Visible Progress on Modernization, Quarterly report highlights

Visible Progress on Modernization, Quarterly report highlights

Thursday, December 14, 2017 - 4:14 PM
Strategy Management:  416-808-7018

The third quarterly modernization report was presented today at the Toronto Police Services Board meeting, detailing the Service’s activity on implementation efforts designed to change the way policing is delivered in the city of Toronto. 

Highlights included how the Service has:
1) Completed community consultations regarding a new facility and location to best replace 54/55 Division by partnering with the City of Toronto, community leaders and members, and local councillors. The Service will be presenting a preferred site to the City of Toronto’s Executive Committee in January.

2) Invested funds from the Policing Modernization and Effectiveness Grant in the neighbourhood Officer Program in the following areas:

a) Purchased new patrol bicycles with enhanced emergency lights and sirens

b) Partnering with Ryerson University to complete the research phase and product testing to design new Neighbourhood Officer Uniforms

c) Refreshed Crime Prevention material

d) Retained Mad Hatter to redesign and develop a new public website to be launched in March 2018

e) An academic-led Neighbourhood Officer Partnership design

3) 51 Division has been selected as the January 2018 proof of concept for Connected Officer with officers receiving mobile devices with increased access to information

4) Successful transfer of the Lifeguard program to the City of Toronto,

5) Completing preparations to survey the entire Service, in January, to ask them for their feedback on our organizational culture. We will also be conducting an extensive community engagement effort, also starting in January

6) Updated the Modernization Scorecard available at The Way Forward Scorecard

“It’s been almost a year since we began our modernization efforts and, after a great deal of behind-the-scenes preparation and planning, collaboration and partnerships and significant hard work by our members, progress is now starting to be visible. We are putting in place all the modern building blocks that will allow us to provide broad and effective service within our neighbourhoods and communities and I am looking forward to maintaining our momentum as we enter 2018,” explained Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders.

The next quarterly report will take place at the Toronto Police Services Board meeting in March 2018, where there will be more information provided about the city-wide divisional boundaries and facility realignment. 

About the Action Plan: The Way Forward 
Mandated to look beyond the way policing is currently done in Toronto, the Transformational Task Force (TTF) proposed a modernized policing model for the city that is innovative, sustainable, and affordable. The model will place communities at its core, be intelligence-led, optimize the use of resources and technology, and embrace partnerships as a means of enhancing capacity and capability. The final report - Action Plan: The Way Forward – contains 32 recommendations and was accepted by the Toronto Police Services Board in February, 2017 as the Service’s Business Plan for the next three years. 

To read more about this and the entire Action Plan: The Way Forward, click here.

For more information, please contact Sandra Buckler at Sandra.Buckler@torontopolice.on.ca. 

For more news, visit TPSnews.ca.

Meaghan Gray, Corporate Communications, for Sandra Buckler, Strategy Management