Police have little time to prevent crime, report finds:

Police have little time to prevent crime, report finds:
Date: Feb 10, 2007 10:55 AM
PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun
DATE: 2007.02.10
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: A3
ILLUSTRATION: Colour Photo: In asking for more resources, Vancouver
policeoffer this city-to-city comparison. ; Chart/Graph: Dispatched
calls/officer: (See hardcopy for complete text) ;
BYLINE: Frances Bula
SOURCE: Vancouver Sun
WORD COUNT: 626

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Police have little time to prevent crime, report finds: Vancouver
advised to hire 129 officers over next two years

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Vancouver police spend two-thirds of their time just reacting to
emergencies and 911 calls instead of working on strategies to prevent
crime before it happens, says a massive new report on ways to improve
policing in Vancouver.

Instead, the force should aim to have its officers spend at least half
their time on "proactive policing," says the 1,335-page report. That
would mean more time on everything from ticketing and arrests on the
street that are not related to immediate calls to source development to
random checks.

And, since police would be issuing more tickets, the city should hire
another bylaw prosecutor to back up that effort.

All of that, says the report, produced by a police team headed by Simon
Fraser University professor Curt Griffiths, would help reduce the
"public disorder" that is an ongoing city problem.

That report, which is going to council in condensed form next week, also
recommends a number of other changes to policing in order to improve
both levels of proactive policing and response times to high-priority
calls. The report says the city should aim to have a seven-minute
average response time to high-priority calls. The current average is 11
minutes -- two minutes less than it was last year, before 33 new
officers were hired for the downtown district, but still higher than
anywhere else in North America.

Those recommendations include both spending money to hire new officers
and using existing staff more efficiently.

They include:.

n Hire 129 more officers over the next two years, with 65 officers in
the first year.

n Put 30 of the 65 new officers into two squads of roving units that
would go anywhere in the city. Right now, the city is divided into four
districts, with patrols assigned to a specific district.

n Put 33 of the new officers onto a new Wednesday-Saturday night shift
that will focus more police on the city's biggest crime days of the
week.

n Put slightly more police into one-person patrols, instead of
two-person.

n Reduce the number of district surveillance teams.

n Discourage supervisors from loaning out officers to other agencies so
that districts maintain the policing strength they've been authorized.

There's a hefty price tag for the addition of new officers.

The condensed city report, whose recommendations have been endorsed by
the city manager and the police chief, says it would cost $7 million a
year to add 65 officers.

For the average Vancouver homeowner (defined as someone with a $714,000
house), that would add about $25 a year to the existing tax bill.

That is sure to present Vancouver city councillors with a difficult
decision. Mayor Sam Sullivan has championed a campaign to reduce public
disorder. However, the city is already facing an almost $30-million
shortfall. As well, Sullivan has always maintained police could improve
policing by using their existing resources more efficiently.

Police will not comment directly on the report until it is presented to
council.

But comments from Chief Jamie Graham included in the report note that
"this type of patrol deployment study has never before been conducted.

"This report sets out the resources required in patrol to reach the
best-practice average response time of seven minutes for priority-one
calls and to have 50 per cent or less of patrol officer time allocated
to responding to calls for service. This would increase the percentage
of unallocated time to allow for increased proactive policing
strategies," says Graham.

fbula@png.canwest.com

Policing in the city: A snapshot

The Vancouver police department's report on how to improve policing
contains these numbers, which paint a picture of a law enforcement
agency overwhelmed by the demands of a city with one of North America's
highest crime rates.

7

"Best practice performance target" for police response to Priority One
calls.

What's a Priority One situation?

Events in progress such as: Abduction; assault; domestic violence;
attempted suicide; robbery.

The average response time to a Priority One call in Vancouver is 11
minutes and 25 seconds.

20-40%

Chances that a patrol unit will be dispatched immediately when a citizen
calls between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m.

20

Number of calls waiting to be dispatched at midnight on a Friday or
Saturday. Among them are serious incidents including sexual assault and
car accidents with injuries.

1,500

Number of noise complaints the VPD does not attend in a year. At right,
number of other calls to which police are not sent.

Annoying

circumstances 1,400

Disturbing parties 450

Suspicious persons 650

Unwanted persons 600

Other 6,000




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