.11
0.45
8.34
1.88
23.94
8.05
5.66
Winnipeg
67.28
0.70
--
3.53
--
2.46
--
18.73
--
Even while the rate of property crime has fallen in recent years, violent crime
continues to be markedly more prevalent in Winnipeg than in other Central and Western
Canadian jurisdictions. There were 10,432 violent crimes in 2010 and the second
highest rate of the five cities, at approximately 15.08 per 1,000.
Totals for Selected Violent Crimes, 2010
Total Violent
Offenses
Homicide
Sexual
Violations
Assaults
Robbery
Other Violent
Offenses
524
Calgary
8,183
12
794
5,801
1,040
Regina
3,050
147
2,114
324
Saskatoon
4,076
263
2,484
416
Vancouver
6,704
15
496
5,122
1,052
10,432
22
709
6,034
2,000
Winnipeg
Matrix Consulting Group
-146
-1,640
Page 5
All Violent
Offenses
Homicide
Sexual
Violations
Assaults
Robbery
Calgary
7.30
0.01
0.71
5.18
0.93
Regina
15.07
0.03
0.73
10.45
1.60
Saskatoon
17.05
0.02
1.10
10.39
1.74
Vancouver
11.11
0.02
0.82
8.49
1.74
Winnipeg
15.08
0.03
1.02
8.72
2.89
Other Violent
Offenses
0.47
-0.61
-2.37
These trends underscore the need for the Police Service not only to flexibly
respond but to anticipate changing service needs.
4.
Our extensive input from and interaction with a large number of personnel in the
Police Service which highlighted staffs dedication to service.
The best practices assessment process utilized in this study was also key to
understanding that the Police Service has a history of providing high levels of
service and a wide range of services.
number of steps to develop itself as a model large police department which can be seen
in changes to management systems, the recent reorganization, attention to the
efficiency and effectiveness of programs and services, as well as attention to
Page 6
community needs. This Operational Review identified many major positive attributes in
the Police Service, some of which are summarized in the following table:
WINNIPEG POLICE SERVICE
The Police Service highly values its service to the communities it serves and is structured to be more
responsive and available to the public.
The Police Service is internationally accredited as a law enforcement organization attesting to its
standing in its profession.
The Police Service has implemented many programs and created units to ensure that no aspect of
service to the community is neglected.
An organizational structure which is efficient and comparatively not top heavy.
With the new police administration a commitment to provide an even greater level of proactivity in
services as well as responsiveness to community generated needs.
UNIFORM OPERATIONS
Four District police facilities throughout the City that enhances the ability of WPS to deliver services to
the community and also for residents to have local access to a police service facility.
Deployment strategies that effectively match field workloads with Constables assigned.
Approximately 93% of all 9-1-1 calls are answered by Communications Centre personnel within 10
seconds.
WPS is currently providing differential call response for 11% of the total number of calls for service
responded to by General Patrol personnel using light duty personnel temporarily assigned to the
Alternate Phone Response Unit, with additional organized effort this percentage can reasonably
increase to 15-20% of all calls for service.
The IVR (Interactive Voice Response) telephone system for the WPS non-emergency phone number
that diverts approximately 37% of the incoming calls (about 10,000 calls per month)
INVESTIGATIVE OPERATIONS
Diverse array of investigative units designed to effectively follow-up on crimes with specially trained
staff.
Diverse array of proactive investigative capabilities to address organized crime ands street crimes, vice
and narcotics problems in the City,
The ability to provide specialized internal support through the use of technology, teams to assist in
surveillance, witness support and protection.
Field evidence collection staff available to support field and investigative staff when major crimes occur.
OPERATIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES
Page 7
Many specialized units to meet the specialized needs of many operational situations.
Many specialized units are part time rather than fully staffed as cost effective approaches
Dedicated traffic enforcement and accident investigations teams to address a growing problem in the
community.
A team of cadets who provide valuable and diverse services to the citizens of Winnipeg as well as an
apprenticeship program for the Police Service.
DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT SERVICES
WPS facility maintenance oversight is centralized within this unit. Janitorial services are provided
through a combination of WPS janitorial employees and contracted services with the City of Winnipeg.
Contractors are appropriately utilized to perform selected services, such as Document service.
The Records and Reports Management Unit has implemented a strong purging program to eliminate
property and evidence from the facility when it is no longer needed by the WPS.
Cost-effective measures for the disposal of drugs and weapons have been implemented.
Periodic audits of conducted to ensure property and evidence is appropriately accounted for.
Most functions in this Division have been civilianized.
The WPS Training Sections make excellent use of skilled / trained personnel from other Sections as a
part-time / collateral resource to supplement Training personnel.
A top down commitment staffed by the Strategic Initiatives Unit to implement Creating a Culture of
Safety and Crime Prevention through Social Development initiatives.
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
Internal promotion is encouraged within the WPS and recruitment and selection processes are
designed to support this policy.
Promotional processes, for all positions, utilize clearly defined job related selection techniques that are
tailored to the position being filled. WPS has recently implemented a 360-degree feedback
mechanism as part of the selection process for some positions.
HR coordinates a highly effective program to place limited duty personnel into a position where they
can support the staffing needs of operational units.
A help-desk service is provided by ITS to WPS employees to assist users with hardware of software
assistance.
WPS has begun implementing standards for hardware, workstations, and laptops to simplify
administration and operation.
A business analyst position has been implemented within the staffing contingent of ITS to assist in
documenting business requirements for technology solutions prior to selection of a technology solution.
Page 8
Fiscal policies have been adopted to ensure financial and internal controls meet recognized financial
controls.
Professional Standards Unit initiation of professional development dates awareness training with a
focus to educate WPS personnel and make critical internal processes transparent.
Wellness critical incident response capability that is enhanced through establishing and maintaining ongoing relationship with first responders.
The project team feels that it is important in this Executive Summary to highlight
at least some of the positive features of the Police Service.
5.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
In spite of the many positives within the Police Service, there are also many
improvement opportunities. These issues represented the principal focus of this study.
While there are over 100 recommendations made in this report, there are several
recurring areas in which major change in needed. Many of these improvement needs
cross-cut the organization. The following points summarize the most significant areas
of improvement needed in the Police Service:
Moreover, there has been a lack of accountability within the management team
not only in the implementation of agreed upon changes but in the oversight of
day-to-day operations.
The Police Service is reactive rather than proactive in spite of (or perhaps
because of) its responsiveness. The lack of data and planning has hampered its
ability to have a more proactive stance in the way it provides service to the
community.
Page 9
The Department should adopt a long-range plan to integrate into the Corporate
Shared Services Model. This should occur after development of service delivery
agreements that will ensure the WPS received the required and necessary
support services from Corporate. This will enable WPS Administration to focus
on core police services.
The following exhibit provides a list of the principal recommendations in this
report. For each recommnedation a priority is accorded based on the project teams
view of the importance of each to the organization as well as a suggested timeframe for
implementation. The report should be accessed for detail discussion and analysis of
each issue and the background behind each recommendation.
Page 10
Functional Area
General
General
General
General
General
General
General
General
Patrol
Recommendation
ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
A reorganization of Winnipeg Police Service to better focus the Office of the Chief
on performance management and community service, management
accountability systems, as well to better align field, investigative and
administrative services, would facilitate the design and implementation of change.
Several staff resources should be redirected to these efforts.
Human resources functions which are currently under different commands should
be merged to coordinate related functions and facilitate internal service delivery.
All administrative functions should be consolidated in an Administrative Support
Section to make internal support functions more consistent and service oriented.
For top command staff, a greater proportion of training hours should be dedicated
to management training than in operations or skills training.
Revise the transfer policy so that individuals transfer less frequently or develop a
hybrid system in which specialty units are comprised of rotational positions and
non-rotational positions.
Improve the SPI process by dedicating more time to substantive issues and
action plans as well as making staff more accountable for improvements. Start
out by contacting other Canadian Police Services about what they do to make
their Compstat processes useful and result-oriented.
The Chief and his Executive Team should work with the Police Board and the
Executive Policy Committee on an implementation plan and monitoring approach
for recommendations made within this report. Monthly Board meetings should
include a review of the status of implementation.
Overall, the project team has not identified any unique operational or
organizational constraints that prohibit the WPS from participating in and
benefiting from the Corporate Shared Services model that has been developed
and deployed by the City of Winnipeg. The City and WPS should continually
evaluate appropriate alternative service delivery opportunities.
UNIFORM SERVICES
WPS management should require a Patrol Sergeant or Sergeant review of all
written reports before they are submitted.
Priority and
1
Timeframe
Cost Impact
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MT
H
MT
H
MT
H
ST
H
MT
H
ST
H
ST
H
LT
H
MT
To be determined
Functional Area
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Recommendation
General Patrol field supervisors should be trained and held accountable to
actively manage all activities on their shift, specifically the work of Constables at
calls for service, completing reports, handling prisoners, and the available time for
proactive patrol.
The Central Reading Unit should be disbanded; General Patrol Sergeants and
Patrol Sergeants should be responsible for report review functions. A Constable
Reader or Patrol Sergeant should be assigned to District 1 and District 3 for one
year to assist in the transition process. This can be done without additional cost,
as the elimination of 14 of the 18 Central Reader Unit positions is recommended
(through attrition).
Service Centre personnel (currently in Division 31) should be re-assigned to the
appropriate District Division chain of command.
The personnel assigned to the Report Cars (currently in Division 31) should be
re-assigned to appropriate District Division chain of command.
An appropriate number of Cadets should be assigned on a rotating basis to the
appropriate District Division chain of command but overall management of the
Cadets and their functions should remain centralized.
A full-time crime analyst should be assigned to the District Division chain of
command but overall management of the Crime Analysts and crime analysis
functions should be centralized.
Two additional full-time civilian administrative support positions should be staffed
in each District Division; these positions should also be utilized to provide clerical
support to the Community Support Unit and the Back Office.
In addition to a Staff Sergeant in each District an Administrative Sergeant should
be assigned full-time (separate from the Community Support Sergeant), requiring
two additional positions.
Management should establish a working committee to review leave usage and
evaluate ways to reduce the number of hours employees are away from work (not
including training hours) to 350 hours annually.
Review the definitions of person related call Priorities and make changes that
will provide clearer definitions for these priorities and better classification of the
type of incident being reported.
Eliminate Priority 8 (Phone Response) and Priority 9 (Planned Response) as
Priority call types.
Annually review the number of community generated calls for service from the
CAD data to determine the trend in community generated workload and the
distribution of call for service workload in each District.
Page 12
Priority and
1
Timeframe
H
MT
Cost Impact
M
MT
M
ST
M
ST
M
MT
H
MT
$198,162
M
LT
$118,860
M
LT
$123,268
M
ST
M
ST
M
ST
H
ST
Functional Area
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Patrol
Community Support
Unit
Community Support
Unit
Community Support
Unit
Community Support
Unit
Community Support
Unit
Recommendation
Establish a call processing time goal of 1 minute or less for Priority 0, Priority 1
and Priority 2 calls for service (not including queue time).
Establish a goal of responding to 90% of Priority 0, Priority 1 and Priority 2 calls
for service in 7 minutes or less of travel time.
Manage General Patrol Constables proactive time with planned activities
resulting from regularly updated crime trend information (i.e. SPI data and
information); make proactive patrol assignments based on this information to
address community, quality of life and crime issues in Winnipeg.
Determine the reasons for the high on scene times documented in CAD and
develop a solution to obtain reliable General Patrol call for service on scene time
data.
Obtain and analyze one or two month sample CAD call for service data to
establish consistent response time elements for call processing times and to calls
for service. Take steps to address response time elements that may be
excessive.
When accurate CAD data is available calculate the percentage of committed and
proactive time for General Patrol staff in each District. Annually review patrol staff
workload for each four hour time block for balanced workload distribution and
determine if staff should be re-deployed among the Districts or from other work
units to provide a consistent level of service throughout the City.
The Community Support Unit should be organized, staffed and tasked with a reorganized and planned community policing effort for WPS. This will require a
minimum additional CSU staffing of 14 personnel (2 Sergeants, 4 Patrol
Sergeants, 8 Constables). The two Sergeant positions are already counted in the
previous recommendation regarding the increase of two Administrative Sergeant
positions.
Provide part time clerical support to the Community Support Unit.
WPS management should continually review the number of cases per Detective
in each District to balance the workload among the Back Office staff.
The number and type of cases that are being assigned to Back Office Detectives
are appropriate but it is important for management to ensure that there is a clear
definition of what cases are the responsibility of CID and what cases fall under
the responsibility of the Back Office
Provide part time clerical support to the Back Office Detectives.
Page 13
Priority and
1
Timeframe
M
MT
M
MT
M
MT
Cost Impact
H
ST
H
ST
H
ST
H
MT
$1,173,888
H
MT
M
MT
M
MT
$118,860
$118,860
Functional Area
Communications
Division
Communications
Division
Communications
Division
Airport Unit
Recommendation
Conduct recruiting and hiring processes to fill the vacant Call Taker and Police
Communications Operator positions within the next 6 months.
Continue to staff the Alternate Phone Response Unit with light duty personnel but
also formally staffed with two sworn personnel (Constables) and four civilian staff
(new positions) who are trained to take reports over the phone.
Establish a long term goal of providing a differential call response to 20% of all
calls for service annually.
OPERATIONS SUPPORT
The WPS should eliminate the personnel currently assigned to the Airport Unit,
through attrition when the Airport Police Service will be assumed by the RCMP.
Priority and
1
Timeframe
H
ST
L
LT
Fill the current part-time vacancies in the Bomb Unit and establish an alternate
team member to allow vacancies to be filled as they occur.
Canine Unit
Redeploy Canine as part of the Uniform Patrol Division, but continue with the
practice of Canine Handlers retaining citywide availability.
Canine Unit
Allocate an additional vehicle to the Canine Unit to serve as a reserve vehicle and
ensure operational readiness.
Canine Unit
Develop goals for activities Canine Handlers should engage in during their
available proactive time.
Continue providing air support for the Province to offset the costs associated with
operating the Flight Operations Unit.
The Tactical Support Team Sergeant should be tasked with Preparing Monthly
and Annual Reports which detail the responses and activities of the Team.
Disband the WPS Clandestine Lab Unit and utilize the RCMP Clandestine Team
to mitigate clandestine lab incidents occurring within the City of Winnipeg.
H
ST
M
MT
M
ST
M
ST
M
ST
L
MT
M
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Page 14
$435,932
M
LT
MT
Bomb Unit
Cost Impact
$477,353* Lost
projected
revenue profit of
Airport Contract
Functional Area
Crisis Negotiation Unit
Ground Search and
Rescue Unit
Recommendation
Continue the current staffing level and deployment of the Crisis Negotiation Unit,
but monitor activations to ensure a 3-member team can be consistently deployed
to incidents.
The GSAR Unit Coordinator should be tasked with compiling annual response
statistics for the part-time and volunteer GSAR teams.
Priority and
1
Timeframe
L
Cost Impact
MT
L
MT
The WPS should continue to staff the Protective Services as a part-time Unit and
deploy on an as needed basis.
Combine the Underwater Search and Recovery Unit with the River Patrol Section.
Division 51
Division 51
Identify additional call types that are appropriate for Cadets to handle to expand
their role in the Service.
Division 51
Improve the Span of Control for Patrol Sergeants in the Cade Section to a
manageable level to ensure appropriate supervision of the Cadets occurs.
Division 51
Merge the Crime Prevention and Diversity Relations Sections and eliminate one
Patrol Sergeant position resulting in annual salary savings of approximately
$123,268 annually.
Eliminate the Mounted Patrol Section and redeploy the Constables to General
Patrol resulting in a savings of approximately $20,000 annual in operational costs
associated with the Mounted Patrol Unit plus the cost of the two staff positions.
The Central Traffic Unit should deploy Traffic Enforcement and Traffic Collision
personnel on both day and evening shifts to better distribute and improve traffic
enforcement and crash investigation efforts.
Reassign the Traffic Unit to Division 50.
M
MT
H
MT
L
MT
M
$395,120
MT
M
($123,268)
MT
M
($138,860)
ST
M
MT
L
MT
Case Management
INVESTIGATIVE OPERATIONS
Formalize the case screening process using a documented solvability factor
methodology.
Page 15
H
ST
Functional Area
Case Management
Case Management
Case Management
Green Team
Integrated Proceeds of
Crime
Integrated Warrants
Apprehension Unit
Organized Crime Unit
Recommendation
Formalize an investigative caseload prioritization system as part of the case
screening process using a 7-priority system as a framework. This may have to be
accomplished outside of the existing case management system in use in the
agency.
Winnipeg should consider adopting a more formalized case management system
to allow improved tracking of assigned cases and case status.
Make a commitment to X-Fire to provide case management to Investigative
Operations (as well as to other investigative functions such as Professional
Standards).
Maintain the Green Team in its present form and capacity as long as it has
sufficient grow house targets at recent levels. This should be evaluated every
year.
Staff in Integrated Proceeds need to constantly be resources to other WPS staff
in identifying seizable assets and procedures for doing so.
Staff in the Integrated Warrants Apprehension Unit need to be resources to other
WPS staff in the identification of potential suspects.
Increase the cooperation and coordination between the Citys Organized Crime
Unit and the Manitoba Integrated Organized Crime Task Force so that a common
approach is developed to targets, strategies to address and the most appropriate
resources which should be dedicated. This approach should also include the
Street Crimes units which are now part of Division 40.
The Street Crimes Unit should be transferred back to the Operations Support to
be a jointly utilized resource with Investigative Operations but primarily for field
operations.
Eliminate the Vice Unit and make these activities the responsibility of a more
generalized Street Crimes Unit once transferred back to Operations Support.
Eliminate through attrition, the Sergeant and five (5) Constable positions which
currently staff this unit in Investigative Operations.
Cross train another staff position in VICLAS data mining techniques.
Investigative Operations managers need to ensure that the value of VICLAS is
known and communicated throughout the organization and support this effort.
The Winnipeg Police Service should consider the civilianization of the Constable
position assigned to VICLAS.
Page 16
Priority and
1
Timeframe
H
ST
Cost Impact
H
ST
M
MT
M
ST
M
ST
M
ST
H
ST
H
ST
H
ST
M
ST
M
LT
($555,765)
Functional Area
Firearms Investigative
Analysis Section
Forensic Imaging
Section
Arson Unit
Recommendation
If the Firearms Investigation Section is allocated as a permanent Section, the
FIAS should be assigned a full-time supervisor.
Develop a process for replacing the sworn personnel processing videos and
conducting physical matches in the Forensic Imaging Section with equally trained
and competent civilian personnel.
Transfer responsibility for all fire prevention programs in City schools to the
Winnipeg Fire Department. Merge the arson unit within Major Crimes as an
investigative specialty, eliminating a Detective Sergeant and Detective position in
the process.
Eliminate through attrition, a Detective Sergeant and Constable position in the
Cold Case Unit and merge the remaining two staff into the Homicide Unit, with
continued dedication to cold cases.
Retain staffing levels in Commercial Crime but expand the scope of their
responsibility to include computer and internet crimes. Two assigned staff should
be trained to the level of Computer Forensics Specialist and handle selected
cases and act as a resource to other cases when image and hard drive
diagnostics are important and part of these cases.
Current vacancies should not be filled in Commercial Crime.
Commercial Crime staff should be located in the central police facility and
relocated to the new facility when it opens next year.
Maintain existing approaches to staffing the Homicide Unit; maintain and increase
as time is available staffs ability to assist other case handling units.
Take steps to control overtime in the Major Crimes Unit.
The City should reduce the number of Detectives assigned to Stolen Autos. This
will require an agreement with the Province which funds more than half of the
resources assigned. At current crime levels this unit could be reduced by up to
three (3) Constable positions. It needs to be recognized that cost savings
identified would be realized by the Province, not the City.
Develop criteria to determine when special unit objectives have been met so that
resources can be redeployed.
Convert one Constable position to a non-sworn position when the opportunity
makes this possible.
Hire two Crime Analysts to work with case handling investigators in Division 41
and Division 43.
Page 17
Priority and
1
Timeframe
M
MT
H
LT
Cost Impact
H
MT
($207,032)
M
MT
($207,032)
H
MT
M
ST
M
ST
M
MT
M
MT
M
MT
H
MT
M
MT
H
MT
($255,036)
$198,162
Functional Area
Strategic Initiatives
Strategic Initiatives
Strategic Initiatives
Strategic Initiatives
Strategic Initiatives
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Priority and
1
Timeframe
Recommendation
DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT SERVICES
Integrate and continuously update actionable items list, with provision for
progress towards attainment, and next steps. Clearly differentiate what WPS is
planning to do versus what the WPS is actually doing.
Maintain and frequently update the Creating a Culture of Safety Flow Chart, with
equally frequent progress status updates provided to the Chief and affected WPS
personnel.
Create a community reporting report-card.
Involve Strategic Initiatives Unit personnel in early / initial stages of creation /
education of the Police Board.
Combine / Consolidate the 3 compatible and potentially crossover efforts (1Chiefs vision of creating a culture of safety, 2-Crime Prevention through Social
Development, and 3-LiveSAFE committee) efforts into a single unit / function.
Consider Moving the Training Unit from ODS, and / or Place Training Under the
Command of a Separate Inspector.
Convene the Training Committee at least annually to conduct an annual review
and assess the effectiveness of all WPS training completed the prior year and
plan training for the upcoming year(s).
Coordinate / centralize various Divisions needs to maximize training
opportunities.
Work with IT to resolve aged / limited server capacity concerns.
Proactively create opportunities to bolster / enhance the lateral entry program,
without sacrificing quality of candidates / hiring practices.
Research potential for an equivalency training option for new Constables.
Consider formalizing the WPS training needs assessment process, which can be
accomplished through an annual review of training by the incumbent Training
Committee.
Investigate expansion of the use of CPKN to augment in-service training.
Further, investigate the cost savings and added efficiencies of delivery of nonpracticum training via PowerDMS or like web-based system(s).
Develop a 3-Year Training Plan which integrates all training to be accomplished
in the Service.
Page 18
M
MT
H
ST
M
ST
M
ST
M
MT
H
MT
M
ST
L
ST
M
MT
L
MT
L
MT
M
MT
L
MT
M
MT
Cost Impact
Functional Area
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Accreditation and
Audits
Accreditation and
Audits
Accreditation and
Audits
Accreditation and
Audits
Recommendation
Creation of a specialized training plan to assist / discern anticipated specialized
training needs within all specialized assignments, several years into the future,
based on planned rotation from specialized assignments.
Migration to a single WPS hosted secure all-inclusive training records system
capable of meeting Training capacity needs.
Revisit unadvisable practice of training records following / taken from Training by
the Instructor upon transfer out of Training.
Track the total number of annual arrests to use in conducting the Annual Use of
Force Analysis.
Ensure the annual UOF analysis process includes identification of trends /
patterns; make recommendations of policy, training, and equipment needs
accordingly; Integrate analysis recommendations into UOF training.
Reduce agency liability / risk exposure by tasking the Pursuit Review Board and /
or Training Unit with creating a formal plan to address / reduce sustained policy
non-compliant pursuits, as well as collisions and injuries. Plan objectives should
be integrated into annual Lesson Plans.
The Annual Pursuit Analysis should include a review of pursuit, pre-pursuit
techniques, strategic follows practices; forcible stopping policies; and related
training with Legal to reduce agency / personal risk exposure.
Training has opportunity to take a more involved / directed use of the annual
pursuit analysis process, to include comparison against similarly sized / like
Canadian LE agencies.
Complete CALEA mandated Annual Reports on each award anniversary. Use
SWOT components to help shape / focus agency challenges and opportunities for
improvement.
Migrate from CALEA CACE to PowerDMS accreditation management software,
an efficiency which will more readily facilitate the mock and actual accreditation
on-site assessment process.
Integrate mandatory CALEA Data Tables into annual reporting process, thereby
ensuring the mandated data is collected, is up-to-date, that current trends and
patterns are identified, and appropriate notification made to ensure corrective
action occurs as necessary.
Conduct a full / thorough mock assessment, including a file review, function visits,
and staff interviews, particularly focusing on the 18 File Maintenance, 5 Future
Performance, and 3 Applied Discretion concerns identified from the 2011 on-site
assessment.
Page 19
Priority and
1
Timeframe
M
MT
M
MT
M
MT
M
ST
M
MT
H
MT
M
MT
M
MT
M
MT
L
MT
L
MT
L
MT
Cost Impact
Functional Area
Accreditation and
Audits
Accreditation and
Audits
Accreditation and
Audits
Accreditation and
Audits
Accreditation and
Audits
Accreditation and
Audits
Research and
Development Unit
Research and
Development Unit
Research and
Development Unit
Research and
Development Unit
Research and
Development Unit
Research and
Development Unit
Recommendation
Create a 3-year reaccreditation plan each reaccreditation cycle, outlining steps to
migrate back to full / Advanced Accreditation as well as eventually positioning the
agency for a Gold Standard Assessment (GSA) on-site assessment and
Accreditation with Excellence award.
Increase avenues to stay abreast of ever evolving CALEA mandates and best
practices through Accreditation Manager (AM) attendance at CALEA training
venues; seeking out opportunities to participate as a mock assessor; and regular
access / participation in the CALEA Forum, an information exchange venue with
peer AMs, CALEA staff and assessors.
Consideration to civilianizing the Accreditation Manager position. Possibilities
include hiring of a retired sworn WPS member, who would have WPS institutional
knowledge, as well as agency credibility and standing needed to ensure on-going
compliance.
A recently conducted audit included identifying efficiencies in UCR; Alternate
Phone Response (APR) handled 5,000 calls per year, there may be opportunity
to expand, potential for increased use of APR.
Add / Update internal policies and / or procedures for both the Accreditation,
Audit, and Inspections functions, to reflect current practices.
Add an accreditation review layer when reviewing new and proposed policy
revisions to ensure continued compliance with applicable CALEA standards, as
applicable.
Need system to remove bottlenecking of projects, including moving completed
projects to operational components, which will free R&D time to complete other
pending projects and receive new projects. Projects need to have some finality
as R&D cannot manage after R&D is completed.
Establish criteria / business rules for review and approval of new initiatives, as
well as regular tracking / review of current (in-progress) initiatives.
Update / revise the existing 2012-2014 Strategic Plan to reflect the current Chiefs
vision and strategies to achieve the vision; Plan value will be evident when it
becomes useable as the day-to-day roadmap for staff to use as a guide.
Formally document the annual review reports and evaluation of Action Items, and
update the Plan as the Plan mandates.
Update policies to remove mandated practices not being met; Update policies
and Unit SOP to reflect current practices.
Need to identify a streamlined policy revision process, move from 13 months to a
3-month target for completion of revisions.
Page 20
Priority and
1
Timeframe
L
MT
L
MT
L
MT
M
MT
L
MT
M
MT
M
MT
M
MT
M
ST
M
ST
L
MT
M
ST
Cost Impact
Functional Area
Research and
Development Unit
Human Resources
Human Resources
Human Resources
Human Resources
Human Resources
Human Resources
Human Resources
Finance
Finance
Division 30
Division 30
Recommendation
The WPS should phase out the two Service Centres that are not part of District
Stations and redeploy these resources.
ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS
The HR Division should undertake a workforce planning effort to develop a
workforce plan including succession planning.
The WPS should implement an enhanced exit interview process and compile a
semi-annual report for administration.
The WPS should conduct an annual employee survey to solicit input regarding
satisfaction with human resources services and employee satisfaction with their
employment with the WPS.
The WPS should expand the information available on the Human Resources
section of the website.
Application materials should be provided, at minimum, in fillable PDF format for
the convenience of the applicant. Longer-term, the WPS should develop an
online application process.
Several positions, including Inspector and Staff Sergeant positions, within the
Human Resources Division, should be civilianized over time (i.e., during the next
rotation for these positions). These positions should be filled with individuals with
extensive background and professional training in Human Resources.
The WPS and City of Winnipeg should undertake discussions of approaches to
integrate the WPS HR function under the Citys shared HR services approach to
gain access to additional HR support, increase consistency of employee
treatment across the entire City organization, and reduce overhead and
duplication of services.
The WPS should work with the City of Winnipeg to implement the shared services
approach to Financial Management by having the Finance Manager report to the
Citys financial operations. The Finance Manager should retain a dotted line
reporting relationship to the Chief of Police.
The WPS and City of Winnipeg should develop a service level agreement
outlining service levels and service delivery approaches prior to the
implementation of the shared services approach for the financial operation.
The WPS should revisit the level and type of background investigations
conducted on staff for janitorial and fleet positions to ensure they are not overly
stringent in comparison to other police service entities and the Citys practices.
The WPS and City should form a joint review committee to explore
implementation of the shared services approach for janitorial services.
Page 21
Priority and
1
Timeframe
H
ST
M
MT
M
ST
L
MT
M
MT
M
MT
H
LT
H
LT
H
LT
H
MT
M
MT
H
LT
Cost Impact
($340,049)
Functional Area
Division 30
Recommendation
Janitorial staffing should be reviewed after the WPS and City have made a
determination regarding the implementation of a shared services approach for
janitorial services and should be based upon the requirements necessary to
appropriately staff the new WPS headquarters facility.
The Central Reading Unit should be eliminated with the transfer of report review
duties being reallocated to field Sergeants. Any residual duties should transfer to
the Direct Voice Entry Unit.
Of the 18 constable positions authorized in the Central Reading Unit, the
equivalent of four positions should be transferred to Central Reading to develop a
comprehensive Quality Assurance and Report Training Program. The remaining
14 positions should be eliminated or redeployed elsewhere in the organization in
lieu of hiring new sworn positions.
One additional property clerk position should be authorized for the Property and
Evidence Unit.
A long-range plan for the utilization and enhancement of the primary third-party
police software solution should be developed that includes standards for any
third-party software solutions to ensure integration of systems and data.
The WPS must implement an ITS Steering Committee to establish organizational
priorities for ITS services and develop and adopt an annual work plan for ITS.
The WPS and the City should hold bi-monthly meetings of IT Management staff to
discuss further opportunities to cooperate, reduce costs and share resources and
staffing to benefit both organizations.
The ITS Division should implement an annual customer satisfaction survey. The
results should be shared with the ITS Steering Committee and be considered
when developing the annual ITS work plan.
The WPS should authorize three additional positions (one Business Analyst and
two Project Managers) for the ITS Division.
The WPS ITS Manager should develop, as part of annual evaluations, a detailed
training plan for each employee outlining required skills and training that should
be pursued to maintain or expand skill sets for IT personnel.
The WPS should establish a formal vehicle replacement schedule for emergency
response and administrative vehicles. It is recommended that This schedule be 4
years/161,000 kilometers for emergency response vehicles and 7 years/161,000
kilometers for administrative vehicles.
Set a downtime goal of 3% or less for front line emergency response vehicles.
Page 22
Priority and
1
Timeframe
M
LT
Cost Impact
H
MT
M
MT
($1,190,167)
M
MT
H
MT
$68,600
H
MT
M
ST
L
ST
H
MT
M
ST
H
MT
H
MT
$290,000
Functional Area
Vehicle Services Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Professional Standards
Unit
Recommendation
The City should routinely conduct an audit of the operations of the VSU and
WFMA to ensure reported shop rates remain current with operations. The project
team recommends these audits occur every two (2) years.
FUNCTIONS REPORTING TO THE CHIEF OF POLICE
Including specifics on actual training provided to WPS personnel on bias-based
profiling in the Annual Administrative Reviews will ensure personnel are current
on case law and best practices, resulting in fewer complaints and / or litigation.
Consider modifying the number of disposition categories in IA-Pro to more closely
correlate regulatory and criminal dispositions, which will make review and
analysis more useable for the agency to consider in addressing reduction in
complaints and training needs.
Determine and utilize a single Internal Affairs investigation tracking system that
best meets the needs of the Service. Work with WPS IT and / or IA-Pro vendor to
determine if an upgrade to IA-Pro could meet the needs of the PSU as opposed
to a wholesale change of operating systems.
Complete update of PSU policies to reflect both agency current practice as well
as incorporating best practices in Internal Affairs investigations. Incorporate
major case management system into PSU SOP. Define roles, investigative
protocols, and more defined / restrictive investigative time limits.
Examine other Canadian Penalty Models; Give Consideration to creation and
addition of formal Disciplinary Penalty Matrix / Guidelines to create member
confidence when recommending discipline.
Consider conducting an annual evaluation of PSU data, with emphasis on
identifying causal factors of significant percentage changes in the various
reporting categories, to bring about positive organizational change.
Give consideration to providing the complainant notification of the results of the
investigation upon conclusion in lieu of stating the matter was dealt with, which is
more in line with the CALEA standard on complainant notification of the results of
the investigation upon conclusion.
Utilize senior / veteran PSU staff to create a training track for new incoming PSU
staff; create on-going / advanced training track for incumbent staff.
PSU staff should conduct / provide training to non-PSU supervisors who are
expected to conduct investigation on minor complaints, to ensure consistent
accountability agency-wide.
Consider joining the National Internal Affairs Investigators Association, or similar /
like peer resource capability.
Page 23
Priority and
1
Timeframe
H
MT
M
ST
M
MT
M
ST
M
MT
M
MT
M
MT
L
MT
L
MT
L
MT
L
ST
Cost Impact
Functional Area
Legal Counsel Unit
Legal Counsel Unit
Legal Counsel Unit
Legal Counsel Unit
Legal Counsel Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Recommendation
Encourage PSU to continue taking advantage of Legals non-police perspective
(different viewpoint, avoid potential pitfalls, yet familiar with WPS environment)
through early involvement in cases likely to have a sustained finding.
Add / reinstate conducting an annual review of WPS agreements / contracts, to
ensure the reasons for entering into the agreement still exist and include an
evaluation of results and need for continued involvement.
Include the CALEA Accreditation Manager in the review of proposed new or
revised / renewed agreements to ensure compliance with the varied accreditation
standard mandates for contracts / agreements.
Review anticipated future FIPPA demand and identify resources necessary to
meet this demand. Compare against other similarly sized agencies and identify
their compliance methodology for possible cost effective efficiencies.
If projected FIPPA demand is anticipated to remain excessive, recommend
investigating the feasibility of seeking legislative relief for associated FIPPA
timelines; if unsuccessful, or not feasible, then consider seeking shared clerical
staff from elsewhere within the WPS to perform the routine Clerk duties unable to
be performed due to sustained excessive FIPPA demand.
Implement stronger annual record keeping of claims and litigation, to include an
at least annual review of actions / types against past years for trends / patterns,
for staff review and evaluation.
Determine if the LERA process will continue with the advent of the Police Board,
and if so, seek to add / amend regulations to ensure notice of LERA cases.
Formally track all grievances and WPA concerns/issues not arising to the level of
a grievance; Conduct more thorough annual analysis of grievances and WPA
concerns/issues, to include a review of trends over recent past years, and include
recommendations for policy revision, training, and / or equipment needs, if any.
Grow / implement Evidence-Based Best Practice model, making decisions about
the promotion of health or provision of care by integrating the best available
scientific evidence with practitioner expertise and other resources.
Increased voluntary use of behavioural health services can grow through trust
earned through program continuity. Program education and training directed at
all personnel will educate members on available services.
Create a Strategic Plan component for BHS suitable for inclusion in the WPS
Strategic Plan, including BHS mission, goals, objectives, action plans, and
evaluation methodologies that are consistent and compatible with the WPS
Strategic Plan.
Page 24
Priority and
1
Timeframe
L
MT
M
ST
M
ST
M
MT
M
MT
M
ST
L
MT
M
ST
M
MT
L
MT
M
MT
Cost Impact
Functional Area
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Behavioural Health
Services Unit
Recommendation
Include an appropriateness of member response component to agency critical
incident after-action reviews, to identify if the BHS response to critical incidents is
effective and / or needs enhanced services.
Give consideration to adding policy to prohibit the carry of weapons while
accessing employer provided BHS services.
Review current practice / cost effectiveness of utilizing private vendors for recruit
psychological testing and consider conducting in-house.
Collaborate with / educate non-law enforcement EAP vendor on law enforcement
issues, to enhance effectiveness of EAP provider and reduce duplication of EAP
like services provided by BHS staff.
Formalize workload assessment tracking and evaluation of BHS conducted
activities.
Make use of available back-door secret access, to avoid observation by the
Clerk and / or other BHS staff when accessing Staff Psychologist services.
Expand current new Chaplain training to conduct training for all Chaplains on
regularly scheduled intervals (annual?), which can ensure uniformity of services
provided, and gain from shared lessons learned from actual services provided
(what works, etc). Utilize a pre-approved Lesson Plan.
Implement an internal system to track the number / type of incidents and activities
Wellness personnel respond to, to report on patterns and trends of concern that
BHS may attend to / focus attention upon.
Implement a secure confidential restricted access Records Management System
for BHS related activities.
Conduct a review of current policies, remove outdated practices, and replace /
update / revise with policy and procedures reflecting current best practices.
Ensure the BHS internal Strategic Plan components include WPS Strategic Plan
Action Item 2.3, and assist the BHS in achieving their assigned Action Item.
Page 25
Priority and
1
Timeframe
M
MT
M
MT
L
MT
M
MT
M
MT
M
MT
M
MT
M
ST
M
ST
M
MT
M
ST
Cost Impact
2.
Internal
operations management issues are not dealt with in this Chapter, rather they are
subject to the project teams analysis in the part of WPS in which they occur.
1.
The focus of discussion in this chapter includes issues central to the efficient and
effective operation to any entity:
WPS is at a crossroads a number of events have occurred in the past year and will
occur in coming months that provide the opportunity for fundamental change in the
delivery and management of police services in the City. Some of these changes are:
A new Chief of Police with a different vision of how police services should be
provided.
A greater emphasis from the Municipality for efficiency and cost effectiveness.
Page 26
Behavioural Health
Services
Legal Counsel
Professional Standards
Deputy Chief
Police Operations
Superintendent
Uniform Operations
Division 11
Division 12
Division 13
East District
Communications
Duty Office
Superintendent
Investigative Operations
Division 40 CIB
Division 41 CIB
Division 42 CIB
Division 43 CIB
Deputy Chief
Police Support Services
Superintendent
Development Support Services
Division 30 Services
Division 31 Records
Division 32 Development & Support
Information Technology
Superintendent
Operational Support Services
Division 50
Division 51
Human Resources
Reporting to the Chief of Police are several executive support functions Legal,
Finance and Behavioural Health; in addition, Professional Standards also reports
directly to the Chief.
Two (2) Deputy Chiefs serve as mid-level managers, having overall management
oversight for operational and support functions.
Page 27
Uniform operations (i.e., patrol divided into four geographic districts, plus
communications and the duty office).
In the past month, the City has implemented a new Police Board to provide
closer operational, programmatic and budgetary oversight for Police Service.
While individual units have been re-organized in the Police Service (some within
the past month), the current organizational structure has been in effect for several
years. The new Police Board has been the only major organizational change for the
Police Service.
3.
POTENTIAL
ISSUES
ASSOCIATED
WITH
THE
CURRENT
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE WINNIPEG POLICE SERVICE.
An organization which has remained essentially unchanged over the years apart
from a number of minor adjustments, is going to have organizational issues. This is true
for the Winnipeg Police Service. The following issues are evident to this project team:
Page 28
Whether the managers who were selected in the reactive era are
equipped with the skills to function effectively in a more proactive
environment.
Spans of control for top management vary significantly in the organization, with
major issues as follows:
The Chief of Police, the manager with the most significant external
responsibilities with respect to City government as well as to the
community, also has the broadest span of control at seven organizational
units (not shown are the executive management staff).
The two Deputy Chiefs who report to the Chief of Police each have only
two direct reports one for the core functions of patrol and investigations,
and the second for operational and administrative support.
This finding calls into question both the number of layers and the number of
managers in The Police Service.
There are many issues pertaining to the functional groupings in the current
organizational structure of Winnipeg Police Service, including the following:
Page 29
The Police Board has only recently been implemented as a result of legislation
passed by the Province of Manitoba. While all other major cities in Canada have
police boards, their roles vary according to local needs and conditions. In
Winnipeg, the Police Board will further develop its roles once it is up and
running.
First, the project team will examine the structuring of Canadian police services in a
comparative context.
