Toronto Police Modernization Plan, The Review of Year One and A Look Ahead

Toronto Police Modernization Plan, The Review of Year One and A Look Ahead

Friday, March 23, 2018 - 1:45 PM
Strategy Management:  416-808-7018

Yesterday at the Toronto Police Services Board monthly meeting, the Toronto Police Service shared a “Year in Review” of the modernization plan currently being implemented. The presentation included a look ahead at some exciting changes for the upcoming year.

The Year in Review highlights included:

- Creation of the implementation team comprised of members with the operational perspective of the Service and external expertise to create the right environment to begin work on significant projects.

- Creation of a Modernization Scorecard, updated regularly, for Service Members and the public to view at The Way Forward.

- Launch of the new Public Safety Data Portal.

- The Service-wide implementation of the Community Investigative Support Unit (C.I.S.U) is nearing completion. These units are able to take lower priority calls, enabling the frontline to focus on priority calls that require an immediate police presence.

- The successful launch, at 51 Division, of the Connected Officer Program that resulted in 236 frontline members now equipped with mobile technology that provides needed real-time information in the field.

- The creation and launch of Human Resource’s New People and Core Competencies available at The People Plan.

- A Council approved decision for the Service’s new site for 54 and 55 Division at Coxwell and Danforth.

- The service reallocation of the Life Guard Program to the City of Toronto.

A Look Ahead includes:

- Receiving the final Organizational Culture Assessment report which evaluates our current culture against our desired future state. Service members and the public can expect to hear about the outcomes in the spring.

- Continued work on Divisional boundary changes and facilities realignment. This is a multi-year project and there will be significant internal and external engagement to help everyone understand how the “lines on the map” were created, what they will mean and when everyone can expect to see changes.

- The next location for the expansion of the Connected Officer Program will be announced this spring.

- Starting this summer, the Service will be working with the City to fill vacant Crossing Guard positions with qualified civilians – police officers will no longer be deployed for Crossing Guard duties.

- Continued work with various partners to help build the framework for the Neighbourhood Officer Program.

“We have had some significant breakthroughs in our first year of implementation and I appreciate all the hard work that has us poised to do even more this year,” explained Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders. “We know the appetite for change is high. I am looking forward to increasing engagement with our members and the public about our modernization plan, including the realignment of our organization from our current model of 17 Divisions to a new model with 10 Districts. This move will allow us to be more flexible in our deployment and more effective in sharing resources. It will mean more support for members and it will mean better service to the public,” commented Chief Saunders.

The next quarterly report will take place at the Toronto Police Services Board meeting in May.

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