Crime Reduction and Prevention Strategy (Details)

Name of province/ territory:

Prince Edward Island

City/ Region:

Prince Edward Island

Description of Initiative:

Crime analysts are used to make links and identify crime patterns, allowing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to focus on the small number of criminals who are responsible for a significant amount of property crime in our communities. The analysts also identify chronic impaired drivers who are at a high risk to re-offend based on previous behaviour. The analysts identify when and where these individuals will re-offend.

Initiative Key Objectives:

The strategy has several objectives:

• identify the individuals responsible for committing the majority of crime;
• track their criminal behaviour and determine when and where they will re-offend;
• educate the members and ensure that each chronic or prolific offender is taken before a Justice of the Peace in an attempt to remand or place on enforceable conditions;
• work with community partners to help identify the behaviour that leads to criminality and have them assist in curbing that behaviour (i.e., alcohol/drug rehab, education, mental health counselling or life skills maintenance);
• work together to stop individuals who are in a cycle of criminal behaviour, ultimately to lower crime rates and allow police and other community services extra time to work with a greater number of individuals to help further reduce crime and victimization; and
• identify chronic impaired drivers and prepare information sheets on each one, and post the sheets in the units (where a member is assigned to monitor each chronic impaired driver).

Section Responsible for Implementation:

Crime Reduction/Criminal Operations

Key Contact:

Andrew Blackadar
Andrew.Blackadar@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Groups/ Agencies/ Key Partners Involved:

• community groups
• other police services

Level of Involvement (consultative - information sharing) and/or cooperative - direct involvement):

Intelligence gathering generally affects other police services. This information is shared with other police services in an effort to prepare proper bail review packages. Intelligence is disseminated through Criminal Intelligence Service Prince Edward Island (CISPEI) as well as directly to unit commanders. To effectively reduce crime and victimization, other partners (mental health and addictions services, etc.) must be involved through aftercare programs that help address the underlying problems leading to criminal behaviour.

Amount of Time Initiative has been in Place:

The strategy commenced in 'L' Division in 2009.

Reason for Undertaking the Initiative:

The initiative was undertaken to help focus police and public resources on disrupting the underlying causes of criminal behaviour so that police resources could work towards spending more time on prevention and on solving more serious crime.

Resources Required to Implement this Initiative:

One dedicated resource as an analyst at a cost of $75,000 per year.

Method of Implementation:

Began as a pilot project which has continued with the hope of expanding.

Key Outcomes of the Initiative:

• Prolific and priority offender lists have been published for each district with the province.
• Bail review packages have been prepared for the prolific and priority offenders.
• Members are engaged and are conducting curfew checks on offenders who have street-enforceable conditions.
• Higher rates of remand and guilty pleas have been observed.
• There has been a decrease in crime overall (at first it was significant, but the decrease has leveled off).
• Members are aware of chronic impaired drivers and have conducted proactive patrols in an effort to apprehend these drivers.
• There has been an increase in the number of chronic impaired drivers being charged as a result of this initiative.
• A member is assigned to each chronic impaired driver to connect with them and offer other services to help curb the behaviour. They are monitored and many repeat impaired drivers are picked up for committing another impaired driving offence. They are then remanded and most are sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

Availability of a Communication Strategy:

Yes

Key Messages used to Publicize the Initiative:

• Atlantic Canada is the safest place in the country to live, work and visit.
• Reducing crime and the fear of crime leads to an improved quality of life for all residents.
• By utilizing crime analysts to make links and identify crime patterns, the RCMP is able to focus on the small number of criminals who are responsible for a significant amount of crime in our communities.
• Stopping the criminal behaviour will lower crime rates.
• Stopping impaired drivers reduces the number of fatal and injury collisions and saves money for the health care system.

Forms of Evaluation by which the Initiative will be Assessed:

• formative
• summative
• internal
• quantitative
• qualitative

Evaluation Completed or Community Feedback Received:

Yes

Summary of the Outcomes:

With respect to impaired driving, below are some interesting facts that show employee engagement:

• ‘L’ Division members charged 289 impaired drivers in 2011.
• Six Prince members charged 52% of all Prince District impaired drivers (56 of 108).
• Seven Queens (Maypoint/Stratford) members charged 61% of all Queens District impaired drivers (57 of 93).
• One Mobile Traffic Unit member charged 42% of the entire unit’s impaired drivers (8 of 19).
• Two Kings members charged 39% of all Kings District impaired drivers (27 of 69).
• 16 members charged 51% off all impaired drivers charged in the division (148 of 289). These 16 members represent 22% of our operational frontline members (72 total, excluding ODS, court and school liaison members).
• A husband-and-wife team charged 26 impaired drivers between the two of them.

• an analysis of calls for service and member workload (to be conducted);
• an analysis of street checks (underway);
• a review of media releases to ensure strategic messaging (underway);
• units to hold tactical briefings about crime and criminals;
• further meetings with Crown/Judiciary on remands and the purpose of the program;
• ensure division policy is up to date; and
• members to receive more training on the Youth Criminal Justice Act to ensure they are applying the provisions properly.

Summary of the Performance Measure Data Collected:

Statistics are collected from various sources and examined on weekly and monthly bases. Quarterly reports are furnished to the Province outlining the results of the examination and the progress of policing initiatives.

A divisional Unit Performance Plan (UPP) is being used to track initiatives, measures and results and is monitored quarterly by NHQ.

Economics of Policing Pillars:

• Efficiencies within Police Services
• New Models of Community Safety

Further Details:

The initiative has taken incremental measures to improve efficency and effectiveness in policing delivery.

This is a new and innovative approach to policing which provides an immediate coordinated and integrated response to reducing crime and victimization.

Through news releases, the public can see the effect of the chronic impaired driving reduction program. This works to help boost public confidence in policing, and to provide general deterrence and education for anyone who may attempt to get behind the wheel after drinking. This untimately leads to a reduction in serious injuries and fatal crashes, which is the goal of Road Safety Vision 2015. Reducing these collisions helps save health care dollars as well.

Additional Comments or Suggestions:

The Chronic Impaired Driving Initiative is an offshoot of the Crime Reduction Initiative. It does not tie up a lot of investigational time, but by reducing the number of chronic impaired drivers, members are freed up to conduct more proactive patrols and work on other more time-consuming files. Results are tangible and members are engaged within and outside the organization with direct and indirect clients.

Conducting this initiative helps reduce health care costs which can be spent on more treatment programs, which should lead to a further reduction in crime. In essence, this is a self-promoting, cyclical program which benefits many government departments across the board with an aim to help reduce crime and victimization and where we should see some long-term reductions in overall criminal behaviour.

Record Entry Date:

2015-03-01