4.
examined for a number of uses in this study, which for the purposes of this chapter was
to understand the organization of functions and management staffing. The following
table summarizes this information with descriptive summaries following the table.
Calgary
Chief of Police
Deputy Chief
Superintendent
Inspector
Director (civilian)
Total Sworn
Total Employees
Top Mgrs %
Top Mgr Ratio
1
3
6
27
Incl. in Supt.
1987
2708
1.4%
1:73
Regina
1
1
2
7
1
392
539
2.2%
1:45
Saskatoon
1
2
2
8
4
496
627
2.7%
1:37
Vancouver
Winnipeg
1
3
5
22
6
1327
1716
2.3%
1:45
1
2
4
23
2
1415
1816
1.8%
1:57
Page 30
Winnipeg, along with Calgary, have the lowest number of top management
positions (Inspectors and civilian equivalents), expressed both proportionally and
as a percentage of the total number of positions in the force. This is
understandable, as larger departments require fewer managers in proportion to
the number of staff they manage.
Under Community Policing are the Field Operations and Field Support
divisions.
Services
(Patrol)
and
Criminal
Page 31
Reporting directly to the Chief of Police are Planning and Research / Audit
and Public Relations.
From the examination of other Central and Western Canadian police services,
several findings have emerged:
In most of the surveyed Canadian agencies, spans of control for Chiefs of Police
vary by size of agency between 1:3 and 1:4 in the smaller agencies and around
1:6 to 1:9 in the larger ones, comparable to Winnipeg.
There are several key community-oriented and internal process functions that are
often organized to report directly to the Chief of Police, and is particularly the
case in larger agencies. These functions include the following:
Community relations.
Legal Services.
Professional Standards.
Page 32
The project team will take these findings into consideration when developing
recommended alternatives to the organizational issues identified in a previous section.
5.
community needs in order to function at the highest level of efficiency and effectiveness,
as they are comprised of human beings who each bring their own strengths and
weaknesses into play.
management and control of the organization while furthering the goal of providing a high
level of service to the community.
concept of security, as well as being a community service, this balance is more difficult
than for other types of complex organizations. However, in common with all complex
organizations, an analysis of organizational structure needs to focus on functional
alignment, spans of control, unit and individual performance criteria. No organization
can be effective without some balance in these criteria.
Page 33
The City is demanding that all of its municipal functions operate at a peak of
efficiency and cost effectiveness. They, too, require higher levels of
accountability in the management of services.
The Province is involved too. Recent legislation focuses on the creation and
implementation of a Police Board, providing direct community oversight in a way
in which Winnipeg has never had.
Three factors come together as preconditions to change in a large complex
The leadership to guide and direct change and provide the message that it is
important. In general, but with respect to Winnipegs unique situation, the
leadership factor includes:
A change agent.
Page 34
Winnipegs Police Service has the leadership in place to foster change; it also
has the support, both internally and externally, to support it in these efforts.
There are issues in Winnipegs Police Service that impede efficient and effective
cross-functional operation at both the community service and internal operations
levels.
There are management issues in Winnipegs Police Service which not only relate
to the automated systems in place but in the orientation of managers and
supervisors to manage according to data and goals arising analytically rather
than from historical practice.
These factors come together as shown in the simple Venn diagram below each
of the three factors described above are the pre-requisites to change.
Page 35
Leadership
Systems
Change
!
!
Structure
There are a number of structural, functional and span of control criteria that
should be examined in an analysis of the reorganization plan of the Winnipeg Police
Service.
Explanation / Issues
Organizational Examples
Complementarity of
Functions
Degree of
Coordination
Required
Page 36
Explanation / Issues
Organizational Examples
Accountability
Degree of
Organizational Risk
Degree of Public
Scrutiny
Supervisor and
Management
Responsibilities
Degree of
Centralization
Spans of Control
Page 37
The sections that follow provide the project teams evaluation of the organization
of the Winnipegs Police Service against these organizational goals and objectives.
6.
plan for the Winnipeg Police Service which addresses the issues described in this
section of the report.
Police Board
Chief of Police
Legal Counsel
Professional Standards
Deputy Chief
Field Operations
Superintendent
Uniform Operations
Division 11
Division 12
Division 13
East District
Duty Office
Deputy Chief
Police Support Services
Superintendent
Operational Support Services
Division 50
Division 51
Division 31 Reports
Superintendent
Investigative Operations
Division 40 CIB
Division 41 CIB
Division 42 CIB
Division 43 CIB
Superintendent
Administrative Support Services
Division 30 Services
Information Technology
Communications
Finance
Human Resources & Training
As a central direction for this report, change needs to start with the Chiefs Office.
Currently, the Office of the Chief has organizational top management responsibility for
several line operational (especially administrative) functions that should be delegated
and overseen by other managers.
Change management
Page 38
functions that are currently dispersed throughout the Police Service, as well as the
creation of a performance monitoring system which is lacking at present. The project
team recommends the following changes:
Ensuring that the WPS Strategic Plan initiatives and goals are met.
Ensuring that mid managers are accountable for organizational and unit
performance targets being met.
Page 39
Human Resources
Longer term, WPS should consider merging these functions with Policy and
Procedure review and development as well as Professional Standards. With
these final pieces the entire spectrum of pre and post employment issues would
be located in one part of the organization under a single manager.
As argued elsewhere in this report, the manager for Human Resources should be
a civilian. On the next rotation of Human Resources Manager a civilian should
be retained who comes from a human resources background and professional
training in a police environment. This position is civilianized in Saskatoon and up
to a level in Calgary.
Page 40
Superintendent
Operational Support Services
Division 50
Division 51
Division 31 Records and Reports
As part of this re-organization the Police Service should consider relocating field
reporting and alternative response functions under Field Operations. The
rationale for this is clear to place all community response capabilities under a
single command so that one decision about the appropriateness of response can
be made. It is important to note that all of the functions within Division 31 are
essentially operational support functions.
Finally, emergency communications should be re-organized under a technical
services set of functions. The Duty Office would remain as essentially the
intermediary between field operations and communications.
With the refocus of the Chiefs Office on strategic design, change and
accountability an Administrative Support Section should be created with
functions not considered operational support plus human resources,
information technology and finance. The reorganization plan recommended
here has argued that several functions in Development Support Services be
placed elsewhere in Police Service Training function under Human resources,
Analytical functions under Strategic Planning Services and Division 31 field
support functions to Operational Support. A new Administrative Support Section
should be created with Division 30 functions (infrastructure management), any
remaining Division 31 functions not deemed appropriate to transfer to Field
Operations, Human Resources, Information Technology and Finance. The
resulting Section would strongly place all administrative support functions in pane
part of the organization.
Page 41
Investigative Services
Arson
Child Abuse
Cold Case
Commercial Crime
Homicide
Integr. High Risk Sex Offender
Internet Child Exploitation
Missing & Murdered Womens TF
Major Crimes
Missing Persons
Sex Crimes
Stolen Autos
Vulnerable Persons
Proactive Investigations
Green Team
Integrated Organized Crime TF
Integrated Proceeds of Crime
Integrated Warrant Apprehension
Intelligence Operations Group
Organized Crime
Street Crime
Vice
Investigative Support
Crime Stoppers
Forensics
National Weapons Enforcement
Pawn
Polygraph
Secure Operations
Surveillance
VICLAS
Two inspectors would divide management for major crime investigations. This
reorganization would be accomplished with existing staff and management
positions.
All of these recommended organizational changes would be accomplished with
existing staff positions. However, the organizational improvements would be significant
in terms of the improved ability to coordinate resources, as well as to better focus
managers, including the Chief, on the highest priority duties in each area of
responsibility. Reorganizing in this way would also address one of the issue areas
identified in the Venn diagram as a pre-requisite to change.
Recommendation: A reorganization of Winnipeg Police Service to better focus
the Office of the Chief on performance management and community service,
management accountability systems, as well to better align field, investigative
and administrative services, would facilitate the design and implementation of
change.
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 42
7.
CHANGE
ITS
APPROACH
TO
The Winnipeg Police Service has a Transfer, or Rotation, Policy that describes in
some detail the qualifications for selected specialty units, the maximum amount of time
individuals can remain in a selected assignment specialty, as well as any exceptions or
appeal procedures to these limits. In all, the Transfer Policy is 22 pages in length. Key
summary characteristics of this policy include:
The process for applying for and selecting people for transfer to specific units,
including criteria which are appropriate to each unit and function.
It describes the rotation period for each assignment in WPS, generally between 3
5 years, though there are exceptions for greater length, as well as individual
and/or WPS option years. There are permanent assignments but those are
mostly special cases such as imminent retirement and they are generally in
patrol.
Rotation or transfer policies are effective career development tools in a law
Page 43
They broaden the career of an individual which can have the positive effect of
breaking down barriers to interaction.
An effective transfer policy can also prepare someone for promotion thorough
appreciation of broader operations.
It is possible in some units to have virtually the entire team rotating at the same
time thereby significantly impacting the units effectiveness.
Many individuals can get an assignment to a function for which they are not a
good match for example the ability to supervise civilians or to truly understand
technology.
that individuals transferring to assignments are not qualified. The project team is saying
Page 44
that the rapidity of the targeted rotations are too frequent and work against the ability to
establish or maintain unit identity or knowledge.
All law enforcement agencies struggle with this concept and the solution for one
agency may not be appropriate for another.
Regina also has a rotation policy though the rotation period is generally longer.
Neither Saskatoon nor Vancouver have a formal rotation policy in the form that
Winnipegs takes.
Many agencies adopt a rotation or transfer policy that retains the career
Detective #1
Rotational
Detective #4
Non-Rotational
Detective #2
Rotational
Detective #5
Non-Rotational
Detective #3
Rotational
Detective #6
Non-Rotational
Page 45
The project team believes that the hybrid approach is an effective alternative for
Winnipeg. As noted above, a hybrid approach retains the goal of career development
while also maintaining stability in a specialized unit in terms of expertise. It also has the
effect of the following:
longer rotation period of twice the existing policy would be appropriate for Winnipeg.
Recommendation: Revise the transfer policy so that individuals transfer less
frequently or develop a hybrid system in which specialty units are comprised of
rotational positions and non-rotational positions.
8.
Page 46
Description
Presentations are
informal.
The lack of analysis impacts the insights that staff are able to draw from in
the discussion.
Accountability
mechanisms are
weak.
The Chief or Deputy Chiefs do not regularly attend the SPI meetings, which
can detract from program commitment.
Based on a review and assessment of these issues, the project team has
identified several changes that should be made to the SPI process to make the process
Page 47
and the review meetings more useful to Police Service and the City.
These
Assign one staff position from Research and Development to develop information
and analysis in support of SPI efforts. This conclusion was reached based on
assessment of current workloads versus service priorities.
Include all District management staff. With more time other District administrators
and supervisors could be involved in presentations. This involvement would
promote ownership and accountability at the supervisory level and be a good
mechanism for career development.
Increase support for the SPI process, both through its policies and procedures as
well as by recognizing its importance to the WPS at the highest levels of the
Department.
Increase the value of the SPI process by developing strategic or tactical action
plans that make specific staff accountable for improvements in a realistic time
frame.
As a first step, Police Service should contact other law enforcement agencies in
Canada to understand their approaches as a way to learn from others who have gone
through similar evolutionary processes. Many agencies in the United States have gone
through this process and could be contacted as well.
Recommendation: Improve the SPI process by dedicating more time to
substantive issues and action plans as well as making staff more accountable for
improvements. Start out by contacting other Canadian Police Services about
what they do to make their Compstat processes useful and result-oriented.
9.
in the Winnipeg Police Service. These include the following central points:
Page 48
The Police Service has effectively defined itself, internally and externally, as a
police service organization dedicated to providing high levels of service to the
community.
Although the Police Service has Mission, Vision, and Value Statements, it is
generally run using less formal outcome oriented performance indicators. There
are very few formally trained analysts found within the Police Service in any
capacity. The Service should train and utilize its pool of Cadets to assist with
analysis in the Districts and in its headquarters, though this could require a
change in their allowable duties. Many have the educational background and
their cost justifies this use even if there is higher turnover among cadets because
of the intention to become a law enforcement professional.
The Police Service needs to continue to devote resources and time to the
training of its management personnel. There should be ongoing and specific
training goals for all managers, goals specific to each position as well as goals
for specific individuals.
The Police Service needs to develop a succession plan that identifies and
focuses training and assignments as a way to develop supervisory and
management personnel.
Key meetings are not used to produce accountability or to optimize long range,
objective-driven performance.
versus several key factors, and provides recommendations for addressing identified
issues.
Page 49
10.
police administrations, while removing political control. Specific details in the structure
and operations of the police boards vary from province to province and benchmarks for
comparing one board to another are still being developed. The Police Services Act
(Act) was introduced in Manitoba in 2009. Through the Act the commission has
legislated responsibilities for civilian monitors, consultation with the public on law
enforcement and policing matters, providing advice to the Minister of Justice on
regulations and police boards. The Act requires all communities in the Province of
Manitoba with municipal police services to form boards by the end of December 2012.
In the Province of Manitoba, the roles of a municipalitys police board are to
provide civilian control over law enforcement, maintain the public peace and prevent
crime. The board must provide administrative direction and the organization needs to
provide an adequate and effective police service. A board will work with the chief to
establish annual priorities and objectives that reflect community needs. The board acts
as a liaison between the community and the police and will ensure that police services
are delivered in a manner consistent with community needs, values and expectations.
Among the mandated roles of the police board in Manitoba are:
Appoint a chief.
After consulting with the chief, the board must establish priorities and objectives
for the police service. The board must develop a multi-year strategic plan.
Page 50
Must ensure police services are delivered in a manner consistent with community
needs, values and expectations and act as a liaison between the community and
the police service.
Must establish policies for the effective practice of the police service.
The police board is responsible for allocating the funds that are provided to the
police service under the municipal budget; the police board then must monitor
the expenditure of public funds.
Of course this description of roles leaves many of the actual details of how this is
established the members have been named and the Board is in the process of hiring
an Executive Director and an initial support positions.
In other Central and Western Canadian cities police boards have existed for
many years, with Calgarys going back to 1934. All have common general purposes:
Calgary actually has two boards with the second providing independent citizen
oversight into complaints against police personnel.
The composition of police boards vary tremendously in Central and Western
Regina
Mayor
2 Councillors
2 citizens
Saskatoon
Mayor
2 City Councillors
2 Civilians
Vancouver
Mayor
6 volunteer citizens (5
appointed by Province, 1
appointed by City)
Page 51
The Winnipeg Police Board will be similarly constituted with mixed representation
from elected officials and the public.
The staff of other police boards surveyed also vary with the smaller agencies
having an Executive Director and an administrative staff position. The number of staff in
Calgary and Vancouver is greater due to their role in personnel and complaint reviews,
roles not projected for the Winnipeg Police Board.
The Winnipeg Police Board, once fully established, will have two main sets of
roles in its first year:
As a result of this study, the Winnipeg Police Board will be charged with
oversight of the implementation of accepted recommendations made in this
report.
The Police Board will work with the Chief of Police on many of the
Management changes.
timetable:
The study and its recommendations will be accepted first by the Police Board
and then referred to the Executive Policy Committee for further review and the
development of an implementation process. The Chief should develop a
response within this process (i.e., before referral to the EPC). This should occur
during the summer of 2013.
The Police Board will review the report and direct staff to develop a response and
implementation plan for recommendations. This should occur during the fourth
Page 52
quarter of 2013. The reviews between the Board and the Chief of Police should
occur monthly at meetings prior to the end of the year.
By the end of the year, then, a final implementation plan should be provided to
the City Council by the Police Board and the Police Chief.
By the beginning of 2014, the Police Board Executive Director should develop a
multi-year implementation plan monitoring checklist of dates and key events.
Recommendation: The Chief and his Executive Team should work with the Police
Board and the Executive Policy Committee on an implementation plan and
monitoring approach for recommendations made within this report. Monthly
Board meetings should include a review of the status of implementation.
11.
services, the project team has made recommendations that WPS should develop a
long-term plan to transition into the Corporate Shared Services Model for administrative
Services.
While the project team acknowledges that there are some fundamental
differences of opinion between some in the WPS and the Citys Corporate structure
related to the benefits of the shared services model, transitioning to this model will make
integrate the WPS into the same service delivery approach utilized by all other City
Departments and enable a greater focus of Police Administration on the provision of
core police services rather than administrative functions. The project team notes that
the shared services approach with other Canadian Police Services is mixed it is
utilized in some municipalities and not in others.
Given the fundamental shift this represents to WPS operations, the project team
recommends that it occur over time and in a phased approach recognizing that the City
Page 53
may need time to meet the service level goals and responsiveness desired by WPS. In
developing this plan, the WPS should establish with the City the following framework:
An agreement on the levels of service support that will be provided by the City for
each of the administrative functions;
A priority ranking for transitioning the functions. The project team suggests that
the following order may be appropriate for consideration given existing practices
and taking into account the magnitude of the change from existing operational
approaches:
Finance,
Information Technology.
organizational constraints that prohibit the WPS from participating in and benefiting from
the Corporate Shared Services model that has been developed and deployed by the
City of Winnipeg.
12.
Organizational Structure
Civilianization
Shift Scheduling
Page 54
designed to provide the Winnipeg Police Service with alternatives to the existing
organizational structure and practices designed to increase performance, efficiency and
utilization of resources in providing various police services to the citizens of Winnipeg.
Since the majority of employees within the Winnipeg Police Service are
represented by a union and subject to the terms and conditions of a labour agreement,
many of the proposed recommendations must be reviewed in conjunction with the terms
and conditions, collectively agreed upon between management and labour, and that are
contained within the existing collective agreement.
Page 55
Personnel deployment and use of one (1) and two (2) Officer units,
included within this report due to the confidential nature of the issues addressed and the
fact that collective negotiations are currently underway.
provided to the City separate from this report. During future negotiations, the WPS
should seek modifications through the collective bargaining agreement to address the
identified agreement language that imposes limitations on organizational and
operational issues.
Recommendation:
Future contract negotiations should strive to address
management control issues relating to the utilization of personnel.
Page 56
Discussion
The Winnipeg Police Service must identify what it
plans to accomplish as a service provider.
WPS has a well defined Mission, Vision, and Value
Statement that calls for superior service and quest
to be the benchmark of law enforcement
organizations.
Recommendation
Following review of the Matrix Consulting Group Report
and policy direction from the Chief of Police, the WPS
executive team should begin to identify performance
measures that are tied to the budget and deal with:
Efficiency Indicators
Service Level Indicators
Work Quality Indicators
Program Impact Indicators
Page 57
Discussion
Currently the WPS has Mission, Vision, and Value
Statements. Operationally, the organization is
generally run using less formal, short-term
performance indicators with limited measurability.
This has a significant impact on defining externally
or internally, organizational success and
improvement needs in terms of fiscal planning and
management, division / bureau / unit / manager
accountability, etc.
Recommendation
The following process is offered as a potential guide for
the development of a measurable performance
management plan.
Defining what the WPS wants to accomplish. Review
of the Mission statement, priorities of the community /
Council, creating specific goals and quantifiable
objectives, and work plans fulfilling that Mission
statement.
Planning and scheduling resources to meet
established WPS work plan. The application of
resources so that objectives are met.
Monitoring progress toward meeting established work
plan objectives. Measures that are reviewed on a
regular basis (at least monthly) collectively by the
executive staff ensure that planning and scheduling of
resources actually is effective in meeting
organizational objectives. On-going review additionally
offers opportunity for evaluation of the impact on work
plans associated with unforeseen emerging issues.
Reconciling results with goals and work plans. Since
many goals and associated work plans are set on an
annual basis, some form of final year-end
reconciliation should be made between established
objectives and accomplished results. This provides an
objective assessment of progress and accountability
for the Chief of Police, City Management, the Council
and Community.
As part of this process the Strategic Plan Update
should be completed.
Page 58
Discussion
Recommendation
Page 59
3.
This chapter provides information about General Patrol, the largest work group in
Uniform Operations. The work units in Uniform Operations include General Patrol, the
Community Support Unit, the District Detectives (the Back Office), the Duty Office and
Communications.
The first section in this chapter provides an overview and context for the analysis
and evaluation of Uniform Operations.
1.
management staff and all rank levels and work units and also of some WPS members
who had been recently assigned to Uniform Operations.
repeated in the interviews that somehow WPS as an organization has lost focus and
lost its way as an organization, meaning that the primary service provided to the
community response and professional handling of community generated calls has
become a secondary or tertiary focus of the Service.
Service is not organized and coordinated to facilitate the effective delivery of services
but to serve different needs that have been identified over the years. These changes
have resulted in the Service being broken up into silos that are no longer coordinated
internally and do not make efficient use of WPS staff.
perceptions and beliefs include 1) that General Patrol is commonly raided for
members selected to vacant specialty positions and that vacancies in General Patrol
are commonly delayed in being transferred out of specialty positions to return to
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 60
General Patrol; 2) when General Patrol Constables are off on long term injury leave
there is no one to replace them and GP runs short on personnel, sometimes requiring
OT to replace them to meet the minimum staffing of 27 cars in the City; and 3) the
perceived low level of General Patrol staffing is evidenced by the sometimes long call
queue holding time on busy days for Priority 3 calls for service (e.g. a domestic
violence or a fight call) and that units from District 2 and District 4 are commonly
assigned to handle calls in Districts 1 and 3 as all of their units are busy with other calls.
Other concerns and issues mentioned include the multi-year digression of the
role of Patrol Sergeant and Sergeant in the supervision and oversight of the Constables
assigned to them. One example of this is regarding review and approval of reports
written by Constables.
Several years ago the Direct Voice Entry (DVE) Unit was
established (staffed with civilian personnel) to improve the accuracy of the information
details that was being entered into reports and into the WPS computer systems. These
information details included items such as ensuring that the same spelling and
formatting of the name(s) of involved parties are used, ensuring correct formatting of the
address location, etc. Additionally, the Central Reading Unit was established (staffed
with senior Constables) to review all of the reports written by Constables for
completeness and quality.
eliminates duplicate information from being entered into the Police Service computer
systems. However, the Central Reading Unit has become a substitute for supervisory
review of reports and today, typically neither the Patrol Sergeant nor the Sergeant read
the reports that Constables write unless they are questioned about the report or it is
returned to them by the Central Reading Unit.
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Another example given is that the District Sergeant and Patrol Sergeant are not
routinely consulted or notified if one or more of the Constable cars are assigned to
handle a call in another District. Additionally, most of the General Patrol Constables do
not know the boundaries of their assigned Patrol Unit Area (which is their radio call sign)
and have not been trained that they have responsibility for a geographical area this is
because in Districts 2 and 4 it is common for Constables to spend many hours during
the week responding to calls in District 1 or 3 (the frequency of Constables handling
calls in other Districts is analyzed later in this report).
These are all legitimate areas of concern. One of the most significant issues
mentioned is supervisory review of reports. It is important for supervisors to review all
written work produced by the Constables and also know where they are and what they
are doing at all times during the shift. It appears that WPS has done a disservice to
General Patrol supervisors by not requiring supervisory approval of reports written by
Constables. However, supervisors are not prohibited from reviewing the work of their
Constables and they should routinely review all reports for thoroughness of the
preliminary investigation, quality of documenting what was done at the scene and also
to use it as a vehicle to evaluate training needs. The Central Reading Unit should be
disbanded and their review of reports should be returned to Patrol Sergeants and
Sergeants. WPS management should require supervisory review of all written reports
before the report is submitted.
supervisors to ignore an important duty and also diminishes their role in the
organization. The Unit can be disbanded immediately, allowing a reasonable amount of
time to transition this role to General Patrol. To assist the General Patrol Sergeants and
Page 62
should know. It is a positive step for management and supervisors to begin to teach
Constables the organization of General Patrol, the Districts and their radio call signs.
Sergeants and Patrol Sergeants should also be actively involved in managing all
activities in the field and the work of Constables at calls for service, when completing
paperwork and when time is available for proactive patrol. It is important for supervisors
Page 63
to have clear responsibility for and manage the personnel assigned to them.
The
organization must support a more clearly defined role with the structure, authority and
guidance that properly trains supervisors for a more clearly defined and important role in
the organization. The managers must ensure that supervisors are properly trained and
also formally accountable for accomplishing these tasks.
Other recommendations relating to General Patrol include the re-assignment of
personnel that are performing General Patrol functions such as the Service Centre
(front counter) staff and the Report Car staff. Currently both of these units are assigned
to Division 31 but they are providing services directly in support of District personnel
and it is more appropriate for them to be assigned to the District Division. There is not a
staffing impact to this recommendation, only a transfer to the Uniform Operations chain
of command.
The Alternate Phone Response (APR) Unit should remain but some
changes should be made to increase the percentage of calls diverted from General
Patrol response will be addressed in detail in the Communications Centre section later
in this report.
The Cadets perform an important support function to General Patrol and should
be assigned to the appropriate District Division but should remain a centralized unit to
ensure the core mission of the Cadet program is not compromised and that necessary
training and exposure to a variety of assignments within WPS occurs.
As discussed in an earlier section of this report, each District should have a crime
analyst assigned and be able to use the analyst for District needs but Crime Analysis
should remain a centralized function to ensure coordination that it meets the needs of all
of WPS. It is also reasonable to increase the administrative support staff from one to
Page 64
three positions in each District to provide the necessary support services required for
the Inspector, Community Support Unit and Back Office Detectives.
With the re-organization of currently assigned functions to the District Divisions it
will require additional administrative oversight and work to ensure that operations are
properly administered.
presented later in this report regarding the Community Support Unit and the resources
that are needed to provide focused and appropriate services to the community.
Recommendations:
WPS management should require a Patrol Sergeant or Sergeant review of all
written reports before they are submitted.
General Patrol field supervisors should be trained and held accountable to
actively manage all activities on their shift, specifically the work of Constables at
calls for service, completing reports, handling prisoners, and the available time
for proactive patrol.
The Central Reading Unit should be disbanded; General Patrol Sergeants and
Patrol Sergeants should be responsible for report review functions. A Constable
Reader or Patrol Sergeant should be assigned to District 1 and District 3 for one
year to assist in the transition process. This can be done without additional cost,
as the elimination of 14 of the 18 Central Reader Unit positions is recommended
(through attrition).
Salary and benefits cost per Constable Reader is
approximately $122,204; salary and benefits cost per Patrol Sergeant is
approximately $123,268.
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 65
four District facilities in Winnipeg. District 1 is generally the downtown area and the
smallest land area of the Districts; District 2 encompasses the southwestern portion of
Winnipeg; District 3 is the northern portion of the City and District 4, also referred to as
the East District, takes in the area east of the Red River. This Chapter provides the
current General Patrol staffing level in each District, a detailed analysis of the 2012
workload and the staffing required to respond to calls for service, and also provide
proactive patrol services to the community. The following information was obtained
through interviews with WPS personnel, electronic data from the CAD (Computer Aided
Page 66
Dispatch) and RMS (Records Management System) as well as any relevant documents
associated with patrol (i.e., statistical reports, training records, leave time records, etc.).
The project team collected information regarding the WPS workload activities
relating to field patrol personnel (i.e., regular Patrol Constables and Patrol Sergeants).
Specifically, this involved the raw data set that captured all dispatch communication
activity for the Winnipeg Police Service in calendar year (CY) 2012 and included the
following types of information:
Location of Call
Type of Call
Priority of Call
Deployment of Constables and Patrol Sergeants in the Four Districts (as of May
2013)
Page 67
General Patrol Constable Leave Hours and Net Available Hours (Actual Work
Hours)
Calls for Service Call Processing, General Patrol Response and Handling Time
Service typically work ten hour shifts to provide 24/7 coverage. The six General Patrol
Platoons regularly rotate days off and shifts. Patrol Sergeants and Constables work the
following schedule:
Day Shift
Afternoon Shift
Night Shift
The shifts have a 30 minute overlap to allow for a 15-30 minute briefing for the
on-coming shift and there is a five hour overlap in the late evening/early morning hours.
The Department uses a team concept where general Patrol personnel on the same
Platoon with the same people every day. Two Patrol Sergeants are deployed on every
Page 68
shift for supervision but may handle calls for service as the primary unit as needed but
their primary role is as a supervisor.
The total Winnipeg Police Service staffing complement assigned to the four
Districts in Uniform Operations totals approximately 730 sworn and 6 civilian staff that
serve a population of approximately 663,000 people. It is interesting to note from the
survey of other police agencies in Canada that Vancouver, B.C., a similar sized city with
just over 600,000 population has a sworn staff of 832 sworn and 34 civilians assigned to
field operations; and Calgary, at just under 1.1 million population has a field services
staff of 1,515 (66 are civilian positions).
The tables on the following pages show the combined authorized (budgeted)
average staffing level for Winnipeg in each of the four Districts for each hour of the day.
Patrol Sergeants are included with Constables in the tables to show field staffing of all
General Patrol response personnel. The actual number of staff actually assigned to
General Patrol can vary within each District, as the Inspector may choose to assign
Constable(s) to the Community Support Unit, Detectives or Traffic enforcement for all or
part of a year, depending on the needs within the District. The project team used the
number of Constables assigned to the General Patrol Platoons as of April 21, 2013 to
calculate the average hourly authorized staffing a total of 48 Patrol Sergeants and 473
Constables Citywide (including those on temporary assignments in other units):
Page 69
provided to the Police Service. General Patrol minimum staffing is 27 cars in the City,
each with 2 Constables; each District has a required number of cars that District must
staff 24/7:
If insufficient
personnel are on duty to staff the cars then OT will be used to maintain the 27 cars
citywide this does not occur very frequently.
(2)
The total number of hours actually worked on their patrol shift is reduced by leave hours
used, in-service training and other assigned tasks. The project team used personnel
leave data obtained from WPS to determine the number of leave hours for General
Patrol (GP) personnel for calendar year 2012. The following table shows the number of
leave hours by category taken by Patrol Sergeants and Constables assigned to General
Patrol in 2012.
Type of Leave
Sick
Medical Appointment
Injured on Duty
Discretionary
Vacation
Other: Bereavement, Marriage, Pro Rata, Holiday,
Time Off in Lieu of OT (for Extra Duty, Holiday, Training)
Total Leave Hours
Average Leave Hours / General Patrol Employee
Leave Hours
32,070
141
4,063
5,771
75,746
110,756
228,546
406
Average leave usage hours was calculated, using data provided by WPS, by dividing leave hours,
scheduled work hours, and the number of Patrol Sergeants and Constables assigned to General Patrol
in 2012 (increased by an estimated factor of 10% to account for transfers in/out of GP during the year)
Page 70
Constables also work backfill overtime to replace other officers to fill in for
officers who are off sick, on vacation, etc. In 2012 this amounted to an average of only 7
hours per GP assigned employee. This is not a significant amount of backfill OT hours
and reflects the fact that when a Constable was off on leave in 2012 it was rare that
he/she was replaced on overtime.
Constables also perform a variety of administrative tasks during their work shifts
such as shift briefing, meal breaks, meetings with their supervisor or other Constables
during the shift, etc. The project team used an estimated average of 1 hour, 15 minutes
per shift for these administrative tasks.
The following table summarizes the estimated availability of police officer after
deducting leave hours, training hours and the hours spent on administrative tasks
during their shift.
Leaves, Training and Staff Availability for 2012
Total Paid Annual Work Hours
Average Leave Usage
Estimated Training Hours (on duty)
Total Unavailable Hours
GP Staff Net Work Hours (Present at Work)
Add Average Hours of Backfill OT / Constable
GP Staff Net Work Hours with OT
Administrative Time (75 Min. x 163 Shifts)
Average GP Staff Availability for Field Work
Work Hours
2,080
406
30
436
1,644
7
1,651
206
1,439
Percent
79.0%
79.4%
69.2%
Patrol Sergeants and Constables averaged 406 hours of leave usage for 2012.
This includes time off for vacation, on duty injury, sick, discretionary, pro rata,
hours in lieu time off, extra duty leave and other types of leave.etc.
The leave hours for General Patrol staff is significantly higher than the 250 300
hour range the typically seen in other Police Service studies conducted by the
project team.
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The hours away from work has a direct impact in reducing the service level that
WPS is able to provide to the community and increases the cost to provide police
services as more staff are required to replace those off on leave. This is a
significant cost item for WPS and management should establish a working
committee to review in detail the leave usage of all employees and evaluate
ways to reduce the number of leave hours used. The current leave usage short
term target of 350 hours annually for all leaves, except training, is a reasonable
goal. Specifically, reduction in the number of hours in the other leave hours
category should be the focus for this reduction as it accounts for the largest
percentage of leave hours used.
This equates to a total of 1,644 hours, or 79% of the time that a Patrol Sergeant
or Constable is present at work and working a shift.
During the work shift Constables attend briefing, take meal breaks, meet with
their supervisor or other employees, re-fuel and check their vehicle, and perform
a variety of other tasks. This is defined as administrative time and is estimated
at 75 minutes per shift. Note that a Patrol Constable is almost always available
to respond to urgent or emergency calls when performing administrative tasks.
In summary, a Winnipeg Patrol Constable is available at work for approximately
1,651 hours per year (net work hours) or 79% of their paid hours in 2012. The actual
time spent responding to calls for service and providing other patrol services, after
deducting the time routinely spent on administrative tasks, is approximately 1,439 hours
annually. A Patrol Sergeant typically spends most of the shift in the field but because of
their routine administrative and supervisory tasks on some days they may spend some
hours of their shift in the District Headquarters and will spend more time on these tasks
than Constables.
Matrix Consulting Group
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The project team used the above leave data to calculate the average actual on
duty staffing in 2012 and provided it to the Police Service. The actual staffing level is
always lower than the authorized level due to employees off on leave or at a training
assignment.
Recommendation: Management should establish a working committee to review
leave usage and evaluate ways to reduce the number of hours employees are
away from work (not including training hours) to 350 hours annually.
(3)
responded to a total of 100,103 unique community generated calls for service (CFS) for
the year. The graphs and tables on the following pages show a depiction of the total
number of community generated calls for service in Winnipeg by time of day and day of
week for 2012 and also a breakdown by each of the four Districts (District 2 and District
6 calls were combined to show the total for the new District 2 geographical area). The
project team defined a community generated call for service as a call where at least one
sworn unit provided the primary response to an incident. It does not include the
incidents of Constable initiated activity (shown later in this report).
Page 73
Page 74
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
1118
1091
1000
828
619
433
332
324
326
332
408
412
457
521
585
527
627
673
631
708
751
749
772
701
14,925
287
Mon
613
447
344
307
230
167
179
200
300
365
431
443
487
608
585
644
661
744
695
750
773
784
817
762
12,336
237
Tue
622
546
486
384
306
242
209
249
333
404
428
472
530
521
611
618
751
747
723
743
752
796
869
770
13,112
252
Wed
633
496
481
432
324
257
208
277
329
391
484
461
504
579
584
670
685
708
776
738
793
821
846
807
13,284
255
Thu
693
595
528
464
361
268
267
300
370
413
431
468
518
580
571
589
703
736
718
769
757
806
890
847
13,642
262
Fri
732
652
596
536
411
330
271
311
381
429
454
437
554
539
613
649
767
783
733
779
762
964
1216
1173
15,072
290
Sat
1233
1101
1127
922
760
587
440
419
389
376
485
511
551
580
640
703
704
798
743
830
769
913
1036
1115
17,732
341
Total
5,644
4,928
4,562
3,873
3,011
2,284
1,906
2,080
2,428
2,710
3,121
3,204
3,601
3,928
4,189
4,400
4,898
5,189
5,019
5,317
5,357
5,833
6,446
6,175
100,103
274
Page 75
# of Calls
13,901
9,565
7,458
5,168
4,929
4,442
3,507
3,201
3,088
2,564
2,403
2,241
2,214
1,985
1,955
31,482
100,103
% of Total
13.9%
9.6%
7.5%
5.2%
4.9%
4.4%
3.5%
3.2%
3.1%
2.6%
2.4%
2.2%
2.2%
2.0%
2.0%
31.4%
100.0%
The other types of calls include noise complaints, distress alarms, warrant
service, impaired driver, robbery of a person, breach of the peace, motor vehicle
collision, shoplifter, assisting another police agency, etc. As shown above, the 15 most
frequent calls for service account for 68,621 calls, almost 69% of the total number of
calls during the year.
The overall call for service workload for 2012 was distributed as follows in each
of the four Districts:
each District is similar to the City-wide totals; a breakdown of calls for service and the
top 10 calls by each District is provided in Appendix A at the end of this Chapter.
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 76
One of the concerns brought up to the project team was the number of times that
Units from other Districts (typically District 2 or District 4) are assigned to handle calls in
other Districts (typically District 1 or District 3). An analysis of the call for service data
showed that in 2012 District 1 received the most assistance from other District Units.
the primary unit (first to arrive on scene); it does not include the number of times that a
District car received backup assistance from a unit outside of the District. This volume
of calls is not significant but it should be regularly reviewed; if outside assistance to
District 1 increases then one car from another District (probably District 2) should be
considered for re-deployment to District 1.
WPS assigns calls for service by ten Priority types and the highest Priority calls
for service are assigned first. The following table shows the breakdown by priority of
the type of call for service.
Page 77
Number
73
45
8,702
63,719
7,093
14,478
1,867
3,580
104
442
100,103
% of Total
0.1%
0.04%
8.7%
63.7%
7.1%
14.5%
1.9%
3.6%
0.1%
0.4%
100.0%
As shown above, just over 100 calls for service in CY 2012 were Priority 0 and 1
calls emergency assistance for an officer or serious danger to person. Just under 9%
were Priority 2, impending danger to a person. However, almost 64% of all calls were
classified as Priority 3 urgent, threat to a person. The number of Priority 3 calls
should be reduced, as the high volume of one call type indicates that it is the default
call classification for the Call Taker in the Communications Centre. It is clear from WPS
personnel interviewed that WPS does not want to under-classify an incident being
reported that would unintentionally result in a longer response time and possible injury
to one of the persons involved in the incident. However, there are different possible
interpretations of what urgent and threat mean in the definition of Priority 3. There
is not any qualification listed regarding the term threat, which likely results in minor or
casual threats being included in this call type with very serious threats.
No police
Page 78
agency can provide a timely response to so many high priority calls, such as Priority 3
calls during the busiest times of the day it likely results in some truly urgent Priority 3
calls receiving a slower response time and other Priority 3 calls that really are not
urgent incidents receiving a faster response time.
Priority calls 2 4 are listed as examples of changes that could be made to the call
Priority definitions (other lower priority number will need to be adjusted).
Priority 2 (example): Immediate and impending danger to a person active
fighting between people, or an immediate and serious threat of death has been
made against a person present.
Priority 3 (example): Urgent personal conflict, physical contact or very minor
physical contact made, but threat of death made
Priority 4 (example): Urgent personal conflict; no physical contact made, but
very serious threats of injury or threat of death was made to a person present.
These changes would provide greater clarity to the Call Taker when classifying
an incident being reported and would provide Dispatchers, field supervisors and the
Duty Office a greater ability to triage true emergency and urgent calls for service. If
changes are made to the Priority classification system training will need to be provided
to Call Takers, Dispatchers and sworn personnel.
There were a total of 104 calls initially classified as Priority 8 calls (Phone
Response); only 85 calls listed Priority 8 as the final priority. The Alternate Phone
Response Unit that initiates contact and takes reports over the phone does not use this
call Priority none of the 3,987 calls this unit handled were classified as Priority 8, they
were classified as the type of incident the person was reporting (e.g., threat to property,
threat to a person, low risk). The Priority 8 call type should be eliminated as it is not
used and does not reflect the type of incident being reported. The same logic is true for
Page 79
the Priority 9 call type, Planned Response, except that this Priority is being used over
86% of the 5,630 calls handled by the Report Cars had the initial classification of Priority
9 and over 96% had the final priority listed as Priority 9. However, this is an improper
use of Priority 9 as the Priority type of the call listed in the CAD system should reflect
the type of incident rather than the type of response to the incident (almost all would be
Priority 5 7). Both of these Priority types should be eliminated. To track calls for
service that are designated to be handled at a later time (i.e., a planned response) a call
Priority of PR could be used as the initial Priority but it should always be changed to
the actual type of incident handled.
Recommendations:
Review the definitions of person related call Priorities and make changes that
will provide clearer definitions for these priorities and better classification of the
type of incident being reported.
Eliminate Priority 8 (Phone Response) and Priority 9 (Planned Response) as
Priority call types.
(4)
Average Times for Response and Handling of Calls for Service in 2012.
The response to and handling of community generated calls for service is one of
the primary tasks of any municipal police agency and one that frequently is the subject
of inquiry from city leaders and members of the community.
calculated the average times using all of the calls for service reported to the Winnipeg
Police Service in 2012. Calculations were made on a General Patrol Unit basis (a two
Constable car).
The following table shows three individual time components and two overall time
components for a community generated call for service:
Page 80
Call processing and call queue time from the time the call was received in the
Communications Centre until a WPS unit is dispatched.
Travel time from the time the call was dispatched to an officer until the arrival of
the first police unit (the difference between the dispatch time and the on scene
time for the first arriving unit).
Call response time the call process time + travel time. This is the time
citizens are most often interested in from the time they call 9-1-1 until an officer
arrives at the scene of the reported incident.
On scene time from the time of arrival to the time the officer cleared the call.
Call handling time the total of the travel time and on scene time.
The times are shown for the different types of priority calls for service and the
overall total for all calls for service Citywide (per call handling unit).
Winnipeg PS Response Times City Total
Priority
Type
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All
Number
Call
of CFS Processing
73
45
8,702
63,719
7,093
14,478
1,867
3,580
104
442
100,103
1.2
18.0
3.4
27.5
33.1
55.8
44.7
56.4
24.2
71.6
30.1
Travel
5.4
7.4
5.3
11.6
11.4
18.0
16.0
14.9
11.9
17.7
12.1
Response
Time
On
Scene
6.5
25.4
8.7
39.1
44.5
73.8
60.7
71.3
36.1
89.3
42.2
150.8
107.6
112.0
101.2
99.3
113.4
96.2
79.8
125.3
95.3
102.9
As shown above, the average Call Processing time for Priority 0 calls is 1.2
minutes and the average Travel time is 5.4 minutes; the call processing time for
Priority 1 calls calculated at 18.0 minutes a very high number that is not believable as
Priority 1 calls are true emergency calls where the Communications Call Taker and
Dispatcher obtain the necessary information quickly and then immediately dispatch one
or more units to the incident, while obtaining additional information and updates from
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 81
the reporting party. These types of calls would not be put into the queue do to the
emergency nature of the incident. This long call processing time number indicates that
the time stamps for these incidents are not correct and/or the data is flawed in some
other way. Additionally, Priority 2 calls calculated at 3.4 minutes of processing time,
which is still a significant amount of time for these important calls and should be closely
evaluated regularly to determine the reason for this relatively long call processing time
(which also includes the queue time). The call processing/queue time for Priority 3
calls is fairly long at 27.5 minutes and over the last several years has been a priority for
WPS to reduce (e.g. the Alternative Police Response initiative) and get officers free to
respond to these calls more quickly.
It is possible, and even likely, that the Communications Centre currently is
processing emergency and urgent calls and dispatching them, or having them ready to
dispatch, faster than the call processing times calculated from the CAD data.
An
average annual call processing time of one minute or less for emergency and urgent
calls for service is a reasonable goal to establish and one that the WPS
Communications Centre may, in reality, already meet. The project teams site visit to
the WPS Communications Centre showed that the established process for receiving
incoming 9-1-1 and other calls is a reasonable and effective process, designed to
quickly process the emergency and urgent calls. This issue will be addressed in detail,
along with other call for service CAD data, later in this report.
The average travel times of 5.4, 7.4 and 5.3 minutes to Priority 0, 1 and 2 calls
are reasonable and primarily indicate the distance that units must travel to arrive at the
scene of the incident. The travel times for other calls are reasonable and not as critical
Page 82
since they are lower priority incidents. The Police Service overall average travel time of
12.1 minutes to all calls is a good average time.
The on scene time for all types of incidents is unexpectedly higher when
compared to the times seen in other police studies conducted by the project team. An
average of 30-40 minutes per call is most often seen and rarely does the on scene
average exceed 50 minutes. Additionally, in most studies the police agency staffs one
person patrol units, however in Winnipeg most of the patrol units are two person units
where one might reasonably expect the on scene time to be lower than that of an
agency where the primary handling units are one person cars. The two person units
result in the net staff time double that of a one person unit but is not the reason for the
high on scene time as the calculations were made on a per unit basis, not a per
Constable basis. One of the reasons that contributes to a higher than average on
scene time is that in Winnipeg it is common practice for Constables to maintain a CAD
status of on scene even when they have left the incident location to go to write the
report, book a prisoner into jail or come to the District Headquarters. The average
on scene time is not accurate and will be addressed in more detail later
in this report.
Overall, the total call handling time for the primary WPS unit was 192,035 work
hours in 2012. This work hour total was adjusted (lowered) to account for the two
person General Patrol units that handle approximately 90% of all calls for service in
Winnipeg.
The following table shows the percentage of all calls for service in Winnipeg that
were responded to within various time ranges.
Page 83
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
35
23
5,141
18,703
2,341
2,147
338
667
26
71
29,492
29.5%
Total
% of CFS
5:006:59
19
6
1,401
8,837
947
1,397
179
384
7
31
13,208
13.2%
7:009:59
10
3
1,110
10,491
1,062
2,004
240
475
11
54
15,460
15.4%
Above
10:00
5
10
905
22,372
2,231
7,416
903
1,470
21
179
35,512
35.5%
No Time
Stamps
4
3
145
3,316
512
1,514
207
584
39
107
6,431
6.4%
Total #
Total %
73
45
8,702
63,719
7093
14,478
1,867
3,580
104
442
100,103
100.0%
0.07%
0.04%
8.7%
63.7%
7.1%
14.5%
1.9%
3.6%
0.1%
0.4%
100%
The times listed above were separated by the Priority types used by WPS. The
calls listed as no time stamps are the calls that either a dispatch time or an arrival time
was not listed in the CAD record. The most common reason for this is that Constables
who are dispatched to a call but cancelled while in route to the call will, appropriately,
not have an arrival time stamp entered for his/her response. There are also additional
reasons for missing CAD data that include Constable, Dispatcher or equipment error in
not recording it.
The most important calls handled by WPS are the Priority 0, 1 and 2 calls and
special attention should be given to the handling of these types of calls. The table
below shows the call average processing and travel time, and the second table shows
the travel time increments.
Priority Type
0
1
2
Number of
CFS
24
5
1,718
Call
Processing
1.3
13.6
2.9
Travel
7.1
11.8
7.3
Response
Time
8.5
25.4
10.2
Page 84
Priority Type
0
1
2
Total #
73
45
8,702
The Service should evaluate these critical calls and determine ways to reduce
the response time. WPS should establish a call processing time performance measure
of 1 minute or less and a travel time goal of 7 minutes or less for these calls.
Recommendations:
Annually review the number of community generated calls for service from the
CAD data to determine the trend in community generated workload and the
distribution of call for service workload in each District.
Establish a call processing time goal of 1 minute or less for Priority 0, Priority 1
and Priority 2 calls for service (not including queue time).
Establish a goal of responding to 90% of Priority 0, Priority 1 and Priority 2 calls
for service in 7 minutes or less of travel time.
(5)
calls for service. In Winnipeg 56.5% of all calls (56,530 calls) resulted in one or more
Constable Units responding to back-up the primary officer. This percentage is within
the 40%-60% range commonly seen in other Police Service studies conducted by the
project team.
The following table shows the number of incidents by Priority and the response
times associated with the back-up units responses.
Page 85
Number of
CFS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All
383
171
24,511
71,252
9,120
12,288
1,366
3,493
55
1,027
123,666
Travel
5.0
4.3
4.4
11.6
10.3
26.4
21.9
17.7
15.9
29.3
11.7
On Scene
59.5
100.4
59.7
49.9
43.5
42.3
41.0
87.0
121.5
23.4
51.8
Patrol Constables and Patrol Sergeants engage in a number of officer initiated activities
during their work hours, such as traffic stops, pedestrian stops, investigations, reports,
security checks, etc. The number of Constable initiated activities was determined by
identifying the number of self-initiated events from the CAD record a total of 57,053 in
2012. The table below shows a graphical depiction by hour and day.
Page 86
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
510
408
299
152
113
111
102
245
249
273
293
287
232
240
285
385
308
440
306
279
291
286
451
500
7,045
135
Mon
430
390
281
155
170
200
293
378
425
470
334
421
313
314
346
380
320
423
358
355
326
293
541
545
8,461
163
Tue
559
583
247
150
160
170
230
383
483
389
373
345
312
295
370
467
324
407
330
320
326
312
509
516
8,560
165
Wed
451
393
220
132
168
163
225
456
487
525
421
425
340
367
394
427
321
389
328
326
302
315
517
546
8,638
166
Thu
603
608
272
173
144
158
188
405
473
479
364
364
290
284
334
504
321
398
394
362
313
312
515
495
8,753
168
Fri
462
374
235
139
148
151
186
434
481
495
449
418
379
350
401
425
311
398
358
376
329
308
471
479
8,557
165
Sat
460
416
283
175
141
119
82
261
288
292
298
283
247
235
296
317
251
368
355
267
300
268
482
555
7,039
135
Total
3,475
3,172
1,837
1,076
1,044
1,072
1,306
2,562
2,886
2,923
2,532
2,543
2,113
2,085
2,426
2,905
2,156
2,823
2,429
2,285
2,187
2,094
3,486
3,636
57,053
156
Page 87
administrative, court, repair, off air or training tasks. There were 1,131 incidents
that did not list a District location so cannot be included in the individual District tables
that follow.
The following table shows the 10 most frequent Constable initiated incidents.
Constable Initiated Incidents City Total
Type of Incident
Traffic Stop
Investigation
Special Patrol (SPAT)
Report
Beat
Traffic
IPDA (Intoxicated Person)
SPI Hotspot
Subject Stop
Suspicious Person
All Other Incidents
Total
Number
15,408
12,322
4,824
3,066
2,859
1,855
1,766
1,701
1,487
1,197
10,568
57,053
Percent
27.0%
21.6%
8.5%
5.4%
5.0%
3.3%
3.1%
3.0%
2.6%
2.1%
18.5%
100.0%
Traffic related incidents accounted for almost 17,000 events, over 30% the total
number of Constable initiated incidents. The CAD data showed the average time that
the initiating Constable spent at each incident averaged 79.5 minutes, for a total of
75,627 hours. Additionally, one or more back-up units assisted the initiating Constable
at 9,574, or 16.8% of the incidents. General Patrol made a total of 16,999 back-up
responses to assist other Constables at these incidents during the year the backup
units unit spent average of 64.6 minutes for each back-up incident, a total of 20,199
hours, and an overall total of 95,826 staff hours. Both the initiating unit time and backup unit time calculated from the CAD record are very high and inaccurate; this issue and
the possible reasons for it will be further discussed later in this report.
Page 88
during proactive time is a very good use of General Patrol resources and one indicator
that Sergeants and Patrol Sergeants are managing field activities.
These types of
planned activities need continual updating as crime trends, types and locations of
incidents are constantly changing.
Recommendation: Manage General Patrol Constables proactive time with
planned activities resulting from regularly updated crime trend information (i.e.,
SPI data and information); make proactive patrol assignments based on this
information to address community, quality of life and crime issues in Winnipeg.
3.
enforcement agencies has changed and evolved over the last 60 years. The historic
law enforcement approach to field services involved a Police Constable who walked a
particular beat or neighborhood. A traditional beat officer knew people in the area and
was in a position to know potential problems before they occurred, or likely suspects for
crimes committed on the Constables beat.
spread the motorized officer became the normal transportation mode to respond to calls
for service. The Police Services focus changed to one of responding quickly (i.e., in a
patrol car) to all types of calls in a wider geographic area and overall, fewer officers
assigned to foot or vehicle patrol duties. At the same time, society at large and city
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 89
residents developed rising expectations of the services that would be provided by the
Police Service, such as increased focus on domestic violence crimes and youth crimes.
Over time these factors resulted in a beat officer having less local neighborhood
knowledge and less frequent contact with the residents in his/her service area but with a
higher expectations among the general public that the Police Service could address and
solve neighborhood crime and quality of life problems.
Initiatives over the last four decades have attempted to once again provide
policing services more tangible to the community. This law enforcement focus has been
under the general umbrella of community policing a return to providing a wide range
of services identified by citizens and more frequent contact with Constables and more
proactive law enforcement in neighborhoods and schools. The project team supports
local community policing efforts, especially ones that involve Patrol personnel when
they have uncommitted pro-active time during their shift. These efforts should also
involve the active participation of supervisors, managers and other specialty units (e.g.
the Community Support Unit and School Resource Officers).
Over the course of several hundred Police Service studies the Matrix Consulting
Group has developed a list of key elements in the effective provision of field patrol
services in a community, including the responsibility of Constables to be proactive
during their shifts (to identify and resolve problems) and not just reactive in handling
calls for service. These general policing elements are summarized on the next several
pages.
Page 90
Management Task
Comments
Page 91
Comments
Management of Patrol
Resources
The matrix above summarizes the basic elements of an effective and modern
patrol service in a community, providing both reactive field services (response to
Page 92
community generated calls for service) and proactive work by Constables assigned to
Uniform Operations. During these times of limited or decreasing budgetary resources it
becomes critically important for managers of the patrol function to make the best use of
Constables time to provide effective policing and meeting expectations of the
community.
The key elements identified above in the effective provision of field patrol
services in a community are summarized below:
This requires that the Service balance personnel, resources and time to handle
both of these types of law enforcement. Between 50% and 70% of the time in a
community should be spent handling all of the elements of reactive patrol. The
remaining 30% to 50% should be spent specific proactive patrol activities, other
self initiated tasks or community policing activities.
A lower percentage of
proactive time is reasonable when the agency has other work units (e.g. the
Community Support Unit) that also conduct targeted proactive activities.
When a Constable has a block time available (e.g. during a slow day) the
activities planned/conducted during this time should be part of a Patrol plan and
not left unstructured and random. Effectively addressing issues in the community
requires tasks be accomplished as part of a plan addressing specific problems
in pre-determined ways. The plans should be overseen by management but
planned and accomplished at the Constable/Sergeant or squad level.
efficient municipal field law enforcement in Canada in the 21st century. Establishing a
patrol pro-activity target is important for effective management and planning of a patrol
operations force.
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 93
project team uses an analytical approach to determine the staffing level required in a
community such as Winnipeg. The approach is characterized by several key factors
that provide the basis for objective evaluation of a Police Services patrol force:
Staffing should be examined based on the ability of current staff to handle the
calls for service generated by the community (and the related work such as
report writing and processing arrestees); as well as providing sufficient time for
proactive activities such as directed patrol, traffic enforcement and addressing
on-going issues/problems in a neighborhood.
Staffing is dependent on the time officers are actually available to perform the
work required of the patrol function. In this evaluation, leave hours usage and
time dedicated to administrative functions are examined.
Page 94
The project teams analysis does not include the utilization of ratios such as
officers per thousand because they do not account for the unique
characteristics of communities (e.g. demographics, workload, unique community
needs, deployment, etc.). Although these ratios are interesting, they do not
provide a comprehensive measure of staffing needs for a specific community, nor
should policy makers use them as a basis to make decisions regarding patrol
staffing. The Project teams approach is supported by the International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) that view officer per thousand ratios as
totally inappropriate as a basis for staffing decisions.
There are other significant factors for policy makers to consider when
determining staffing levels. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:
The ability of the Police Service to meet response time goals to calls for service
and solve crime (taken as a performance measure and not as a crime
prevention/reduction measure).
The level of proactive efforts such as traffic safety and parking enforcement,
narcotics enforcement, enforcement of vice crimes such as prostitution and liquor
laws.
Providing for basic officer safety and risk management of a patrol force. In some
police agencies, the proactive time level may not be the primary measure to
determine the minimum number of Patrol Constable positions needed it may be
driven by officer safety concerns. For example, a staffing level needed to meet
basic officer safety concerns, may result in a proactive time level that is above
50% for a portion of the day.
The above factors should be used by policy makers in determining appropriate
staffing levels for all functions within the Police Service. The goal of a patrol staffing
analysis is to ensure sufficient patrol resources on duty 24 hours a day providing a high
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 95
level of service to the community. The ability of the Police Service to do this depends
on knowing and evaluating the community demand workload the number of
community generated calls for service, reports and bookings of arrested persons.
These are the factors used by the project team to evaluate the number of patrol officers
needed in a community to achieve a Patrol Constable staffing level that will provide the
level of pro-activity that is desired by a community.
(1)
mixture of known data combined with several assumptions. The table below provides a
brief description of the basis for this calculation for the City of Winnipeg.
Reactive Factor in Calculation
of Proactive Time
Summary Discussion
Page 96
Summary Discussion
Number of Reports
This number is based on the number of communitygenerated calls for service. For most incidents
requiring a report the Constable will gather
preliminary information while on-scene handling the
call and spend additional time later in the shift, at the
end of the shift or the next day. The project teams
experience with other municipal law enforcement has
found that some type of report is written to document
the incident on approximately 1/3 of the community
generated calls for service.
Availability of Supervisors to
Handle Field Workloads
Using this data and targets, the project team can then calculate the current
proactive time and also a range of proactive times that policy makers may want to
have as a desired goal.
Page 97
and policy makers with an easily understood measure of the capability of the patrol
workforce to provide proactive law enforcement (the time left over once calls for service
and related workload, and administrative tasks have been handled).
The detailed
calculations of overall Patrol Constable committed time for various hours of the day is
provided later in this report.
Using this method avoids the significant problems in other comparative staffing
models (e.g., officers per thousand ratio mentioned above) that do not take into
consideration the workload for Patrol Constables that is generated by a community
being served by the law enforcement agency.
methodology that can easily keep pace with future growth that takes place in the city (by
factoring in a percentage growth in call for service demand). Finally, this approach
allows managers/policy makers to select a proactive time target that is desired (e.g.,
40% proactive time level), and then basing total patrol staffing on a combination of the
work that must be done (i.e., community generated calls for service) with the proactive
time level that is desired. Here is a recap of the models use and key analytical points:
The model can be used at any level of detail, (i.e., staffing levels can be
calculated for specific times of day or for specific geographical areas).
Calls for service counts and the time committed to these calls.
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The project team used this approach in conducting the staffing calculations from
calendar year 2012 call for service data.
(2)
all of the duties and tasks done by Constables during their shifts due to human error
and incomplete data in the CAD call for service records (e.g. missing time stamps, the
fact that sometimes Constables do not report a task they are doing to Dispatch so it is
not logged, sometimes Dispatchers do not track all patrol tasks). This is especially true
in the first year of a thorough CAD call for service data analysis, and will be true for
subsequent years unless the agency makes concerted and consistent efforts to improve
accuracy.
estimates that approximately 10 20% of an Constables time that he/she is doing job
related tasks is not tracked in the CAD record (this is a general number for all Police
Services that is applicable to Winnipeg but it is not specifically derived from the
Winnipeg CAD data). This number is important to remember as it means that 10 20%
of the proactive or uncommitted time in the CAD data analysis must be deducted
from the calculated result to obtain a more accurate percentage of Constables
proactive or uncommitted time. The following summary is provided illustrating the
implications of various proactive time levels:
An overall 10 20% proactive time level reflects a patrol staff that is essentially
fully committed (except during the low CFS hours of the day). This conclusion is
made as the CAD data record does not capture all committed time or tasks
required/completed by Constables. At this service level, the average travel times
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to high priority community generated calls for service will likely be above 8
minutes and on scene times may be below 30 minutes due to the need for
Constables to clear the current call and respond to a higher priority incident. At
this level calls will be stacked during the busy times of the day and Constables
may not have sufficient time to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident or
provide a high quality level of service.
At this level, during most hours, Constables will be responding to CFS and will
not have time for any consistent proactive or project oriented activity the blocks
of time are generally too short (less than 30 minutes) to allow for meaningful
targeted patrol or working on beat projects or neighborhood issues.
its patrol staff, based on unique needs, available funding and policing model desired. A
3040% overall average proactive time level is a reasonable target/goal for Winnipeg
with the additional units such as the Community Support Unit also working in the field.
Policymakers should determine the policing level for their community and
understand the impacts of higher and lower proactive time levels. Higher targeted
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proactive time levels will require more staff but also ensure that the police force is able
to provide a higher level of service to the community in the form of proactive policing
and will allow the Patrol Constable to be more involved in issues/problems in the
neighborhoods where they serve.
5.
resulting proactive time level of a patrol staff is the most significant factor in
determining the staffing needed to achieve the level of service desired by a City.
However, fielding a minimum number of Constables to provide for basic safety of
Constables while on patrol, and the ability of the Service to handle several critical
incidents simultaneously are also significant factors to consider in the staffing and
deployment of police resources.
It is important to have a clear understanding of what is included in the proactive
time calculations.
Actual community generated calls for service obtained from CAD data totaled
100,103. This number excludes all Constable initiated activities (such as traffic
stops); multiple unit entries, administrative activities and calls cancelled prior to a
Constable being dispatched.
Meals and other breaks are taken evenly across all hours of a shift.
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The volume of calls for service throughout the day (expressed as a percentage
for each 4 hour time period) was used to allocate the number of reports written.
Personnel are available on an average hourly basis (i.e., in the model there are
no heavy or light shift days).
Constables are available for an average of 1,644 shift hours per year to provide
all field services. This takes into account the various leave usages (e.g.
vacation, sick) and training hours.
The resulting calculation shows the average level of an Constables proactive,
or discretionary, time during a shift, when they are available to handle general proactive
policing efforts in the field, targeted patrol to address a specific problem, traffic
enforcement, walking patrol, and other tasks initiated by the Constable or directed by
the Constables supervisor.
(2)
spent on calls for service throughout the year. The average call handling time of 115
minutes for the primary Unit (1st Constable) and 63.5 minutes for the back-up Unit(s)
were used in this calculation.
minutes for both the primary Unit and the backup Unit that are extremely high and
approximately double the average minutes typically seen in other police studies
conducted by the project team.
an estimated overall percentage for committed and proactive time in 2012, although
the results cannot be assumed to be reliable.
The average number of Patrol Sergeants and Constables actually on duty during
a 24 hour period was taken from the Actual Patrol Staffing table presented earlier in
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this report. Administrative time for Patrol Sergeants and Constables was estimated at 1
hour 15 minutes per shift.
General Patrol Staff in 2012, using the high on scene time for community generated
calls for service. Report writing and prisoner processing time is assumed to be included
in these minute totals.
Committed and Proactive Time in 2012 (Estimated Using CAD Data)
0000 0400
20.0%
93,407
11,676
81,731
2000
2400
20.0%
93,080
11,635
81,445
Total
100.00%
466,567
58,321
408,246
19,007
19.0%
115.0
36,430
63.5
23,481
24,851
9,281
9.3%
115.0
17,789
63.5
11,466
12,134
11,463
11.5%
115.0
21,971
63.5
14,161
14,987
16,118
16.1%
115.0
30,893
63.5
19,912
21,074
20,423
20.4%
115.0
39,144
63.5
25,230
26,702
23,811
23.8%
115.0
45,638
63.5
29,416
31,132
100,103
100%
115.0
191,864
63.5
123,666
130,880
61,281
20,450
29,923
38,213
36,958
17,461
51,966 65,846
2,453 2,249
76,769
4,676
322,744
85,502
75.0%
25.0%
43.9%
56.1%
67.9%
32.1%
95.5%
4.5%
94.3%
5.7%
79.1%
20.9%
96.7%
3.3%
These calculations show that In 2012 Patrol staff spent approximately 79% of
their on duty hours handling community generated calls for service and the related
workload; leaving an overall average of 21% of proactive time.
Typically the busiest hours of the day are from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM but in
Winnipeg just 48% of the calls occur during these hours but this is also when the level
of proactive time is the lowest, averaging just 12.5% for this 12 hour period. The
higher levels of proactive time from midnight to 8:00 AM are common in all police
agencies. Agencies may be able to redeploy some staff to busier hours of the day but
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 103
other factors may limit managements ability to make changes. These factors include:
1) maintain sufficient staff to provide for safety of Constables working during the night,
and, as part of a reasonable risk management plan, having the ability to handle several
critical incidents with on duty staff (as during the early morning hours no other police
resources such as the Community Support Unit or Detectives are on duty to provide
additional assistance quickly).
It is important to conduct this analysis again with subsequent years CAD data.
Improvement in tracking Constables time in CAD over the next year will provide more
accurate data to conduct this same workload analysis using 2014 data (it is unlikely that
any significant changes to CAD documentation will occur in 2013) to evaluate a second
year of General Patrol workload. The workload analysis in the second and subsequent
years will also show workload trends that will assist managers in making staffing
allocation decisions.
The next section will evaluate the issue regarding the long on scene times in
the CAD data.
(3)
service for the primary handling unit was 102.9 minutes and for the backup unit(s) it was
51.8 minutes.
minutes per incident for the initiating Constable was 79.5 minutes and for the backup
unit(s) it was 64.6 minutes.
approximately double the average minutes typically seen in other police studies
conducted by the project team. An analysis of the CAD record showed that the total
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hours required to handle the calls for service and self-initiated activities (418,570 hours)
exceeded the total net available hours for General Patrol Constables and Patrol
Sergeants in 2012 (408,246 hours).
Total Net Available Hours
408,246
191,864
130,880
75,627
20,199
418,570
(10,324)
Obviously, the CAD work hours documentation, specifically the on scene time is
greater than the actual minutes of General Patrol staff on scene time. There may be
several reasons for this, including an unintended one that artificially extends the on
scene time of a unit. When a Constable completes the handling of a call for service
he/she enters comments (notes) in the CAD record before the call is closed. If the unit
is assigned to handle another call before the comments can be entered, the CAD
incident is not closed and will remain open until the Constable has time to complete
the comments.
When the Constable has time later in the shift to complete the
comments, the CAD case will be reassigned to him/her to complete the comments.
When this occurs the CAD record reflects an additional at scene time stamp and an
additional clear time stamp when they have completed their comments and the
incident is closed by Communications staff. When the project team analyzes CAD
data records the sort conducted to determine call handling times is to search for the first
dispatch time, the first arrival time and the last clear time. It is unknown how many of
the 2012 CAD records artificially increased the at scene time because of this delay in
closing the CAD cases. Additionally, if a unit leaves the scene and returns minutes or
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Page 105
hours later, each arrival and clear time will be documented but CAD summary data
for one unit may show the first arrival time and the last clear time of the unit, including
the minutes or hours when the unit had left the scene. Another factor is that sometimes
after all units have left the scene, if the Communications Centre is busy, the CAD event
may not be closed until minutes or several hours after the last unit has left the scene,
and this may result in the CAD record indicating a longer on scene time for the unit.
These circumstances indicate that the on scene times documented in CAD cannot be
used to determine General Patrol staffing requirements.
The cause of the inaccuracies in the above Constable time data (and also the
call processing time CAD data discussed earlier in this Chapter) could result from
several factors but the reason(s) are not known. However, it is important to establish
consistency and reliability of the CAD data going forward and use it to determine call for
service workload and Constables committed time. To accomplish this, several one
month (or two month) sample CAD call for service data should be run and analyzed for
call processing time, travel time and on scene time using the same methodology used
by the project team (the project team will provide the detailed worksheets used in this
project to WPS). Once a consistent pattern of these times can be established and WPS
has confidence in the accuracy of the data and the various call response time results,
then steps can be taken to address response times that may be excessive.
Recommendations:
Determine the reasons for the high on scene times documented in CAD and
develop a solution to obtain reliable General Patrol call for service on scene time
data.
Obtain and analyze one or two month sample CAD call for service data to
establish consistent response time elements for call processing times and to
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calls for service. Take steps to address response time elements that may be
excessive.
When accurate CAD data is available calculate the percentage of committed and
proactive time for General Patrol staff in each District. Annually review patrol
staff workload for each four hour time block for balanced workload distribution
and determine if staff should be re-deployed among the Districts or from other
work units to provide a consistent level of service throughout the City.
6.
levels 30% and 40%. The table on the following page uses the number of community
generated calls for service to calculate the staff required to handle the community
generated workload and perform necessary administrative tasks. This analysis utilizes
our model with benchmark time elements rather than the high on scene data times
from the CAD data record.
Page 107
Staffing Projections
1. COMMUNITY GENERATED WORKLOAD
Calls for Service (Calendar Year 2012)
100,103
st
100,103
16,517
33,034
24,775
Number of Bookings
15,015
30,031
Total Hours
171,426
1.7
90,093
10,010
308,567
17,143
325,710
217,140
139,590
542,850
465,300
4. Availability of Staff
Annual Paid Work Hours
2,080
436
232
1,412
384
330
442
379
477
409
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recommendations the project team will be making that, if implemented, will re-organize
8,760 hours / 1,439 = 6.1 Constables, x 2 = 12.2 Constables, +25% for the 10 hour shift = 15.2
Constables for one 2 Constable car
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WPS to make the Districts the focus of service delivery to the community and also
accountability for delivering the needed services.
In the next months and year, General Patrol supervisors and managers should
take steps to ensure that current General Patrol staff are used effectively to handle the
call for service workload and that proactive time is planned and managed.
Conclusion: In the absence of reliable and accurate data from the CAD / RMS
system a definitive analysis of patrol utilization is not possible. However, using
generous normative values for patrol utilization indicates that it is possible to
provide a high level of service in the field with existing or fewer personnel. The
City and the Police Service need to improve CAD data and reporting into this
system. Based on an assessment of valid data at a later point make the
determination to redeploy or reduce staff. This determination should be made by
the Police Board.
7.
different work schedules other than the traditional 8 hour shift. These schedules include
a 9 hour, 10 hour, 11 hour and 12 hour work shifts. Most commonly, the 10 hour patrol
work schedule has been the primary schedule that law enforcement agencies have
adopted, however, in the last 10 years the 12 hour shift has held some attraction for
agencies as it only requires two shift deployments rather than the three shift
deployments required for a 10 hour schedule. Currently the WPS works a 10 hour work
schedule with rotating work days and days off, and regular rotating shift assignments.
Winnipeg has a team concept where Constables work with the same personnel each
day and are supervised by the same Sergeant.
Alternate work schedules, also referred to as compressed work schedules have
existed for decades and various research studies have been conducted that evaluates
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the effects of the different schedules on workers. A recent study published in December
2011 reported findings from an experiment using different work schedules in the Detroit,
Michigan and Arlington, Texas Police Departments4. This study primarily addresses the
impacts on personnel that are working the different schedules rather than an evaluation
of the cost efficiency of the various schedules, and also uses an 8 hour schedule as the
baseline for comparisons to longer work shifts but the principles are instructive for
comparison of the 10 hour and 12 hours schedules. The study made the following
findings:
Sleep and Quality of Life Benefits: Constables working 10 hour shifts got
significantly more sleep than those on 8 hour shifts, the same was not true for
those on 12 hour shifts; the same correlation held true for a higher reported
quality of work life.
Twelve Hour Shifts Resulted in Lower Levels of Alertness: Shift length did
not impact safety (e.g., driving and reaction time) but those assigned to 12 hour
shifts had significantly lower average levels of alertness at work than those on 8
hour shifts, and somewhat lower than the 10 hour shift; however, this factor did
not translate into reduced performance.
include the following: 1) Constables working the schedule are only at work on average
Which Shift is Best?, Karen Amendola, Police Chief Magazine, March 2013
Page 112
14 days out of 28 days which often delays coordination with Detectives on cases and
increases the time to complete necessary follow-up; 2) an increased concern related to
fatigue if Constables are required to work beyond their 12 hour shift; 3) the commute
distance travelled before and after their shift; 4) the long days/lack of sleep when
Constables attend court; and 5) in some agencies it is more difficult to fill office positions
(e.g. Detective) if General Patrol Constables have more days off due to the 12 hour shift
schedule.
Many agencies have used both the 10 hour schedule and the 12 hour schedule
for years without any significant and known impacts to the organization or personnel
working the schedules. Often it is the circumstances of the city and agency, and the
preferences of the Constables that determine changing to a different work schedule and
the success of a particular schedule. The positive and negative aspects of these two
schedules do not lead to a clear recommendation to select one schedule over the other
any decision should be based on local needs and preferences.
8.
variety of traditional and some non-traditional police services. The staffing level varies
among the Districts and is as follows:
District 1:
District 2:
District 3:
District 4:
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Prioritizing the locations and crime suspects in their District (the top 10).
Review the locations receiving multiple calls for service responses by General
Patrol and determine strategies to address the problem/issue and reduce the
number of calls.
Review the weekly Violent Crime Hotspot Report published by the crime analyst
for crimes and trends that are occurring.
Coordinate special events, if in assigned District, or assist other units with special
events in other Districts (e.g. Idle No More protests, parades).
Page 114
District 1 and 3 Community Support Units frequently partner with the Street
Crimes Unit on projects.
One of the major tasks of the CSU is to research and evaluate new problems and
issues of any nature. There are about a dozen or more of new complaints/issues that
are reported each day (e.g. drug sales) and the CSUs task is to evaluate what type of
response should be provided to deal with the complaint.
The Community Support Unit is a valuable resource for WPS in addressing core
issues in Winnipeg that can drain General Patrol resources. The Unit is intended to
address and resolve these type of issues and as described in the points listed above.
The CSU is also intended to impact other crime related and quality of life issues in
Winnipeg.
(Suppression by Proactive Intelligence Led Policing); however, this initiative has not yet
received sufficient support in planning, organization and implementation to yield an
organizational focus and consistent positive results at the street level. The project team
strongly supports efforts such as the SPI initiative and the project team believes the
Community Support Unit is a key work group that can provide the link between analysis
and planning to implementation and success at the street level, including community
crime prevention efforts. The Community Support Unit mission and tasks should be
clearly identified to coordinate these efforts and performance should be measured to
determine the success of the efforts and modified as necessary to adapt to changing
circumstances. A well designed and organized effort must provide sufficient resources
to conduct crime analysis, as it is critical to the overall success of this effort. A good
crime analysis program relies on input from crime reports, case management, field
interrogations, officer and detective intelligence, and community members.
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 115
This
Sergeant, 4 Patrol Sergeants and 20 Constables (5 per team); staffing should not be
decreased in District 1 as it is recognized that District 1 requires a higher staffing level
that the other Districts. This is an increase of 2 Sergeants, 4 Patrol Sergeants and 8
Constables (re-deployed from other work units).
A planned and coordinated effort to provide these routine and unique services to
the community will require a re-focus of the WPS to organize around providing a
significant level of proactive services rather than primarily re-active services as is
currently being provided.
Recommendations:
The Community Support Unit should be organized, staffed and tasked with a reorganized and planned community policing effort for WPS. This will require a
minimum additional CSU staffing of 14 personnel (2 Sergeants, 4 Patrol
Sergeants, 8 Constables). Salary and benefits cost per Sergeant is approximately
$130,705; per Patrol Sergeant is $123,268, and per Constable is $85,102 for an
approximate total cost of $677,969.
Provide part-time clerical support to the Community Support Unit. Salary and
benefits cost per half-time Clerk B is approximately $29,715.
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9.
that is tasked with conducting follow-up investigations of all cases not assigned to
Central CID. The staffing level varies among the Districts and is as follows:
District 1:
District 2:
District 3:
District 4:
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table does not exactly match the staffing level due to staff movements. Districts 2 and 6
Detectives are shown as combined under the new District 2.
Detective #
District 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Total
5
Detective Staffing
Cases / Detective
11
10
20
13
27
20
10
32
4
60
37
3
16
14
18
28
323
District 2
District 3 District 4
Dist. 2
Dist. 6
14
4
4
18
7
13
20
12
3
6
9
16
11
10
13
27
8
4
19
10
7
4
7
30
8
1
14
18
9
7
11
5
13
55
9
17
5
12
14
9
5
58
65
144
221
16
20
6
10
9
7
14
10
10
22
84
26.0%
2
3.4%
10
15.4%
24
16.7%
28
12.7%
District 1 Investigators had the highest number of cases assigned but District 4
had the most number of cases assigned per Detective. District 1 also had the highest
number of person crime cases, exceeding the total of the other Districts combined.
Also note that the current (reduced) District 2 staffing level of 10 Detectives would result
in an average caseload of 12.3 cases, using the same numbers from the previous table.
The cases assigned are ones that have a lead that would reasonably lead to a
suspect responsible for the crime. Typically, each investigator is able to begin working
Staffing level indicated on this line is the number of Detectives that had an assigned caseload in the
database, it may be off by one or two from the number of Detectives officially assigned to the Back Office.
Page 118
their cases within a few days of it being assigned and if the case is a high priority one
they will begin working on it immediately. Detective Sergeants may also carry a small
caseload as necessary, in addition to his/her supervisory responsibilities. The Back
Office personnel interviewed by the project team are highly motivated and interested in
doing the best job possible.
The number of cases per investigator in Districts 1 and 4 is within the generalist
Detective average caseload range of 15-25 active cases (property crimes); the number
of active cases may be lower than the total number of assigned cases that are shown
above. The caseload in District 2 and District 3 is just below the lower end of this range.
However, the cases being assigned to District Detectives are now more frequently
crimes against persons which typically take more investigative hours per case than a
property crime so an active caseload of 15 cases is more appropriate.
WPS management should continually review the number of cases per Detective
in each District to balance the workload among the Back Office staff. Management
should conduct a monthly evaluation of the caseload in each District and re-deploy staff
from slower Districts to the busier Districts so that the workload is reasonably balanced
among the Districts.
The number and type of cases that are being assigned to Back Office Detectives
are appropriate but it is important for management to ensure that there is a clear
definition of what cases are the responsibility of CID and what cases fall under the
responsibility of the Back Office (typically it is all of the other cases). If a change is
made that increases the number of cases assigned to the Back Office then staff from
CID should be re-deployed to the Back Office to ensure a balanced workload among all
Page 119
CID and the Back Office Detectives. The focus of the project team recommendations is
to use the District staff as the primary provider of reactive, proactive and investigative
functions in serving the community. As part of this focus it is reasonable for the Back
Office to expand their role in the District to be more involved with the Community
Support Unit and General Patrol in providing these services.
Detectives do not have any assigned clerical support so perform all of their own
photocopying, answering phones, maintaining logs, etc.
It is reasonable and
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1 Supervisor of Communications
20 Call Takers
1 Clerk
The total Communications Division staffing is 106 personnel, including 1
with six Platoons and rotating days off. The Communications platoons are matched to
the same General Patrol work days rotation so they work with the same GP platoons
each day. The current established staffing level in the Centre is 14 staff from 1630-0230
hours and 11 staff at all other hours.
The Centre has 12 work stations to answer 911 and non-emergency calls (no
radio capability); two additional 911 only work stations, 4 police radio work stations and
2 work stations for supervisors.
The most significant issue in the Communications Division is the high attrition
rate for Call Taker position.
Page 121
(3)
(PSAP) for Winnipeg and received 273,861 calls on 911 lines in 2012. One of the most
important measures for a communications centre is the time that it takes to answer the
incoming call the established goal is to answer 90% of the calls within 10 seconds. In
2012 the Winnipeg Communications Centre answered approximately 93% of incoming
911 calls within 10 seconds, a very good record.
One of the problems that is a significant issue for the Communications Centre is
that sometimes the volume of incoming phone calls, both 911 and the business line
(986-6222) is very heavy. To address this issue the Service installed an Interactive
Voice Response (IVR) system on the business phone line in late 2011. When a person
calls the business number the automated IVR system answers the call and provides a
series of options for the caller, including being transferred to a live Call Taker in the
Communications Centre. Since the installation of the IVR approximately 36% of all
business line calls are handled completely by the system, the other 64% end up being
answered by a Call Taker. This results in approximately 10,000 business line calls per
month that are being 100% handled by the IVR system.
(4)
wide variety of reasons and Winnipeg currently has a significant number of vacancies at
the entry level Call Taker position.
Taker positions were vacant (30%) and 7 of the 65 Police Communications Operator
Page 122
positions were vacant (10.8%). These are significant staff shortages and WPS should
conduct hiring processes to fill these positions within the next 6 months.
Recommendation: Conduct recruiting and hiring processes to fill the vacant Call
Taker and Police Communications Operator positions within the next 6 months.
11.
role is to ensure overall management of service delivery in the City and that calls and
critical incidents are handled appropriately and according to policy.
The Inspector
performs this duty from an office in the Communications Centre and will frequently
interact with Communications supervisors to triage response to calls when it is busy and
decide if Units from one District (typically 2 or 4) should be assigned to handle calls in
another District (typically 1 or 3).
responding to calls and may elect to handle supervision of the incident if necessary.
He/she also keeps the Inspector informed of any issues or significant events.
This function is necessary in a City of size of Winnipeg and the organization and
function of this Unit are appropriate.
The Alternative Phone Response Unit is a number of Constables on limited duty
and not able to work the regular assignment. They work out of the Communications
Centre and review the calls pending in the CAD system queue. Calls listed as Priority 5
to 9 are calls that the Constables call the reporting party back to determine if the
incident can be resolved over the phone or with a planned response by a Report Car at
a later time. In 2012 this Unit diverted 3,987 calls (3.5% of the total number of CFS for
the year) from a patrol response and the Report Cars diverted another 5,630 calls (an
Page 123
additional 5.0% of all CFS). With the additional calls handled by the Cadets (2,810 or
2.5%) these 3 work units diverted 11.0% of the total number of calls for service in 2012.
The types of calls that are currently being diverted from General Patrol response are
appropriate but with additional staff more of the same types of calls could be diverted.
The project team recommends that the Alternate Phone Response Unit continue
to be staffed with light duty personnel but also formally staffed with a mixture of sworn
and civilian personnel and be assigned a specific supervisor.
recommends that four civilians (Call Taker positions) be hired and trained to work in this
Unit. They can reasonably be under the supervision of the Duty Office as they are
housed in the same building and deal with the same issues triaging and managing
response to calls for service; alternately they could also be under the supervision of the
Communications Unit.
Recommendations:
Continue to staff the Alternate Phone Response Unit with light duty personnel but
also formally staffed with both sworn personnel (Constables) and four civilian
staff (new positions) who are trained to take reports over the phone. Salary and
benefits cost per Call Taker position is approximately $66,477; salary and benefits
cost per Constable position is approximately $85,012.
Establish a long term goal of providing a differential call response to 20% of all
calls for service annually.
Page 124
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
302
302
264
225
186
124
119
88
87
86
106
86
107
145
148
165
165
190
166
179
208
193
205
191
4,037
78
Mon
174
143
98
99
79
42
51
55
81
91
116
115
125
182
158
203
182
209
190
182
207
225
232
233
3,472
67
Tue
218
198
154
126
103
79
62
80
87
115
113
126
163
167
184
180
218
213
191
201
206
225
255
248
3,912
75
Wed
207
174
153
139
108
98
63
91
90
112
144
121
148
174
169
190
181
199
201
210
202
255
256
241
3,926
76
Thu
221
186
179
156
130
113
88
98
98
114
130
109
144
141
180
183
196
191
219
226
235
233
263
251
4,084
79
Fri
232
204
188
192
150
106
107
90
102
113
123
125
139
164
201
170
244
239
184
226
227
278
344
288
4,436
85
Sat
348
284
298
262
230
185
151
133
106
86
112
150
140
163
189
207
195
231
219
244
207
255
289
268
4,952
95
Total
1,702
1,491
1,334
1,199
986
747
641
635
651
717
844
832
966
1,136
1,229
1,298
1,381
1,472
1,370
1,468
1,492
1,664
1,844
1,720
28,819
79
Page 125
an average of 85 and 95 CFS respectively. Of the total number of calls 27% occurred
during the day (0800-1600), 43% occurred during the afternoon/evening hours (1600midnight) and 30% occurred during the nighttime hours (midnight 0800).
The table below shows the most common types of calls for service in District 1.
District 1 Calls for Service
Domestic Disturbance
Wellbeing Check
Disturbance
Assault
Medical
Suspicious Person/Vehicle
Family Trouble
Threats
Suicide Threat
Warrant
Fight
Robbery of Person
Missing Person Assist
Breaking & Entering
Check Welfare - 911 Hang-up
All Other Calls for Service
Total
# of Calls
3839
3084
2689
2279
1450
1027
1013
967
912
843
821
638
634
512
461
7,650
28,819
% of Total
13.3%
10.7%
9.3%
7.9%
5.0%
3.6%
3.5%
3.4%
3.2%
2.9%
2.8%
2.2%
2.2%
1.8%
1.6%
26.5%
100.0%
As shown above, the 15 most frequent calls for service account for 21,169 calls,
almost 74% of the total number of calls during the year.
Page 126
Number
Call
of CFS Processing
14
13
2,693
19,129
1,495
4,316
346
701
32
80
28819
Travel
1.1
28.3
3.7
29.0
39.7
56.9
50.8
61.4
28.0
60.7
31.0
Response
Time
2.5
4.2
4.2
9.7
10.1
15.4
14.8
11.9
9.3
14.9
10.1
3.5
32.6
7.9
38.7
49.8
72.3
65.5
73.3
37.2
75.6
41.1
On
Scene
112.6
161.2
119.6
98.0
109.2
113.5
100.2
96.2
125.1
105.3
103.0
The following table shows the time ranges for the calls for service.
CFS by Priority
Type
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Total
% of CFS
11
8
1,981
7,267
611
869
68
175
11
20
11,021
38.2%
5:006:59
2
1
344
3,267
223
559
46
92
2
4
4,540
15.8%
7:009:59
1
183
3,130
219
722
57
112
4
13
4,441
15.4%
Above
10:00
2
127
4,345
307
1653
133
193
4
28
6,792
23.6%
Total #
Total %
No Time
Stamps
1
1
58
1,120
135
513
42
129
11
15
2,025
7.0%
14
13
2,693
19,129
1,495
4,316
346
701
32
80
28,819
100.0%
0.05%
0.05%
9.3%
66.4%
5.2%
15.0%
1.2%
2.4%
0.1%
0.3%
100%
Page 127
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
286
273
226
179
134
85
71
76
67
76
92
106
127
106
136
124
148
154
149
168
183
188
180
190
3,524
68
Mon
153
111
83
74
57
47
43
55
97
71
89
122
118
140
136
155
155
165
148
179
190
183
202
181
2,954
57
Tue
143
118
130
76
81
65
45
69
103
94
119
121
119
104
139
139
153
197
189
168
191
179
188
172
3,102
60
Wed
147
99
112
87
52
42
49
77
87
92
118
117
112
136
118
147
182
160
189
153
195
183
215
188
3,057
59
Thu
155
127
117
102
74
38
63
69
84
99
100
128
116
156
145
146
176
176
177
159
178
173
210
185
3,153
61
Fri
168
148
147
102
78
67
56
74
99
125
120
107
135
119
143
166
168
184
159
171
202
207
256
298
3,499
67
Sat
289
279
258
184
156
118
79
88
89
87
124
113
146
147
145
162
159
162
167
186
151
204
241
302
4,036
78
Total
1,341
1,155
1,073
804
632
462
406
508
626
644
762
814
873
908
962
1,039
1,141
1,198
1,178
1,184
1,290
1,317
1,492
1,516
23,325
64
The calls that occurred in District 2 and District 6 in 2012, before the
amalgamation of District 6 into District 2, were combined together and reported above
as District 2 calls for service.
community generated calls for service, approximately 64 per day. The busiest days of
the week were Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with an average of 67, 78 and 68 CFS
respectively. Of the total number of calls 29% occurred during the day (0800-1600),
44% occurred during the afternoon/evening hours (1600-midnight) and 27% occurred
during the nighttime hours (midnight 0800).
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 128
The table below shows the most common types of calls for service in District 2.
District 2 Calls for Service
Domestic Disturbance
Wellbeing Check
Disturbance
Suspicious Person/Vehicle
Assault
Suicide Threat
Check Welfare - 911 Hang-up
Traffic
Family Trouble
Medical
Threat
Noise
Fire
Distress Alarm
Missing Person Assist
All Other Calls for Service
Total
# of Calls
2708
1988
1781
1416
791
776
767
760
747
711
706
661
607
563
513
7,830
23,325
% of Total
11.6%
8.5%
7.6%
6.1%
3.4%
3.3%
3.3%
3.3%
3.2%
3.0%
3.0%
2.8%
2.6%
2.4%
2.2%
33.6%
100.0%
As shown above, the 10 most frequent calls for service account for 15,495 calls,
almost 66% of the total number of calls during the year.
Page 129
The following tables show the response times for District 2 (combined with
District 6 CFS).
District 2
Priority
Type
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All
Number
Call
of CFS Processing
27
8
1,821
13,918
2,159
3,487
547
1,228
20
110
23,325
Travel
1.1
25.8
2.9
27.6
31.6
54.5
44.5
57.7
23.8
79.1
31.1
Response
Time
6.0
10.0
6.5
13.0
11.6
18.3
14.9
15.0
13.8
14.0
13.2
7.1
35.8
9.4
40.6
43.2
72.8
59.4
72.7
37.6
93.1
44.4
On
Scene
129.9
97.8
97.3
108.6
95.5
115.9
99.9
69.6
136.5
96.0
105.3
The following table shows the time ranges for the calls for service.
CFS by Priority
Type
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Total
% of CFS
10
4
805
2,938
625
425
98
204
3
19
5,131
22.0%
5:006:59
8
1
332
1,598
300
317
49
133
1
17
2,756
11.8%
7:009:59
3
366
2,487
351
416
60
143
1
15
3,842
16.5%
Above
10:00
3
3
297
6,203
740
1953
277
543
5
39
10,063
43.1%
Total #
Total %
No Time
Stamps
3
21
692
143
376
63
205
10
20
1,533
6.6%
27
8
1,821
13,918
2,159
3,487
547
1,228
20
110
23,325
100.0%
0.12%
0.03%
7.8%
59.7%
9.3%
14.9%
2.3%
5.3%
0.1%
0.5%
100%
Page 130
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
260
263
231
246
166
146
88
92
93
85
97
118
124
148
163
122
158
156
163
183
180
204
186
152
3,824
74
Mon
144
111
76
73
52
42
56
50
63
98
100
112
121
143
147
149
167
192
193
189
206
194
205
183
3,066
59
Tue
154
121
114
104
76
57
52
56
54
87
90
124
122
143
146
161
212
179
162
191
180
215
231
193
3,224
62
Wed
154
132
141
136
101
67
50
58
62
97
122
107
143
135
159
183
172
197
194
194
218
208
203
215
3,448
66
Thu
174
173
128
127
98
78
71
73
86
88
100
102
128
147
137
135
187
182
186
199
176
206
230
216
3,427
66
Fri
199
167
146
139
103
107
56
71
96
100
109
103
145
142
140
164
190
199
190
202
182
249
335
314
3,848
74
Sat
318
283
318
273
245
172
126
107
110
105
121
129
139
142
166
209
191
211
188
219
237
248
275
259
4,791
92
Total
1,403
1,250
1,154
1,098
841
669
499
507
564
660
739
795
922
1,000
1,058
1,123
1,277
1,316
1,276
1,377
1,379
1,524
1,665
1,532
25,628
70
Page 131
The table below shows the most common types of calls for service in District 3.
District 3 Calls for Service
Domestic Disturbance
Wellbeing Check
Disturbance
Family Trouble
Assault
Suspicious Person/Vehicle
Threat
Medical
Missing Person Assist
Suicide Threat
Breaking & Entering
Check Welfare - 911 Hang-up
Fight
Fire
Child in Danger
All Other Calls for Service
Total
# of Calls
4285
2669
1666
1663
1377
1084
833
722
718
673
635
630
583
471
464
7,155
25,628
% of Total
16.7%
10.4%
6.5%
6.5%
5.4%
4.2%
3.3%
2.8%
2.8%
2.6%
2.5%
2.5%
2.3%
1.8%
1.8%
27.9%
100.0%
The 15 most frequent calls for service account for 18,473 calls, approximately
72% of the total number of calls during the year.
Page 132
Number
Call
of CFS Processing
8
19
2,470
17,187
1,550
3,209
403
657
26
99
25,628
Travel
1.0
7.9
3.8
29.8
35.6
60.1
46.2
58.5
31.0
77.2
30.8
Response
Time
3.1
7.6
4.4
10.1
10.4
17.0
14.7
11.8
7.7
21.5
10.5
4.0
15.5
8.2
39.9
46.0
77.1
60.9
70.3
38.7
98.7
41.3
On
Scene
238.1
95.0
116.3
96.2
98.3
106.2
86.5
80.9
129.1
98.3
99.1
The following table shows the time ranges for the calls for service.
CFS by Priority
Type
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Total
% of CFS
7
11
1,726
6,288
620
588
92
170
7
13
9,522
37.2%
5:006:59
1
3
363
2,558
211
342
42
68
2
6
3,596
14.0%
7:009:59
1
202
2,596
201
490
59
86
2
9
3,646
14.2%
Above
10:00
4
133
4,721
377
1433
157
187
3
34
7,049
27.5%
Total #
Total %
No Time
Stamps
46
1,024
141
356
53
146
12
37
1,815
7.1%
8
19
2,470
17,187
1,550
3,209
403
657
26
99
25,628
100.0%
0.03%
0.07%
9.6%
67.1%
6.0%
12.5%
1.6%
2.6%
0.1%
0.4%
100%
Page 133
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
270
253
279
178
133
78
54
68
79
85
113
102
99
122
138
116
156
173
153
178
180
164
201
168
3,540
68
Mon
142
82
87
61
42
36
29
40
59
105
126
94
123
143
144
137
157
178
164
200
170
182
178
165
2,844
55
Tue
107
109
88
78
46
41
50
44
89
108
106
101
126
107
142
138
168
158
181
183
175
177
195
157
2,874
55
Wed
125
91
75
70
63
50
46
51
90
90
100
116
101
134
138
150
150
152
192
181
178
175
172
163
2,853
55
Thu
143
109
104
79
59
39
45
60
102
112
101
129
130
136
109
125
144
187
136
185
168
194
187
195
2,978
57
Fri
133
133
115
103
80
50
52
76
84
91
102
102
135
114
129
149
165
161
200
180
151
230
281
273
3,289
63
Sat
278
255
253
203
129
112
84
91
84
98
128
119
126
128
140
125
159
194
169
181
174
206
231
286
3,953
76
Total
1,198
1,032
1,001
772
552
406
360
430
587
689
776
763
840
884
940
940
1,099
1,203
1,195
1,288
1,196
1,328
1,445
1,407
22,331
61
Page 134
The table below shows the most common types of calls for service in District 4.
District 4 Calls for Service
Domestic Disturbance
Wellbeing Check
Suspicious Person/Vehicle
Disturbance
Family Trouble
Traffic
Suicide Threat
Assault
Check Welfare - 911 Hang-up
Threat
Medical
Missing Person Assist
Impaired Driver
Noise
Fire
All Other Calls for Service
Total
# of Calls
3069
1824
1402
1322
1019
871
727
721
706
695
624
538
504
500
468
7,341
22,331
% of Total
13.7%
8.2%
6.3%
5.9%
4.6%
3.9%
3.3%
3.2%
3.2%
3.1%
2.8%
2.4%
2.3%
2.2%
2.1%
32.9%
100.0%
As shown above, the 15 most frequent calls for service account for 14,990 calls,
approximately 67% of the total number of calls during the year.
Page 135
Number
Call
of CFS Processing
24
5
1,718
13,485
1,889
3,466
571
994
26
153
22331
Travel
1.3
13.6
2.9
22.8
28.0
53.0
41.4
50.6
13.0
70.8
27.2
Response
Time
7.1
11.8
7.3
14.5
13.1
21.5
18.7
18.4
16.7
19.9
15.2
8.5
25.4
10.2
37.3
41.1
74.5
60.1
69.0
29.7
90.8
42.3
On
Scene
165.2
53.5
109.6
104.4
96.6
117.6
97.1
80.1
113.7
87.7
104.9
The following table shows the time ranges for the calls for service.
CFS by Priority
Type
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Total
% of CFS
7
629
2,210
485
265
80
118
5
19
3,818
17.1%
5:006:59
8
1
362
1,414
213
179
42
91
2
4
2,316
10.4%
7:009:59
7
1
359
2,278
291
376
64
134
4
17
3,531
15.8%
Above
10:00
2
1
348
7,103
807
2,377
336
547
9
78
11,608
52.0%
Total #
Total %
No Time
Stamps
2
20
480
93
269
49
104
6
35
1,058
4.7%
24
5
1,718
13,485
1,889
3,466
571
994
26
153
22,331
100.0%
0.11%
0.02%
7.7%
60.4%
8.5%
15.5%
2.6%
4.5%
0.1%
0.7%
100%
There are several differences between District response times that should be
pointed out Districts 1 and 3 had lower overall travel times to their calls (10.1 minutes
for District 1 and 10.5 minutes for District 3) than Districts 2 and 4 (13.2 minutes and
15.2 minutes respectively), this is most likely primarily due to the large geographic areas
of Districts 2 and 4. This is also reflected in the travel times of under 7 minutes (shown
Page 136
in the second table for each District on the previous pages) Districts 1 and 3 were able
to respond to over 50% of their calls in under 7 minutes of travel time while in District 2
only 33.8% of the calls were under 7 minutes and only 27.5% of the calls in District 4.
2.
Number of
CFS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All
68
90
7,620
20,996
1,700
3,348
238
1,139
20
181
35,400
Travel
On Scene
3.1
2.0
3.4
10.3
9.6
24.5
24.0
12.1
15.3
26.9
10.1
46.6
155.4
64.2
48.3
40.5
44.2
34.4
131.4
176.5
20.5
54.3
District 2
Priority Type
Number of
CFS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All
114
23
4,790
15,069
2,628
2,784
400
895
4
319
27,026
Travel
6.0
4.1
5.6
12.9
10.7
24.9
18.3
19.4
44.1
29.2
12.8
On Scene
58.0
36.9
54.9
59.1
45.5
44.6
45.0
50.2
97.2
23.8
55.0
Page 137
District 3
Priority Type
Number of
CFS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All
100
48
7,344
20,612
2,094
3,211
302
671
18
212
34,612
Travel
On Scene
3.9
7.3
3.6
10.2
9.4
26.1
21.6
13.6
6.0
26.9
10.2
62.6
38.0
58.0
43.1
39.0
39.4
32.3
85.1
51.3
21.8
46.7
District 4
Priority Type
Number of
CFS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All
101
10
4,757
14,575
2,698
2,945
426
788
13
315
26,628
Travel
6.2
14.5
6.1
14.3
11.1
30.2
24.2
26.0
29.2
32.0
14.6
On Scene
66.9
17.3
59.4
52.5
47.4
41.0
47.4
50.1
131.0
25.7
52.0
Districts 1 and 3, which had the highest number of calls for service,
correspondingly also received the highest number of backup responses, at 35,400 and
34,612 respectively. The work hours will be used when calculating total committed time
hours later in this report.
Page 138
3.
incidents by District (District 2 and District 6 incidents were combined into the District 2
table).
Constable Initiated Activity District 1
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
155
117
101
49
33
32
23
104
92
83
104
93
78
74
89
157
102
169
116
99
86
96
142
149
2,343
45
Mon
139
98
75
37
54
53
93
152
150
155
129
144
102
119
124
157
127
169
139
121
120
102
161
167
2,887
56
Tue
170
122
72
50
44
51
65
126
195
134
138
120
111
108
136
186
117
166
123
113
109
106
136
154
2,852
55
Wed
143
111
59
35
39
44
58
166
159
162
151
131
113
144
147
178
118
141
117
127
104
104
177
165
2,893
56
Thu
163
148
57
45
36
31
32
141
162
163
130
123
108
124
110
202
121
143
163
107
108
99
149
153
2,818
54
Fri
127
115
63
37
44
44
50
145
169
171
154
138
157
138
151
167
109
159
132
133
106
96
168
164
2,937
56
Sat
133
133
98
49
47
33
20
92
95
79
106
97
92
110
100
134
101
145
129
115
97
93
137
145
2,380
46
Total
1,030
844
525
302
297
288
341
926
1,022
947
912
846
761
817
857
1,181
795
1,092
919
815
730
696
1,070
1,097
19,110
52
Page 139
District 1 Incidents
Investigation
Traffic Stop
Beat
IPDA (Intoxicated Person)
Special Patrol (SPAT)
Report
Subject Stop
Breach of the Peace
Disturbance
Warrant Service
All Other Incidents
Total
Number
4,425
3,866
2,057
1,357
1,178
1,120
679
510
451
381
3,086
19,110
Percent
23.2%
20.2%
10.8%
7.1%
6.2%
5.9%
3.6%
2.7%
2.4%
2.0%
16.1%
100.0%
Investigations and traffic stops accounted for the highest number of incidents in
District 1, with over 23% and 20% of the total number.
Page 140
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
143
88
62
28
27
27
25
43
47
64
81
78
56
64
81
82
81
83
56
65
64
67
95
103
1,610
31
Mon
86
98
60
38
49
50
78
64
104
145
80
120
87
89
90
61
76
88
80
79
65
54
115
118
1,974
38
Tue
126
155
64
30
36
28
67
87
121
128
85
83
96
66
110
123
85
89
76
90
95
66
112
98
2,116
41
Wed
99
87
49
26
41
40
54
93
119
165
99
125
91
90
91
78
66
90
91
75
78
81
120
115
2,063
40
Thu
130
157
64
40
32
32
42
74
117
133
105
96
59
67
90
115
58
80
98
80
69
58
118
118
2,032
39
Fri
106
88
59
37
33
30
50
100
133
158
124
118
103
108
105
91
77
82
83
90
72
76
89
104
2,116
41
Sat
103
74
60
30
24
23
23
54
56
80
90
75
52
51
70
52
63
74
79
56
69
57
115
154
1,584
30
Total
793
747
418
229
242
230
339
515
697
873
664
695
544
535
637
602
506
586
563
535
512
459
764
810
13,495
37
Page 141
District 2 Incidents
Traffic Stop
Investigation
Special Patrol (SPAT)
Report
Traffic
Park & Walk
Convey Prisoner
Motor Vehicle Collision
Subject Stop
Radar
All Other Incidents
Total
Number
3,900
3,149
2,037
868
632
258
208
168
166
138
1,971
13,495
Percent
28.9%
23.3%
15.1%
6.4%
4.7%
1.9%
1.5%
1.2%
1.2%
1.0%
14.6%
100.0%
Traffic stops and Investigations accounted for over 52% of the total number of
events initiated by Patrol Sergeants and Constables during 2012.
Page 142
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
125
112
65
43
30
32
35
51
56
66
55
46
48
55
60
73
73
95
61
63
78
62
115
150
1,649
32
Mon
101
114
67
40
39
52
54
79
69
68
50
71
56
47
84
91
64
82
71
80
67
75
149
154
1,824
35
Tue
142
138
57
42
48
54
49
68
78
49
62
62
42
53
64
69
58
81
86
54
69
79
136
145
1,785
34
Wed
95
81
53
36
51
44
50
81
88
85
89
73
68
66
78
89
66
84
61
71
63
85
125
123
1,805
35
Thu
139
138
67
51
42
51
38
79
82
84
63
66
67
47
64
80
69
88
56
109
80
86
144
132
1,922
37
Fri
113
93
57
37
41
37
29
90
74
73
81
70
54
43
78
88
60
79
81
78
79
69
121
113
1,738
33
Sat
117
112
68
62
48
46
22
64
73
67
45
42
59
35
68
84
52
75
91
48
69
66
132
141
1,686
32
Total
832
788
434
311
299
316
277
512
520
492
445
430
394
346
496
574
442
584
507
503
505
522
922
958
12,409
34
Page 143
District 3 Incidents
Traffic Stop
Investigation
SPI Hotspot
Suspicious Subject
Special Patrol (SPAT)
Subject Stop
Warrant Service
Report
Beat Issue
Traffic
All Other Incidents
Total
Number
3,522
2,144
1,119
774
688
527
477
333
279
265
2,281
12,409
Percent
28.4%
17.3%
9.0%
6.2%
5.5%
4.2%
3.8%
2.7%
2.2%
2.1%
18.4%
100.0%
Traffic stops and Investigations accounted for over 45% of the total number of
events initiated by Patrol Sergeants and Constables in District 3 during 2012.
Page 144
Hour
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
Total
Ave/day
Sun
87
89
71
32
22
20
19
27
44
55
50
66
48
44
46
46
41
77
66
51
57
55
91
97
1,301
25
Mon
104
80
79
40
26
45
68
53
86
86
69
81
65
57
47
53
42
65
60
73
67
61
111
105
1,623
31
Tue
120
166
53
27
31
37
47
72
64
73
78
76
59
62
46
64
53
53
38
60
49
59
119
116
1,622
31
Wed
113
114
59
35
37
33
61
83
96
101
75
92
64
63
64
63
60
60
52
48
51
43
87
139
1,693
33
Thu
171
165
84
35
32
42
69
77
91
87
64
77
49
39
63
79
66
73
70
63
50
68
98
92
1,804
35
Fri
115
78
56
28
26
40
52
67
77
83
82
89
60
53
56
69
59
62
58
69
59
65
89
95
1,587
31
Sat
107
96
57
34
21
17
17
32
46
63
52
66
40
35
50
40
30
63
50
43
59
52
96
112
1,278
25
Total
817
788
459
231
195
234
333
411
504
548
470
547
385
353
372
414
351
453
394
407
392
403
691
756
10,908
30
Page 145
District 4 Incidents
Traffic Stop
Investigation
Report
Special Patrol (SPAT)
Traffic
SPI Hotspot
Convey Prisoner
Suspicious Subject
Warrant Service
Radar
All Other Incidents
Total
Number
4,092
2,508
721
635
468
279
222
208
154
133
1,488
10,908
Percent
37.5%
23.0%
6.6%
5.8%
4.3%
2.6%
2.0%
1.9%
1.4%
1.2%
13.6%
100.0%
Traffic stops and Investigations accounted for over 60% of the total number of
events initiated by Patrol Sergeants and Constables in District 4 during 2012.
Overall, the Winnipeg Police Service General Patrol staff were proactive in their
Districts as time is available as evidenced by the 57,000+ incidents of officer initiated
activity during the year.
Page 146
4.
DIVISION 50
Division 50 consists of both full-time units and part-time units to support the
operations of the Winnipeg Police Service. The Division is lead by an Inspector, who
provides overall management of the Division. A Staff Sergeant is also assigned to the
Division to handle the day-to-day operations of the Units, personnel issues and conduct
performance reviews of supervisors.
The full-time units included the following:
Airport Unit. This Unit is responsible for responding to screening alarms at both
the domestic and international screening areas of the airport. They also assist in
prisoner transfers, medical events, on board disturbances and bomb threats at
the airport.
Bomb Unit. The Bomb Unit is led by a full-time Sergeant and staffed part-time
bomb technicians and members of the Tactical Support Team. The Unit
responds to post blast events, suspicious packages, events requiring explosive
disposal and suspected drug labs.
Canine Unit. This Unit supports the Uniform Operations by primarily tracking
suspects that have fled a crime scene. There are also narcotic detection canines
assigned to A-side on days and evenings and two (2) canines which are part of
the tactical team during deployments and two (2) explosive detection canines.
Flight Operations Unit. The Flight Operations Unit supports uniformed patrol
and investigators by providing air support to assist in the detection suspects,
monitor locations, mark and locate evidence and monitor pursuits.
Tactical Support Team. The Tactical Support Team assists in the execution of
search warrants, responds to barricaded subject calls and backs-up uniformed
officers on critical calls, weapons calls, fights and robberies.
Page 147
The part-time units in Division 50 include the following and are staffed on an as
needed basis when an event or incident requiring their deployment occurs in Winnipeg:
Ground Search & Rescue Unit. This Unit is part of a Provincial Chapter and
conducts high-risk searches in hazardous areas (wilderness, riverbanks, bush,
forest, industrial etc.) for vulnerable missing persons, despondent and for
evidence at crime scenes in the above areas.
Underwater Search & Recovery Unit. This Unit provides search and recovery
services for drowning victims, vehicles and evidence in rivers and ponds. The
Unit also conducts sonar mapping for navigational hazards on the river.
(1)
Unit, Canine Unit, Flight Operations Unit and Tactical Support Team.
(1.1) AIRPORT UNIT
The Airport Unit is lead by a Sergeant who is responsible for managing the Unit.
The Unit is has four (4) Patrol Sergeants who provide supervision of 20 Constables
assigned to provide responses to events on airport property. The James Armstrong
Richardson International Airport contracts with the City of Winnipeg to provide police
services on Airport property.
Page 148
(1.1.1) The Airport Unit Has Appropriate Performance Measures for Responding
to Incidents.
The primary mandate for the Airport Unit is to respond to alarms at the domestic
and international passenger screening areas related to weapons or other dangerous
items found with a passenger.
In 2012 the Unit responded to a total of 204 screening alarms. Of these alarms,
the majority were for weapons (34) and ammunition (121). These alarms were at
located at the following screening locations:
table:
Incident
In-flight / Airside
Aircraft in Distress
Airport Unit Arrests
General Calls
Prisoner Escorts
Assisting other Agencies
Emergency Medical Calls
Number
10
32
48
530
58
131
183
The Unit has the following performance standards for responding to these
alarms:
Page 149
While the Unit maintains performance goals and tracts the activity of the Unit,
there is no method in place to track the performance related to meeting the above
standards on a fractile basis.
(1.1.2) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Will Take Over Airport Security in
October 2014.
In a bid to provide security services for the Airport, the RCMP was awarded the
contract to provide services and will take over this service in October 2014. This will
result in the elimination of the 25 personnel currently assigned to the Airport Unit once
this occurs.
Recommendation: The WPS should eliminate the personnel currently assigned to
the Airport Unit prior to October 2014, through attrition. When the Airport Police
Service will be assumed by the RCMP. Remaining personnel should be eliminated
through attrition and not replaced until the staffing levels of FTEs allocated to
this unit are fully eliminated.
(1.2) BOMB UNIT.
One full-time Sergeant, who coordinates the activities, staffs the Bomb Unit. The
remaining members are part-time personnel and include 3 bomb technicians and 3
tactical team members. In 2012, the Bomb Unit responded to 33 incidents. The
following table summarizes the incidents responded to by the Unit:
Type of Incident
Found/Seized Explosive
Suspicious item/Package
Dangerous Incident/Hoax Devices
Manufacturing Explosives
Found IED
CBRN
Total
14
8
6
2
2
1
The limited call activity for the Unit, 33 incidents in 2012 does not indicate a need
to staff the Unit with any additional personnel beyond those assigned to the Unit on a
part-time basis. While the Unit is currently authorized six (6) Bomb Technicians, the
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 150
current staffing level of part-time personnel is three (3). Filling vacancies and training
personnel to a functional level is a long-term process as there are limited training slots
available at the Basic Bomb Technician School in Ottawa each year.
(1.2.1) The Sergeant Coordinates the Activities of the Part-Time Bomb Unit.
The Sergeant is the lone full-time position allocated to the part-time Bomb Unit
and coordinates the activities of the Unit to ensure operational readiness of personnel
including:
Ensuring all Unit members are certified in required fields and individual member
qualifications are completed annually.
Trains other WPS specialty units to ensure proper functioning with the Bomb Unit
during incidents.
Serves as the liaison to the Human Rights Museum and conducts training.
As shown above, there are several key functions performed by the Bomb Unit
Page 151
timely manner to ensure two (2) Bomb Technicians are available for response to
incidents as they occur, which is the policy of the Unit. It would also be beneficial to the
Unit to identify and train an alternate member for the Team to the Basic EOD
Technician level so that when vacancies occur in the Unit a qualified member of WPS
exists to staff the vacancy. This Alternate member would require attendance at training
events to ensure proficiency of a basic EOD Technician is maintained.
Recommendation: Fill the current part-time vacancies in the Bomb Unit and
establish an alternate team member to allow vacancies to be filled as they occur.
(1.3) CANINE UNIT.
The WPS operates a very unique Canine Unit where they breed and raise the
dogs used in Canine operations in the Service. The Unit has a kennel for breeding
puppies, keeping sick dogs and holding dogs when officers are assigned to court or on
scheduled leave. The dogs are primarily trained for tracking purposes, but two (2) are
also trained in narcotics detection and two (2) in explosives detection. The canine unit
also deploys with the TST in warrant executions.
The Unit also has a Quarry program to raise and train puppies. The Quarrys are
full-time WPS personnel who desire to become canine officers in the future. Part of the
vetting process for assigning new officers to the unit is serving as a Quarry and
raising/training a minimum of 2 to 3 puppies. It takes approximately 18 months for a
canine to be fully functional in the Unit. The WPS will keep two (2) dogs for each
opening in the agency and sell the rest to other police agencies seeking dogs.
Another interesting program is the retirement of the dogs. The WPS has a
retirement fund set up to care for the dogs after they retire from service. This fund is
Page 152
supported through charitable donations and funds the costs associated with caring for
the dogs after they retire from service.
(1.3.1) The Canine Unit Has No Established Criteria for How Constables Utilize
Their Available Proactive Time.
The primary mandate of the Canine Unit is to assist General Patrol by tracking
suspects and conducting drug searches. Canine Units are not assigned to a specific
district during their tour of duty. The units typically remain available for calls and will
assign themselves to calls where they believe the Canine will be of value to members of
General Patrol. The philosophy of the Unit is to remain available for calls so they can
provide immediate assistance.
(1.3.2) There is No Spare Vehicle Assigned to the Canine Unit.
The Canine Units operate as single person cars with vehicles assigned to
individually to officers. The Unit currently does not have any reserve vehicles in the
fleet, which are outfitted to be used as a Canine vehicle. If a vehicle goes out of service
it will result in the Canine team being out of service until the vehicle can be repaired.
(1.3.3) The Canine Unit Should be Deployed as Part of the Uniform Patrol Division.
A Sergeant who is responsible for overseeing the in-house training and Quarry
programs manages the Canine Unit. The Sergeant also prepares the schedule, selects
handlers and reviews use of force reports. The Unit should continue to be located in the
new Canine Facility, but should report to patrol briefing sessions and be provided
guidance on the needs of General Patrol during their assigned shift by reporting through
the General Patrol chain of command. Functionally Canine handlers report to the
highest ranking General Patrol Officer on calls they respond to. To ensure the handlers
are focused on achieving the goals of the Uniform Operations Division, the Handlers
Matrix Consulting Group
Page 153
should not be assigned a fixed beat during this re-alignment, but should continue to
have citywide availability to respond to incidents requiring a canine response to support
the efforts of the General Patrol Constables.
The WPS should determine the types of calls which require a Canine response
and proactively dispatch a Canine Unit on calls requiring a response and those where a
Canine has been requested by on scene personnel. The Service should also clearly
define activities to be engaged in by Canine handlers during their available proactive
time such as drug interdiction vehicle stops.
Recommendation: Redeploy Canine as part of the Uniform Patrol Division, but
continue with the practice of Canine Handlers retaining citywide availability.
Recommendation: Allocate an additional vehicle to the Canine Unit to serve as a
reserve vehicle and ensure operational readiness.
Recommendation: Develop goals for activities Canine Handlers should engage in
during their available proactive time.
(1.4) FLIGHT OPERATIONS UNIT
The Flight Operations Unit is lead by a Patrol Sergeant who serves as the Unit
Manager. The Unit also includes a Chief Pilot, two (2) line pilots and four (4) tactical
flight officers. The helicopter is operational from 7 days per week. The Unit is currently
budgeted for 1,000 hours of flight operations annually.
The purpose of the Unit is to provide operational support for General Patrol and
Investigative personnel of the WPS in the detection and apprehension of suspects. The
following illustrate the types of incidents where the Flight Operations Unit assists:
Page 154
Illumination of crime scenes, accidents, car stops, search areas, foot pursuits.
Aerial view for major fires, environmental disasters and other major incidents.
(1.4.1) During 2012 the Flight Operations Unit Averaged 2.7 Flight Hours per Day.
The Flight Operations Unit averaged 2.7 flight hours per day in 2012. The
following table illustrates the flight hours by month for the Flight Operations Unit:
Month
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Hours
46.5
45.5
38.3
44.4
94.5
90.4
133.3
117.6
117.8
55.4
89
11.7
As shown above, the month with the lowest flight hours was March at 1.24 hours
on average per day and the month with the highest flight hours was July, which
averaged 4.3 flight hours per day. The above totals equate to 98.4% of the 1,000
budgeted flight hours being used during the calendar year 2012.
Page 155
Days Lost
25
61
28
As shown above, there were a total of 114 days where the Flight Operations Unit
was scheduled to fly, but was unable to do so.
(1.4.3) The Flight Operation Unit Provided Assistance to Operational and
Investigative Service Units in 2012.
The Flight Operations Unit was dispatched to assist on 3,445 incidents and
attended a total of 2,688 of these incidents where air support was needed in 2012. The
additional 757 incidents had the unit was cancelled prior to arrival at the scene. The
following table illustrates the most common incidents for Flight Operations in 2012:
Incident Type
Suspicious Person
Domestic Disturbance
Breaking and Entering
Wellbeing
Traffic Stop
Assault
Disturbance
Alarm
Fight
Shots Fired
Gun Seen
Robbery (person)
Weapon
Traffic Complaint
Damage
Robbery (commercial)
Other
Matrix Consulting Group
Number
240
219
192
174
158
147
147
138
128
77
76
75
69
66
60
60
662
Page 156
(1.4.4) The Province of Manitoba Provides Funds for the Operational Costs of the
Flight Operations Unit.
The City of Winnipeg invoices the Province of Manitoba for operational costs
associated with operating the Flight Operations Unit. This agreement stipulates that the
Unit provide assistance with incidents requiring air support in the Province, which are
outside the City of Winnipeg. Since beginning operations in 2010, the Unit has provide
assistance to outside police agencies, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and several
Provincial Justice Departments.
The Service budgets approximately $1.5 million annually to operate the Flight
Operations Unit. Costs associated with operating the unit are billed to the Province of
Manitoba for the actual costs of operating the Unit and reimbursed to the City. In 2012
the Province of Manitoba paid $1,327,950 in operational costs for the Flight Operations
Unit. This equates to $494 in operational costs for each attended call the Unit
responded to in 2012. This makes the cost of operating the Flight Operation Unit very
cost effective for the City and the relationship with the Province to provide funds should
continue.
Conclusion: Continue providing air support for the Province to offset the costs
associated with operating the Flight Operations Unit.
(1.5) TACTICAL SUPPORT TEAM
The Tactical Support Team is staffed with a Sergeant, who is the TST
Coordinator, a Sergeant who is the Bomb Unit Coordinator, four (4) Sergeants who
each supervise a platoon, four (4) Patrol Sergeants and 28 Constables. The Team is
organized to work on four (4) platoons. Daily staffing is one (1) Sergeant, one
(1) Patrol Sergeant and seven (7) Constables per platoon with a
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minimum staffing of five (5) tactical personnel on each platoon to ensure an adequate
and safe response can occur to weapons calls, critical calls and high-risk drug and
search warrants. Three (3) members of the Tactical Support Team also respond to
incidents involving the Bomb Unit to provide operational support to that Unit during
explosive incidents. These personnel are trained to the Basic Explosive Ordinance
Technician level.
(1.5.1) The Tactical Support Team Utilizes Available Proactive Time For Training
and Planning Activities.
The Tactical Support Team utilizes their available proactive time to develop
lesson plans and conduct team training. They also develop tactical operation plans for
upcoming warrant service, including scouting locations. Training for personnel occurs
on each shift and accounts for 2 hours use of proactive time.
(1.5.2) The Tactical Support Team Does Not Formally Report Activities.
Best practices for the operation of tactical teams include compiling response
statistics and preparing an annual report detailing the response activities of the Tactical
Team. The WPS Tactical Support Team does not currently compile annual workload
statistics or report the success of their operation in an annual report. The Team should
begin compiling statistical information monthly related to dispatched incidents and
planned events responded to by the Tactical Support Team to assist in developing an
annual report of Team activities.
Recommendation: The Tactical Support Team Sergeant should be tasked with
Preparing Monthly and Annual Reports which detail the responses and activities
of the Team.
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(2)
Unit, Crisis Negotiation Unit, Crowd Management Unit, Ground Search & Unit,
Protective Services Unit and Underwater Search & Recovery Unit. This section of the
report provides a brief overview and findings related to these Units.
(2.1) Clandestine Lab Unit
The Clandestine Lab Unit consists of one (1) Sergeant, three (3) Detective
Sergeants and 10 Constables. The unit is deployed on deployed confirmed clandestine
labs to secure the scene until the Chemist arrives from British Columbia to determine
the products present and the charges that can be filed based on chemicals found at the
scene.
(2.1.1) The Clandestine Lab Unit is Underutilized
The Sergeant receives calls from Uniformed Patrol Constables related to
suspected labs. These phone calls are not tracked for statistical purposes, but there
were no Unit deployments in 2012 resulting from consultation with Uniformed Patrol
Constables.
The Members of the Unit are trained in an 80 hour Clandestine Lab Course at the
Canadian Police College. One overlap day each month is used to conduct recurring
training. This is a significant investment of time for a resource in the agency that has not
be deployed to an incident in over a year.
(2.1.2) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (D-Division) has a Clandestine Lab
Team Responsible for Disposal of Clan Labs in the Province of Manitoba.
The RCMP Clandestine Team is located in Winnipeg and has responsibility for
responding to clandestine labs in the Province of Manitoba. The WPS Clandestine Lab
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Unit currently does not work with the RCMP team. Due to the low frequency of
clandestine lab incidents in Winnipeg, the WPS should disband their part-time
Clandestine Lab Unit and utilize the services of the RCMP team if a confirmed
clandestine lab is located in the City.
Recommendation: Disband the WPS Clandestine Lab Unit and utilize the RCMP
Clandestine Team to mitigate clandestine lab incidents occurring within the City
of Winnipeg.
(2.2) Crisis Negotiation Unit
The Unit is led coordinated by a Staff Sergeant and consists of nine (9) other
members of WPS. Members of the Unit are required to complete a two week Crisis
Negotiation course at the Canadian Police College. Three (3) Unit members are
dispatched to scenes requiring a negotiator with one member serving as the primary
negotiator, one as the secondary negotiator and the third coordinating activities with
Incident Commander.
(2.2.1) Workload Increased for the Crisis Negotiation Unit in 2012 When
Compared to 2011.
The Crisis Negotiation Unit was activated for 58 incidents during 2012. This
marked an increase of 49% over 2011 when the Unit was activated fro 39 incidents. The
following Table illustrates the breakdown of incidents by type responded to by the Crisis
Negotiation Unit in 2012:
Incident Type
Weapons
Drugs
Suicide/Attempted Suicide
Armed/Barricaded Subject
Other
Number of Calls
46
3
6
2
1
The existing staffing levels of the Unit are sufficient to handle the current
workload, according to the Unit Coordinator. The activations of the Unit should continue
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activations. The Unit should develop a plan to track and report Unit activity to ensure it
remains staffed and funded in a cost effective manner.
(2.4.2) The Province of Manitoba Provides Funding to the GSAR Unit
The WPS GSAR Unit is part of the Provincial Search and Rescue Chapter
(SARMAN), the Province provides funding for training and exercises, including
instructor costs. The Province also reimburses volunteer members of the unit mileage
associated
with
incident
responses
and
provides
volunteers
with
Workers
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Detail
Guard Witness
Crowns Meeting Protection
US Consulate Detail
Crown Witness Protection
Witness Protection
US Election Coverage at U of M
Asper Jewish Campus
PST Special Duty
Total
Hours
12
36
5
25
50
5
5
180
318
Members
2
4
1
4
8
2
2
13
36
As shown the Protective Services Unit handled seven (7) assignments as part of
their protection mandate, totaling 138 hours and one (1) special duty assignment,
totaling 180 hours where WPS was reimbursed for the personnel costs associated with
deployment of the Unit.
Recommendation: The WPS should continue to staff the Protective Services as a
part-time Unit and deploy on an as needed basis.
(2.6) Underwater Search and Recovery Unit
The Underwater Search & Recovery Unit is led by a Staff Sergeant who serves
as the Unit Coordinator. The Unit has 8 personnel assigned as Dive Supervisors and 12
regular divers trained to advanced (black water) standards. The majority of the dive
work occurs in the Red River, which requires a boat operator, dive supervisor, safety
diver, tender boat and 3-4 divers to conduct the operation.
(2.6.1) The Underwater Search and Recovery Unit Works Closely with the River
Patrol Section.
The River Patrol Section provides maintenance for the two dive boats operated
by Underwater Search & Recovery Unit, which include a 24 ft. Custom Pontoon Boat
and a 16 ft. tender boat. The River Patrol also provides storage for the Underwater
Search and Recovery Unit boats during the winter months when the Unit is inactive.
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(2.6.2) The Underwater Search and Recovery Unit and River Patrol Section Should
Be Combined.
As stated earlier, there is a close working relationship between the River Patrol
Section and the Underwater Search & Recovery Unit. The River Section is staffed fulltime by two personnel year round and increases staffing during the summer months
when the Underwater Search and Recovery Unit is activated. With the low number of
incidents requiring the Underwater Search and Recovery it would benefit WPS to crosstrain members of the River Patrol Section as boat operators and have the River Patrol
prepare the vessels for initial response to incidents with remaining seasonal team
members filling required positions as needed depending on the incident.
Recommendation: Combine the Underwater Search and Recovery Unit with the
River Patrol Section.
2.
DIVISION 51
Division 51 consists of the Community Relations Unit and the Central Traffic Unit.
The Division is lead by an Inspector, who provides overall management of the Division.
A Staff Sergeant is also assigned to the Division to handle any personnel issues and
conduct performance reviews of supervisors; two (2) Sergeants oversee the day-to-day
operations of the Unit.
The following Sections make up the Community Relations Unit:
Crime Prevention Section. This Section provides crime prevention and safety
programs to residential and business communities in Winnipeg. The Section is
staffed with four (4) Constables and two (2) clerks, a fifth Constable started in the
unit on 14-07-13.
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Diversity Relations Section. This Section primarily works with First Nation and
other immigrant residents to build relationships between the WPS and minority
groups. The Section is staffed with 1 Patrol Sergeant and four (4) Constables
overseeing the day-to-day operations in the Unit. The Central Traffic Unit is comprised
of the following Sections:
River Patrol Section. This Section patrols the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in
boats and Quads during the summer months and snow mobiles during the winter
to enforce boating and off road vehicle laws. The section is staffed with 2
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Constables during the winter and 6 Constables during the summer. During
winter months the personnel in the section also issue ice permits for equipment
working on the rivers.
(1)
community generated calls for service and conducted 11,115 self-initiated activities.
The following tables illustrate the most common call types worked by Cadets in 2012:
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Total
1,103
469
64
63
49
38
29
Total
3,635
1,933
1,898
1,163
642
486
345
283
As shown above, intoxicated person calls accounted for over 56% of the
community generated calls and 10% of the self-initiated activity of the Cadets.
(1.1) There are Opportunities to Expand the Role of the Auxiliary Force Cadets
by Organizing the Cadets in the Uniform Operations.
The current span of control for each Patrol Sergeant assigned to the Section is
1:17 as the Patrol Sergeant oversees one Constable and 16 Cadets on each shift. This
span of control should be improved if the role of the Cadets is expanded and the
numbers increased as more direct supervision will be required. As discussed earlier,
intoxicated persons in the downtown area accounted for over 56% of the community
generated workload for Cadets in 2012. By identifying additional call-types, which are
appropriate for Cadets to respond to, the proactive available time of General Patrol
Units can be improved to allow a better focus on their core policing responsibilities. The
recommendations for enhancing the role of Cadets is further discussed in the Uniform
Operations chapter of this report.
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both have a low span of control at 1:6 and 1:4 respectfully. The Sections are both
focused on building community relations through crime prevention and community
education programs. While the Diversity Relations Section does not keep workload
statistics, analysis of the Crime Prevention Section indicated personnel were
underutilized in 2012, conducting 141 presentations and one Crime Prevention Through
Environmental Design audit between the four personnel assigned to the Section. These
personnel also attended 179 special events. Merging the two sections would result in an
appropriate span of control of 1:6 for the Section supervisor. The Sections should be
assigned as part of the New Strategic Planning Unit.
Recommendation: Merge the Crime Prevention and Diversity Relations Sections
and eliminate one Patrol Sergeant position resulting in annual salary savings of
approximately $123,268 annually.
(3)
who generally provide mounted patrol services in April November in the downtown
area and at special events. These Constables provide full care for the horses in the
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Section, including farrier services. During the winter months (December March) the
Constables care for the horses, conduct training with the horses and provide ancillary
duties as assigned for the Service. In April November the horses are housed at a farm
owned by one of the Constables assigned to the unit at no cost to WPS. During winter
months, the Service pays to have horses boarded at a facility, which has an indoor
arena for training purposes. The current trailer in use by the Section was donated to
WPS by the business community.
(3.1) There are Limited Personnel in WPS with Required Training to Staff the
Mounted Patrol Section.
As stated earlier, the Mounted Patrol Section is currently staffed with two full-time
constables. There are no alternate riders in the Section. In 2011 a recruitment effort to
find alternate riders yielded two (2) applicants, but neither of the candidates met the
minimum qualifications of the Unit to be selected as alternate riders as 3-5 years riding
experience is needed to functional at riding horses at public events. All personnel in the
Section must also successfully complete the basic mounted patrol officer training
course. The current personnel are required by policy to rotate out of the Section after
serving 3 years, but have requested to stay in the Section as there is no succession
plan in place to replace the Constables currently assigned to the Section and no
personnel with the appropriate training to replace them.
(3.2) The Mounted Patrol Section Should be Eliminated.
The mandate of the Mounted Patrol Unit is to maintain the visibility of the
Winnipeg Police Service throughout the city and to act as ambassadors for both the
Service and the City of Winnipeg. The Unit also serves as a deterrent to crime based on
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the visual presence of the mounted unit. As such the Unit does not respond to calls for
service or typically apprehend suspects committing criminal acts.
Without adequate personnel and funding the WPS should eliminate the Mounted
Patrol Section as a full time organizational component of the Service. The comparative
survey conducted showed that a Mounted Patrol Section is not common as both Regina
and Saskatoon reported they did not have a Mounted Patrol as part of their police field
services.
Recommendation: Eliminate the Mounted Patrol Section and redeploy the
Constables to General Patrol resulting in a savings of approximately $20,000
annual in operational costs associated with the Mounted Patrol Unit plus the cost
of the two staff positions.
(4)
presentations on topics being offered during a given school year. In the 2011/2012
school year the Constables conducted a total of 709 presentations to over 34,000
attendees on topics such as bullying, choices, driving, drug awareness and internet
safety. These constables also train the school patrol and organize the annual awards
for the 7,000 children participating in the school patrol program at the elementary
schools.
Each School Resource Officer is assigned to one high school and five feeder
schools and is focused on building trust between officers and students, identifying at
risk students and building relationships with administrators and faculty. The Province of
Manitoba shares the costs of School Resource Officer funding with the City of
Winnipeg.
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(5)
personnel to provide victim services. The Constable and Social Worker respond to
incidents of violent crime (homicides and sexual assault) and volunteers make the initial
contact for victims of non-violent crimes.
The Section would benefit from the creation of a family area dedicated to comfort
children and family members in the Victim Services Section offices. The lack of a
dedicated family space makes office visits less effective at providing services to victims
of crimes.
(6)
unit, is the number of citations issued as compared to the number of injury accidents
and impaired driver arrests. An agency with effective traffic enforcement efforts will
generate 35-40 citations for every injury accident and impaired driver arrest. During
2012 there were 79,752 citations issued for violations of Highway Traffic Act Offenses;
of these, 24,746 were issued by officers working overtime (VED) resulting in 55,006
citations issued by on duty members. The Service also had 1,026 impaired driver
arrests in 2012. This figure does not include the 81,624 photo enforcement citations,
which while providing a deterrent do not show the effectiveness of personnel related to
traffic enforcement operations. During the same period WPS received 14,216 motor
vehicle collision calls, of which the Service responded to 3,108, of which 21 were fatal
accidents. The following table illustrates the ratio of Citations to accidents and impaired
driver arrests:
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Accidents/Impaired Drivers
79,752
4,134
Ratio of Citations to
Accidents/Impaired
1:19
As shown, the WPS is conducting traffic enforcement below the 35-40 ratio
required to have an effective traffic enforcement efforts in the City.
(6.1) There are Limited Traffic Unit Efforts Occurring after 5:00 p.m.
The Traffic Enforcement Section and Traffic Collision Investigation Section both
work on the 4-10 platoon staffing model and staff their sections 7 days per week.
After these hours General Patrol conducts all traffic enforcement efforts and responds
to and investigates vehicle accidents. Traffic Collision Investigators are on call to
investigate serious and fatal accidents requiring their expertise after 5:00 p.m.
Estimates provided by the Traffic Enforcement Section show that approximately
32% of collisions requiring a TCI response occur on the evening shift and an additional
20% on the night shift.
Impaired driving is also a focus of General Patrol as there are no dedicated
personnel focusing on impaired driving enforcement except for Constables working
overtime on impaired driver enforcement efforts as coordinated by the Constable
assigned to coordinated these efforts. Manitoba Public Insurance contributed funds to
these counter measure programs, paying the cost of overtime associate with Constables
working the details. The traffic officers reassigned to the evening shift should provide a
foc us on impaired driving enforcement in addition to enforcing the Highway Traffic Act.
(6.2) The Traffic Unit Should be Reassigned as Part of Division 50
The functional responsibilities of the Traffic Unit are more closely aligned to the
operations of Division 50. Reassigning the Unit to this Division will ensures consistency
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in operations as the current location is more focused on community relations and less
on specialty and enforcement efforts.
The Unit should continue operate as a specialized traffic unit, but enforcement
activities should be organized within the Patrol Districts while maintaining the integrity of
the specialized nature of the Unit.
Recommendation: The Central Traffic Unit should deploy Traffic Enforcement and
Traffic Collision personnel on both day and evening shifts to better distribute and
improve traffic enforcement and crash investigation efforts.
Recommendation: Reassign the Traffic Unit to Division 50.
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5.
the Deputy Chief of Operations. The functions organized under the Superintendent
represent a complex and comprehensive grouping of follow-up investigations, proactive
investigations and investigative support functions. These functions are organized into
four Divisions, each headed by an Inspector, as displayed in the following chart:
Superintendent
Investigative Operations
Division 40
Proactive Investigations
Division 41
Sensitive Crimes
Green Team
Child Abuse
Integrated Proceeds
Integrated Warrants
Organized Crime
Missing Persons
Street Crime
Sex Crimes
Vice
VICLAS
Vulnerable Persons
Division 42
Investigative Support
Support
Forensics
Crime Stoppers
Firearms Inv
Polygraph
Forensic Artist
National Weapons
Forensic ID
Secure Ops
Forensic Imaging
Surveillance
Tech Crime
Division 43
Major Cases
Arson
Cold Case
Commercial Crime
Homicide
Major Crimes
Pawn
Stolen Autos
M&MWTF
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These units and staff are described in the Chapter dealing with Uniform
Operations.
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2.
CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATIONS
WORKLOAD,
STAFFING,
EFFECTIVENESS ARE EVALUATED DIFFERENTLY THAN
OPERATIONS.
AND
FIELD
often made, but given differences in the way investigations are conducted, as well as
the type of crime in a community, such comparisons are not very useful.
Factors
Approaches used to screen, assign, and monitor cases are different among law
enforcement agencies. The extent to which a case management system is
utilized, including the use of solvability factors is one of these key differences in
investigative management.
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on warrant arrests or various other administrative duties that may detract from
casework.
The fact that there are few large agencies in Central and Western Canada also
makes comparison difficult.
Obtained available caseload data for each of the units from the records
management system and selectively from the units themselves.
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Generally
speaking, however, the comparative measures that can be used to determine staffing,
efficiency and effectiveness are displayed in the following table:
Comparative Measures
There is no caseload standard for specialized detective units (e.g., vice and
narcotics), because these types of cases are more proactive in nature.
They can
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consume many weeks of staff time generating leads, contacts and suspect information,
and they may often require surveillance and related activities.
3.
among Central and Western Canadian cities. As indicated above, comparative crime
rates are an imperfect measure for use in an investigative resources analysis not all
Part 1 and Part 1I crimes are investigated, in a large agency such as Winnipeg some
crimes are investigated by District detectives, etc. However, any comparative index
developed with a common data base has some value as an indirect indicator. The table
below, shows the comparison of total Part 1 and Part 2 crimes among Central and
Western Canadian cities.
Total Part 1
Crimes
Calgary
Rate/1000
8,183
7.30
Edmonton
Rate/1000
41,324
36.89
7,865
9.68
Regina
Rate/1000
Rate/1000
15.07
11,731
57.97
4,076
17.05
Vancouver
Rate/1000
3,050
Saskatoon
13,857
57.98
6,704
11.11
Winnipeg
Rate/1000
Total Part 2
Crimes
33,256
55.11
10,432
15.08
46,540
67.28
The comparison of the incidence and the rate of Part 1 and Part 2 crime among
Central and Western Canadian cities shows that Winnipeg has the highest overall
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incidence of these crimes. While Saskatoon has a somewhat higher rate of Part 1
crime than Winnipeg, Winnipegs rate of Part 2 crime is over 18% higher than the other
three jurisdictions.
As is the case in most of North America, the incidence of serious crimes and the
rate at which it occurs has been declining in Winnipeg.
dramatic over the longer term, even for a recent 5 year period the rate of decline in
serious crime, especially property crime has been significant. This is shown in the table
below:
2007
Violent
Crime
Property
Population
Violent
Rate
Property
Rate
2008
2009
2010
5 Yr %
Change
2011
11,029
61,358
653,400
9,626
53,954
658,700
9,886
43,343
674,800
11,272
49,607
684,061
10,425
46,540
691,778
-5%
-24%
6%
0.017
0.015
0.015
0.016
0.015
-11%
0.094
0.082
0.064
0.073
0.067
-28%
As the table shows, while violent crime is little changed in both frequency and
rate in Winnipeg over the recent 5 year period for which data is available. Property
crime, however, has declined dramatically down 24% in number and down 28% in
rate.
The next table shows investigative staffing comparisons based on a ratio of
sworn staff in investigative functions to the police service as a whole for proactive
investigative functions versus reactive or follow up case handling detectives. This data
shows Winnipeg to be at the top of the comparative range for proactive investigations
but at the low end for reactive / case handling investigative functions.
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City
Regina
Type
Sworn
NonSupv
Civ.
Sworn
Supv
Total
Staff
Cst/Cpl Per
Sworn Supv
Administrative/Other
Proactive
Reactive
Total Unit Based
7
2
1
3
0
31
27
58
9
7
15
22
16
40
43
83
0.00
4.43
1.80
2.64
Proactive
Reactive
Total Unit Based
0
0
0
39
14
53
17
47
64
56
61
117
2.29
0.30
0.83
Administrative/Other
Proactive
Reactive
Total Unit Based
19
5
37
42
15
115
201
316
18
15
29
44
52
135
267
402
0.83
7.67
6.93
7.18
Administrative/Other
Proactive
Reactive
Total Unit Based
36
0
6
6
62
67
105
234
11
7
10
28
73
74
115
262
5.6
9.6
10.5
8.4
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
113.0
Saskatoon
291.1
Vancouver
33.4
Winnipeg
112.2
The project team also examined clearance rates the proportion of crimes that
are closed through arrest or other defined factor which are important aspects of
understanding the overall effectiveness of an investigative function. Though imperfect
because of differences in counting methods, in conjunction with other indirect
measures, clearance rates offer a glimpse into the comparing the ability of an agency to
solve a case. In Canada, comparative clearance rates are shown in the table, below:
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Clearance Rates,
2010
Calgary
35.6%
Edmonton
39.0%
Regina
43.0%
Saskatoon
35.5%
Vancouver
29.0%
Winnipeg
29.4%
As the table shows, Winnipeg and Vancouver have the lowest clearance rates
among the Central and Western Canadian agencies surveyed.
necessarily mean that investigators are less effective; rather, it can indicate
characteristics of the crime and the population. In Winnipegs case the previous data
set showed that Winnipeg had by far the highest level of Part 2, less serious and lower
solvability potential.
Regardless of the reason for comparative clearance rates, lack of an effective
case management process in Winnipeg can contribute to this because of inability to
effectively screen based on solvability, to monitor caseloads through a comprehensive
data base and ensure the effective use of detectives at all times. This issue is explored
further in the next section.
4.
use, interviews of unit supervisors indicate that many of them do not use it. Virtually all
crimes against persons are assigned for investigation; the vast majority of all crimes are
assigned to a central or district detective regardless of solvability. After assignment and
in the absence of a true case management system cases are essentially self-managed
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by detectives. Supervisors have little ability to track cases in the records management
system and many keep separate Excel-based spreadsheets or even notes on paper.
Because the case screening process is not formalized, there may be cases assigned
that might not warrant follow-up investigation or which should be closed because a
dead end is reached.
Because WPS does not use a quantified approach to determining solvability this
will have an impact on perceived staffing needs, as there is no effective linkage
between what work should be done and what is actually accomplished. In order to
ensure consistency and help prioritize work for investigative follow-up, a formal case
screening checklist with relevant solvability factors should be adopted by WPS. This is
consistent with progressive case management philosophies as well as with the
Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) case-screening
system criteria (Section 42.1.2).
Based on the project teams review of various case screening processes in use
in varied law enforcement settings, we believe that the following 12-point checklist, in
conjunction with a Priority Status methodology, should be considered for adoption.
(1)
states, The agency uses a case-screening system and specifies the criteria for
continuing and/or suspending an investigative effort. This screening can take several
forms. There are a variety of case screening and assignment methods available and
the Police Service should adopt one that best fits it or develop one of its own. There
are twelve screening points to consider:
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Belief that crime may be solved with publicity and/or reasonable additional
investigative effort; and
Strong possibility and/or opportunity for anyone, other than the suspect, to have
committed the crime.
These solvability factors should be incorporated into a formal case screening
process whereby the above list, or some derivative, is used as a cover sheet on all
cases to determine whether it is an assignable case to a detective for investigative
follow-up.
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checked, as well as a review of the qualitative case circumstances, the case should be
prioritized for work based on the following seven-priority rating.
Prioritization of
workload has clearly been widely adopted in patrol services in North America through
call priority classifications, but is used in a lesser capacity in other law enforcement
arenas. The project team believes case prioritization is an effective management tool to
augment case screening. The seven-priority rating includes:
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This priority system can be modified to meet the unique needs of Winnipeg
Police Service. However, the concept should be used as a framework for prioritizing
workload, thereby focusing officer resources on the most important cases.
Recommendation: Formalize an investigative caseload prioritization system as
part of the case screening process using a 7-priority system as a framework.
This may have to be accomplished outside of the existing case management
system in use in the agency.
Recommendation: Winnipeg should consider adopting a more formalized case
management system to allow improved tracking of assigned cases and case
status.
(3)
been in place in the Police Service for over 11 years. In the form utilized in Winnipeg it
is essentially a beta version of a system which was improved and sold nationally and
internationally by the company that developed it. It has not been significantly updated
since its implementation.
Most records management systems today have a case management system
module that accomplishes the solvability and prioritization objectives described in the
previous two sections. However, as a records management system-only the 3rd party
software in use cannot easily be adapted for this use. As a result, the system is used
as a catalog of cases and case activity for investigators and unit supervisors to utilize.
Its limitations are widespread and include:
Consistent with best practices the 3rd party software cannot assist in the
assignment of cases or the reporting of detective caseloads.
Reports that are generated merely catalog the number of reports and other
activities tied to that case, by case number, resulting in considerable research
needed to find out what the activity was.
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The entry of data into 3rd party software in use is not standardized.
Clearly, not all the problems can be laid at the 3rd party software in use, rather,
there are considerable business process issues within Investigative Operations that
contribute to this.
Operations and for the Police Service as a whole its limitations significantly limited the
information which could be utilized for this analysis.
Recognizing this problem Investigative Operations has been testing a dedicated
case management software called X-Fire which provides the ability to manage cases in
the manner recommended.
Because complete
replacement or updating of the 3rd party software would have significant hard costs as
well as soft internal costs, the utilization of a stand-alone software package to meet this
high priority need is the obvious short to medium term solution.
Recommendation: Make a commitment to X-Fire to provide case management to
Investigative Operations (as well as to other investigative functions such as
Professional Standards).
5.
that were utilized for the evaluation of each work Unit in Division 40. Some units had
more of less of the data targeted for the evaluation:
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Description
The total monthly case activity in 2012 for cases worked and
qualified consistent with the row above. Because of system
limitations little of these data were useable.
Utilizing the approaches noted, the project team analyzed each unit in Division
40 as presented in the following subsections. The proactive investigative functions
included in Division 40 are shown below:
Division 40
Proactive Investigations
Green Team
Integrated Proceeds
Integrated Warrants
Organized Crime
Street Crime
Integrated Org Crime TF
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(1)
Green Team
The Green Team is principally dedicated to addressing marijuana grow houses
in the City houses which have been industrially converted to the production of large
amounts of marijuana. The unit can also be summarized by the following:
Staffed with a Detective Sergeant and 6 Constables this Unit focuses on taking
down and remediating marijuana grow houses in the City. Staff liaise with the
RCMP for grow houses outside of the City.
Remediate by taking out the plants, equipment, arrange for mold remediation and
house teardown if necessary.
The Green Team has taken down approximately 60 homes used in this capacity.
This is an innovative program there appears to be no locally funded
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WPS has 2 staff (Constables) in this unit, one of whom is currently assigned to
the RCMP though this arrangement may end in 2014.
Because of the specialized nature of this activity staff are resources to other units
in WPS. They also assist RCMP units.
Staff pursue both criminal and civil sides of asset seizures (though new, there is
more flexibility on the civil side).
Also assist with the technology behind this Currency Recording and Tracing
System, Ion Scanning (for drugs), etc.
It should be noted that in one form or another (i.e., as a separate unit or
fact that there were an estimated 30,000 outstanding / unserved warrants in the
Province of Manitoba. Characteristics of this unit include:
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Staff work flexibly, but principally days and evenings in shift rotations the 9 hour
day and 2 week rotation (the Sierra system).
Staff work data bases and are skilled at searches focusing on address locations,
working with friends / relatives, door knocks.
Unit jointly operated by the Province and the City, the Province funds the
positions.
Have executed 1,400 warrants and made 1,200 arrests in 2 years, targeting the
more serious outstanding warrants.
It should be noted that in one form or another (i.e., as a separate unit in either
investigations or field services) a dedicated warrant unit is found in other large policing
agencies in Canada and in the United States.
This is an incredibly productive unit averaging over 2 arrests per day and, as the
only dedicated warrant unit in WPS, is a valuable resource to other units in Division 40,
other investigative Divisions as well as to the Police Service at large. The fact that the
Unit is integrated with the RCMP results in few actual municipal resources being
expended for the return in terms of warrants served and arrests.
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Recommendations:
Maintain the Integrated Warrant Apprehension Unit at the present level of
commitment as long as the Province continues its commitment (which it is likely
to do).
Staff in the Integrated Warrants Apprehension Unit need to be resources to other
WPS staff in the identification of potential suspects.
(4)
The Municipal Organized Crime Unit and the Manitoba Integrated Organized
Crime Task Force.
The Organized Crime Unit in the Winnipeg Police Service has two dedicated
units one municipally funded and operated and the other an integrated unit with The
Province of Manitoba. The City funded unit can be summarized as follows:
follows:
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groups approve operational plans and future targeting. They also approve the
budget.
Obtain assistance from other units surveillance, etc. They work closely with the
Citys Organized Crime Unit.
The City and the Province have dedicated significant resources to addressing
organized crime issues in Winnipeg and the region. The oversight for the Integrated
Unit is extensive involving both the Province and the City.
The one issue for this area of operations is the coordination, actual and desired,
between the municipal and integrated units, both strategically and tactically. The project
team believes that the City and the region would benefit from a loose integration or
sharing between these two units. In this way decisions could be made regarding the
most significant organized crime targets and the different strategies to address each.
Recommendation: Increase the cooperation and coordination between the Citys
Organized Crime Unit and the Manitoba Integrated Organized Crime Task Force
so that a common approach is developed to targets, strategies to address and the
most appropriate resources that should be dedicated. This approach should also
include the Street Crimes units which are now part of Division 40.
(5)
was essentially merged with Gangs (the former GRASP Unit). A summary of the Street
Crimes Unit is provided below:
The scope now is an integration of street drugs and gangs, the principal vector.
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The Sergeant works with Detective Sergeants direct activities based on reports,
complaints, analysis of hot spots, etc.
These are not and should not be the only problem which a street crimes unit
should focus on.
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6.
that were utilized for the evaluation of each work Unit in Division 41. Some units had
more of less of the data targeted for the evaluation:
Division 40 Unit Summary and Evaluation
Measurement Type
Description
The total monthly case activity in 2012 for cases worked and
qualified consistent with the row above. Because of system
limitations little of these data were useable.
Utilizing the approaches noted, the project team analyzed each unit in Division
41 as presented in the following subsections.
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Division 41
Sensitive Crimes
Child Abuse
Internet Child Exploit.
Integrated High Risk
Missing Persons
Sex Crimes
Vice
VICLAS
Vulnerable Persons
(1)
Child Abuse
The Child Abuse Unit is dedicated to investigating suspected criminal activity
involving familial sex under the age of 18, any sexual relations with someone under the
age of 14, any history of above, child abandonment, all child deaths, all child injuries
(even non-criminal), assaults on vulnerable people, child abductions and attempts. Staff
assigned to the Unit work with schools, hospitals, families, Crowns, Child and Family
Services, the Child Advocacy Center and other units in the Province and nationally.
Principal characteristics and operating parameters of the Child Abuse Unit include the
following:
There are only informal specialties, cases are assigned based on perceived
levels of work among assigned detectives.
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appears (and supported through supervisory interview) that caseloads are close to
benchmark targeted ranges of 8 10 active cases per investigator (at about 5 7
each).
While organized differently in other jurisdictions (e.g., integrated provincially,
organized with other functions, etc.), staffing in Winnipeg is in line with that of other
cities surveyed in this study.
Recommendation: Maintain the current structure, deployment and staffing levels
of the Child Abuse Unit.
(2)
regarding the use of childrens images as well as other juvenile related activities (e.g.,
sexting). This unit focuses mostly on the information side of child pornography, not the
technology side of image retention. Staff work with other Canadian agencies as well as
agencies in the United States. Other operating characteristics of the unit include the
following:
A Detective Sergeant and 3 Constables staff the unit. Staff work individually
rather than teams.
Staff work their own cases as well as work in support of other units.
Case sources come from a variety of sources other investigators, Tip Line, on
line reports and the National Child Exploitation Center.
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Cases processed through this unit are between 100 130 per year, or 30 40
per investigator per year. Considering that this unit provides assistance on other unit
cases as well as handle their own cases, these are appropriate caseloads.
Other large Canadian and US investigative divisions have staff dedicated to
internet exploitation of children either in dedicated units or as part of a more general
internet crime unit.
Recommendation: Maintain the current structure, deployment and staffing levels
of the Internet Child Exploitation Unit.
(3)
registered sex offenders. Staff in the Unit deals with 810 registrants, all high risk repeat
sex offenders. The Unit is staffed with a Detective Sergeant and 2 Detectives. RCMP
also staffs this integrated unit with 4 Detectives. Staff work in the field (principally
conducting surveillance) and in the office for follow ups.
Conclusion: This Unit provides the kind of proactive specialized service that the
Winnipeg Police Service has valued over the years. The work the Unit provides is
active and directed to the highest priority potential re-offenders.
(4)
Missing Persons
This unit was recently expanded in scope and staff. The Missing Persons Unit
focuses not just on an inventory of missing with case development for persons missing
for extended periods of time to a unit which focuses on high risk persons including
drug users, street people, etc. Other aspects of the operation of the Missing Persons
Unit include the following:
Staff also work closely with integrated task forces (e.g., Project Devote).
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Two shifts are staffed. After midnight and weekends are covered by rotating
duty officers.
The Detective Sergeant prioritize cases based on high risk lifestyles and other
factors.
Staff are assigned cases individually but typically work in two-person teams.
It is unusual for a missing persons unit (in either Canada or the United States to
assign civilian staff who take initial calls and can be part of the outreach for
repeated runaways. This is innovative and has been effective for Winnipeg.
Currently, this Unit is handling approximately 6,600 cases per year up about
20% from 3 years ago. The recovery rate is very high (well over 90%).
While all large agencies have missing persons units the fact that Winnipeg has
several units which deal with high risk people in the community has transferred to this
concept, making this unit innovative and successful in working with the community and
individuals before becoming a more serious situation.
Conclusion: The Missing Persons Unit is a leading practice agency, providing
proactive services to high risk individuals.
(5)
Sex Crimes
The Sex Crimes Unit investigates all adult sexual assaults (i.e., over the age of
14 years unless it is familial in nature), rapes and attempted rapes, predator attacks,
some stalking cases, etc.
certain domestic violence cases. Other operating characteristics of this unit include the
following:
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Staff scope of work includes sexual charges involving someone 14 and up (under
is handled by the Child Abuse Unit), rape, other sexual assaults, predator
attacks, etc., including domestic rapes.
Staff assist back office (i.e., District) investigators on less serious crimes (e.g.,
non-penetrating sexual offenses).
Caseloads, as best as can be determined through system sources as well as
through supervisory interview, is around 50 per month for the Unit as a whole or about 4
per detective per month. Given the fact that average case duration for a sex crime is
over one month the workload indication is that these staff are within the benchmark
case target of 8 10 cases each. The following cases / activities were able to be pulled
from the records management software in use for selected investigators in 2012:
Occurrences
Handled
Within the
Unit
Total
Occurrences
Personnel 1
55
64
85.94%
Personnel 2
31
38
81.58%
Personnel 3
36
45
80.00%
Personnel 4
28
36
77.78%
Personnel 5
27
44
61.36%
177
227
77.97%
Name
Unit Total
% Within
The Vancouver sex crime unit covers three (3) shifts and has 21 investigators;
the units in Saskatoon and Regina are understandably smaller.
Conclusion: Staffing levels are appropriate for the Sex Crime Unit. There is no
compelling reason to expand operations to a third shift.
(6)
Vice
The principal scope of work for the Vice Unit includes street prostitution, human
trafficking, massage parlours, internet issues (e.g., use of Facebook to sell sex), child
Matrix Consulting Group
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prostitution, gaming, ticket scalping, etc. Staff also are proactively working with other
units (e.g., Missing Persons) and outside agencies on the root causes of what becomes
vice activities. Staff include a Detective Sergeant and 5 Constables; staff work the day
shift. Targets are mostly complaint driven.
Other jurisdictions are abandoning their vice units or are combining their
missions with other problem areas in a community. For example, none of the Central
and Western Canadian cities surveyed still have a dedicated unit to vice. Moreover,
activity levels are not high prostitution arrests have been around 150 per year.
Winnipeg has recently recognized this and is the reason for recent inter-agency
activities.
We believe that this flexible approach to addressing vice activity should be
taken in Winnipeg. If the Street Crimes Unit is transferred to Uniform Patrol then the
Vice Unit should be disbanded and prostitution and other targeted activities be made
their responsibility. This approach would make the tie to the community closer from an
operational perspective. Performance targets and measurements should be part of this
change to ensure that these activities are not lost to other priorities. This change is
warranted because of:
The potential to tie into the work that Community Services Units are doing.
This approach has become the more common approach to these crimes.
Recommendation:
Eliminate the Vice Unit and make these activities the
responsibility of a more generalized Street Crimes Unit once transferred back to
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Operations Support. Eliminate through attrition the Sergeant and five (5)
Constable positions which currently staff this unit in Investigative Operations.
(7)
integrated unit with the RCMP. This is an analytical unit which data mines the VICLAS
system, an international system, for linked or serial violent crimes. Originated in the
min-1990s after several high profile cases underscored the need for sharing data.
Other aspects of this capability include the following:
Provides significant levels of support to RCMP and WPS units Integrated High
Risk, Missing and Murdered Women TF, mostly homicides and missing persons
in suspicious circumstances.
VICLAS is an important capability for the Winnipeg Police Service. In spite of the
fact that other Central and Western Canadian police forces do not staff this function it
has value. Some of this value is not recognized within the Winnipeg Police Service. As
noted above, a single Constable staffs this unit which presents an exposure for this
capability both in terms of rotation as well as separation from the force.
It also
impacts the ability to educate other units of the value of this data mining.
Because of the rotation issue and the time it takes to make someone proficient in
VICLAS analysis, the Winnipeg Police Service should consider civilianizing this position.
Recommendations:
Cross train another staff position in VICLAS data mining techniques.
Investigative Operations managers need to ensure that the value of VICLAS is
known and communicated throughout the organization and support this effort.
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The Winnipeg Police Service should consider the civilianization of the Constable
position assigned to VICLAS.
7.
Forensics
Crime Stoppers
Firearms Inv
Polygraph
Forensic Artist
National Weapons
Forensic ID
Secure Ops
Forensic Imaging
Surveillance
Tech Crime
(1)
analysis of firearm casings firearms seized during the commission of crimes. The Unit
also conducts fingerprinting of seized guns, ensures ballistic testing of bullets is
conducted at the RCMP and register weapons in law enforcement databases.
(2)
two (2) civilian Evidence Technicians and two (2) Clerk B positions. While this unit is still
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Section to be function properly and ensure personnel are held accountable for
established workplace standards if the Section is allocated as a permanent Section.
While there are currently no workload measures in the Section, these should be
developed by an assigned supervisor and monitored on an ongoing basis.
Recommendation: If the Firearms Investigation Section is allocated as a
permanent Section, the FIAS should be assigned a full-time supervisor.
(3)
that were utilized for the evaluation of each work Unit in Division 43. Some units had
more of less of the data targeted for the evaluation:
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Description
The total monthly case activity in 2012 for cases worked and
qualified consistent with the row above. Because of system
limitations little of these data were useable.
Utilizing the approaches noted, the project team analyzed each unit in Division
43 as presented in the following subsections.
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Division 43
Major Cases
Arson
Cold Case
Commercial Crime
Homicide
Major Crimes
Pawn
Stolen Autos
M&MWTF
(1)
Arson
This Unit has been a cooperative effort involving the WPS, the Winnipeg Fire
Paramedic Service and the Provincial Office of the Fire Commission. The division of
responsibility for suspected arson has been as follows:
Fire Paramedic Service has been responsible for cause and origin.
The Provincial Office of the Fire Commissioner has also been responsible for
cause and origin determination.
The Police Service has been responsible for being the lead investigators for
criminal arson investigations.
Other aspects and operating characteristics of the Arson Unit in Winnipeg include
the following:
The Winnipeg Police Service and often the Provincial Office of the Fire
Commissioner investigative staff together respond to every fire.
Arson
investigators respond to every suspected arson.
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Assist and deliver several programs in the schools and community (e.g., Youth
Fire Stop Program).
project team worked more typically in Central and Western Canadian cities the
responsibility for arson investigations is shared with other investigative responsibilities
(e.g., with robbery and assaults in Vancouver).
Detective Sergeant caseloads a on the low side, although they do participate in fire
prevention programs in the schools. It is also unusual for arson investigators to work in
teams.
The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service should be tasked with all fire prevention
programs in City schools. Given caseloads, the unit should also be merged in Major
Crimes and the Sergeant and one detective position eliminated through attrition. This
recommendation would be suspended if Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service withdraws its
involvement in cause and origin investigation, a move that this project team would not
support.
Recommendation: Transfer responsibility for all fire prevention programs in City
schools to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service. Merge the arson unit within
Major Crimes as an investigative specialty, eliminating a Detective Sergeant and
Detective position in the process.
(2)
Cold Case
The Cold Case Unit was created in the mid-1990s because of the Police
Services and publics interest in not letting unsolved homicides disappear. Principal
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organizational and operational characteristics of the Cold Case Unit include the
following:
The general criterion for a cold case in Winnipeg is if unsolved for 4 years the
homicide case goes to the Cold Case Unit.
After being referred the case, the Cold Case Unit reviews all files, with one staff
person taking the lead for each new case. They utilize quasi-solvability factors
to determine how to triage the use of staff time.
Staff will work with other units in the Police Service, as necessary. Staff will also
work with a counterpart unit in the RCMP.
the Murdered and Missing Womens Task Force. Many others have not been able to
generate additional leads since the case was re-opened as a cold case.
The unit
supervisor indicated that there were eight (8) active cold cases. These caseloads are
extremely low. The community expects that these cases not be abandoned; additional
cases will also be added at some point. Because of this, cold cases should continue to
be worked and staffed with dedicated resources. However, caseloads do not justify the
number of staff assigned and other resources assist cold cases when needed. An
alternative would be to reduce staffing to 2 Detectives and eliminate one Detective
Sergeant and a Constable. Remaining staff should be folded into the Homicide Unit.
Recommendation: Eliminate through attrition, a Detective Sergeant and
Constable position in the Cold Case Unit and merge the remaining two staff into
the Homicide Unit, with continued dedication to cold cases.
(3)
Commercial Crime
The scope of responsibility for the Commercial Crime Unit includes large frauds
and thefts. An important part of the division on responsibility for crime in the City, District
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investigators perform follow-up on smaller property crimes in the City, including thefts,
burglaries, smaller scale frauds and the like. Other aspects of the organization and
operations of the Commercial Crime Unit include the following:
There are 2 vacant supervisory positions and 2 vacant detective positions. Net
current staffing is 2 Detective Sergeants and 7 Detectives.
Limited caseload information was available for some of investigators assigned to
the Commercial Crimes Unit. The table, below, summarizes this in terms of the number
of cases assigned and controlled for in-unit generated versus other workloads.
Occurrences
Handled
Within the
Unit
Total
Occurrences
Personnel
65
74
87.84%
Personnel
21
25
84.00%
Personnel
16
20
80.00%
Personnel
25
33
75.76%
Personnel
43
64
67.19%
Personnel
51
138
36.96%
221
354
62.43%
Name
Unit Total
% Within
The information provided and documented through the 3rd party software in use
in WPS was corroborated through interview with the Unit supervisor. At these levels,
cases assigned to assigned detectives correspond to caseload targets for fraud
investigators (5 10 cases each) for some investigators but not for others.
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This
indicates the capacity to take on additional tasks. Computer crime (non-child related) is
a growing area of staff expertise in both Canadian and U.S. police agencies.
The Unit is currently carrying 4 vacancies two supervisors and 2 detectives.
These positions were needed when the Unit operated on 3 shifts. These positions
should not be filled and a third shift should not be re-instituted.
Recommendations:
Retain staffing levels in Commercial Crime but expand the scope of their
responsibility to include computer and internet crimes. Two assigned staff
should be trained to the level of Computer Forensics Specialist and handle
selected cases and act as a resource to other cases when image and hard drive
diagnostics are important and part of these cases.
Current vacancies should not be filled in Commercial Crime.
Commercial Crime staff should be located in the central police facility and
relocated to the new facility when it opens next year.
(4)
Homicide
While homicides are not frequent occurrences in Winnipeg, they occur more
frequently than in other Canadian cities. The table, below, demonstrates this:
Homicides 2011
Calgary
Rate/1000
12
0.01
Edmonton
Rate/1000
26
0.03
Regina
Rate/1000
7
0.03
Saskatoon
Rate/1000
5
0.02
Vancouver
Rate/1000
15
0.02
Winnipeg
Rate/1000
22
0.03
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At any level in a community, homicides are serious public matters and police
departments are expected to do something about them, if not prevent certainly solve
them. While homicide is not generally a suppressible crime, it is a crime which is
generally cleared through arrest. In Canada as a whole, clearance rates for homicides
are 75%; in the United, on the other hand, clearance rates for homicides are 65% (for
many more murders). In Winnipeg, homicide clearance rates are marginally higher than
for the country as a whole at 77%. Winnipeg achieves this through some techniques
which are virtually unknown in the United States but are more common in Canada.
These approaches include:
The Homicide Unit works in 2 groups each headed by a Sergeant and each
group having 3 teams, and each team with two detectives.
Staff work 9 hour shifts. Staff rotate responsibility for call out on late
nights and weekends. Staff are paid a retainer for being on call
(1 hour of pay for each 8 hours on call).
Work in a post incident system in which all available investigators respond and
interview people at the scene / collect evidence. Thereafter, the work is
principally performed by 2 person teams.
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Occurrences
Handled
Within the
Unit
Total
Occurrences
Personnel 1
17
19
89.47%
Personnel 2
13
15
86.67%
Personnel 3
18
21
85.71%
Personnel 4
17
20
85.00%
Personnel 5
11
13
84.62%
Personnel 6
20
24
83.33%
Personnel 7
15
18
83.33%
Personnel 8
16
20
80.00%
Personnel 9
22
28
78.57%
Personnel 10
17
25
68.00%
166
203
81.77%
Name
Unit Total
% Within
Major Crimes
The Major Crimes Unit in the Winnipeg Police Service is dedicated to the
investigation of major person and property Part 1 Crimes except for homicide and the
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burglaries and large thefts investigated by other units and district investigators. Their
scope of service includes:
Robberies
Kidnappings
Extortions
Firearms
Serious Assaults
Hate Crimes
five days each week in two nine (9) hour shifts. This allows staff to be responsive
to reports of these crimes and minimizes overtime for call out. Each team is comprised
of the following:
staff position.
The decision to deploy staff seven days each week on multiple shifts each day is
to provide dedicated investigative staff to very serious crimes in the City. In spite of the
hourly and daily coverage of this unit, however, Major Crimes generates a significant
amount of overtime 7,142 hours in 2012 (or $521,571). Excluding 535 court hours
this leaves 6,607 hours in overtime, roughly 3 shifts per month per investigator on
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projects and investigations. Division managers need to focus on this and control the
use of overtime in multi-shift seven day units.
Recommendation: Take steps to control overtime in the Major Crimes Unit.
(6)
Stolen Autos
Within the past 10 years stolen autos was a huge problem in Winnipeg. In a
coordinated effort involving the City, the RCMP and the University of Manitoba patterns
emerged which directed enforcement efforts to address this problem. Based on these
efforts auto thefts have declined markedly recently. The points below summarize the
current situation in Winnipeg:
Proactive and intensive efforts have been key supervision of repeat offenders,
curfew checks, involvement with other stakeholders (e.g., Probation, Crown
Attorneys, RCMP), rapid serving of warrants.
The staffing for the unit is currently two (2) Detective Sergeants and nine (9)
Constables. Manitoba compensates the City for 5 of the assigned positions.
the epidemic proportions of a few years ago. The incidence and rate of stolen auto
performance is in the middle of the range of Canadian cities surveyed. In spite of this
decline in stolen auto crime, the unit staffing levels have not changed form when the
incidence of this crime was significantly higher than it is now.
number of investigators specializing in stolen autos is far higher than in other Central
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and Western Canadian cities. Because of these findings, the City should reduce the
number of investigators dedicated to this effort by the City.
Auto Theft
Calgary
Rate/1000
Edmonton
Rate/1000
5,824
7.17
Regina
Rate/1000
1,010
4.99
Saskatoon
Rate/1000
1,474
6.17
Vancouver
Rate/1000
1,133
1.88
Winnipeg
Rate/1000
2,439
3.53
Low caseloads and case activity is even supported in system reports, the best
data we could obtain on several of the detectives is summarized in the following table:
Name
Occurrences
Handled
Within the
Unit
Total
Occurrences
% Within
Personnel
15
53.33%
Personnel
16
51
31.37%
Personnel
15
61
24.59%
Personnel
16
68
23.53%
Personnel
16
71
22.54%
Personnel
16
102
15.69%
368
23.64%
Unit Total
87
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Recommendations:
The City should reduce the number of Detectives assigned to Stolen Autos. This
will require an agreement with the Province which funds more than half of the
resources assigned. At current crime levels this unit could be reduced by up to
three (3) Constable positions. Cost savings associated with this would be
realized by the Province, not the City.
Develop criteria to determine when special unit objectives have been met so that
resources can be redeployed.
(7)
address serial murders of aboriginal women (originally in British Columbia but at least 3
in Manitoba) as way to better interchange information and work on a cooperative basis
with the aboriginal communities. In the Province of Manitoba, this unit was created 2
years ago. Its operations can be summarized as follows:
The scope for the M&MWTF is a missing persons / cold case capacity.
Work closely with other municipal, provincial, community based and aboriginal
organizations.
Cooperate extensively with other investigative units in WPS and the RCMP.
Conclusion: There are no issues with this unit, it operates as an effective multiagency task force concept.
(8)
Pawns
Two staff positions in addition to a temporarily assigned Constable who monitor
property passing through 25-30 pawn shops in the City and 50-65 places where
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property is resold (including some antique stores) and controlled through the Citys
Bylaw encompassing resale activities. Staff operate as follows:
Staff make daily visits to pawns and other monitored establishments on a rotating
basis focus on the higher volume establishments including 5-6 pawn shops.
Staff make daily recording of pawned property; files are electronically transferred
from the business to the Unit.
proactive oversight of resale establishments would take more field time for assigned
staff.
Many agencies have utilized non-sworn staff to perform recording and other
administrative tasks. The Winnipeg Police Service should explore the long term viability
of substituting a non-sworn staff position for the temporarily assigned position.
Recommendation: Convert one Constable position to a non-sworn position when
the opportunity makes this possible.
9.
CRIME ANALYSTS
As discussed throughout this report, the availability of crime analysts in the
Winnipeg Police Service is extraordinarily limited. The extent of this deficiency impacts
the effectiveness of operations in the key / core areas of field operations and
investigations. The project team has concluded that these resources need to be added
centrally as well as in these key / core areas. Adding a crime analysts to Division 41
ands one to Division 43 (a total of two positions) would assist investigators in a number
of ways, including:
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Recommendation:
Hire two Crime Analysts to work with case handling
investigators in Division 41 and Division 43.
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6.
participants in the Citys shared services model. The shared services model, while
having staff report directly to the Corporate organization can provide dedicated staff
positions to support the WPS in both Human Resources and Finance.
At the present time, the Winnipeg Police Service does not participate, in any
substantial manner, in the Citys shared services model for the Human Resources or
Financial functions.
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Does the position require law enforcement powers? (i.e., powers of arrest,
use of force, statutory requirement, carrying a firearm)?;
Are the skills, experience, or credibility of a sworn police officer required to
fulfill the duties of the position?; and
Can the requirements of the position be fulfilled by a specially trained
civilian?
Since most of the administrative services are already civilianized, this analysis
was most applicable to the evaluations of the staffing allocations for Human Resources.
As will be discussed later in this section, in most cases where Human Resources
positions are filled with a sworn officer, the project team believes that a civilian
alternative would be appropriate as the answer to the three questions listed above are
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no. This is not an indication of either the quality of the existing staff, or the ability of a
sworn officer to successful conduct these positions; however, it does indicate that in
virtually every instance the duties of a position do not require the unique skills, abilities,
and police powers associated with a sworn officer. The project team concluded that the
benefits of having individuals who have extensive training, background and experience
in the performance of the human resources duties has a greater long-term benefit to the
organization.
HUMAN RESOURCES.
This section provides an assessment of the Human Resources Unit of the
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Insp.
Human Resources
Total
Staff
Sgts.
1
1
Sgts.
2
2
Det/Pat.
Sgts.
2
2
Constables
Admin/Other
6
6
12
12
1
1
The following table shows the positions and authorized civilian strength of this
unit.
Position
Clerk B
Clerk C
Senior Clerk
Total
# of Staff
7
4
1
12
Human Resources staff are involved with and sit on the negotiation team for
collective bargaining agreements.
All required information, including downloadable forms, for applying for work with
the WPS are available online.
Internal promotion is encouraged within the WPS and recruitment and selection
processes are designed to support this policy.
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Promotional processes, for all positions, utilize clearly defined job related
selection techniques (such as in-basket exercises, testing, interviews, etc.) that
are tailored to the position being filled. WPS has recently implemented a 360degree feedback mechanism as part of the selection process for some positions.
Operational Analysis.
The following sections outline several operational improvements that should be
competencies are being developed in key skill areas to provide continuity of service
throughout the organization. While applicants skills are considered when filling
positions by rotation, there is not a comprehensive assessment of the units skill base,
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needed skills, or any projection of skills that may be lost in the coming years due to loss
of personnel (retirement or forced rotation). Additionally, a better understanding of the
future staffing needs (relative to skill-sets) can assist the Human Resources Unit in
providing appropriate levels of support for recruitment and selection to the other
organizational units.
Workforce planning is generally defined as obtaining the right number of people
with the right skills, experience, and competencies in the right jobs at the right time. In
order to do workforce planning, data must be available, and systems must be available
to manage data. While this effort is important for any organization, it is especially critical
in an organization such as the Winnipeg Police Service where a significant proportion of
positions are filled through the rotation policy. Data requirements include workforce
demographics, trends in personnel transactions, data on the skills of the existing staff
and future skills needed.
The steps involved in workforce planning include the following:
Gap Analysis: Compare information from the supply analysis and demand
analysis to identify the gaps between current and future workforce needs.
competencies;
analyze
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staff
Austin, in the United States, have initiated workforce planning in the last several years
and have been recognized by national publications for their efforts. These programs
provide a solid foundation for review by the WPS to identify lessons learned and key
practices that can be employed within the Winnipeg Police Service.
The Human Resources Division should be charged with the development of a
workforce plan for the WPS within the next eighteen to twenty-four months that is in
alignment with any adopted changes to the rotational policy. In developing this plan,
input should be solicited from all organizational units to identify historical cases where
poor placement of individuals (especially due to the rotational policy) have impacted the
ability to provide services. The focus of identifying these areas is not to focus on the
specific individuals but rather to identify the skills and competencies needed within the
positions for success. The Chief of Polices Office should be expected to be a major
contributor to this effort by defining key positions and providing the organization priority
for this effort.
Recommendation: The HR Division should undertake a workforce planning effort
to develop a workforce plan including succession planning.
(2.2) The WPS Should Enhance the Utilization of Feedback from Employees
Through Several Methods.
The WPS should enhance the compilation of information from employees
through several methods including conducting an annual employee satisfaction survey,
periodic unit visits, and the enhanced utilization of exit interviews.
Best in class
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and service levels and identify necessary operational changes in HR practices needed
to improve the workplace.
Exit interviews provide a typically candid source of feedback, both of strengths
and improvement opportunities for the organization. This information gathered should
be consistently evaluated and disseminated to the top administration for use in future
planning of necessary human resources actions and initiatives.
Treatment by supervisor,
Opportunity to advance,
Adequacy of communications,
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Open positions;
Personnel manual;
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than an intranet portal that is limited to employee access) provides access to key
employment related information for employees and potential applicants. These types of
documents are routinely provided online by communities that have high-performing
human resources departments. The provision of these documents online also tends to
reduce the amount of time that staff must spend in responding to requests for basic
information from employees, other police services, and potential applicants.
All application materials should be available in fillable PDF format for ease of the
applicant. Longer-term the WPS should develop an online application process that
enables applicants to complete, submit and check the status of their application online.
Recommendation: The WPS should expand the information available on the
Human Resources section of the website.
Recommendation: Application materials should be provided, at minimum, in
fillable PDF format for the convenience of the applicant. Longer-term, the WPS
should develop an online application process.
(3)
project team concludes that the principal issue facing the Human Resources Division
related to staffing and organization is not the number of staff allocated to the provision
of services but rather the following:
The lack of professionally trained Human Resources staff (i.e., those with either
college education in Human Resources, Labour Relations and/or certifications
from relevant professional associations such as IPMA-Canada) within the HR
organization, and
The lack of integration or shared services between the WPS and the City of
Winnipeg.
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For comparison purposes, the following table shows the results of the
comparative survey conducted by the project team relative to the staffing allocated to
Human Resources in selected Canadian police services.
# HR Staff
Total Staffing
HR Staff to Total Staff Ratio
Calgary
16.5
2,708
.6%
Regina
9
539
1.7%
Saskatoon
11
1,715.50
.6%
Vancouver
21
1,715
1.2%
Winnipeg
25
1,816
1.4%
As shown in this table, the staffing allocated to the Human Resources function for
the Winnipeg Police Service is the second highest of the comparative agencies. WPS
Human Resources staffing represents 1.4% of the total staffing of the organization
compared to a range of .6% to 1.7% for the comparative agencies. Since it is difficult to
make direct comparisons between agencies due to each Police Service having a
different mix of services provided within organizational units, it should not be
immediately concluded that the Human Resources Division is not appropriately staffed.
During on-site interviews and discussions, no additional staff resources were identified
as being needed within the WPS Human Resources Division to handle existing
workloads and the project team has not identified a need for staffing reductions.
As previously noted, there were several areas noted where a different mix of staff
positions should be considered. The most important relates to the need for inclusion of
professionally trained Human Resources staff over this function. It should be noted that
the existing sworn staff assigned to perform Human Resources administrative functions
are not only extremely capable, but have implemented during the last several years
several progressive programs to improve services and further implement best practices.
These programs include revised promotional processes, incorporation of 360-degree
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feedback within selection processes, and the utilization of job related skills and
requirements for selection of applicants for positions.
Despite the great performance of existing staff, the use of sworn positions in key
administrative functions could be problematic for the WPS for the following reasons:
The current rotational policy does not ensure that highly qualified individuals will
be selected in the future for these key HR positions.
Individuals who apply for assignment to HR during the rotational process most
likely will have limited, if any, direct experience handling Human Resources
issues prior to selection.
should always ensure that sworn positions are only allocated to those positions where a
clearly defined need is present for the background, experience and skills of a sworn
officer. If these are not present, the position should be civilianized.
In reviewing the appropriate utilization of sworn positions in administrative
support positions, several factors are key in the determination of whether a
recommendation is made relative to utilization of sworn or civilian employees. These
factors include:
Whether law enforcement powers are legally required to perform the assigned
duties of the position?
Do the job duties that may benefit from the assignment of a sworn employee
constitute a preponderance of the assigned job duties?
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Two other existing positions should also be civilianized over time. This includes
the two staff sergeant positions reporting to the Inspector. The duties of these
positions, including promotional testing, would benefit from having a individuals in
those positions who have an extensive human resources background to draw
from.
While a case could be made to also civilianize the position currently responsible
for overseeing the rotation policy and the assignment of limited duty staff to operational
units, the background and experience (and acquired understanding of the actual
requirements of these positions) are best handled by a sworn position at this time. This
position should remain as a sworn position assigned to Human Resources.
Additionally, maintaining a sworn position within the HR organization at this level
ensures that there is an individual who can provide any required insight and support in
other areas of Human Resources that is sometimes difficult for a civilian to easily
acquire.
Longer-term, the project team recommends that the WPS continue to explore
opportunities for the Human Resources functions to fall under the Citys shared services
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support in terms of professional support to the Human Resources function, and increase
consistency of treatment of employees across all organizational units.
The cost impact of these recommendations will be entirely dependent upon the
classification that is implemented for the new Human Resources positions.
It is
extremely unlikely that the costs will be more than the existing positions and most likely
will result in a net savings to the WPS.
Recommendation: Several positions, including Inspector and Staff Sergeant
positions, within the Human Resources Division, should be civilianized over time
(i.e., during the next rotation for these positions). These positions should be filled
with individuals with extensive background and professional training in the
Human Resources profession.
Recommendation: The WPS and City of Winnipeg should undertake discussions
of approaches to integrate the WPS HR function under the Citys shared HR
services approach to gain access to additional HR support, increase consistency
of employee treatment across the entire City organization, and reduce overhead
and duplication of services.
2.
FINANCE.
This section provides an assessment of the Finance Division of the WPS.
(1)
Finance Overview.
The Finance Division is responsible for the development and ongoing
administration of the WPS annual operating budget. This division reports directly to the
Chief of Police. The Division is organized into three units: Quartermaster, Expenses,
and Revenue. The Quartermaster unit is responsible for procurement, storage, and
issuing supplies to WPS personnel to perform their work activities. Expenses unit is
responsible for the all financial accounting of expenses, i.e., budget, payroll and
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accounts payables of the WPS. The Revenue unit of the Finance Division handles all
revenue, special duty, alarm and travel functions for the Winnipeg Police Service.
The current staffing allocation for the Finance function is summarized in the
following table:
Position
Manager of Finance/Comptroller
Assistant Supervisor Budget
Assistant Supervisor Revenue
Clerk C
Clerk B
Clerk A
Sup of Quartermaster Stores
Storekeeper 3 / 4
Total
# of Staff
1
1
1
1
5
2
1
5
17
WPS has a dedicated unit to handling budget management and financial aspects
of the WPS.
Fiscal policies have been adopted to ensure financial and internal controls meet
recognized financial controls.
Finance staff monitor the WPS operating and capital expenditures to ensure
conformance with the adopted budget and provide senior management team
members with periodic budget reports.
Materials acquisition and inventory has been generally centralized within the
WPS to achieve cost-effective procurement of items.
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(2)
Operational Analysis.
As noted in the best management practices section of this report, and as
summarized in the strengths listed above, the WPS Finance Division employs a number
of best practices in providing services. No notable operational deficiencies were noted
within the organization that cause the project team to recommend major changes in
operational practices.
However, as will be addressed in more detail in the following section, the WPS
Finance Division operates independently of the Citys Corporate Finance Department
unlike other Winnipeg Departments financial units. A greater level of integration will
enable operational practices to be implemented within the WPS that follows internal
controls, financial reporting, and financial management consistently across the Citys
organizational units.
integrate the Financial Division under the Citys Finance Department, all WPS financial
policies and practices should be evaluated and modified to ensure full compliance with
adopted City financial policies and practices. At this point in time, it is unknown the
level of change that this will have on WPS financial operational practices.
(3)
total seventeen positions. From a review of the services provided and discussions with
the Finance Manager of WPS, no specific areas of staffing deficiency were noted within
the WPS Finance Division.
When comparing the staffing allocated to the Finance Division in Winnipeg to
other Police Services in Canada, the existing staffing allocation is similar to those noted
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Calgary
Regina
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
2,708.00
539
627.11
1,715.50
1,816.00
22
4.5
17
.81%
1.11%
.72%
.47%
.94%
# of Staff
Accounting /
Budget
% finance to
Total Staffing
Winnipeg organizational unit that does not have the Finance Manager reporting the
Citys Finance Department. Most other City entities have this position, while in many
cases still physically located within the Department, more integrated into the Citys
organizational structure and shared services philosophy.
The project team would recommend that this same approach be utilized for the
Winnipeg Police Service and the Finance Manager should have a direct reporting
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relationship to the City along with an indirect reporting relationship directly to the Chief
of Police (similar to the current reporting relationship). While there is a potential
perception of a loss of control by the WPS over the Financial operations, this change
increases financial oversight by the City reducing potential for liability for the WPS
should issues arise. Additionally, there is no clear operational reason for treating the
WPS different from other City organizational units in relation to financial oversight and
relationship with Corporate Finance. This change will also provide a single consistent
approach to managing financial operations throughout the entire City of Winnipeg and
provide increased consistency in financial approaches, procedures, and work
methodologies to the WPS.
Prior to implementation of this approach, the Chief and the Citys Chief Financial
Officer should develop a clear understanding of the operational impacts of this move
and enter into a service level agreement to clearly outline roles, responsibilities and
service levels related to the financial operations.
Recommendation: The WPS should work with the City of Winnipeg to implement
the shared services approach to Financial Management by having the Finance
Manager report to the Citys financial operations. The Finance Manager should
retain a dotted line reporting relationship to the Chief of Police.
Recommendation: The WPS and City of Winnipeg should develop a service level
agreement outlining service levels and service delivery approaches prior to the
implementation of the shared services approach for the financial operation.
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7.
DIVISION 30 - SERVICES.
This section of the report provides an assessment of the Development Services
This
Division is responsible for providing a variety of support services to the WPS including:
Caretaking functions, Document Services (principally contracted out), Special Projects /
PSB Security, and Vehicle Services.
responsible for the serving of papers and subpoenas on behalf of WPS. The Special
Projects unit handles a variety of assigned projects to support the Manager of Services
and is also responsible for conducting all background investigations for contractors and
staff working on the new Police Service Building. Vehicle Services is responsible for the
maintenance, servicing and repair of WPS vehicles and equipment.
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As this unit is mainly civilianized, the following table shows the positions and
authorized civilian strength of this unit.
Position
Manager of Services
Assistant Sup of Services
Supervisor of Vehicle Services
Shop Foreman
Mechanic
Supervisor of Caretakers
Caretakers
Clerk B
Clerk A
Total
# of Staff
1
1
1
1
6
1
12
1
2
26
Sworn positions are appropriately utilized within this Division with most positions
being civilianized with the exception of the following: (1) Sergeant that oversees
document services, and (2) Sergeant conducting background investigations on
contract personnel performing work on the new HQ.
Operational Analysis.
In evaluating the operational practices of the Services Unit of Development
support, the project team found most operational practices to conform with recognized
best practices and expected operational procedures.
Matrix Consulting Group
shows that janitorial services are more expensive to acquire from the City than if hired
directly by WPS, this is largely due to the overhead cost allocation formula that is
utilized and the inconsistency in how costs are calculated between the two entities. In
several facilities, janitorial service is performed by City staff demonstrating that this
approach is not only feasible but that the background requirement can be addressed.
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WPS and the City should form a joint review committee to explore the provision
of all janitorial services through the Citys Shared Service approach. While some costs
may be higher under this approach, there are also significant benefits to having a
backup contingent of personnel that can be utilized to fill in during vacations, sick
leave, and other employee absences from work. Additionally, there were no identified
operational reasons that demonstrated that the Winnipeg Police Service would be
negatively impacted by receiving services under the approach utilized for all other City
Agencies. Absent demonstrable operational reasons, the project team believes that the
philosophical reasons should be placed aside and the shared services model pursued.
This will enable the WPS to benefit from having oversight of this service by
professionals in the industry and enable WPS resources to focus greater attention on
core Police Service issues. The project team understands the strong opinions that both
sides have on this issue, and when costs are not significantly different, believes that the
benefits of a shared services model typically outweigh having separate and duplicate
support services in place.
Recommendation: The WPS should revisit the level and type of background
investigations conducted on staff for janitorial and fleet positions to ensure they
are not overly stringent in comparison to other Police Service entities and the
Citys practices.
Recommendation: The WPS and City should form a joint review committee to
explore implementation of the shared services approach for janitorial services.
(3)
Staffing Analysis.
No significant time was spent evaluating the existing staffing contingent and
requirements for the janitorial function of the WPS. With the construction of a new
headquarters facility underway, and the project teams recommendation to reconsider
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the shared services approach for janitorial services, staffing requirements should not be
developed until those two issues are resolved. It is known that janitorial requirements
for the new facility will be different from those required for the existing facility.
Recommendation: Janitorial staffing should be reviewed after the WPS and City
have made a determination regarding the implementation of a shared services
approach for janitorial services and should be based upon the requirements
necessary to appropriately staff the new WPS headquarters facility.
2.
Division 31 Overview.
This Division is responsible for the overall administration, oversight and
management of the records and reports functions, court processing, and Property and
Evidence functions for the WPS.
Development Support Services.
functional units:
Reporting Unit, Central Reading, Arrest Processing, and Property and Evidence.
Property and Evidence is located off-site at a separate facility and is response for the
overall control, custody, release or other disposition of property taken into the
possession of the Winnipeg Police Service. Property and Evidence is also responsible
for handling firearms dispositions following court case resolution. The following table
summarizes the authorized staffing within this Division by rank / classification:
Unit
Insp.
Records and
Reports Division
Total
Staff
Sgts.
Sgts.
Det/Pat.
Sgts.
Constables
Admin/Other
123
95
95
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As this unit is largely civilianized, the following table shows the positions and
authorized civilian strength for specific units of this Division.
DVE
Positions
DVE
Operator
DVE Shift
Leader
Total
# Staff
30
4
34
CPIC
Positions
CPIC
Operations
CPIC Shift
Leader
CPIC
Coordinator
Total
# Staff
24
4
Property &
Evidence Positions
Property Exhibit
Technician II
Property Exhibit
Technician I
#
Staff
3
Clerk C
#
Staff
7
Clerk B
37
4
12
Senior
Clerk
Total
1
29
Total
48
All property and evidence is tracked through the primary police software solution.
The warehouse for storage of property and evidence is secured and access
limited to authorized personnel. All entry to the facility is tracked.
Drugs and weapons are stored and maintained in separate secured areas
separate from other evidence and property.
The Unit has implemented a strong purging program to eliminate property and
evidence from the facility when it is no longer needed by the WPS.
Cost-effective measures for the disposal of drugs and weapons have been
implemented.
With one notable exception (report review), most functions within this Division
have been civilianized.
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Operational Analysis.
As noted in the more comprehensive best management practices assessment
(summarized above with only selected strengths listed), most operations within the
Records and Reports Management functions are being provided in accordance with
practices utilized by many other police agencies.
There are several minor operational changes the project team recommends be
implemented by this Division. Each of these recommendations, and a brief narrative
description of the need for this change, is contained in the following section.
Organizational Unit
DIRECT VOICE ENTRY
Recommended Change
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Organizational Unit
Recommended Change
COURT UNIT
PROPERTY AND
EVIDENCE
procedure, including a
random selection
component, should be
implemented for the property
and evidence unit.
Additional educational
outreach efforts related to
found property to more
proactively return property to
owner. This should include
online database searching
and property listings.
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(3)
increased technical knowledge and skills of staff assigned to their specific unit.
However, a significant drawback to the specialization is that staff cannot be easily
reallocated, as needed, to provide additional staff support based upon either workload
variances or staffing levels.
Within this division, there are two notable staffing recommendations that the
project team is outlining. The first relates to the elimination of the Central Reading Unit
and the second is an additional position within the Property and Evidence Unit. These
are outlined in the following sections.
(3.1) The Central Reading Unit should be eliminated.
As recommended elsewhere in this report, it has been recommended that field
Sergeants be reinstated with the responsibility for reviewing and approving police
reports from their assigned personnel. With this change, there is no need to maintain
the Central Reading Unit within this Division. The project team recommends that this
unit be eliminated and residual duties (those not performed by the Sergeants) should be
transferred to the Direct Voice Entry unit. This unit was selected as it has the duties
more comparable (and the skills required) to those currently performed by the Central
Reading Unit as they currently assist officers with entry of reports. Additionally, based
upon the project teams review of the unit, there appears to be sufficient capacity to
allocate this additional responsibility without overburdening existing staff.
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With this organizational change, the sworn staff currently allocated to the Central
Reading Unit (18 constables) can be eliminated (or transferred elsewhere in the
organization).
The project team would recommend that the WPS consider allowing
four of these positions (though they would be filled by civilians) be transferred to the
Direct Voice Entry unit to serve a dedicated quality control function to support the
Sergeants in the field. A transition back to having field Sergeants assume primary
responsibility for report review and oversight will require assistance and support to fully
implement. To ensure the quality of reports, the WPS will benefit from a more focused
training and quality assurance program at least in the first several years following the
elimination of the Central Reading Unit and the transition. These individuals would
provide training to staff on report writing, and conduct a quality control program of
random report review. The elimination of these positions from the Central Reading Unit
represents a cost reduction of $1,190,170 to the Winnipeg Police Service.
This is
calculated on the basis of 14 constable positions (utilizing Step 5) and a benefit rate of
24.79% [$68,124.19 x 14 x 1.2479]. It is important to note that this is only a true
savings if these positions are eliminated. However, at a minimum, it represents a cost
avoidance to the extent that these sworn position can be redeployed to more effective
use in the organization without the need to hire new sworn constables.
Recommendation: The Central Reading Unit should be eliminated with the
transfer of report review duties being reallocated to field Sergeants.
Any
residual duties should transfer to the Direct Voice Entry Unit.
Recommendation: Of the 18 constable positions authorized in the Central
Reading Unit, the equivalent of four positions should be transferred to Central
Reading to develop a comprehensive Quality Assurance and Report Training
Program. The remaining 14 positions should be eliminated (at a cost savings of
approximately $1,190,170 annually) or redeployed elsewhere in the organization
in lieu of hiring new sworn positions.
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The
While the
project team has assumed that the current approach to assigning limited duty staff will
continue, we are recommending that one additional position be authorized for this unit
so that it can be dedicated to the purging program and associated duties.
The
Division of the Winnipeg Police Service. The Information Technology Division of WPS
is a direct internal service function. A primary purpose of this unit is to provide the e
necessary technology and technological support to other WPS Divisions.
Similar to human resources and financial functions at the City of Winnipeg,
information technology services are provided throughout the City of Winnipeg in a
shared serviced model. The Citys shared service model was designed to provide a
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more centralized focus on core support services by having these services performed by
one entity for multiple civic departments.
opportunities will exist in the future to take advantage of additional joint procurement
opportunities (or sharing of infrastructure though that becomes more problematic due
to requirements for the police data to be separate and secure from non-Police data) to
reduce costs.
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(1)
technology needs of the WPS including desktop support and maintenance, server
maintenance and support, software support, and software development and
administration. The Division manages a large contingent of WPS technology projects to
support the operations of the WPS. These projects include evaluation of new software
solutions, application development, and management and operations of the main WPS
police records and data software solution.
# of Staff
1
2
1
5
3
1
1
1
4
1
24
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WPS has begun implementing standards for hardware, workstations, and laptops
to simplify administration and operation.
A single business analyst position has been implemented within the staffing
contingent of ITS to assist in documenting business requirements for technology
solutions prior to selection of a technology solution.
WPS staff are able to attend training courses offered by the City of Winnipeg
eliminating the need for ITS to duplicate all training efforts.
The following two sections of outline the key improvement opportunities related
Operational Analysis.
In evaluating the operational practices of the Winnipeg Police Service ITS
Division, the project team noted many strengths specifically related to the technicalaspects of IT functions that are in place.
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the case of the Winnipeg Police Service, they have implemented a third-party software
program for as the base system for Police-specific data including most data and records
management functions.
Our review of WPSs Divisions and Units indicates varied levels of satisfaction
with the performance of this software. While many modules perform well and meet the
identified needs of select Divisions/Units, many others in the organization find that key
functionality is not present (or they are not aware of it) to meet their operational needs.
It is difficult to determine if some of the dissatisfaction with this software is due to the
manner in which the system was implemented, the level of training of the user, or the
failure to modify business practices to the extent necessary to fit the softwares
processes.
Whatever the reason, this dissatisfaction has caused some Divisions/Units to
question the viability of the system and to seek external systems for their operational
needs. The project team recommends that in select cases, a best in breed software
solution is preferable to maintaining department-wide utilization of a single software
solution. However, when data and processes are removed from the main software
solution, the entire WPS organization must understand what this means in terms of data
availability, ability to integrate data, and the impact that may be caused to other users of
the system. Decisions regarding which solutions are handled through the enterprisewide software and which are handled through specialty software should be based upon
a defined set of standards and involve decision-making at the highest level of the
organization. These defined standards should not only be limited to the primary police
services software solution but also apply generally and clearly indicate when ITS must
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be involved (the early the better) in the review, acquisition, and installation of third party
software solutions.
process resulted in the acquisition of software that was not fully compatible with existing
WPS technology and software.
One of the most significant recommendations that the project team is making
regarding ITS operational services is the development of a plan outlining the future role
and status of the main software system within the WPS. This plan should include the
following sections:
Identification of data and functions that may only be handled by the primary
software solution,
Identification of data and functions where third-party systems can be utilized and
no integration with the main software solution is required.
These data and functionality should be done on a Division-by-Division and Unit-
A standard set of
requirements should be developed that outline the types of systems that will be allowed
to integrate (and that can integrate) with the primary police software solution so that
these requirements can be used when considering third party applications. The plan
should also include sections that identify:
Existing functionality of the primary software solution that has not been
implemented;
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This plan can only be developed by ITS with extensive input and feedback from
all operational units and the development of clear standards for data integrity, validity,
and integration.
The project team readily acknowledges that not all Divisions/Units are well
served by the functionality of the existing third-party police software, but also recognizes
that the wholesale replacement of the primary software system for an organization the
size and complexity of WPS is extremely large and not always needed.
Creating a greater understanding of the abilities of this software and the areas
where third party solutions should be sought should go a long ways toward eliminating
discontent with the system.
requested projects that ITS is asked to assist with or at least, allow them to be
prioritized.
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of ITS to provide services. The listing is also so extensive due to the fact that there is
no ITS Steering Committee and no hard and fast standards regarding which projects
are placed on the ITS Project Listing and no formally adopted priorities established
among these projects.
This places the ITS Manager in the unworkable position of attempting to
determine WPS priorities without a level of discussion and input necessary from other
executives and managers of the organization.
organization as individuals believe their project is on the list without knowing that not
all project on the list are actively being worked.
Another noted problem of the current system, is that ITS has on numerous
projects devoted time and resources to addressing a priority project for a Division and
when the sponsor of that project leaves the Division prior to project completions (such
as may occur due to rotational policies), the project is not a priority of the new
Divisions managers and may be abandoned or not given the same level of attention. If
ITS is going to provide quality, timely, and effective services to the WPS, it must have a
clear work-plan (that can be resourced and scheduled) in order to be held accountable.
Since IT Steering Committees are extremely common, and there is extensive
information readily available on project criteria, and work plan development, there is not
a need to duplicate that within this report.
recommends that the WPS develop an ITS Project Steering Committee that is charged
with the responsibility for developing the annual workplan for ITS services (including
authorizing which projects are given the green light for addressing). To be effective and
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accepted, the ITS Steering Committee must be fully endorsed by top administration and
include representatives from each of the Divisions of the WPS.
Recommendation: The WPS must implement an ITS Steering Committee to
establish organizational priorities for ITS services and develop and adopt an
annual work plan for ITS Services.
(2.3) Greater Coordination Must Occur Between WPS ITS and the City of
Winnipeg Information Technology.
Given the number of challenges facing both organizations, the project team is not
recommending that a full merger of shared services approach be implemented for
Technology services.
opportunities to improve IT operations (and potentially save costs) within the WPS
through shared efforts with the City.
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Staffing Analysis.
In evaluating the staffing allocation of the WPS Information Technology and
Solutions Division, the project team first looked at staffing allocations for comparable
technology units in other Police Services and then looked at the existing staffing
allocation in WPS specifically to identify gaps in staff skills and classifications.
The Winnipeg Police Service has a staffing allocation this slightly lower than that
allocated to Information Technology units in other police agencies. The results of our
comparative survey are shown in the table below:
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The comparative staffing review shows that Winnipegs staffing level (at 1.3% of
WPS total authorized positions) most closely resembles Vancouver which allocated
1.4% of staff to IT functions.
considerably less than the 2.5% and 1.9% allocated to IT staffing by Calgary and
Regina respectively. All responses are shown in the following table:
Calgary
# IT Staff
Regina
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
67
10
11
24
24
Total Staffing
2,708
539
1,715.50
1,715
1,816
2.5%
1.9%
0.6%
1.4%
1.3%
As the table shows that even though staffing varies so greatly between the
agencies, the IT staff allocated to the Winnipeg Police Service falls within the lower
range of the overall comparisons. It also falls at the low end of the percentage typically
utilized by the project team in assessing overall IT staffing levels.
When the project team reviewed staffing allocations with the IT Manager, the
most notable deficiencies within the organization is a lack of staff dedicated to system
requirements development and project management.
typically performed by other IT staff who also have day-to-day technical oversight of the
various IT specialties.
dedicated IT Business Analyst position in the last year to assist with IT requirements
development.
Based upon these reviews, the project team recommends (and believes the
operational changes recommended also support these staffing adjustments) that the IT
staff be increased by three positions.
Matrix Consulting Group
Business Analyst position and two IT Project Managers (who would also have
responsibilities for IT requirements development).
dramatically over the last decade where IT staff must be more cognizant of and capable
in the field of developing business requirements (prior to the selection or development
of software solutions) and in the implementation of technology solutions. These require
staff with training and skills in this area. It is much easier to acquire through contractual
basis specialized technology skills or solutions related to specific technology aspects of
the IT infrastructure (such as server maintenance, security protocol development, etc.)
but much harder to procure the services of individuals who can effectively develop the
requirements needed for technology solutions (as they are highly dependent on the
individual organizational culture and expectations) and project management. For these
reasons, the project team recommends that any investment in personnel for the ITS
Division be allocated to these functions.
The addition of one additional business analyst and two dedicated project
managers will cost the WPS approximately $290,000 annually including benefits. This
is based upon an estimated benefit percentage of 24.79% and estimated base annual
salaries of $62,000 for the Business Analyst position and $85,000 for the Project
Manager positions.
With the addition of these three positions, the WPS ITS staffing levels as a
percentage of total WPS staffing will still fall below all of the comparative agencies with
the exception of Saskatoon. The new percentage would be 1.3% of total WPS staffing.
With a new approach to providing services by ITS, the historical positions and
skillsets of the ITS Division will no longer be suitable for the future.
Technology is
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continually changing the position titles, duties and allocation will be much more fluid
than they have in the past. To ensure that appropriate staff skills are available, the ITS
Manager should provide a training plan to each employee during annual performance
evaluations outlining required training that is needed, and identifying desirable training
and skill sets that will be needed in the future.
Recommendation: The WPS should authorize three additional positions (one
Business Analyst and two Project Managers) for the ITS Division at an estimated
annual cost of $290,000.
Recommendation: The WPS ITS Manager should develop, as part of annual
evaluations, a detailed training plan for each employee outlining required skills
and training that should be pursued to expand skillsets for IT personnel.
5.
Foreman, one Clerk (B) and six Mechanics. The mechanics are all certified as Red
Seal Mechanics, which is an Interprovincial Certification.
(1)
Units
2
7
9
146
5
10
4
8
20
207
% of Total
0.72
1.67
2.15
34.84
1.19
2.39
0.95
1.91
4.77
49.4
419
100%
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The larges proportion of the fleet is marked sedans, which account for
approximately 35% of the fleet. Plain Sedans account for an additional 28% of the fleet.
The following table illustrates the number of vehicles assigned to each Division of
the WPS:
Division
11
12
13
14
16
30
31
32
34
35
40
41
42
50
51
Duty Inspector
Executive
Professional Standards
Total
Units Assigned
35
17
32
32
20
35
5
17
2
1
43
12
53
22
81
2
7
3
419
The following table illustrates the repair history for WPS fleet performed in 2012:
Repair Type
Alignment
Collision Repair
Body Work (In-house)
Brakes
Cooling System
Driveline
Electrical
Engine
Equipment Transfer
General Maintenance
Government Inspections
HVAC
Lube, Oil, Filter and Comprehensive Checks
Non Work Order Repairs
New Vehicle Outfitting
Vehicle Safety Equipment
Speedometer Calibration
Steering
Number
56
127
311
802
53
187
969
260
112
1.052
54
91
1,445
292
67
25
109
304
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Number
613
264
25
72
7,290
As shown above, there were a total of 7,290 repairs conducted on WPS vehicles
in 2012 with Lube, Oil and Filter and comprehensive checks and general maintenance
being the most frequent services performed.
(2)
The WPS Should Develop and Ensure the Vehicle Services Unit Adheres to
a Formal Vehicle Replacement Schedule.
According to personnel in the Vehicle Services Unit a point system has been
developed to determine when vehicles should be replaced based on repair history, but it
is not being used. VSU personnel currently consider vehicles for replacement after
165,000 kilometers and/or 7 years of service. An annual inspection is conducted to
determine if vehicles should be replaced. There has been a decision in the Vehicle
Service Unit to determine replacement based on the annual inspection. While the
annual inspection process is an excellent way to determine vehicles that need to be
replaced ahead of the established vehicle replacement schedule, it should not serve as
a substitute for planning vehicle replacement based on years of service or mileage. By
developing a formal program and tracking both the age of the fleet as well as average
miles driven per year, the Service can improve the planning and budgeting of vehicles
requiring replacement in upcoming budget years.
Recommendation: The WPS should establish a formal vehicle replacement
schedule for emergency response and administrative vehicles. It is recommended
that This schedule be 4 years/161,000 kilometers for emergency response
vehicles and 7 years/161,000 kilometers for administrative vehicles.
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(3)
brought to the shop; often personnel will wait while repairs are conducted. According to
records provided, the average downtime for vehicles is less than 5% with ranges in the
data from 0 8%. Downtime exceeding 5% is typically viewed as unacceptable and the
Unit strives to maintain downtime as low as possible. The WPS should establish a goal
for downtime of vehicles to ensure vehicle downtime is not an issue and the VSU
continues to provide high service levels.
Recommendation: Set a downtime goal of 3% or less for front line emergency
response vehicles.
(4)
personnel and undergo an equivalent background check prior to being hired by WPS.
The Union believes that this ensures the Mechanics can be trusted to handle firearms
for safekeeping while units are being serviced and will keep any confidential information
seen during the course of their business such.
(5)
Overlaps Exist Between the WPS Vehicle Services Unit and the Winnipeg
Fleet Management Agency (WFMA).
The WFMA acquires vehicles and in turn leases them to the WPS. There is a
service charge attached to each vehicle in addition to the cost of the vehicle to cover the
costs associated with bidding and leasing vehicles. Fuel for WPS is also purchased by
the WFMA and sold to VSU with appropriate markups for the time spent purchasing the
fuel.
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While there is desire for the City to operate a single service agency for the fleet,
during interviews it was stated that the WFMA is currently ill-equipped and staffed to
absorb the operations of the VSU due to the absence of key leadership in the WFMA
and difficulty staffing the position. In fact, the comparative survey indicated that all the
police agencies surveyed as part of this study operate their own fleet services unit
except for Vancouver. VSU staff and members of the WPS voiced strong support for the
VSU remaining part of the Service, as the background checks and behavioral standards
adhered to by VSU personnel make them a trusted part of the Service. The WPS should
consider a long-term option possibly co-locating the VSU with the Fleet Management
Agency to offset the capital costs associated with building or expanding the current
shop, as the current repair facility is aging and has reached capacity in terms of space
to adequately repair vehicles. As the City continues to grow and further additions are
made to the fleet a decision will be required related to expanding the current operations
of the VSU or co-locating operations with the WFMA.
(6)
The VSU is Operating a Cost Effective Operation when Compared with the
WFMA.
An independent internal audit conducted in 2008 determined the shop rates of
the VSU and WFMA. As reported, the VSU has a shop rate approximately 31% lower
than the WFMA shop rate. The following table illustrates the shop rates of the two fleet
service providers:
Provider
WFMA
VSU
Rate
$105
$72
As shown above, the VSU is reporting a much lower shop rate as established by
the internal audit.
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LaboXr Hours
10,360.1
Productivity %
100.8
As shown above the mechanics in the VSU had a productivity level of 100.8%
when the total hours worked were compared against the labour hours utilized for repairs
according to the Mitchell Standard.
The WFMA also measures mechanic utilization to determine the productivity of
the services provided.
mechanics is 78%, which is 22% lower than the productivity of VSU mechanics.
Overall, the organization and role of the Vehicle Services Unit is appropriate for
the current needs of WPS, but options will need to be explored for this service as
growth continues in Winnipeg and the current shop location is no longer serviceable.
Recommendation: The City should routinely conduct an audit of the operations of
the VSU and WFMA to ensure reported shop rates remain current with operations.
The project team recommends these audits occur every two (2) years.
6.
Unit (SI) has undergone significant change and scope upon the promotion of the new
Chief. Historically, SI genesis occurred about 5-years ago, when the immediate former
Chief of Police created this unit to be a direct report of the pulse of the WPS line
personnel and issues, a what is going on in the Service tool. The original SI model
was staffed with senior sworn command.
Matrix Consulting Group
tweaked the rank composition of SI staff members with descending lower ranking
members due to senior higher ranking staff limited ability to obtain the desired feel of
the WPS pulse, and various command members feeling left out of the loop.
While the 2012-2014 Strategic Plan was created during the former Chiefs
tenure, the new Chief of Police had a significant role in shaping the Plan during his
tenure in ODS.
(1)
the overall Strategic Initiatives function has identified many positive attributes and best
practice protocols in place. These are highlighted in the following subsections.
(1.1) Strategic Initiatives Staffing Resources Have Been Recently Bolstered to
Assist in Implementing the New Chiefs Socially Responsive Vision.
Under the overall command of the Organizational Development and Support
(ODS) Inspector, the Strategic Initiatives (SI) Unit is under the day-to-day command of a
Staff Sergeant, a Chief specific selected transfer to SI in early 2013. The SI staffing
complement includes a Patrol Sergeant, who has been in SI for 1-1/2 years, and a
Constable, who recently transferred into SI. The Chief very recently again increased
the SI staffing by adding a 2nd Patrol Sergeant.
dedicated to SI, but the unit has ability to draw upon limited shared ODS Clerk support
as needed.
SI unit tenure follows the WPS model of 1+1+1+1, for a maximum of 4-years for
the Sergeant positions, and 1+1+1, for a maximum of 3-years for the Constable
position.
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arguably superseding the 2012-2014 WPS Strategic Plan adopted under the former
Chief.
The SI Staff Sergeant has been designated to orchestrate implementation of the
new vision, and has taken primary responsibility for external strategic thinking and
initiatives. External strategies are already being implemented, with SI staff seeking to
create community partnerships by reaching out to stake-holders such as academia,
universities, professors, new-comer populations, and the population demographic with
cultural police mistrust. To date, 8 Community Forums have been facilitated by SI,
featuring the Police Chief, targeting neighborhoods characterized as bleeding the most
in terms of those with greatest law enforcement and social services challenges (highest
crime, complex problems, refugees, etc). By design, the intent is to elicit community
feelings, hear their perspective on community issues, listen to their ideas for solutions,
and connecting communities with other service providers. Another 8 community forums
are planned as the WPS expands outward from inner-city communities into suburban
regions within Winnipeg. Other external strategies seek to include district operational
personnel and increasing their collaboration with their respective local constituents, as
well as communications strategies with local media.
The SI Ptl/Sergeant has primary responsibility for internal strategic thinking and
related initiatives. Internal initiatives include plans to conduct 8 WPS member forums,
to be facilitated by SI but personally delivered by the Chief, to ensure continuity and
harmony agency-wide.
additional member forums planned by June 2013, which will address all sworn
personnel. Non-sworn member forums are planned for the fall. These forums have
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been complemented by department wide emails from the Chief, sharing the importance
he is placing in this vision, and allowing for the introduction of initiatives related to
implementing the vision. SI also uses these methods to encourage WPS personnel to
revisit and recall the reasons they got into policing / law enforcement, exhorting
personnel to be strategically minded and of one accord in implementing the new vision.
In summary, the strategy is to create true synergy, and build / grow a more
comprehensive strategy to fulfill the WPS mission of creating a culture of safety.
The Police Chief has committed to this process becoming the Heart of the
Vision of the WPS, and has further committed to report back to the community what
progress has been accomplished in a year. Some early themes from the community
forums include expressed desire for police to be more visible, but not just by driving
through neighborhoods, but rather, visible in the sense that people want to get to know
the police personally.
Identified issues from the community forums are being boiled down to actionable
items that can be prioritized then separated into what the WPS is considering doing
and what the WPS is actually doing. A WPS member accountability feature is being
built into the process, starting with SI developing the initial 15-20 community identified
actionable items to be worked on, with subsequent quarterly reporting by various
Division Commanders assigned responsibility to carry out activities related to
addressing the issues.
Conclusion: Continue and complete the community and member forums,
ensuring the entire Winnipeg service population as well as all WPS members are
in tune with the Chiefs vision of Creating a Culture of Safety within Winnipeg.
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continually improved, and his ingrained belief that some good change that helps
vulnerable people in the community can be effected.
Recommendation: Combine / Consolidate the 3 compatible and potentially
crossover efforts (1-Chiefs vision of creating a culture of safety, 2-Crime
Prevention through Social Development, and 3-LiveSAFE committee) efforts
into a single unit / function.
2.
TRAINING
The WPS Training function is geographically decentralized from all other WPS
components, including other ODS Division functions. The Training Unit will be located
within the new headquarters building, with the exception of the Firearms Range and the
Driver Training Track. The WPS Training Unit is separate from E-Learning training
coordinated by Human Resources Employee Development Branch E-Learning Centre.
The vast majority of Training Unit staff resources are applied to sworn member
training, primarily new recruit and in-service proficiencies. The primary exception is a
civilian trainer in the Section 36 chain of command devoted to provision of
Communications related training.
(1)
several positive attributes in place, particularly for sworn members on topics including
Use of Force, Weapons, Emergency Vehicle Operation, Recruit, and Field Training.
These are highlighted in the following subsections.
(1.1) The Winnipeg City Human Resources Employee Development Branch is
Responsible for Conducting the Majority of Non-Police Specific Training.
On average, WPS members access over 1,100 corporate courses annually,
ranging from 1.5 hours to several days in duration. This training includes technical /
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computer courses taken in the E-Learning Centre and general training courses
coordinated by the City Employee Development Branch. The following table depicts a
breakdown of corporate training / development programs accessed by civilian and
uniformed members of the WPS from 2009 to 2012, not including courses provided by
the WPS Training Division:
Training Courses
Courses Attended
2009
1,253
2010
889
2011
1,112
2012
1,192
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Regina
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
62
33.5
2,708
539
627
1,715
1,816
2%
1%
1%
.5%
2%
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components, including the very active Strategic Initiatives Unit, stretching thin
competing senior command oversight and involvement.
Recommendation: Consider Moving the Training Unit from ODS, and / or Place
Training Under the Command of a Separate Inspector.
(1.3) The WPS Utilizes a Training Committee For Input From Represented
Agency Components.
The WPS maintains a standing Training Committee, composed of a
Superintendent, the ODS and Human Resources Division Inspectors, and Training staff.
Training Committee activities appear to be primarily Recruit training related.
The
Training Committee convenes before each recruit and / or cadet class and includes the
designated Class Coordinator.
securely maintained on a WPS server. A server capacity issue exists due to age and
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volume (capacity), and Training is dependent upon IT on their need to migrate to a new
server. The present server age/capacity limitations will likely be remedied upon the
future centralization of Training to the new Headquarters facility.
In addition to Instructor Development training, Instructors are provided
specialized training specific to their assigned area of responsibility within the Training
Unit. Additional 2011 and 2012 Instructor Training included:
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Academy classes generally have up to 52 recruits, with a 1-2 average recruit failure rate
per class. The academic standard is 70%. After the Academy, each new recruit enters
the 16-week field training program and evaluation program. WPS will conduct 2 recruit
classes in 2013 after conducting 1 in 2012, 2 in 2011, and 1 in 2010.
Continuing the comparison of Winnipeg and Calgary, Winnipeg typically offers 2
classes per year compared to the 4 classes offered by Calgary. However, considering
the larger size of Calgarys police agency, it is expected that there would be greater
number of classes offered at that police agency. The following table compares large
Canadian police agencies training programs:
Calgary
# of Training
Staff
Operate its
own academy?
# of Academies
# of Recruits
Failure / Dropout
rate
# Hours of
Training
42 sworn
20 civilian
Regina
Saskatoon
3
Yes
4 classes
in 2012
Police
College
Vancouver
Winnipeg
5 sworn
3 civilian
29.5 sworn
5 civilian
No
No
Yes
Police
College
2 classes in
2011 & 2013
96
52
2.88%
1 / class
Less than 1%
N/A
1-2 / class
1,080
640-720
720
680
832
In terms of formal recruit training hours, the average range among the
respondents fell between 790 806 hours, with both Winnipeg and Calgary exceeding
the average class duration of the 5 respondent agencies.
A Police Sector Council, a Canadian Federal Body exists, and while they cannot
regulate, they nevertheless assess what a competent Constable should look like, and
reviewed the WPS recruit training course content in 2011. The Council offered a report
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card, with results released in 2012, with a very efficient gold standard finding. This
is voluntary, but brings value obtained through program comparison against all other
Canadian law enforcement agencies that participate. It also provides opportunity to
benchmark, and enables the WPS to accept lateral applicants understanding the WPS
course content. It also gives exposure to differing recruit training models.
(1.6) The WPS Has a Lateral Entry Training Program.
The WPS has a Lateral Entry training program in place for officers with 2 or more
years of service with an outside police agency. These lateral entry Constables are
brought into the WPS Academy for 5 weeks of refresher training and WPS policy /
procedure / reporting, as well as assessing and training in WPS Vehicle Operations,
Use of Force and Firearms training. These recruits are then sent out to Field Training
for 16 weeks, more as an assessment of a new hire process than training as a recruit.
Since 2011, the WPS has trained 7 lateral entry officers ranging in experience
from 3 to 11 years.
With respect to an
equivalency option for new Constables who are already academy trained, the Training
Unit has had some discussions on the possibility but as yet has not outlined a process
for such a process.
Recommendation: Proactively create opportunities to bolster / enhance the lateral
entry program, without sacrificing quality of candidates / hiring practices.
Recommendation: Research potential for an equivalency training option for new
Constables.
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Mandatory training
classes are announced with sign up rosters. Training attendance is governed through
the CBA, with schedule adjustments and payback days.
Much of the external training is provided by the Canadian Police College in
Ottawa. WPS Training staff author some training courses utilized by the Canadian
Police Knowledge Network (CPKN). This provides cost saving credits to offset WPS
attendee costs in CPKN training events.
Examining the number of annual targeted in-service training hours per sworn
personnel, Winnipeg is much closer to Vancouver with 32 annual hours as their target
rather than Saskatoons 156 hours.
Annual Targeted
Training Hours
Sworn Personnel
Calgary
Regina
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
N/A
N/A
156
32
18.5 hrs
WPS sworn members received 18.5 hours of annual plus electives in-service
training in 2012. The planned in-service training target will increase to 24 hours in
2013, more in line with Vancouver.
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# Hours
Field Training
Calgary
Regina
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
N/A
2400
1080
600
640
The WPS has 95 active FTOs (Coaches), each with a minimum of 4-years of
service.
Recruits are assigned a Primary and Secondary FTO, and Coaches are
rotated after each phase. FTO initial training is 40 hours in the San Jose FTO model,
the most commonly observed FTO program in use by modern era law enforcement
agencies. Annual FTO refresher training is provided by Training.
(1.9) The WPS Provides Use-of-Force and Weapons Training to Ensure Member
Proficiency.
Four Constable / Sergeant FTEs, complemented by a remarkable 50 part-time
personnel provide annual use of force (UOF) training to WPS members. Recruits /
Cadets receive 20 UOF training days. UOF in-service and re-certification training is
CALEA standard based, utilizing flash scenarios.
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demonstrated proficiency. Staff and above have voluntary carry / use. The Training
Unit reports receiving permission from Taser International to conduct proficiency with 1
live fire and 1 simulated fire cartridges in the past, but will move back to the more
defensible 2-cartridge fired demonstrated proficiency model in 2013.
The WPS has 50 Cadets and is considering expansion of the successful
program. Cadets receive 60 hours of formal basic training, to include:
Self protection;
Intervention;
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(1.10) The WPS Provides Emergency Vehicle Response / Pursuit Training (EVOC)
to Enforcement Personnel.
The EVOC training cadre is comprised of 4 Training Division FTEs and 20 parttime personnel comprise. Recruits are provided 15 hours of lecture prior to 40 hours of
practical vehicle dynamic non-emergency and emergency response and pursuit
training. Eight hours of in-service refresher training are provided biannually, to include
policy trends, case law, trends / patterns discerned from the agency annual pursuit
analysis, and forcible stopping.
Agency authorized forcible stopping includes 2-car stop boxing, multi-car
slingshot, spike / stop sticks, and frontal roadblock.
level of quality services for the Winnipeg Police Service. While highly regarded, there
are a few opportunities for improvement in the Training Unit. It is recommended that the
WPS take the following steps to strengthen various training functions within the Service.
(2.1) Implement a Formal In-Service Training Needs Assessment Process.
The training needs assessment process is informal and targeted toward basic
proficiencies for sworn members, with an emphasis on use of force, and weapons and
emergency vehicle operation. Informal feedback is reportedly good, but appears to lack
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systematic overview of the in-service training curriculum other than oversight by the InService Training Sergeant. A more formalized training assessment system should be
considered to determine if current training programs are matching community,
departmental and individual needs.
(2.2) There are Opportunities to Enhance In-Service Training Through Delivery
of Non-Practical / Classroom Training Via Web-Based Training Systems.
The training needs assessment process is informal and targeted toward basic
CALEA mandated training activities. WPS Training staff author some training courses
utilized by the Canadian Police Knowledge Network (CPKN), which is used to provide
cost saving credits to offset WPS attendee costs in CPKN training events. Expansion of
this type of training for broader use should be explored and considered.
The WPS has opportunity to expand their in-service training program to topics
beyond those mandated by CALEA accreditation.
delivery of both existing and additional training are available. Consideration should be
given to delivering non-practicum / classroom training components via web-based
training modules such as PowerDMS, which has proven to be a very cost efficient
manner in which to train a large number of staff. Delivery of this portion of training
during members regular duty hours can provide relief to staffing, reduce and / or free up
Training Unit Instructor hours to enhance an otherwise basic in-service training
program.
obviously still require certified instructor instruction and verification, but can be
combined with other similar areas for increased efficiency.
Recommendation: Consider formalizing the WPS training needs assessment
process, which can be accomplished through an annual review of training by the
incumbent Training Committee.
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Recommendation: Investigate expansion of the use of CPKN to augment inservice training. Further, investigate the cost savings and added efficiencies of
delivery of non-practicum training via PowerDMS or like web-based system(s).
(2.3) The WPS Has Opportunity to Enhance and Expand Supervisory / Advanced
Training Upon Promotion.
Constables promoted to Ptl/Sergeant are provided training on their role as a
supervisor, and high-risk call response. Ptl/Sergeants promoted to Sergeant receive
three-days of leadership and Sergeant-topics training. Sergeants promoted to Staff
Sergeant receive another 3 days of leadership and topics to include budget, Human
Resources (HR), Chiefs vision, and Duty Officer training. Staff Sergeants promoted to
Inspector receive additional HR training. Training is currently researching a 2-week
senior officer Executive Development program through the University of Manitoba.
Advanced training is planned annually for each spring when promotions occur,
and was expanded to include civilian supervisors in 2012 on selected topics to include
performance management, coaching and mentoring. Plans are to hopefully expand this
out further to include civilian management personnel.
The WPS Strategic Plan devotes Section 2 to Investment in Our Members.
Goal 2.1 is to Develop a Career Development Program for Sworn and Civilian Sectors.
The WPS does not have a formal mentoring program, but does have an annual
Performance Development Plan (PDP).
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included TST, PST, Rapid Response, Basic Concealed Carry, Tactical Light Level 1,
and Bike Patrol training.
Recommendation: Creation of a specialized training plan to assist / discern
anticipated specialized training needs within all specialized assignments, several
years into the future, based on planned rotation from specialized assignments.
(2.5) The Training Function Needs to Maintain All WPS Member Training
Attendance Records.
Training has implemented internal accounting systems to audit training
attendance. Core high-risk function training occurs early in the year to ensure missed
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records utilizing City run PeopleSoft software. Lesson Plans are securely maintained
on a WPS server. A server capacity issue exists due to age and volume, and Training
is dependant on IT on their need to migrate to a new server. Instructors who rotate out
of the Training Division have historically taken records of their conducted training with
them.
Recommendation: Migration to a single WPS hosted secure all-inclusive training
records system capable of meeting Training capacity needs.
Recommendation: Revisit unadvisable practice of training records following /
taken from Training by the Instructor upon transfer out of Training.
(2.6) The WPS Should Enhance Their Annual Use-of-Force Analysis to Identify
Trends and Patterns, and to Add Recommendations on Policy
Enhancement, Equipment Needs, and Training Needs. The Number of
Arrests Should Be Tracked Each Year and Included in the Analysis.
CALEA accreditation standards mandate that the WPS document use of force
incidents. The WPS uses a web based, UOF Electronic Reporting System commonly
called Blue Team. WPS members are required to submit Use of force (UOF-Blue
Team) reports for both coercion and actual force applied incidents. Coercive actions
vary and may include Officers pointing their service pistol at someone or simply
presenting their Asp, OC spray, or Electronic Control Device in an effort to secure
compliance. Physical force includes a range of contact from soft empty hand controls
like pulling, pushing, pressure point controls, or joint locks, to other hard empty hand
techniques that includes various strikes, and finally, physical force that includes the use
of issued weapons (and improvised weapons as needed in exceptional circumstances).
In the vast majority of calls for service, tactical communication and officer
presence are sufficient to restore order or gain compliance. In 2012, 99.48% of all calls
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for service were resolved without the need for members to utilize any force.
The
remaining 0.52% represents the calls for service where force was used and a UOF
report was generated, or 1 UOF report for every 193 calls for service. Regardless of the
number of officers involved, 1 UOF report is completed for each subject that had force
applied to them through either:
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Firearm
199
227
272
195
211
ECW / Taser
127
138
138
132
111
Baton
42
43
38
22
25
OC
13
15
12
11
830
832
842
1046
1066
1211
1255
1049
1404
1424
957
1045
1049
919
934
14
18
19
18
19
Weaponless
Total Uses of Force (UOF)
Total UOF Arrests
Complaints
Total use of force (UOF) incidents remained static from 2008-2010, averaging
1,172 per year. Despite a decrease in the number of arrests involving force, UOF
incidents increased in 2011-2012 to an average of 1,414 annually, a 20% increase.
Complaints regarding use of force incidents have remained static since 2009, typically
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18-19 annually.
ECW use has steadily declined since 2010 when used on 138
occasions; used 132 times in 2011; 111 in 2012, less than 10% of all use of force
incidents.
CALEA accreditation standards further mandate that the WPS conduct an annual
analysis of use of force incidents. The WPS assigns this task to the ODS Training
function. A review of the Annual Use of Force Analyses conducted for each year in the
3-year period 2010 to 2012 revealed considerable data, but questionable useable
analysis, as defined by CALEA in their CALEA Manual Glossary definitions.
For
example, the data depicted that Division 11 and / or District 1 generated the most UOF
incidents in each of the 3-years. However, there was little to no explanation for this
recurring theme, a missed opportunity for analysis to recommend attention to the
underlying problems that continually result in the highest amounts of force used each
year.
The analysis speaks to the number of calls for service, but lacks arrest data. The
annual analyses also contained no showing of a mean average of force used by
individual WPS personnel, and corresponding analysis of any officers who may
consistently engage in a disproportionate amount of UOF incidents when compared to
his / her peers. While best practices doesnt necessitate the listing of individual Officers
and the number / amount of force used, there is potential risk management exposure if
no action is taken in a known or should have known scenario such as an annual UOF
Analysis. The current WPS Annual Analysis process generally does not include critical
analysis components on identifying trends and / or patterns, or identification of policy,
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Identify members using disproportionate use of force, and allow for the Services
Early Warning System to intervene as needed, ensuring the officers well-being;
The
PVOPM is tasked to review and assess Pursuit Reports and summarize pursuits that
result in damage, injury, a serious breach of policy, and critique all other pursuits not
meeting established policy criteria.
The following table summarizes pursuit data for the past 5 years:
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PURSUITS
Total Pursuits
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
52
58
66
29
37
28
Policy Compliant
36
33
44
20
Policy Non-compliant
16
25
22
20
17
Collisions / Accidents
18
32
26
13
17
17
10
: Officers
: Suspects
13
: Third Party
11
47
47
59
24
36
11
Terminated by agency
Injuries: Total
Reason Initiated:
Traffic offense
Felony
Misdemeanor
Despite a 53% reduction in pursuits in 2011-12 from 2010-11, policy noncompliant determinations increased to 56% from 37%, and injuries to officers, suspects
and 3rd partys more than doubled. Policy non-compliant pursuits should be an agency
concern, as 100 of 242 pursuits (41%) in the 5-year period 2008-2012 were out of
compliance with agency policy, ranging from a low of 31% in 2008 to a high of 69% in
2011.
Recommendation: Reduce agency liability / risk exposure by tasking the Pursuit
Review Board and / or Training Unit with creating a formal plan to address /
reduce sustained policy non-compliant pursuits, as well as collisions and
injuries. Plan objectives should be integrated into annual Lesson Plans.
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(2.8) The WPS Should Revisit Their Pursuit Policy to Consider Removal of the
High Risk Practice of Allowing Strategic Follows, Potentially Exposing the
Agency to Un-Necessary Risk / Liability.
The WPS has significantly reduced the number of pursuits since 2010. Reasons
for engaging in pursuits improved to a higher percentage for serious (felony / indictable)
reasons, and less pursuits for minor (traffic / misdemeanor) offenses. Of particular note
is the significant increase on termination of pursuits by the agency. A recent trend over
the last 3-years 2010-2012 shows incremental reduction in the pursuit of stolen
vehicles, from 66 in 2010 (67%), down to 29 in 2011 (45%), and 37 in 2012 (38%).
Curiously, the Annual Pursuit Analyses for years 2010-2011-2012 are silent on
the policy permitted practice of Strategic Follows, which the WPS policy identifies as a
preventative pre-pursuit activity, a surveillance / intelligence / tactical phase used prior
to the initiation of a pursuit. While the pursuit policy is clear that when a pursuit has
been aborted (. . . officers shall immediately stop the pursuit and not follow the suspect
vehicle), the policy also contains the following procedure:
If designated as the Prime Unit or the Backup Unit, directly pursue unless
instructed otherwise by the Duty Officer, Street Supervisor, or requested
to disengage to a distant follow by the Tactical Flight Officer of the Flight
Operations Unit.
Strategic Follow is also listed as a tactic as a means of bringing a pursuit to an
end in the Termination Methods section of the policy, possibly giving the appearance
that the pursuit policy makes provision to use the Strategic or Distant Follow technique
upon termination of a pursuit, by allowing pursuing police members to maintain visual
contact and/or monitor pursued vehicle movements at an increased following distance.
Recommendation: The Annual Pursuit Analysis should include a review of
pursuit, pre-pursuit techniques, strategic follows practices; forcible stopping
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policies; and related training with Legal to reduce agency / personal risk
exposure.
Recommendation: Training has opportunity to take a more involved / directed use
of the annual pursuit analysis process, to include comparison against similarly
sized / like Canadian LE agencies.
3.
and the overall Accreditation and Audits function has identified several positive
attributes in place. These are highlighted in the following subsections.
(1.1) The ODS Accreditation and Audits Unit Has Sufficient Staffing Resources
to Handle Its Current Workload.
Under the overall command of the Organizational Development and Support
(ODS) Inspector, the Accreditation and Audits Unit is under the day-to-day supervision
of a Staff Sergeant.
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Conclusion: Maintain the current staffing level which allows the flexibility to
conduct audits and redirect staffing assets during peak accreditation periods.
(1.2) The Accreditation Function has an Accreditation Management System to
Ensure Continuous Compliance with CALEA Accreditation Standards.
The 6-time accredited WPS was awarded its initial CALEA (international)
accredited status in 1992 and has been reaccredited 5 times (1997, 2002, 2005, 2008,
and 2011). The next CALEA accreditation assessment is scheduled for April 2014. The
WPS is not involved in other accreditation programs.
electronic file maintenance which the vast majority of accredited agencies are migrating
over to, a significant efficiency. The function utilizes a CALEA Tasks Due list for various
functions, and reports that year two tasks (3-year accreditation cycle) received an
approximate 80% completion rate, with 20% needing extensions on providing proofs of
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compliance by the January 31st annual deadline. The 12 CALEA Data Tables are not
presently updated year-by-year. The Accreditation Manager reports the agency is up to
date on submission of mandatory Annual Reports to CALEA.
The agency is encouraged to create a 3-year reaccreditation plan each
reaccreditation cycle, a proven process among CALEA agencies internationally. The
plan would ideally outline agency steps to migrate back to full / Advanced Accreditation
(480 standards of law enforcement professional excellence), as well as eventually
positioning the agency for a Gold Standard Assessment (GSA) on-site assessment and
Accreditation with Excellence award. Consideration to returning to the Advanced (full)
CALEA Accreditation will restore proven best practices activities such as conducting
workload assessments and associated allocation/reallocation of personnel resources,
which will result in creating staffing efficiencies based on actual / identified need.
Additionally, the Service cites (Advanced Accreditation) CALEA Standard 11.3.2 /
Supervisor Accountability as a key component in the WPS Strategic Plan (page 14);
migrating back to Advanced Accreditation would mandate the Service to have their
compliance with this standard evaluated triennially by independent / objective outside
assessors.
agency mandated compliance with numerous other internal (self) evaluation standards
of best practices in law enforcement professional excellence.
Recommendation: Complete CALEA mandated Annual Reports on each award
anniversary. Use SWOT components to help shape / focus agency challenges
and opportunities for improvement.
Recommendation: Migrate from CALEA CACE to PowerDMS accreditation
management software, an efficiency which will more readily facilitate the mock
and actual accreditation on-site assessment process.
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mandatory audits take 30% of audit time, and 70% of other audit time is expended on
requested and / or self initiated audits. Audit staff conducted 13 requested initiative
audits from April 2009 to February 2013. There are 3 standing annual audits, to include
the Evidence Control Unit, ICE Unit Exhibits and Tech Crimes Exhibits.
Audit staff utilizes a standardized 4-page audit template.
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accustomed to the audits. Full 100% compliance occurs with some limited follow-up
required. The WPS utilizes a standing Audit Committee, consisting of the Chief and 2
Deputy Chiefs.
Audit staff created an Audit Tracking Matrix and Audit staff began
meeting quarterly in 2012. All completed audits must be reviewed and signed off by 1
of the 3 Audit Committee members.
Inspections are scheduled over the summer, taking place between June and July
of each year.
Inspection Form.
created 2 charts to track both the schedules and the results, which will be included in
the Accreditation / Audit Annual Report to the Superintendent.
Recommendation: A recently conducted audit included identifying efficiencies in
UCR; Alternate Phone Response (APR) handled 5,000 calls per year, there may be
opportunity to expand, potential for increased use of APR.
(2)
providing a satisfactory level of quality services for the Winnipeg Police Service. The
review of the operational performance of the Unit identified opportunities for
improvement within this Unit.
(2.1) The WPS Accreditation and Audit Unit policies are not current and do not
always reflect current practices.
There appears to be no unit specific policies and / or procedures governing the
activities of the Accreditation Unit. The Accreditation Manager reports he is currently in
the process of reviewing the entire WPS Procedure and Administration manuals in
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relation to CALEA Accreditation Tier 1 standards and plans to have all necessary
amendments in place prior to their CALEA Mock Assessment in the fall of 2013.
Policies for Audits and another for Annual Service Inspections are in place, but
were last amended in 2008. This is problematic, as current WPS directives mandate
certain CALEA Accreditation activities to occur, despite being no longer mandated by
CALEA standards upon the agencys voluntary reduction down to the CALEA Tier 1
program in 2011. However, this remains a CALEA compliance issue, as CALEA holds
the agency to not only their standards, but also to the agency associated written
directive. For example, an annual written report of inspections to the Superintendent
was not completed in either 2011 or 2012, as current / out-of-date WPS directives
mandate will occur.
The current WPS policy on Directives does not appear to include the
Accreditation Unit in the review of proposed / revised directives.
Recommendation: Add / Update internal policies and / or procedures for both the
Accreditation, Audit, and Inspections functions, to reflect current practices.
Recommendation: Add an accreditation review layer when reviewing new and
proposed policy revisions to ensure continued compliance with applicable
CALEA standards, as applicable.
4.
due to space limitations, and has functional responsibility for the following, but not
limited to, activities:
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(1)
R&D function has identified many positive attributes and best practice protocols in
place. These are highlighted in the following subsections:
(1.1) The WPS Research and Development Unit Has Sufficient Staffing
Resources to Handle Its Current Workload.
Under the overall command of the Organizational Development and Support
(ODS) Inspector, the Research and Development Unit (R&D) is under the day-to-day
supervision of a Staff Sergeant.
assisting as a support entity in the creation of the new Police Board. An R&D Sergeant
has been seconded into this process along with the assistance of a Research Analyst.
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The spreadsheet
The
following table identifies the formal Research and Development tasks assigned to R&D
staff in the last 3-year period 2010-2012:
Area
2010
R & D Tasks
2011
150
2012
211
128
R&D experienced a 41% increase in tasks in 2011 over 2010, but fell to just 60% of the
2011 level during 2012. The project team acknowledges that quantifying R&D tasks is
difficult, as not all tasks are of equal size / complexity. Further staff explanation reveals
task tracking is somewhat subjective, and also the result of R&D being used more for
Strategic Initiatives by the immediate past Chief of Police. Recent initiatives requiring
R&D research include research of Helicopter procedures / Air Unit effectiveness, a
CCTV / High Crime Area project, Project Devote / Missing-Serial Murdered Women, a
Stolen Vehicle / Manitoba Public Insurance Bait Car initiative, and other pilot project
requests.
The duration of time completed projects take to get signed off is too long,
resulting in bottlenecking of projects within R&D.
identifies a Long Term Goal 5.1, Develop and Implement an Initiative Review and
Approval Process. The intent is to increase the efficiency for submitting reports and
providing time sensitive feedback, which better defining appropriate levels of authority
and accountability. Objectives include entrenching the Superintendent Group as the
main
filtering
mechanism
for
new
initiatives.
R&D
staff
report
that
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this
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(2)
performance of the R&D identified opportunities for improvement within this Unit.
(2.1) The WPS 2012-2014 Strategic Plan Should Be Revisited to Evaluate
Progress Towards Attainment of Identified Goals, and Updated to Reflect
the Initiatives of the Current Chief of Police.
The planning process for the WPS Strategic Plan began in 2009, when the
Service became involved with the Citys long-term planning efforts. Each Department
identified objectives for the next 25 years, working together to ensure a coordinated
response to civic planning based upon the key factors of growth, sustainability, and
competitiveness. WPS representatives attended public forums and evaluated feedback
received from citizens through an on-line blog Speak Up Winnipeg.
In 2010, a new Vision, Mission, and Values for the WPS were defined. Five longterm goals, each with 3 to 5 associated Action Items were established and
incorporated into the WPS 2012-2014 Strategic Plan:
Public Safety;
Relationship Building
WPS should address the concerns of the community and the issues facing the WPS
today and over the next few years. Ownership of the Actions was identified as integral
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to Plan success, and specific actions were identified and assigned to various
Commanders and Managers. Each member having a stake in the Plan was challenged
to create capacity in their work schedule to set their Action as a priority for
accomplishing their goal. This challenge acknowledged that other initiatives may not
proceed as they may not be as vital to the goals of the Strategic Plan.
The following identifies key components to effecting the WPS Strategic Plan:
The Superintendent Group will meet on a regular basis in accordance with a set
of business rules, acting as a filtering mechanism;
Staff will annually evaluate the Action Items and the direction of the Plan;
Annual Review Reports will be attached as addenda that will coincide with any
newly identified direction.
While this Strategic Plan has the fingerprint of the current Police Chief from his
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stand for. However, it cannot be stated that it has been given monumental importance
within our organization, or that the new philosophy has been embraced by all members
at all levels within the organization.
The Plan is also light on the new Chiefs message of creating a culture of safety
to the organization upon taking over as agency Executive, with a focused mission of
creating a safer Winnipeg by adopting a Crime Prevention through Social
Development framework. The Plan should be revised to be more consistent with the
Chiefs 4 primary declarations of (1) crime prevention, (2) intervention, (3) crime
suppression, and (4) member / people focus that has been crafted into the WPS
Creating a Culture of Safety. Finally, the Plan lacks the annual Review Reports and
evaluation of Action Items the Plan mandates.
Recommendation: Update / revise the existing 2012-2014 Strategic Plan to reflect
the current Chiefs vision and strategies to achieve the vision; Plan value will be
evident when it becomes useable as the day-to-day roadmap for staff to use as a
guide.
Recommendation: Formally document the annual review reports and evaluation
of Action Items, and update the Plan as the Plan mandates.
(2.2) The Research and Development Unit lacks current up-to-date policies
specific to their unit specific activities. Broader reaching WPS policies
affecting R&D do not always reflect current practices.
The WPS Organizational & Administration policy was last updated in 2008 and
contains a provision for the ODS R&D to conduct workload assessments for Allocation
and Distribution of Members, to wit:
Once every three years, conduct workload assessments on personnel
strengths allocated to Divisions and Units within the Service to determine
the type and number of positions required.
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The last full workload assessment was conducted in 2008 and a partial one was
conducted in 2011, but discontinued prior to completion upon the decision to move
down to a CALEA Tier 1 accreditation, which does not mandate triennial workload
assessments. There has been no workload assessments conducted in the last 2-year
period 201-2013.
The 2012-2014 Strategic Plan identifies a Long Term Goal 1.3, Establish Key
Performance Indicators (KPI) Service wide. The WPS has clear limitations of their IT
capacity, primarily the ability to extract useable data from their RMS is responsible for
this KPI initiative not advancing beyond the pre-beta stage.
Recommendation: Update policies to remove mandated practices not being met;
Update policies and Unit SOP to reflect current practices.
Recommendation: Need to identify a streamlined policy revision process, move
from 13 months to a 3-month target for completion of revisions.
5.
implemented six Community Service Centres. These service centres were designed to
increase the presence within the community, and provide most direct access for the
public needing assistance. The community service centres handle the following types
of activities:
Provide an alternative method for citizens to communicate and interact with the
police, and
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Serving as resource and link between the local community and the WPS, and
residents throughout the City to police services. The following table outlines the existing
service centres utilized by the WPS. Those locations where the name is bolded are
also District Stations.
Name
Public Safety Building
Service Centre (District 1)
District 2 Service Centre
Location
Downtown
Address
151 Princess
Hours of Operation
24 hour
West
North
East
East
East
South
As shown in the above table, the Winnipeg Police Service has in place six
Service Centres with two of them, those located on Henderson Highway and St. Marys
Road, being stand alone Service Centres. Of the six service centres, these two are the
only ones that do not also serve as District Stations.
A review of workload data for these two stand-alone facilities for the period
January 1, 2013 through February 22, 2013 reveals the following walk-in reports
generated:
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Service Centre
Henderson Service Centre
St. Marys Service Centre
Average # Walk
In Reports Per
10/hour Shift
1.5
6.5
These levels of walk-in activity do not justify deploying resources (both sworn
and volunteer) to staff a Service Centre. The Henderson Service Centre is not even
averaging 2 walk-in reports per shift and the St. Marys Service Centre is averaging well
under 1 report per hour. Other than the public relations benefits of having locations
within the community, the hard data on workload being handled at these two facilities
does not make a case for maintaining allocation of resources to keep operational these
facilities. Over approximately the last year, the Winnipeg Police Service has had to shut
down, on occasion, these two facilities (either for entire days or with reduced hours) due
to manpower shortages. During these closures, complaints from citizens within the
service areas of these Service Centres have not registered complaints regarding the
closures. These two Service Centres should be phased out, as they are not handling
sufficient workload to warrant the resources being allocated to them. The closure of
these two facilities will enable the reduction or reallocation of the equivalent of almost
two FTE sworn positions per centre.
annually per Constable position (at the midpoint of the range) and a benefits rate of
24.79%, this change represents a direct salary cost savings to the Police Service
$340,048.71 annually.
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8.
the Office of the Chief of Police, including the Professional Standards, Legal Counsel,
and Behavioural Health Services Units.
Chief of Police
B ehavio ural
Health
S ervices
1.
E xecutive
S up p o rt
Leg al
C o uns el
P rof essional
S tandards
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Regina
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
25
6.5
22
14
2,708
539
1,715
1,715
1,816
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
As the table shows, that across all of the agencies, the proportion of Professional
Standards or Internal Affairs (IA) staff is only 1% of the total staff for the respective
police agency. Winnipeg is consistent in its staffing level with other Canadian police
agencies for IA staff.
(1)
and the overall internal affairs function has identified many positive attributes and best
practice protocols in place. These are highlighted in the following subsections:
(1.1) WPS Is Responsive to the Public in Accepting and Investigating
Complaints Against the Agency and Its Members.
WPS directives state the PSU will receive and investigate all complaints,
including anonymous complaints. Complaints are categorized as Regulatory (internal
WPS Rules) and Criminal (subject to Crown opinion). Winnipeg City By-Laws require
that a complaint by a member of the public shall be reported not later than 30 days after
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the date of the alleged Default. If the Chief finds it appropriate, he may extend the time
for the filing of a complaint to a date not later than 6-months after the date of the alleged
Default.
Most complaints are received by phone. The WPS website contains a section
containing various options for filing a complaint, either with the WPS / PSU through a
phone number; an on-line link; through the Office of the Chief of Police; through the
Manitoba Ombudsman Office; or through the Law Enforcement Review Act (LERA).
The PSU acknowledges receipt of each complaint with a phone call, but will send a
registered letter if unable to acknowledge receipt of the complaint by phone.
Complaints against WPS members may fall under the authority of the Criminal
Code of Canada, the LERA, the Winnipeg Police Service Regulations, or all three. The
PSU investigates complaints of criminal acts and offences under the WPS Regulations.
LERA deals solely with non-criminal on-duty matters, and the Act prohibits concurrent
investigations by LERA and the WPS. If a complainant complains to both agencies, and
the matter is criminal, the LERA investigation must be held in abeyance.
Criminal investigations that result in charges which are heard in court and
disposed of by conviction or acquittal, result in no further action by LERA. If a criminal
case is concluded by means other than its own merits (e.g. the charges are stayed for
want of prosecution), the Act mandates that the file must be forwarded to LERA for
investigation and action.
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Criminal Code of Canada, the LERA, or the Regulations, it is the complainant(s) right to
choose how and by whom the matter will be investigated.
The PSU video / audiotape all interviews with complainants, witnesses and WPS
personnel (both sworn and staff). On rare occasion, investigators need to deviate from
normal procedure to only audio tape statements from civilian complainants and
witnesses if the complainant cannot attend to their office due to medical and / or
scheduling reasons. Audio-taped statements are then transcribed by PSU support staff,
a very time consuming process and is one of the reasons PSU incorporated the use of
video / audio-taped statements into their business rules. These instances are very rare
and only account for less than 20 hours per year of PSU staff time.
(1.2) Responsibility for Investigating Allegations of Misconduct Is Shared
Between Internal Affairs Unit and Division Commanders.
The WPS follows a somewhat traditional model of retaining investigation of
serious complaints and reassigning less serious complaints such as rudeness, traffic
stops, breaches, etc. to affected members STAFF Sergeants. Less serious complaints
that are reassigned to the Sergeants for action do not fall under the WPS Regulations
(Minor Service Default or Service Default). More serious Minor Service Defaults are reassigned to the subject officers Divisional Commander for action. These often result in
charges under the WPS Regulations and include penalties such as informal resolution,
admonition, written reprimand and up to an including the loss of 2-days time or pay or
any combination of the above.
The
practical
mechanics
of
reassigning
less
serious
cases
includes
documentation into IA-Pro investigative tracking software; forwarding the file to the shift
supervisor, with instructions; reporting back to PSU of how the matter was handled; and
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reminders sent out for those taking more than a couple of weeks. Staff report this
method is working satisfactorily, and do not recommend any changes. Instances of
insufficient investigation by non-PSU supervisory / division command is improving, with
PSU staff using education, awareness, and offering assistance to assist in ensuring
reassigned investigations are satisfactorily completed.
(1.3) PSU Maintains an Experienced Investigative Capability to Efficiently Meet
Their Complaint Investigation Workload.
PSU is fully staffed, after being down 1 Sergeant FTE for 4 months in late 2012.
PSU positions are considered specialized assignments, with several positions rotated
annually, and the PSU Inspector is hand selected by the Chief of Police. The last 3
PSU Inspector appointments were newly promoted Inspectors on their first assignment,
an apparent anomaly.
promotions in 2013. The incumbent Staff Sergeant transferred out of PSU in early 2013
after a 2-year assignment, but was replaced by a PSU Intake / recently promoted Staff
Sergeant who has a year of PSU experience. PSU traditionally has first selection of
new Sergeants each year as vacancies arise.
PSU Internal Affairs investigations have ranged from a high of 55 in 2008 to 41 in
2012.
investigations have seen a decrease in the last 2-years, from 24-26 down to 12 in 2011
and 16 in 2012. The PSU typically has 19-23 actively investigated cases pending at
any given time. The following table depicts complaints received, handled and assigned
for investigation in the 3-year period 2010 to 2012:
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Area
2010
2011
2012
161
152
171
112
114
130
49
38
41
Regina
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
995
93
151
482
171
# IA staff
25
6.5
22
14
# of Cases /
IA staff
40
13
23
22
12
The table shows that even though Winnipeg is consistent in its overall staffing
levels for this Unit, considering its workload, the number of cases per staff member is
near the bottom. However, this Investigator-to-Case ratio does not take into account
case type or complexity. Only 3 of the 5 agencies provided the breakdown of internal
vs. external-initiated complaints; therefore, there was an insufficient sample size to
create a standard for external-to-internal initiated complaints. Of those 3 agencies, this
ratio varied from 55% to over 400%.
The targeted completion time for cases was consistent at approximately 6
months. However, there was a large variance in the percentage of cases resulting in
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sustained findings, with .002% for Calgary to 51% for Regina. The other agencies fell
somewhere in between, closer to the .002% rather than the 51%. This disparity in
numbers makes it difficult to ascertain a benchmark number for this specific statistic.
Since Regina (clearly the outlier), if removed from the determination for a benchmark,
then the range drops from .002% to 13% (Winnipeg). Even then, Winnipeg is still
almost 3 times that of the next highest sustained finding percentage (2-5%).
Calgary
# Internal Affairs Staff
Regina
Saskatchewan
Vancouver
Winnipeg
25
6.5
22
14
995
93
151
482
171
N/A
N/A
6 months
6 months
6 months
% resulting in
sustained findings
0.00%
51%
2-5%
0.02%
13.00%
# of Cases
Handled in 2012
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undergo a Sergeant review for concurrence, followed by a Staff Sergeant review for
concurrence.
Beginning September 2012, PSU staff have initiated professional development
dates awareness training, wherein PSU staff would go to other Divisions / functions and
lecture on demystifying PSU. Points of focus included educating the WPS masses on
the main types of complaints received by PSU; ramifications of Regulatory issues;
McNeil Ruling impacts; whats going to happen, whats the employees jeopardy; and
basically trying to remove the mythical PSU shroud of secrecy.
PSU is looking to
PSU is in the
process of examining different Canadian PSU models and leaning to remaining a direct
report to the Chief of Police.
Conclusion: The Agency Should Continue the Practice of Having the Internal
Affairs Unit Report Directly to the Chief of Police.
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(1.6) Members are Provided Training for Breach of Regulations Violations Due to
a Lack of Understanding of Agency Regulations, Policy, and / or
Procedures.
WPS policy includes a provision that, when directed, members shall undertake a
course of training through the City of Winnipeg Training Branch, the Police Academy, or
other agency or individual as designated by the Executive, if it is determined that a
breach of the Regulations has been committed due to a lack of understanding of either
the Regulations, policy or procedure.
(1.7) The PSU Investigates Bias-Based Profiling Complaints and Conducts an
Annual Administrative Review of Agency Practices Including Citizen
Concerns.
The WPS has adopted and recently updated their policy prohibiting bias-based
profiling. The WPS Conduct Policy speaks directly about bias free policing and outlines
the Services Principle, and commitment to unbiased policing. The PSU has recently
enhanced key tracking terms in their Internal Affairs IA-Pro case tracking software to be
able to more readily locate bias-based issues within their complaint data base.
The following table reports complaints investigated by the PSU with some
relation to bias-based profiling:
Area
Biased Based Profiling Complaints
2008
2009
1
2010
5
2011
1
2012
3
In their Annual Administrative Review, the WPS reports that each of the
complaints was fully investigated and none were found to be sustained.
To the
agencys credit, several of the complaints were made for other than bias-based profiling
concerns, but nevertheless investigated as such when there was any indication that
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profiling may be an issue. A December 2011 incident resulting in a 2012 civil suit
includes allegations of religious bias, and is not yet resolved.
Each year, the PSU Annual Administrative Review process concluded that no
bias-based profiling issues have been identified. The reviews speak generically about
training being offered to members.
Recommendation: Including specifics on actual training provided to WPS
personnel on bias-based profiling in the Annual Administrative Reviews will
ensure personnel are current on case law and best practices, resulting in fewer
complaints and / or litigation.
(2)
performance of the PSU identified opportunities for improvement within this Unit.
(2.1) The PSU Utilizes 12 IA-Pro Complaint Investigation Disposition Category
Options and 5 Core Disposition Categories for Regulatory Matters.
Criminal Investigations have remained static over the last 3-year period. There
has been some fluctuation in Regulatory Investigations in the same period; Not
Sustained findings have seemingly mirrored the Regulatory Investigation data, both
declining.
Current WPS policy makes provision for 5 complaint investigative dispositions
categories for regulatory matters, to include: (1) sustained; (2) not sustained; (3)
sustained due to policy failure; (4) unfounded; and (5) Crown Opinion. However, IA-Pro
Investigative Tracking software is programmed for 12 categories of complaint
investigation dispositions for criminal investigations, as depicted in the following table:
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Area
2010
2011
2012
Abandoned / Withdrawn
12
Dismissed
Division Commander
Referral
Informal Resolution
Information Only
19
15
10
Pending
Stayed
Sustained
Unfounded
49
38
41
Not Sustained
Total
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2010
2011
2012
Criminal Investigations
25
26
25
Regulatory Investigations
24
12
16
The PSU maintains an Investigative Log, and meet weekly to review every case.
PSU generally gives line supervisors a couple of weeks for less serious complaint
investigation / resolution. PSU conducted formal / serious investigations have 6-month
time limits. Regulatory (internal WPS rules) are generally able to be completed within
the established time frame. Criminal investigations require a Crown Opinion, and often
exceed this time limit, a source of frustration by PSU staff.
A variety of reasons contribute to not meeting the timelines.
Many of the
complaints come from transients, who are hard to locate after making their initial
complaint. It is PSU practice to not call in assigned investigators on their scheduled
days off. Upon issuance of formal written notice that a member is the subject of an
investigation, PSU practice is to give 30 days to reply for regulatory investigations,
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The present 4/3-3/4 work week schedule for Investigators can contribute to
delays in completing investigations, as it reduces Investigator availability for following up
with complainants and scheduling subject employee interviews along with labour
representation. The Unit has very limited ability to draw short term staff resources, but
has some ability for additional staff resources from Tech Crimes or Child Exploitation
Units, or can seek external assistance from the RCMP on major cases.
Conclusion: Continue utilizing Staff Sergeants to intake / screen and resolve
complaints that do not require investigative resources.
(2.3) The PSU Needs to Identify a Single Internal Affairs Investigative Software
Tracking System to Ensure Accountability.
The PSU has utilized IA-Pro Internal Affairs software to record and track
complaints since 2005, which is currently being used for the majority of minor files
(information only, regulatory investigations, etc).
software as a Major Case Management System for major criminal and / or regulatory
investigations, for the purpose of testing, then copy / download PSU PDF files into IAPro when the file is complete. Some double populating is occurring in both systems
when PSU receives a major investigation requiring a major case management model.
In such instances, the double population is very simplistic and only takes a few minutes
of time as staff enters the date, time, complainant, reporting persons, witnesses
associated to the incident.
statements, videos etc. are written, scanned and / or imported into X-Fire.
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The PSU is also in the exploratory stages of determining if a 3rd software product,
Guardian Tracking (GT), will meet the needs of the WPS PSU. WPS IT is currently
examining and comparing GT and IA-Pro, as staff has concerns that the agency early
intervention system does not work well from a performance management system
perspective, and feel GT may be a better model. PSU staff desire a system designed to
capture / document activities of personnel falling through the cracks, and to be able to
see progressive documentation, a feature missing from IA-Pro. There is also belief that
GT software will have greater security and restricted access. PSU staff believes that
GT would compliment IA-Pro, and not necessarily replace it.
Recommendation: Determine and utilize a single Internal Affairs investigation
tracking system that best meets the needs of the Service. Work with WPS IT and /
or IA-Pro vendor to determine if an upgrade to IA-Pro could meet the needs of the
PSU as opposed to a wholesale change of operating systems.
(2.4) Updates to Internal Affairs Policies, Procedures and Practices for
Investigating Complaints Need to be Finalized and Provide SOP Guidance
to Investigators.
The WPS has a comprehensive policy in place for complaints against members
of the Service, complemented by WPS Regulations / City By-Laws. The WPS policy
was last updated in 2011, but a major policy revamp is in progress, a collaborative effort
by incumbent PSU staff, who is also examining different Canadian PSU models. This
revamp will include adding an SOP for PSU members to ensure consistent investigative
guidelines in conducting assigned investigations.
This
change resulted in 130 of 171 complaints received during 2012 being satisfactorily
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addressed at time of intake / screening. While this method requires significant time
expended for the Staff Sergeant screeners to address, it is considerably less than if they
had to be assigned to Investigators for follow-up investigation, an obvious added
efficiency.
Conclusion: Permanently implement / continue utilizing Staff Sergeants to intake /
screen and resolve complaints that do not require investigative resources.
Recommendation: Complete update of PSU policies to reflect both agency
current practice as well as incorporating best practices in Internal Affairs
investigations. Incorporate major case management system into PSU SOP.
Define roles, investigative protocols, and more defined / restrictive investigative
time limits.
(2.5) The WPS has opportunity to Streamline the Disciplinary Process.
The PSU Inspector serves as Chair on a standing Review Panel, assisted by 2
other WPS Inspectors, of whom at least 1 has past PSU experience. The 3 panel
members review completed founded investigations, and make recommendations for
penalty on a case-by-case basis. There is no set prescribed penalty formula or matrix
range, so the Panel relies on using past precedent for like incidents.
The panel is required to consider WPS Regulation 23.02 when determining an
appropriate penalty, which includes:
Penalties imposed for similar defaults under similar circumstances, (it is the PSU
Inspectors duty to be knowledgeable in this area prior to convening a panel);
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forwarded to WPS Legal who, in theory, negotiates a final settlement with the Winnipeg
Police Association and their counsel (unless the Officer accepts the charge / penalty
and enters a guilty plea). Legal advises that, in practice, resolution is often negotiated
by the Chiefs Executive Officer.
negotiated at this stage.
2010
2011
2012
Suspension
Demotion
Termination
Other
Total
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The WPS 2012-2014 Strategic Plan establishes Goal 2.4, to Streamline the
disciplinary process and provide members with an appropriate, ethical decision-making
guide. Strategies include introducing an education-based discipline as an alternative to
traditional punitive discipline. Objectives include developing a new Code of Ethics. The
WPS Conduct policy was recently updated.
Recommendation: Examine other Canadian Penalty Models; Give Consideration
to creation and addition of formal Disciplinary Penalty Matrix / Guidelines to
create member confidence when recommending discipline.
(2.6) Internal Quality Control Systems Are in Place to Ensure Consistency and
Accuracy in Reporting, and Timely Analysis of Data.
PSU staff has been conducting some internal analysis of PSU activities. Early
analysis reveals about a 50-50 split of complainants not having past negative police
contacts. This information is intended to be used in a PSU awareness campaign to
help dispel a myth, primarily of those in uniformed enforcement ranks, that it is typically
common criminal types complaining of police enforcement tactics.
Improved data
mining from PSU tracking software is allowing PSU staff to better see pitfalls, and
enable staff to see employees who are the subject of frequent complaints. Enhanced
staff ability to see action trends will allow for proactive engagement and intervention to
reduce complaints.
Recommendation: Consider conducting an annual evaluation of PSU data, with
emphasis on identifying causal factors of significant percentage changes in the
various reporting categories, to bring about positive organizational change.
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previous investigative experience, as new Investigators are typically drawn from major
crimes assignments in Sections 40-41-42.
permits just 2 external trainings each year, usually at the Canadian Police College in
Ottawa for major case management courses.
Supervisors who are responsible for conducting investigations of minor
complaints in their respective areas should receive specialized training by PSU
members to ensure consistency.
The PSU Staff Sergeant serves as the WPS representative on the Canadian
Association of Chiefs of Police Professional Standards Committee. This committee
regularly meets to discuss best practices in professional standards as well as promotion
of awareness campaigns. Legal staff / PSU related activities do not presently justify fulltime legal access dedicated to PSU, but PSU staff has access to in-house legal staff,
with sufficient labour law expertise.
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The PSU might consider joining the National Internal Affairs Investigators
Association, or similar / like peer resource capability. Professional Internal Affairs peer
Associations assist in cost effective development / establishing professional standards
of performance and integrity for Internal Affairs investigators; disseminates information
regarding improved administrative and technical practices; provides training that fosters
professional development and growth; presents a forum for discussion of common
problems and current court decisions; and assist by encouraging law enforcement
cooperation and an exchange of information and experience among Internal Affairs
investigators.
Recommendation: Utilize senior / veteran PSU staff to create a training track for
new incoming PSU staff; create on-going / advanced training track for incumbent
staff.
Recommendation: PSU staff should conduct / provide training to non-PSU
supervisors who are expected to conduct investigation on minor complaints, to
ensure consistent accountability agency-wide.
Recommendation: Consider joining the National Internal Affairs Investigators
Association.
2.
Police and Executive Command Staff on legal issues that come before the WPS. Legal
is staffed with 2 City Lawyers, and are selected by and assigned to the WPS full-time
Monday through Friday. WPS counsel is hired by the WPS and works for the WPS to
supplement legal service provided by the Citys Legal Department. WPS Legal Unit
staffing is complemented with (a) Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(FIPPA) Coordinator(s) and a Clerk; the lawyers provide supervision to the FIPPA
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Coordinators(s) and the (vacant) Clerk position. The following table compares staffing
amongst various large Canadian law enforcement agencies:
Regina
Calgary
Own dedicated
legal staff
# of Lawyers
# of Paralegals
# of Clerical /
Administrative
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Winnipeg
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
The roles and activities of the WPS Legal Counsel Unit include:
Conclusion: On-site legal counsel provides the WPS with an immediate and
valuable resource. No change is recommended.
(1)
identified many positive attributes and best practice protocols in place. These are
highlighted in the following subsections:
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(1.1) The WPS Legal Counsel Unit Has Access to the Office of Chief of Police
and Executive WPS Staff.
WPS Legal Counsel is a direct report to the Police Chief and the function is
physically situated in close proximity to the Office of the Chief of Police and executive
command staff. The Lead Staff Lawyer attends executive staff meetings, and estimates
that 30% of legal staff time is expended providing legal advice to command staff.
Conclusion: Maintain current direct report status and ready availability to the
Police Chief and WPS executive staff.
(1.2) The Legal Counsel Unit has a Limited Role in the WPS Disciplinary Panel
Process.
The WPS Legal Counsel Unit provides legal advice, opinion and interpretation to
senior WPS command.
completed founded investigations is administered by Legal, and staff report this has
evolved into a virtual paper process. Legal staff typical involvement is at the contested
hearing stage, but reports no systemic issue of not bringing Legal in earlier in the
investigative process.
Corporate Legal.
Recommendation: Encourage PSU to continue taking advantage of Legals nonpolice perspective (different viewpoint, avoid potential pitfalls, yet familiar with
WPS environment) through early involvement in cases likely to have a sustained
finding.
(1.3) The Legal Counsel Unit Provides WPS Response to the Manitoba Fatal
Inquiry Act.
The Province of Manitoba has a Fatal Inquiry Act, mandating an inquest into
police action / inaction involving a death. The WPS also responds to Public Inquiries,
which are quasi-administrative processes designed to identify systemic failures, in the
publics best interest. WPS Legal advised of 2 such Inquiries, for wrongful convictions.
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These are not fault finding, but typically include recommendations. Recommendations
may include adding equipment, such as the less-lethal Taser option or the addition of
AEDs wherever prisoners are detained, or recommending associated training to
properly operate the equipment. The Manitoba Ombudsman has a duty to follow-up on
the recommendations, which the WPS is obligated to accept unless they are
inappropriate or impractical. Not all recommendations are implemented, but the WPS is
publically accountable for their decisions relative to implementation.
(1.4) The Legal Counsel Unit has a Limited Role in the WPS LaboXr Relations.
Legal staff are not involved in negotiations for labour agreements with any of the
WPS labour groups, but do provide legal advice, opinion, and interpretation to senior
managers on existing labour agreements.
(1.5) The Legal Counsel Unit has a Limited Role in the WPS Entering Into
Agreements, Contracts, and Secondment of WPS Personnel.
The WPS enters into numerous and varied agreements and contracts, including
secondment of personnel to other entities, special project funding, and retaining
consultants. The City has to sign the contracts / agreements. Similar to contracts,
WPS Legal contacts City / Corporate Legal, provides information. Some Corporate
Legal staff elects to involve WPS Legal staff more in the process, some less.
Recommendation: Add / reinstate conducting an annual review of WPS
agreements / contracts, to ensure the reasons for entering into the agreement still
exist and include an evaluation of results and need for continued involvement.
Recommendation: Include the CALEA Accreditation Manager in the review of
proposed new or revised / renewed agreements to ensure compliance with the
varied accreditation standard mandates for contracts / agreements.
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(1.6) The Legal Counsel Unit is involved in the Development, Revision, and
Review of WPS Policies and Procedures.
The process pathway for new General Orders originates in Research &
Development, then to the CALEA section, then to Legal for review, then on to senior
command.
Conclusion: Continue the present model of inclusion of Legal in the review of
proposed development and revision of WPS policies and procedures.
(1.7) The Legal Counsel Unit Provides Training, Legal Guidance to WPS
Members.
WPS Legal Staff provides a training segment to new recruit classes, focusing on
freedom of information (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) and
health / privacy issues (Personal Health Information Act) and counsel role within the
WPS. An In-Service training component focuses on duty officer training, courtroom
survival, and emerging areas of risk.
satisfactory level of quality services for the Winnipeg Police Service. The review of the
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Area
Civil Suits
2011
2012
6
10
Litigation data did not include the types of litigation, nor contain analysis of trends
and / or patterns, which may allow the agency to proactively address similarly themed
claims and / or litigation. Legal staff report that this process was requested of Legal at
one time, but is no longer requested by the Service, so it is not done; the capability to
do so remains. Legal staff report some litigation is protracted, taking 10 years, and is
expensive. Additionally, WPS Legal handles an estimated 40-50 Queens Bench
Motions annually.
the McNeil Supreme Court decision has significantly reduced OConnor Motions to
about 1 per year.
Until December 2012, the WPS is the only Canadian Province without a Police
Board, which is now required and the process underway to create a Police Board. Until
now, Provincial Statute created a Law Enforcement Review Agency (LERA), which
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gives citizens a choice in having their complaint investigated by the WPS PSU or have
LERA investigate. A LERA Commissioner decides if the matter will be put into the court
system before a Provincial Court Judge. The WPS CBA makes provision for counsel
for affected officers, and typically results in a long drawn out matter. WPS Legal, on
behalf of the WPS, must seek petition to gain standing to be part of the process,
requiring routine checks of court dockets for LERA cases.
Recommendation: Implement stronger annual record keeping of claims and
litigation, to include an at least annual review of actions / types against past years
for trends / patterns, for staff review and evaluation.
Recommendation: Determine if the LERA process will continue with the advent of
the new Police Board, and if so, seek to add / amend regulations to ensure notice
of LERA cases.
(2.3) The Legal Counsel Unit has a Defined Limited Role in the Grievance
Process; the Annual Grievance Analysis Does Not Contain Sufficient
Useable Analysis That Brings Value to the Agency.
The following table represents grievance data provided by a combination of the
CALEA Annual Grievance Table, Annual Grievance Analysis, and the WPS October
2012 Operational Report regarding Collective Bargaining:
Area
Grievances
2008
11
2009
12
2010
7
2011
8
2012
1
Should a
grievance not be able to be resolved and advance past the step meeting stage, City
Legal assumes responsibility for resolving the grievance, and WPS assigned Lawyers
assist City legal staff as needed.
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The WPS has a notable decline in the number of grievances filed over the last 5years, ranging from 11 in 2008, and a more recent downward trend since their 5-year
high of 12 in 2009. In 2008, grievances were received related to promotions, transfers,
assignments, policy breaches, and injuries.
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point of contact, to help resolve issues/concerns prior to arising to the grievance level.
The analyses also are silent on the adequacy of affected WPS policies and / or
procedures, training, or equipment. These analyses appear to be being completed
merely to moderately satisfy a CALEA accreditation standard mandate rather than
serving as a useful tool to assist and bring value to the WPS.
Recommendation: Formally track all grievances, as well as WPA complaints
and/or issues; Conduct more thorough annual analysis of both all grievances and
complaints/issues not arising to the level of a grievance, to include a review of
trends over recent past years, and include recommendations for policy revision,
training, and / or equipment needs, if any.
3.
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The Fitness Coordinator is assisted by 23 WPS members (sworn and non-sworn), who
assist in fitness peer support activities.
(1.2) The BHS Makes Confidential Behavioural Health / Psychologist Services
Available to WPS Personnel.
The WPS BHS is decentralized, located off-site, and has sufficient door / entry
security, as well as the provision of panic alarms for staff. The incumbent BHS Clerk is
married to a Constable, which presents potential client privacy concerns for members
who do not want to be observed accessing BHS services. WPS policies do not address
the carry of weapons by Officers when accessing BHS services.
The Police Service Psychologist and the BHS staff provide many services:
2012
824 hours
193 hours
132 hours
300 hours
Meetings / Administrative
306 hours
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Workload assessment data is only available since the 2012 change to a WPS
staffed BHS model. Due to its infancy as a WPS staffed function, with the exception of
the Fitness function, the BHS lacks formal or effective internal systems designed to
capture data suitable for evaluating and / or quantifying effectiveness or identifying
patterns and trends. There is no evidence that BHS response is included in critical
incident After Action Reports. Plans are in effect to enhance workload assessment and
tracking of BHS activities.
The current BHS Psychologist espouses a preventive focus (working my way
out of a job), to include psychological education about stress management, coping,
and promoting mental health. The WPS 2012-2014 Strategic Plan includes goal 2.2,
Develop an Enhanced and Sustainable Behavioural Health Strategy.
Stated
objectives include developing additional Wellness Officers and increasing Peer Support
Groups to 40, and bring them to a fully functional status.
The BHS is researching other industry peer support programs as they work to
transition the WPS Peer Support Program to a more evidence-based best practice
(EBBP). EBBP focuses on making decisions about the promotion of health or provision
of care by integrating the best available evidence (scientific evidence) with practitioner
expertise and other resources, and with the characteristics, state, needs, values and
preferences of those who will be affected. This is done in a manner that is compatible
with the environmental and organizational context. EBBP considers every aspect of the
unit including, prevention strategies, psycho-education on wellness, any individual
therapy that I do one-on-one with members, and programming. It includes examining
same or like organizational practice models for which efficacy has been evaluated,
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Identifiable structure
Clearly articulated policies
Systematic screening process and defined selection criteria AND required
competencies
Preliminary education for peer supporters and continued learning
Social support, confidentiality, knowledge and skill base for peer intervention,
easy access for members
Evaluation
The BHS Strategic Plan is well underway. They are delivering the second phase
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integrating the best available scientific evidence with practitioner expertise and
other resources.
Recommendation: Increased voluntary use of behavioural health services can
grow through trust earned through program continuity. Program education and
training directed at all personnel will educate members on available services.
Recommendation: Create a Strategic Plan component for BHS suitable for
inclusion in the WPS Strategic Plan, including BHS mission, goals, objectives,
action plans, and evaluation methodologies that are consistent and compatible
with the WPS Strategic Plan.
Recommendation: Include an appropriateness of member response component
to agency critical incident after-action reviews, to identify if the BHS response to
critical incidents is effective and / or needs enhanced services.
Recommendation: Give consideration to adding policy to prohibit the carry of
weapons while accessing employer provided BHS services.
Recommendation: Review current practice / cost effectiveness of utilizing private
vendors for recruit psychological testing and consider conducting in-house.
Recommendation: Collaborate with / educate non-law enforcement EAP vendor
on law enforcement issues, to enhance effectiveness of EAP provider and reduce
duplication of EAP like services provided by BHS staff.
Recommendation: Formalize workload assessment tracking and evaluation of
BHS conducted activities.
Recommendation: Make use of available back-door secret access, to avoid
observation by the Clerk and / or other BHS staff when accessing Staff
Psychologist services.
(1.3) The WPS BHS Police Service Psychologist Has Access to the Police Chief.
Although located off-site for client confidentiality purposes, the BHS Psychologist
is a direct report to the Police Chief and meets with the Police Chief on a monthly basis
to update the Chief of Police on patterns / trends and to obtain feedback and direction.
Conclusion: Meet with the Chief of Police on a regular and satisfactorily frequent
schedule to ensure that senior command is aware of related issues, concerns,
and emerging patterns / trends related to BHS and WPS members.
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This includes
sworn members who were hired prior to September 1989 and voluntary civilian sector
members.
The Fitness Coordinator oversees the day to day running of the program and
reports to the Manager of Behavioral Health Unit. A total of 9 WPS buildings have inhouse fitness rooms which are maintained by the Fitness Coordinator and financed
cooperatively with the WPS and an Employee Gym Fund. Members (660) voluntarily
contribute $3 per pay period towards the gym fund. These funds are put back into the 9
gyms and go along with the square footage cost provided by the City and WPS budget.
The Airport gym was recreated at the new terminal building and opened in June 2012.
A total of $12,000 was invested in new equipment and flooring for this space. Fitness
passes to City Recreation Services buildings are provided to WPS members upon
request and continue to provide a valuable option for members outside their worksite.
The BHS budget absorbs approximately $33,000 each year to provide members with
access to City Pools, running tracks, weight rooms & cardio equipment.
The Fitness Coordinator completes the majority of the fitness appraisals and
coordinates the 9 fitness facilities in WPS facilities. A Fitness Consultant was employed
1-2 days per week on a fee for service contract for a total of 650 hours contracted in
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2012 at a cost of $15,060. Two Police Officers assisted on 5 separate dates in 2012.
These members have a fitness appraisal skill set and assist on occasional overlaps
when workload is high or when fitness consultant staff is away from the office. A halftime Clerk A worked out of the PSB office for 3 months in 2012. She was shared with
Recruiting and was not replaced when she was promoted to CPIC in April 2012. A
University of Manitoba Student completed a fieldwork placement in 2012. A $1,300
honorarium was provided to the student in recognition of 13 weeks work / study.
The following table depicts fitness appraisal activity for the WPS for the 24-year
period 1989-2012:
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Year
Appraisals
Mandatory
Voluntary
Staff
Other
EDL Awarded
On Duty
2012
1098
967
81
43
17,630
88%
2011
1090
989
78
21
16,165
91%
2010
997
877
80
38
16,495
86%
2009
1040
930
98
11
15,370
89%
2008
1041
908
111
13
15,450
87%
2007
993
856
120
14
13,910
85%
2006
901
748
131
14
13,470
86%
2005
846
679
136
20
11
12,500
86%
2004
763
603
142
11
11,900
87%
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
836
743
707
728
699
654
565
483
488
456
155
160
201
217
225
19
10
17
12
10
8
8
6
11
8
11,930
10,440
10,190
10,920
11,510
89%
85%
87%
85%
85%
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
707
617
619
512
422
456
359
354
266
188
225
237
240
221
211
11
12
17
18
17
15
9
8
7
6
10,100
9,420
8,895
7,120
6,260
85%
86%
89%
85%
79%
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
378
358
343
433
59
155
137
115
111
46
201
202
211
295
12
17
15
15
23
1
5
4
2
4
0
5,740
2,780
3,175
4,070
160
78%
Members can use up to 3-hours of on-duty time, resources permitting for their
annual fitness appraisal, and 88% of appraisals use this benefit. Members are eligible
for 20 hours EDL (banked time) for meeting fitness standards, and 880 members
collected this incentive as part of their annual appraisal. Time off or on-duty incentives
are generally a necessary element in successful voluntary fitness programs and
understandably typically generate higher participant interest.
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licensing requirements, if any should be required, as well as what initial and on-going
training should occur to ensure Chaplain ecclesiastical proficiency.
Recommendation: Research if licensing and / or credentialing is needed for the
volunteer Chaplain corp.
Recommendation: Expand current new Chaplain training to conduct training for
all Chaplains on regularly scheduled intervals (annual?), which can ensure
uniformity of services provided, and gain from shared lessons learned from
actual services provided (what works, etc). Utilize a pre-approved Lesson Plan.
(1.6) The WPS has a Dedicated Wellness Function.
The BHS has 1 full-time Wellness Officer, a specialized assignment, occupied by
a Ptl/Sergeant for the past 4 years. The Wellness Officer position is not rank specific.
The Wellness Officer is well known and respected by his peers, and is complemented
by 3 part-time Wellness Officers, which is a collateral duty. Part-timers are all sworn
officers of different ranks all serving in other full time capacities (e.g., Tactical Team
Officer).
incident response. They are asked to be on-call whenever the full time Wellness Officer
is on annual leave, sick, or not available.
The Wellness function includes the following activities, as conducted by the
Wellness Officer:
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Member contacts
Critical incidents
Field Visits
Recruit BHS Training and Education
Cadet BHS Training and Education
Communications BHS Education
Promoted Staff BHS Education
Family Night
Cadet Class Training and Education
Family Night
Professional Development
Peer Support Training Sessions
55 per month
24 per month
40 hours per month
10 hours per year
10 hours per year
10 hours per year
12 hours per year
15 hours per year
10 hours per year
15 hours per year
40 hours per year
18 hours per year
Wellness
The
Wellness Officers sworn status and penchant for remaining engaged in operational
components has enhanced the units success and effectiveness. The Wellness Officer
periodically goes out at night on routine operations with various functions and
furtherance of member wellness, which has allowed him to maintain relationships and
thereby avoiding the stigma of not only showing up on critical incidents.
The Wellness function works very closely with Human Resources, helping place
members in less stressful positions when they are overwhelmed by the stressful
circumstances in their lives. The Wellness Officer further estimates that 80% of his time
is expended with sworn personnel and 20% with non-sworn members.
Recommendation: Implement an internal system to track the number / type of
incidents and activities Wellness personnel respond to, to report on patterns and
trends of concern that BHS may attend to / focus attention upon.
Matrix Consulting Group
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(2)
performance of the BHS identified opportunities for improvement within this Unit.
(2.1) The BHS Needs to Add a Secure, Restricted Access, Confidential
Electronic Records Management System.
The BHS does not presently utilize electronic record keeping. Written / hard
copy documents on various activities have restricted access, and a legal document is in
place naming a Trustee in the event of incapacitation of the Staff Psychologist.
Recommendation: Implement a secure confidential restricted access Records
Management System for BHS related activities.
(2.2) The BHS Needs to Add / Revise / Update Their Function Specific Policies,
Procedures, as They Are Not Current, Lack Protocols for Day-To-Day
Activities, and Do Not Reflect Actual Practices.
There is no SOP or daily activity protocols presently in place, and that BHS
policies have urgent need of being updated. BHS staff is presently creating a BHS
function Strategic Plan, with mission, goals, objectives, action plans, and very
importantly, evaluation methodologies. A major policy shift is presently planned for the
WPS psychological first aid model, moving away from traditional Critical Incident Stress
Management (CISM) methodology which may be doing more harm than good. As time
permits following full transition by the BHS Psychologist, this change will be
incorporated into WPS policy.
Recommendation: Conduct a review of current policies, remove outdated
practices, and replace / update / revise with policy and procedures reflecting
current best practices.
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(2.3) The 2012-2014 WPS Strategic Plan Devotes Action Item 2.3 to Develop an
Enhanced and Sustainable Behavioural Health Strategy.
As the BHS creates their internal unit Strategic Plan, consideration needs to be
given to ensure consistency with Action Item 2.3 within the overall WPS Strategic Plan.
Recommendation: Ensure the BHS internal Strategic Plan components include
WPS Strategic Plan Action Item 2.3, and assist the BHS in achieving their
assigned Action Item.
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